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Salian dynasty
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty () was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
After the death of the last Ottonian emperor in 1024, the Kingdom of Germany and later the entire Holy Roman Empire passed to Conrad II, a Salian. He was followed by three more Salian rulers: Henry III, Henry IV, and Henry V. They established their monarchy as a major European power. The Salian dynasty developed a permanent administrative system based on a class of public officials answerable to the crown.
Modern historians suppose that the Salians descended from the Widonids, a prominent noble kindred emerging in the 7th century. Their estates were located at the confluence of rivers Moselle and Saar and they supported the Carolingians. The Widonids' eastward expansion towards the river Rhine started after they founded Hornbach Abbey in the Bliesgau around 750. Hornbach remained their proprietary monastery and royal grants to the abbey established their presence in the Wormsgau. As time passed, several branches split off the Widonids. The late 9th-century Holy Roman Emperor Guy (or Wido) of Spoleto descended from one of these branches, the Lambertines. The Salians' forefathers remained in Rhenish Franconia.
Wipo of Burgundy, the biographer of the first Salian monarch, Emperor Conrad II, described Conrad's father and uncle as "distinguished noble lords from Rhenish Franconia", but without calling them Salians around 1044. Wipo added that Conrad's mother, Adelaide of Metz, "supposedly descended from the ancient royal house of Troy". The statement made a connection between Conrad and the royal Merovingians who had claimed a Troyan ancestry for themselves. Historian Stefan Weinfurter proposes that the putative relationship between the Salians and the Merovingians gave rise to the family name, because the Salian Franks had been the most renowned Frankish group. Their memory was preserved through a Frankish law code, known as the Salic law. A less likely etymology links the appellation to the old German world "sal" ("lordship"), proposing that the name can be traced to the Salian monarchs' well-documented inclination towards hierarchical structures.
The term "reges salici" (or Salian kings) was most probably coined early in the 12th century. A list of monarchs and archbishops from Mainz, which was completed around 1139–40, is the first extant document to contain it. Bishop Otto of Freising, a maternal descendant of the Salian monarchs, also used the term in his "Chronicle or History of the Two Cities" in the middle of the 12th century. In a narrow sense, only the four German monarchs who ruled from 1024 to 1125 could be called Salians, but the same appellation has already been expanded to their ancestors by modern historians.
All male members of the family who were destined to a secular career were named Conrad or Henry. Emperor Conrad II's grandfather, Otto of Worms, established this tradition in the late 10th century. He named his eldest son, Henry of Worms, after his maternal great-grandfather, King Henry the Fowler; and he gave the name of his father, Conrad the Red, to one of his younger sons, Conrad of Carinthia. Conrad the Red was most probably named for King Conrad I of Germany.
Count Werner who held estates in the Nahegau, Speyergau and Wormsgau early in the 10th century is the Salian monarchs' first certainly identified ancestor. His family links to the Widonids cannot be securely established, but his patrimonial lands and his close relationship with the Hornbach Abbey provide indirect evidence of his Widonid ancestry. He married a kinswoman, most probably a sister, of King Conrad I of Germany. This marriage alliance with the Conradines introduced Conrad as a leading name in his family.
Werner's son, Conrad the Red, inherited his father Franconian estates. His family links with the Conradines facilitated his acquisition of large portions of their domains after King Otto I of Germany crushed their revolt in 939. The Conradines lost their preeminent position in Franconia and Conrad the Red emerged as Otto I's principal supporter in the region. He was awarded with the Duchy of Lotharingia in 944 or 945 and he married the King's daughter, Luidgard, in 947. The marriage forged a link between the royal Ottonian dynasty and the Salians. He lost Lotharingia after he joined a revolt against his father-in-law in 953 or 954. He died fighting against the invading Magyars in the Battle of Lech in 955. The contemporaneous Widukind of Corvey praised him for his bravery. He was buried in the Worms Cathedral, although mainly bishops and kings had so far been buried in cathedrals.
Conrad the Red's son, Otto of Worms, founded favour with his maternal grandfather, King (from 962 Emperor) Otto I. Still a minor, he was mentioned as a count in the Nahegau in 956. He also seized Wormsgau, Speyergau, Niddagau, Elsenzgau, Kraichgau and Pfinzgau, thus uniting almost all lands between the rivers Rhine and Neckar by the time Otto I deceased in 973. The parentage of his wife, Judith, is uncertain: she may have been related either to Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria, to Count Henry of Arlon, or to Burchard, Margrave in the Eastern Marches. Otto I's son and successor, Emperor Otto II, was obviously worried about the concentration of lands in his nephew's hands in Franconia. The Emperor appointed Otto of Worms to administer the faraway Duchy of Carinthia and March of Verona in 978. The Emperor also persuaded Otto to cede his right to administer justice in Worms and also parts of his revenues in the town, to the local bishop. Otto was persuaded to renounce Carinthia and Verona, but he was lavishly compensated with a large forest in Wasgau, the royal palace at Kaiserslautern and the properietary rights over Weissenburg Abbey. He could also preserve the title of duke, thus he was the first duke to bear the title without ruling a duchy in Germany. Otto was the cousin of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, thus he had a strong claim to the throne after the Emperor's death, but he concluded an agreement with the Ottonian candidate, Henry of Bavaria in 1002. Henry restored Carinthia to Otto in 1002 and he ruled the duchy until his death in 1004.
Henry was Otto of Worms's eldest son. His wife, Adelaide, was born into a prominent Lotharingian family, being the daughter of Richard, Count of Metz. Their son, Conrad, would be the first Salian monarch, but Henry could not transfer his seniority rights to his son, because he predeceased his father most probably in 990 or 991.
After Henry of Worms' premature death, his seniority rights shifted to his younger brother, Conrad, enabling him to inherit the major part of the patrimonial lands from his father. Conrad married a daughter of Herman II, Duke of Swabia, Matilda most probably in 1002. Two years later, he succeeded his father as Duke of Carinthia—the duchy passed from father to son for the first time on this occasion. His rule in Carinthia is poorly documented and he died in 1011.
Bruno—the future Pope Gregory V—was a younger son of Otto of Worms. His father's cousin, Otto III, placed him on the papal throne in 996, ignoring the provisions of his own "Diploma Ottonianum" on papal elections. Bruno, who was the first German pope, assumed his papal name in memory of Pope Gregory the Great. He crowned Otto III emperor on the Feast of the Ascension in the same year. The Roman aristocrat Crescentius the Younger expelled him from Rome, but the Emperor crushed the revolt and restored the papal throne to Gregory V. The Pope died at the age of twenty-six or twenty-seven in 999.
William was Otto of Worms' youngest son. After serving in the royal court as archchaplain to Queen Gisella, William was made bishop of Strasbourg in 1028 or 1029. The see of Strasbourg was one of the wealthiest German bishoprics. His tenure was almost uneventful and he died in 1046 or 1047.
Conrad, the elder son of Duke Conrad I of Carinthia and Matilda of Swabia, was born between 1002 and 1005. He was underage when his father died in 1011. He inherited his father's patrimonial lands, but Emperor Henry II made Adalbero of Eppelstein the new duke of Carinthia. After Emperor Henry II died in 1024, both Conrad and his cousin, Conrad the Elder, laid claim to the throne and Conrad the Elder was elected the new monarch.
After the death of the last Saxon Emperor Henry II, the first Salian regent, Conrad II was elected by the majority of the Prince-electors and was crowned German king in Mainz on 8 September 1024. Early in 1026 Conrad went to Milan, where Ariberto, archbishop of Milan, crowned him king of Italy. When Rudolph III, King of Burgundy died in 1032, Conrad II also claimed this kingship on the basis of an inheritance Henry II had extorted from the former in 1006. Despite some opposition, the Burgundian and Provençal nobles paid homage to Conrad in Zürich in 1034. This Kingdom of Burgundy would become known as the Kingdom of Arles under Conrad's successors.
Already in 1028 Conrad II had his son Henry III elected and anointed king of Germany. Henry's tenure led to an overstatement of previously unknown sacral kingship. So during this reign Speyer Cathedral was expanded to be the largest church in Western Christendom. Henry's conception of a legitimate power of royal disposition in the duchies was successful against the dukes, and thus secured royal control. However, in Lorraine, this led to years of conflict, from which Henry emerged as the winner. But also in southern Germany a powerful opposition group was formed in the years 1052–1055. 1046 Henry ended the papal schism, freed the Papacy from dependence on the Roman nobility, and laid the basis for its universal applicability. His early death in 1056 was long regarded as a disaster for the Empire.
The early Salians owed much of their success to their alliance with the Church, a policy begun by Otto I, which gave them the material support they needed to subdue rebellious dukes. In time, however, the Church came to regret this close relationship. The alliance broke down in 1075 during what came to be known as the Investiture Controversy (or "Investiture Dispute"), a struggle in which the reformist Pope, Gregory VII, demanded that Emperor Henry IV renounce his rights over the Church in Germany. The pope also attacked the concept of monarchy by divine right and gained the support of significant elements of the German nobility interested in limiting imperial absolutism. More important, the pope forbade ecclesiastical officials under pain of excommunication to support Henry as they had so freely done in the past. In the end, Henry IV journeyed to Canossa in northern Italy in 1077 to do penance and to receive absolution from the pope. However, he resumed the practice of lay investiture (appointment of religious officials by civil authorities) and arranged the election of an antipope (Antipope Clement III) in 1080.
The monarch's struggle with the papacy resulted in a war that ravaged through the Holy Roman Empire from 1077 until the Concordat of Worms in 1122. The reign of the last ruler of the Salian dynasty Henry V coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor. By the settlement of the Concordat of Worms, Henry V surrendered to the demands of the second generation of Gregorian reformers. This agreement stipulated that the pope would appoint high church officials but gave the German king the right to veto the papal choices. Imperial control of Italy was lost for a time, and the imperial crown became dependent on the political support of competing aristocratic factions. Feudalism also became more widespread as freemen sought protection by swearing allegiance to a lord. These powerful local rulers, having thereby acquired extensive territories and large military retinues, took over administration within their territories and organized it around an increasing number of castles. The most powerful of these local rulers came to be called princes rather than dukes.
According to the laws of the feudal system of the Holy Roman Empire, the king had no claims on the vassals of other princes, only on those living within his family's territory. Lacking the support of the formerly independent vassals and weakened by the increasing hostility of the Church, the monarchy lost its pre-eminence. Thus the Investiture Contest strengthened local power in the Holy Roman Empire – in contrast to the trend in France and England, where centralized royal power grew. The Investiture Contest had an additional effect. The long struggle between emperor and pope hurt the Holy Roman Empire's intellectual life, in this period largely confined to monasteries, and the empire no longer led or even kept pace with developments occurring in France and Italy. For instance, no universities were founded in the Holy Roman Empire until the fourteenth century.
The first Hohenstaufen king Conrad III was a grandson of the Salian Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. (Agnes, Henry IV's daughter and Henry V's sister, was the heiress of Salian dynasty's lands: her first marriage produced the royal and imperial Hohenstaufen dynasty and her second marriage the ducal Babenberg potentates of Duchy of Austria which was elevated much due to such connections Privilegium Minus.)
Their regnal dates as emperor take into account elections and subsequent coronations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29545 |
Self-replication
Self-replication is any behavior of a dynamical system that yields construction of an identical or similar copy of itself. Biological cells, given suitable environments, reproduce by cell division. During cell division, DNA is replicated and can be transmitted to offspring during reproduction. Biological viruses can replicate, but only by commandeering the reproductive machinery of cells through a process of infection. Harmful prion proteins can replicate by converting normal proteins into rogue forms. Computer viruses reproduce using the hardware and software already present on computers. Self-replication in robotics has been an area of research and a subject of interest in science fiction. Any self-replicating mechanism which does not make a perfect copy (mutation) will experience genetic variation and will create variants of itself. These variants will be subject to natural selection, since some will be better at surviving in their current environment than others and will out-breed them.
Early research by John von Neumann established that replicators have several parts:
Exceptions to this pattern may be possible, although none have yet been achieved. For example, scientists have come close to constructing RNA that can be copied in an "environment" that is a solution of RNA monomers and transcriptase. In this case, the body is the genome, and the specialized copy mechanisms are external. The requirement for an outside copy mechanism has not yet been overcome, and such systems are more accurately characterized as "assisted replication" than "self-replication".
However, the simplest possible case is that only a genome exists. Without some specification of the self-reproducing steps, a genome-only system is probably better characterized as something like a crystal.
Recent research has begun to categorize replicators, often based on the amount of support they require.
The design space for machine replicators is very broad. A comprehensive study to date by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle has identified 137 design dimensions grouped into a dozen separate categories, including: (1) Replication Control, (2) Replication Information, (3) Replication Substrate, (4) Replicator Structure, (5) Passive Parts, (6) Active Subunits, (7) Replicator Energetics, (8) Replicator Kinematics, (9) Replication Process, (10) Replicator Performance, (11) Product Structure, and (12) Evolvability.
In computer science a quine is a self-reproducing computer program that, when executed, outputs its own code. For example, a quine in the Python programming language is:
A more trivial approach is to write a program that will make a copy of any stream of data that it is directed to, and then direct it at itself. In this case the program is treated as both executable code, and as data to be manipulated. This approach is common in most self-replicating systems, including biological life, and is simpler as it does not require the program to contain a complete description of itself.
In many programming languages an empty program is legal, and executes without producing errors or other output. The output is thus the same as the source code, so the program is trivially self-reproducing.
In geometry a self-replicating tiling is a tiling pattern in which several congruent tiles may be joined together to form a larger tile that is similar to the original. This is an aspect of the field of study known as tessellation. The "sphinx" hexiamond is the only known self-replicating pentagon. For example, four such concave pentagons can be joined together to make one with twice the dimensions. Solomon W. Golomb coined the term rep-tiles for self-replicating tilings.
In 2012, Lee Sallows identified rep-tiles as a special instance of a self-tiling tile set or setiset. A setiset of order "n" is a set of "n" shapes that can be assembled in "n" different ways so as to form larger replicas of themselves. Setisets in which every shape is distinct are called 'perfect'. A rep-"n" rep-tile is just a setiset composed of "n" identical pieces.
One form of natural self-replication that isn't based on DNA or RNA occurs in clay crystals. Clay consists of a large number of small crystals, and clay is an environment that promotes crystal growth. Crystals consist of a regular lattice of atoms and are able to grow if e.g. placed in a water solution containing the crystal components; automatically arranging atoms at the crystal boundary into the crystalline form. Crystals may have irregularities where the regular atomic structure is broken, and when crystals grow, these irregularities may propagate, creating a form of self-replication of crystal irregularities. Because these irregularities may affect the probability of a crystal breaking apart to form new crystals, crystals with such irregularities could even be considered to undergo evolutionary development.
It is a long-term goal of some engineering sciences to achieve a clanking replicator, a material device that can self-replicate. The usual reason is to achieve a low cost per item while retaining the utility of a manufactured good. Many authorities say that in the limit, the cost of self-replicating items should approach the cost-per-weight of wood or other biological substances, because self-replication avoids the costs of labor, capital and distribution in conventional manufactured goods.
A fully novel artificial replicator is a reasonable near-term goal.
A NASA study recently placed the complexity of a clanking replicator at approximately that of Intel's Pentium 4 CPU. That is, the technology is achievable with a relatively small engineering group in a reasonable commercial time-scale at a reasonable cost.
Given the currently keen interest in biotechnology and the high levels of funding in that field, attempts to exploit the replicative ability of existing cells are timely, and may easily lead to significant insights and advances.
A variation of self replication is of practical relevance in compiler construction, where a similar bootstrapping problem occurs as in natural self replication. A compiler (phenotype) can be applied on the compiler's own source code (genotype) producing the compiler itself. During compiler development, a modified (mutated) source is used to create the next generation of the compiler. This process differs from natural self-replication in that the process is directed by an engineer, not by the subject itself.
An activity in the field of robots is the self-replication of machines. Since all robots (at least in modern times) have a fair number of the same features, a self-replicating robot (or possibly a hive of robots) would need to do the following:
On a nano scale, assemblers might also be designed to self-replicate under their own power. This, in turn, has given rise to the "grey goo" version of Armageddon, as featured in such science fiction novels as "Bloom", "Prey", and "Recursion".
The Foresight Institute has published guidelines for researchers in mechanical self-replication. The guidelines recommend that researchers use several specific techniques for preventing mechanical replicators from getting out of control, such as using a broadcast architecture.
For a detailed article on mechanical reproduction as it relates to the industrial age see mass production.
Research has occurred in the following areas:
The goal of self-replication in space systems is to exploit large amounts of matter with a low launch mass. For example, an autotrophic self-replicating machine could cover a moon or planet with solar cells, and beam the power to the Earth using microwaves. Once in place, the same machinery that built itself could also produce raw materials or manufactured objects, including transportation systems to ship the products. Another model of self-replicating machine would copy itself through the galaxy and universe, sending information back.
In general, since these systems are autotrophic, they are the most difficult and complex known replicators. They are also thought to be the most hazardous, because they do not require any inputs from human beings in order to reproduce.
A classic theoretical study of replicators in space is the 1980 NASA study of autotrophic clanking replicators, edited by Robert Freitas.
Much of the design study was concerned with a simple, flexible chemical system for processing lunar regolith, and the differences between the ratio of elements needed by the replicator, and the ratios available in regolith. The limiting element was Chlorine, an essential element to process regolith for Aluminium. Chlorine is very rare in lunar regolith, and a substantially faster rate of reproduction could be assured by importing modest amounts.
The reference design specified small computer-controlled electric carts running on rails. Each cart could have a simple hand or a small bull-dozer shovel, forming a basic robot.
Power would be provided by a "canopy" of solar cells supported on pillars. The other machinery could run under the canopy.
A "casting robot" would use a robotic arm with a few sculpting tools to make plaster molds. Plaster molds are easy to make, and make precise parts with good surface finishes. The robot would then cast most of the parts either from non-conductive molten rock (basalt) or purified metals. An electric oven melted the materials.
A speculative, more complex "chip factory" was specified to produce the computer and electronic systems, but the designers also said that it might prove practical to ship the chips from Earth as if they were "vitamins".
Nanotechnologists in particular believe that their work will likely fail to reach a state of maturity until human beings design a self-replicating assembler of nanometer dimensions .
These systems are substantially simpler than autotrophic systems, because they are provided with purified feedstocks and energy. They do not have to reproduce them. This distinction is at the root of some of the controversy about whether molecular manufacturing is possible or not. Many authorities who find it impossible are clearly citing sources for complex autotrophic self-replicating systems. Many of the authorities who find it possible are clearly citing sources for much simpler self-assembling systems, which have been demonstrated. In the meantime, a Lego-built autonomous robot able to follow a pre-set track and assemble an exact copy of itself, starting from four externally provided components, was demonstrated experimentally in 2003 .
Merely exploiting the replicative abilities of existing cells is insufficient, because of limitations in the process of protein biosynthesis (also see the listing for RNA).
What is required is the rational design of an entirely novel replicator with a much wider range of synthesis capabilities.
In 2011, New York University scientists have developed artificial structures that can self-replicate, a process that has the potential to yield new types of materials. They have demonstrated that it is possible to replicate not just molecules like cellular DNA or RNA, but discrete structures that could in principle assume many different shapes, have many different functional features, and be associated with many different types of chemical species.
For a discussion of other chemical bases for hypothetical self-replicating systems, see alternative biochemistry. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29549 |
Shmuel Yosef Agnon
Shmuel Yosef Agnon () (July 17, 1888 – February 17, 1970) was a Nobel Prize laureate writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction. In Hebrew, he is known by the acronym Shai Agnon (). In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon.
Agnon was born in Polish Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, and died in Jerusalem, Israel.
His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world. They also attempt to recapture the fading traditions of the European "shtetl" (village). In a wider context, he also contributed to broadening the characteristic conception of the narrator's role in literature. Agnon had a distinctive linguistic style mixing modern and rabbinic Hebrew. Agnon shared the Nobel Prize with the poet Nelly Sachs in 1966.
Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes (later Agnon) was born in Buczacz (Polish spelling, pronounced "Buchach") or Butschatsch (German spelling), Polish Galicia (then within the Austro-Hungarian Empire), now Buchach, Ukraine. Officially, his date of birth on the Hebrew calendar was 18 Av 5648 (July 26), but he always said his birthday was on the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av.
His father, Shalom Mordechai Halevy, was ordained as a rabbi, but worked in the fur trade, and had many connections among the Hasidim, His mother's side had ties to the Mitnagdim.
He did not attend school and was schooled by his parents. In addition to studying Jewish texts, Agnon studied writings of the Haskalah, and was also tutored in German. At the age of eight, he began to write in Hebrew and Yiddish, At the age of 15, he published his first poem – a Yiddish poem about the Kabbalist Joseph della Reina. He continued to write poems and stories in Hebrew and Yiddish, which were published in Galicia.
In 1908, he moved to Jaffa in Ottoman Palestine. The first story he published there was "Agunot" ("Forsaken Wives"), which appeared that same year in the journal "Ha`omer." He used the pen name "Agnon," derived from the title of the story, which he adopted as his official surname in 1924. In 1910, "Forsaken Wives" was translated into German. In 1912, at the urging of Yosef Haim Brenner, he published a novella, "Vehaya Ha'akov Lemishor" ("The Crooked Shall Be Made Straight").
In 1913, Agnon moved to Germany, where he met Esther Marx (1889-1973). They married in 1920 and had two children. In Germany he lived in Berlin and Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (1921–24). Salman Schocken, a businessman and later also publisher, became his literary patron and freed him from financial worries. From 1931 on, his work was published by Schocken Books, and his short stories appeared regularly in the newspaper "Haaretz", also owned by the Schocken family. In Germany, he continued to write short stories and collaborated with Martin Buber on an anthology of Hasidic stories. Many of his early books appeared in Buber's "Jüdischer Verlag" (Berlin). The mostly assimilated, secular German Jews, Buber and Franz Rosenzweig among them, considered Agnon to be a legitimate relic, being a religious man, familiar with Jewish scripture. Gershom Scholem called him "the Jews' Jew".
In 1924, a fire broke out in his home, destroying his manuscripts and rare book collection. This traumatic event crops up occasionally in his stories. Later that year, Agnon returned to Palestine and settled with his family in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot. In 1929, his library was destroyed again during anti-Jewish riots.
When his novel "Hachnasat Kalla" ("The Bridal Canopy") appeared in 1931 to great critical acclaim, Agnon's place in Hebrew literature was assured. In 1935, he published "Sippur Pashut" ("A Simple Story"), a novella set in Buchach at the end of the 19th century. Another novel, "Tmol Shilshom" ("Only Yesterday"), set in Eretz Yisrael (Israel) of the early 20th century, appeared in 1945.
Agnon's writing has been the subject of extensive academic research. Many leading scholars of Hebrew literature have published books and papers on his work, among them Baruch Kurzweil, Dov Sadan, Nitza Ben-Dov, Dan Miron, Dan Laor and Alan Mintz. Agnon writes about Jewish life, but with his own unique perspective and special touch. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Agnon claimed "Some see in my books the influences of authors whose names, in my ignorance, I have not even heard, while others see the influences of poets whose names I have heard but whose writings I have not read." He went on to detail that his primary influences were the stories of the Bible. Agnon acknowledged that he was also influenced by German literature and culture, and European literature in general, which he read in German translation. A collection of essays on this subject, edited in part by Hillel Weiss, with contributions from Israeli and German scholars, was published in 2010: "Agnon and Germany: The Presence of the German World in the Writings of S.Y. Agnon". The budding Hebrew literature also influenced his works, notably that of his friend, Yosef Haim Brenner. In Germany, Agnon also spent time with the Hebraists Hayim Nahman Bialik and Ahad Ha'am.
The communities he passed through in his life are reflected in his works:
Nitza Ben-Dov writes about Agnon's use of allusiveness, free-association and imaginative dream-sequences, and discusses how seemingly inconsequential events and thoughts determine the lives of his characters.
Some of Agnon's works, such as "The Bridal Canopy", "And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight", and "The Doctor's Divorce", have been adapted for theatre. A play based on Agnon's letters to his wife, "Esterlein Yakirati", was performed at the Khan Theater in Jerusalem.
Agnon's writing often used words and phrases that differed from what would become established modern Hebrew. His distinct language is based on traditional Jewish sources, such as the Torah and the Prophets, Midrashic literature, the Mishnah, and other Rabbinic literature. Some examples include:
Bar-Ilan University has made a computerized concordance of his works in order to study his language.
Agnon was twice awarded the Bialik Prize for literature (1934 and 1950). He was also twice awarded the Israel Prize, for literature (1954 and 1958).
In 1966, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people". The prize was shared with German Jewish author Nelly Sachs. In his speech at the award ceremony, Agnon introduced himself in Hebrew: "As a result of the historic catastrophe in which Titus of Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Israel was exiled from its land, I was born in one of the cities of the Exile. But always I regarded myself as one who was born in Jerusalem".
In later years, Agnon's fame was such that when he complained to the municipality that traffic noise near his home was disturbing his work, the city closed the street to cars and posted a sign that read: "No entry to all vehicles, writer at work!"
Agnon died in Jerusalem on February 17, 1970. His daughter, Emuna Yaron, has continued to publish his work posthumously. Agnon's archive was transferred by the family to the National Library in Jerusalem. His home in Talpiot, built in 1931 in the Bauhaus style, was turned into a museum, "Beit Agnon." The study where he wrote many of his works was preserved intact. Agnon's image, with a list of his works and his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, appeared on the fifty-shekel bill, second series, in circulation from 1985 to 2014. The main street in Jerusalem's Givat Oranim neighborhood is called Sderot Shai Agnon, and a synagogue in Talpiot, a few blocks from his home, is named after him. Agnon is also memorialized in Buchach, now in Ukraine, where he was born. There is an extensive (relative to the size of the museum) exhibition in the Historical Museum in Buchach and, just a few yards away, a bust of Agnon is mounted on a pedestal in a plaza across the street from the house where he lived. The house itself is preserved and marked as the home where Agnon lived from birth till the age of (approximately) 19; the street that runs in front of the house is named "Agnon Street" (in Ukrainian).
Agnotherapy is a method developed in Israel to help elderly people express their feelings.
After Agnon's death, the former mayor of Jerusalem Mordechai Ish-Shalom initiated the opening of his home to the public. In the early 1980s, the kitchen and family dining room were turned into a lecture and conference hall, and literary and cultural evenings were held there. In 2005, the Agnon House Association in Jerusalem renovated the building, which reopened in January 2009. The house was designed by the German-Jewish architect Fritz Korenberg, who was also his neighbor.
In 1977 the Hebrew University published "Yiddish Works", a collection of stories and poems that Agnon wrote in Yiddish during 1903–1906. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29550 |
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. Ditko (; November 2, 1927 – c. June 29, 2018) was an American comics artist and writer best known as the artist and co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
Ditko studied under Batman artist Jerry Robinson at the Cartoonist and Illustrators School in New York City. He began his professional career in 1953, working in the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, beginning as an inker and coming under the influence of artist Mort Meskin. During this time, he then began his long association with Charlton Comics, where he did work in the genres of science fiction, horror, and mystery. He also co-created the superhero Captain Atom in 1960.
During the 1950s, Ditko also drew for Atlas Comics, a forerunner of Marvel Comics. He went on to contribute much significant work to Marvel. In 1966, after being the exclusive artist on "The Amazing Spider-Man" and the "Doctor Strange" feature in "Strange Tales", Ditko left Marvel for unclear reasons.
Ditko continued to work for Charlton and also DC Comics, including a revamp of the long-running character the Blue Beetle, and creating or co-creating the Question, the Creeper, Shade the Changing Man, and Hawk and Dove. Ditko also began contributing to small independent publishers, where he created Mr. A, a hero reflecting the influence of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. Ditko largely declined to give interviews, saying he preferred to communicate through his work.
Ditko was inducted into the comics industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, and into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994.
Ditko was born on November 2, 1927 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the son of first-generation American Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), father Stephen Ditko, an artistically talented master carpenter at a steel mill, and mother Anna, a homemaker. The second-oldest child in a working-class family, he was preceded by sister Anna Marie, and followed by sister Elizabeth and brother Patrick. Inspired by his father's love of newspaper comic strips, particularly Hal Foster's "Prince Valiant", Ditko found his interest in comics accelerated by the introduction of the superhero Batman in 1939, and by Will Eisner's "The Spirit", which appeared in a tabloid-sized comic-book insert in Sunday newspapers.
Ditko in junior high school was part of a group of students who crafted wooden models of German airplanes to aid civilian World War II aircraft-spotters. Upon graduating from Greater Johnstown High School in 1945, he enlisted in the U.S. Army on October 26, 1945, and did military service in postwar Germany, where he drew comics for an Army newspaper.
Following his discharge, Ditko learned that his idol, Batman artist Jerry Robinson, was teaching at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (later the School of Visual Arts) in New York City. Moving there in 1950, he enrolled in the art school under the G.I. Bill. Robinson found the young student "a very hard worker who really focused on his drawing" and someone who "could work well with other writers as well as write his own stories and create his own characters", and he helped Ditko acquire a scholarship for the following year. "He was in my class for two years, four or five days a week, five hours a night. It was very intense." Robinson, who invited artists and editors to speak with his class, once brought in Stan Lee, then editor of Marvel Comics' 1950s precursor Atlas Comics and, "I think that was when Stan first saw Steve's work."
Ditko began professionally illustrating comic books in early 1953, drawing writer Bruce Hamilton's science-fiction story "Stretching Things" for the Key Publications imprint Stanmor Publications, which sold the story to Ajax/Farrell, where it finally found publication in "Fantastic Fears" #5 (cover-dated Feb. 1954). Ditko's first published work was his second professional story, the six-page "Paper Romance" in "Daring Love" #1 (Oct. 1953), published by the Key imprint Gillmor Magazines.
Shortly afterward, Ditko found work at the studio of writer-artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who had created Captain America and other characters. Beginning as an inker on backgrounds, Ditko was soon working with and learning from Mort Meskin, an artist whose work he had long admired. "Meskin was fabulous," Ditko once recalled. "I couldn't believe the ease with which he drew: strong compositions, loose pencils, yet complete; detail without clutter. I loved his stuff". Ditko's known assistant work includes aiding inker Meskin on the Jack Kirby pencil work of Harvey Comics' "Captain 3-D" #1 (Dec. 1953). For his own third published story, Ditko penciled and inked the six-page "A Hole in His Head" in "Black Magic" vol. 4, #3 (Dec. 1953), published by Simon & Kirby's Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics.
Ditko then began a long association with the Derby, Connecticut publisher Charlton Comics, a low-budget division of a company best known for song-lyric magazines. Beginning with the cover of "The Thing!" #12 (Feb. 1954) and the eight-page vampire story "Cinderella" in that issue, Ditko would continue to work intermittently for Charlton until the company's demise in 1986, producing science fiction, horror and mystery stories, as well as co-creating Captain Atom, with writer Joe Gill, in "Space Adventures" #33 (March 1960). He first went on hiatus from the company, and comics altogether, in mid-1954, when he contracted tuberculosis and returned to his parents' home in Johnstown to recuperate.
After he recovered and moved back to New York City in late 1955, Ditko began drawing for Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics, beginning with the four-page "There'll Be Some Changes Made" in "Journey into Mystery" #33 (April 1956); this debut tale would be reprinted in Marvel's "Curse of the Weird" #4 (March 1994). Ditko would go on to contribute a large number of stories, many considered classic, to Atlas/Marvel's "Strange Tales" and the newly launched "Amazing Adventures", "Strange Worlds", "Tales of Suspense" and "Tales to Astonish", issues of which would typically open with a Kirby-drawn monster story, followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, or Joe Sinnott, all capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflexive short by Ditko and writer-editor Stan Lee.
These Lee-Ditko short stories proved so popular that "Amazing Adventures" was reformatted to feature such stories exclusively beginning with issue #7 (Dec. 1961), when the comic was rechristened "Amazing Adult Fantasy", a name intended to reflect its more "sophisticated" nature, as likewise the new tagline "The magazine that respects your intelligence". Lee in 2009 described these "short, five-page filler strips that Steve and I did together", originally "placed in any of our comics that had a few extra pages to fill", as "odd fantasy tales that I'd dream up with O. Henry-type endings." Giving an early example of what would later be known as the "Marvel Method" of writer-artist collaboration, Lee said, "All I had to do was give Steve a one-line description of the plot and he'd be off and running. He'd take those skeleton outlines I had given him and turn them into classic little works of art that ended up being far cooler than I had any right to expect."
After Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee obtained permission from publisher Martin Goodman to create a new "ordinary teen" superhero named "Spider-Man", Lee originally approached his leading artist, Jack Kirby. Kirby told Lee about his own 1950s character conception, variously called the Silver Spider and Spiderman, in which an orphaned boy finds a magic ring that gives him super powers. Comics historian Greg Theakston says Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference" and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. "A day or two later", Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, and, as Lee recalled, "I hated the way he was doing it. Not that he did it badly — it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic".
Lee turned to Ditko, who developed a visual motif Lee found satisfactory, although Lee would later replace Ditko's original cover with one penciled by Kirby. Ditko said, "The Spider-Man pages Stan showed me were nothing like the (eventually) published character. In fact, the only drawings of Spider-Man were on the splash [i.e., page 1] and at the end [where] Kirby had the guy leaping at you with a web gun... Anyway, the first five pages took place in the home, and the kid finds a ring and turns into Spider-Man."
Ditko also recalled that, "One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked ... before I did any breakdowns. For example: A clinging power so he wouldn't have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. ... I wasn't sure Stan would like the idea of covering the character's face but I did it because it hid an obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character..."
Much earlier, in a rare contemporaneous account, Ditko described his and Lee's contributions in a mail interview with Gary Martin published in "Comic Fan" #2 (Summer 1965): "Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal". He added he would continue drawing Spider-Man "[i]f nothing better comes along." That same year, he expressed to the fanzine "Voice of Comicdom", regarding a poll of "Best Liked" fan-created comics, "It seems a shame, since comics themselves have so little variety of stories and styles that you would deliberately restrict your own creative efforts to professional comics['] shallow range. What is 'Best Liked' by most readers is what they are most familiar in seeing and any policy based on readers likes has to end up with a lot of look-a-like (sic) strips. You have a great opportunity to show everyone a whole new range of ideas, unlimited types of stories and styles—why FLUB it!"
From 1958 to 1968, Ditko shared a Manhattan studio at 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue with noted fetish artist Eric Stanton, an art-school classmate. When either artist was under deadline pressure, it was not uncommon for them to pitch in and help the other with his assignment. Ditko biographer Blake Bell, without citing sources, said, "At one time in history, Ditko denied ever touching Stanton's work, even though Stanton himself said they would each dabble in each other's art; mainly spot-inking", and the introduction to one book of Stanton's work says, "Eric Stanton drew his pictures in India ink, and they were then hand-coloured by Ditko". In a 1988 interview with Theakston, Stanton recalled that although his contribution to Spider-Man was "almost nil", he and Ditko had "worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own... I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands".
Spider-Man debuted in "Amazing Fantasy" #15 (Aug. 1962), the final issue of that science-fiction/fantasy anthology series. When the issue proved to be a top seller, Spider-Man was given his own series, "The Amazing Spider-Man". Lee and Ditko's collaboration on the series saw the creation of many of the character's best known antagonists including Doctor Octopus in issue #3 (July 1963); the Sandman in #4 (Sept. 1963); the Lizard in #6 (Nov. 1963); Electro in #9 (March 1964); and the Green Goblin in #14 (July 1964). Ditko eventually desired credit for the plotting he was contributing under the Marvel Method. Lee concurred, and starting with #25 (June 1965), Ditko received plot credit for the stories.
One of the most celebrated issues of the Lee-Ditko run is #33 (Feb. 1966), the third part of the story arc "If This Be My Destiny...!", and featuring the dramatic scene of Spider-Man, through force of will and thoughts of family, escaping from being pinned by heavy machinery. Comics historian Les Daniels noted, "Steve Ditko squeezes every ounce of anguish out of Spider-Man's predicament, complete with visions of the uncle he failed and the aunt he has sworn to save." Peter David observed, "After his origin, this two-page sequence from "Amazing Spider-Man" #33 is perhaps the best-loved sequence from the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko era." Steve Saffel stated the "full page Ditko image from "The Amazing Spider-Man" #33 is one of the most powerful ever to appear in the series and influenced writers and artists for many years to come." Matthew K. Manning wrote that "Ditko's illustrations for the first few pages of this Lee story included what would become one of the most iconic scenes in Spider-Man's history." The story was chosen as #15 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story, "These first five pages are a modern-day equivalent to Shakespeare as Parker's soliloquy sets the stage for his next action. And with dramatic pacing and storytelling, Ditko delivers one of the great sequences in all comics."
Ditko created the supernatural hero Doctor Strange in "Strange Tales" #110 (July 1963). Ditko in the 2000s told a visiting fan that Lee gave Dr. Strange the first name "Stephen".
Though often overshadowed by his Spider-Man work, Ditko's Doctor Strange artwork has been equally acclaimed for its surrealistic mystical landscapes and increasingly psychedelic visuals that helped make the feature a favorite of college students. "People who read 'Doctor Strange' thought people at Marvel must be heads [i.e. drug users]," recalled then-associate editor and former Doctor Strange writer Roy Thomas in 1971, "because they had had similar experiences high on mushrooms. But ... I don't use hallucinogens, nor do I think any artists do."
Eventually Lee & Ditko would take Strange into ever-more-abstract realms. In an epic 17-issue story arc in "Strange Tales" #130–146 (March 1965 – July 1966), Lee and Ditko introduced the cosmic character Eternity, who personified the universe and was depicted as a silhouette whose outlines are filled with the cosmos. As historian Bradford W. Wright describes,
The cartoonist and fine artist Seth in 2003 described Ditko's style as:
In addition to Dr. Strange, Ditko in the 1960s also drew comics starring the Hulk and Iron Man. He penciled and inked the final issue of "The Incredible Hulk" (#6, March 1963), then continued to collaborate with writer-editor Lee on a relaunched Hulk feature in the omnibus "Tales to Astonish", beginning with issue #60 (Oct. 1964). Ditko, inked by George Roussos, penciled the feature through #67 (May 1965). Ditko designed the Hulk's primary antagonist, the Leader, in #62 (Dec. 1964).
Ditko also penciled the Iron Man feature in "Tales of Suspense" #47–49 (Nov. 1963 – Jan. 1964), with various inkers. The first of these debuted the initial version of Iron Man's modern red-and-golden armor, though whether Ditko or cover-penciler and principal character designer Jack Kirby designed the costume is uncertain.
Whichever feature he drew, Ditko's idiosyncratic, cleanly detailed, instantly recognizable art style, emphasizing mood and anxiety, found great favor with readers. The character of Spider-Man and his troubled personal life meshed well with Ditko's own interests, which Lee eventually acknowledged by giving the artist plotting credits on the latter part of their 38-issue run. But after four years on the title, Ditko left Marvel; he and Lee had not been on speaking terms for some time, with art and editorial changes handled through intermediaries. The details of the rift remain uncertain, even to Lee, who confessed in 2003, "I never really knew Steve on a personal level." Ditko later claimed it was Lee who broke off contact and disputed the long-held belief that the disagreement was over the true identity of the Green Goblin: "Stan never knew what he was getting in my Spider-Man stories and covers until after [production manager] Sol Brodsky took the material from me ... so there couldn't have been any disagreement or agreement, no exchanges ... no problems between us concerning the Green Goblin or anything else from before issue #25 to my final issues". Spider-Man successor artist John Romita, in a 2010 deposition, recalled that Lee and Ditko "ended up not being able to work together because they disagreed on almost everything, cultural, social, historically, everything, they disagreed on characters. ..." A friendly farewell was given to Ditko in the "Bullpen Bulletins" of comics cover-dated July 1966, including "Fantastic Four" #52: "Steve recently told us he was leaving for personal reasons. After all these years, we're sorry to see him go, and we wish the talented guy success with his future endeavors."
Regardless, said Lee in 2007, "Quite a few years ago I met him up at the Marvel offices when I was last in New York. And we spoke; he's a hell of a nice guy and it was very pleasant. ... I haven't heard from him since that meeting."
Back at Charlton—where the page rate was low but creators were allowed greater freedom—Ditko worked on such characters as the Blue Beetle (1967–1968), the Question (1967–1968), and Captain Atom (1965–1967), returning to the character he'd co-created in 1960. In addition, in 1966 and 1967, he drew 16 stories, most of them written by Archie Goodwin, for Warren Publishing's horror-comic magazines "Creepy" and "Eerie", generally using an ink-wash technique.
In 1967, Ditko gave his Objectivist ideas ultimate expression in the form of Mr. A, published in Wally Wood's independent title "witzend" # 3. Ditko's hard line against criminals was controversial and he continued to produce Mr. A stories and one-pagers until the end of the 1970s. Ditko returned to Mr. A in 2000 and in 2009.
Ditko moved to DC Comics in 1968, where he co-created the Creeper in "Showcase" #73 (April 1968) with Don Segall, under editor Murray Boltinoff. DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz observed that Ditko's art on the "Creeper" stories made "them look unlike anything else being published by DC at the time." Ditko co-created the team Hawk and Dove in "Showcase" #75 (June 1968), with writer Steve Skeates. Around this time, he penciled the lead story, written and inked by Wally Wood, in Wood's early mature-audience, independent-comics publication "Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon" (1969).
Ditko's stay at DC was short—he would work on all six issues of the Creeper's own title, "Beware the Creeper" (June 1968 – April 1969), though leaving midway through the final one—and the reasons for his departure uncertain. But while at DC, Ditko recommended Charlton staffer Dick Giordano to the company, who would go on to become a top DC penciller, inker, editor, and ultimately, in 1981, the managing editor.
From this time up through the mid-1970s, Ditko worked exclusively for Charlton and various small press/independent publishers. Frank McLaughlin, Charlton's art director during this period, describes Ditko as living "in a local hotel in Derby for a while. He was a very happy-go-lucky guy with a great sense of humor at that time, and always supplied the [female] color separators with candy and other little gifts".
For Charlton in 1974 he did Liberty Belle backup stories in "E-Man" and conceived Killjoy. Ditko produced much work for Charlton's science-fiction and horror titles, as well as for former Marvel publisher Martin Goodman's start-up line Atlas/Seaboard Comics, where he co-created the superhero the Destructor with writer Archie Goodwin, and penciled all four issues of the namesake series (Feb.–Aug. 1975), the first two of which were inked by Wally Wood. Ditko worked on the second and third issues of "Tiger-Man" and the third issue of "Morlock 2001", with Bernie Wrightson inking.
Ditko returned to DC Comics in 1975, creating a short-lived title, "Shade, the Changing Man" (1977–1978). Shade was later revived, without Ditko's involvement, in DC's mature-audience imprint Vertigo. With writer Paul Levitz, he co-created the four-issue sword and sorcery series "Stalker" (1975–1976). Ditko and writer Gerry Conway produced the first issue of a two-issue "Man-Bat" series. He also revived the Creeper and did such various other jobs as a short Demon backup series in 1979 and stories in DC's horror and science-fiction anthologies. Editor Jack C. Harris hired Ditko as guest artist on several issues of "The Legion of Super-Heroes", a decision which garnered a mixed reaction from the title's readership. Ditko also drew the Prince Gavyn version of Starman in "Adventure Comics" #467–478 (1980). He then decamped to do work for a variety of publishers, briefly contributing to DC again in the mid-1980s, with four pinups of his characters for "Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe" and a pinup for "Superman" #400 (Oct. 1984) and its companion portfolio.
Ditko returned to Marvel in 1979, taking over Jack Kirby's "Machine Man", drawing "The Micronauts" and Captain Universe, and continuing to freelance for the company into the late 1990s. Starting in 1984, he penciled the last two years of the space-robot series "Rom". A Godzilla story by Ditko and Marv Wolfman was changed into a Dragon Lord story published in "Marvel Spotlight". Ditko and writer Tom DeFalco introduced the Speedball character in "The Amazing Spider-Man Annual" #22 (1988) and Ditko drew a ten-issue series based on the character.
In 1982, he also began freelancing for the early independent comics label Pacific Comics, beginning with "Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers" #6 (Sept. 1982), in which he introduced the superhero Missing Man, with Mark Evanier scripting to Ditko's plot and art. Subsequent Missing Man stories appeared in "Pacific Presents" #1–3 (Oct. 1982 – March 1984), with Ditko scripting the former and collaborating with longtime friend Robin Snyder on the script for the latter two. Ditko also created The Mocker for Pacific, in "Silver Star" #2 (April 1983).
For Eclipse Comics, he contributed a story featuring his character Static (no relation to the later Milestone Comics character) in "Eclipse Monthly" #1–3 (Aug.–Oct. 1983), introducing supervillain the Exploder in #2. With writer Jack C. Harris, Ditko drew the backup feature "The Faceless Ones" in First Comics' "Warp" #2–4 (April–June 1983). Working with that same writer and others, Ditko drew a handful of the Fly, Fly-Girl and Jaguar stories for "The Fly" #2–8 (July 1983 – Aug. 1984), for Archie Comics' short-lived 1980s superhero line; in a rare latter-day instance of Ditko inking another artist, he inked penciler Dick Ayers on the Jaguar story in "The Fly" #9 (Oct. 1984). Western Publishing in 1982 announced a series by Ditko and Harris would appear in a new science-fiction comic, "Astral Frontiers", but that title never materialized.
In the early 1990s Ditko worked for Jim Shooter's newly founded company Valiant Comics, drawing, among others, issues of "Magnus, Robot Fighter", "Solar, Man of the Atom" and "X-O-Manowar". In 1992 Ditko worked with writer Will Murray to produce one of his last original characters for Marvel Comics, the superheroine Squirrel Girl, who debuted in "Marvel Super-Heroes" vol. 2, #8, a.k.a. "Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special" (Jan. 1992).
In 1993, he did the Dark Horse Comics one-shot "The Safest Place in the World". For the Defiant Comics series "Dark Dominion," he drew issue #0, which was released as a set of trading cards. In 1995, he pencilled a four-issue series for Marvel based on the "Phantom 2040" animated TV series. This included a poster that was inked by John Romita Sr. "Steve Ditko's Strange Avenging Tales" was announced as a quarterly series from Fantagraphics Books, although it only ran one issue (Feb. 1997) due to publicly unspecified disagreements between Ditko and the publisher.
"The New York Times" assessed in 2008 that, "By the '70s he was regarded as a slightly old-fashioned odd-ball; by the '80s he was a commercial has-been, picking up wretched work-for-hire gigs. ...following the example of [Ayn] Rand's John Galt, Ditko hacked out moneymaking work, saving his care for the crabbed Objectivist screeds he published with tiny presses. And boy, could Ditko hack: seeing samples of his Transformers coloring book and his Big Boy comic is like hearing Orson Welles sell frozen peas."
Ditko retired from mainstream comics in 1998. His later work for Marvel and DC included such established superheroes as the Sub-Mariner (in "Marvel Comics Presents") and newer, licensed characters such as the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". The last mainstream character he created was Marvel's Longarm in "Shadows & Light" #1 (Feb. 1998), in a self-inked, 12-page Iron Man story "A Man's Reach...", scripted by Len Wein. His final mainstream work was a five-page New Gods story for DC Comics, "Infinitely Gentle Infinitely Suffering", inked by Mick Gray and believed to be intended for the 2000–2002 "Orion" series but not published until the 2008 trade paperback "Tales of the New Gods".
Since then, Ditko's solo work has been published intermittently by Robin Snyder, who was his editor at Charlton, Archie Comics, and Renegade Press in the 1980s. The Snyder publications have included a number of original books as well as reprints such as "Static", "The Missing Man", "The Mocker" and, in 2002, "Avenging World", a collection of stories and essays spanning 30 years.
In 2008, Ditko and Snyder released "The Avenging Mind", a 32-page essay publication featuring several pages of new artwork; and "Ditko, Etc...", a 32-page comic book composed of brief vignettes and editorial cartoons. Releases have continued in that format, with stories introducing such characters as the Hero, Miss Eerie, the Cape, the Madman, the Grey Negotiator, the !? and the Outline. He said in 2012 of his self-published efforts, "I do those because that's all they'll let me do."
In addition to the new material, Ditko and Snyder have reprinted earlier Ditko material. In 2010 they published a new edition of the 1973 "Mr. A" comic and a selection of Ditko covers in "The Cover Series". In 2011 they published a new edition of the 1975 comic "...Wha...!? Ditko's H. Series".
Two "lost" stories drawn by Ditko in 1978 have been published by DC in hardcover collections of the artist's work. A Creeper story scheduled for the never published "Showcase" #106 appears in "The Creeper by Steve Ditko" (2010) and an unpublished "Shade, the Changing Man" story appears in "The Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol. 1" (2011). A Hulk and the Human Torch story written by Jack C. Harris and drawn by Ditko in the 1980s was published by Marvel as "Incredible Hulk and the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault" #1 in August 2011.
As of 2012, Ditko continued to work in Manhattan's Midtown West neighborhood. He mostly declined to give interviews or make public appearances, explaining in 1969 that, "When I do a job, it's not my personality that I'm offering the readers but my artwork. It's not what I'm like that counts; it's what I did and how well it was done. I produce a product, a comic art story. Steve Ditko is the brand name." However, he did contribute numerous essays to Robin Snyder's fanzine "The Comics". Ditko was an ardent supporter of Objectivism.
He had a nephew who became an artist, also named Steve Ditko. As far as it is known, he never married and had no surviving children at the time of his death. Will Eisner stated that Ditko had a son out of wedlock, but this may have been a confused reference to the nephew.
Ditko said in 2012 that he had made no income on the four "Spider-Man" films released to that time. However, a neighbor of Ditko's stated that he received royalty checks. Those involved with creating the "Doctor Strange" film purposely declined to contact him during production, believing they would not be welcome.
Ditko was found unresponsive in his apartment in New York City on June 29, 2018. Police said he had died within the previous two days. He was pronounced dead at age 90, with the cause of death initially deemed as a result of a myocardial infarction, brought on by arteriosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
The final words of Ditko's last essay, published posthumously in "Down Memory Lane" in February 2019, quoted an "old toast" and were appropriately cantankerous: "Here's to those who wish me well, and those that don't can go to hell."
In September 2007, presenter Jonathan Ross hosted a one-hour documentary for BBC Four titled "In Search of Steve Ditko". The program covers Ditko's work at Marvel, DC, and Charlton Comics and at Wally Wood's "witzend", as well as his following of Objectivism. It includes testimonials by Alan Moore, Mark Millar, Jerry Robinson and Stan Lee, among others. Ross, accompanied by writer Neil Gaiman, met Ditko briefly at his New York office, but he declined to be filmed, interviewed or photographed. He did, however, give the two a selection of some comic books. At the end of the show, Ross said he had since spoken to Ditko on the telephone and, as a joke, that he was now on first name terms with him.
As penciller (generally but not exclusively self-inked), unless otherwise noted
Farrell Publications
Harvey Comics
Key Publications
Prize Comics
Charlton Comics
Marvel Comics
St. John Publications
DC Comics
ACG
Dell Publishing
Warren Publishing
Tower Comics
Independent
Atlas/Seaboard
CPL Gang
Star*Reach Productions
M W Communications
Pacific Comics
New Media Publishing
First Comics
Eclipse Comics
Epic Comics
Archie Comics
Deluxe Comics
Renegade Press
Globe Communications
Ace Comics
3-D- Zone
Valiant Comics
Marvel UK
Dark Horse Comics
Defiant Comics
Topps Comics
Yoe! Studio
Fantagraphics Books
AC Comics
Robin Snyder | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29551 |
Gavinus
Saint Gavinus () is a Christian saint who is greatly celebrated in Sardinia, Italy, as one of the Martyrs of Torres (), along with his companions SS Protus and Januarius.
He was probably a Roman soldier martyred for the Christian faith during the persecution of Diocletian in 304 in the city of Porto Torres (), according to the legend on the orders of the governor ("preside") of Sardinia and Corsica, a certain Barbarus.
The well-known Romanesque church of Gavoi is dedicated to him, as is the town of San Gavino Monreale, and a number of communes in Corsica.
The 11th-century Basilica of San Gavino in Porto Torres, Sassari, is also dedicated to this saint. It was built by Comita or Gomida, Judge of Torres, and contains the relics, discovered in 1614, not only of Saint Gavinus, but also of his companions, Saints Protus and Januarius.
His feast day is given in the Roman Martyrology as 30 May. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29558 |
Sienna
Sienna (from , meaning "Siena earth") is an earth pigment containing iron oxide and manganese oxide. In its natural state, it is yellowish brown and is called raw sienna. When heated, it becomes a reddish brown and is called burnt sienna. It takes its name from the city-state of Siena, where it was produced during the Renaissance. Along with ochre and umber, it was one of the first pigments to be used by humans, and is found in many cave paintings. Since the Renaissance, it has been one of the brown pigments most widely used by artists.
The first recorded use of "sienna" as a colour name in English was in 1760.
Like the other earth colours, such as yellow ochre and umber, sienna is a clay containing iron oxide, called limonite, which in its natural state has a yellowish colour. In addition to iron oxide, natural or raw sienna also contains about five percent of manganese oxide, which makes it darker than ochre. When heated, the iron oxide is dehydrated and turns partially to haematite, which gives it a reddish-brown colour.
Sienna is lighter in shade than raw umber, which is also clay with iron oxide, but which has a higher content of manganese (5 to 20 percent) which makes it greenish brown or dark brown. When heated, raw umber becomes burnt umber, a very dark brown.
The pigment sienna was known and used, in its natural form, by the ancient Romans. It was mined near Arcidosso, formerly under Sienese control, now in the province of Grosseto, on Monte Amiata in southern Tuscany. It was called "terra rossa" (red earth), "terra gialla", or terra di Siena"." During the Renaissance, it was noted by the most widely read author about painting techniques, Giorgio Vasari, under the name terra rossa. It became, along with umber and yellow ochre, one of the standard browns used by artists from the 16th to 19th centuries, including Caravaggio (1571-1610) and Rembrandt (1606-1669), who used all the earth colours, including ochre, sienna and umber, in his palette.
By the 1940s, the traditional sources in Italy were nearly exhausted. Much of today's sienna production is carried out in the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily, while other major deposits are found in the Appalachian Mountains, where it is often found alongside the region's iron deposits. It is also still produced in the French Ardennes, in the small town of Bonne Fontaine near Ecordal.
In the 20th century, pigments began to be produced using synthetic iron oxide rather than the natural earth. The labels on paint tubes indicate whether they contain natural or synthetic ingredients. PY-43 indicates natural raw sienna, PR-102 indicates natural burnt sienna.
There is no single agreed standard for the colour of sienna, and the name is used today for a wide variety of hues and shades. They vary by country and colour list, and there are many proprietary variations offered by paint companies. The colour box at the top of the article shows one variation from the ISCC-NBS colour list.
Raw sienna is a yellowish-brown natural earth pigment, composed primarily of iron oxide hydroxide. The box shows the colour of the pigment in its natural, or raw state. It contains a large quantity of iron oxide and a small quantity (about five percent) of manganese oxide.
This kind of pigment is known as yellow ochre, yellow earth, limonite, or terra gialla. The pigment name for natural raw sienna from the Colour Index International, shown on the labels of oil paints, is PY-43.
This box at right shows a variation of raw sienna from the Italian Ferrario 1919 colour list.
Burnt sienna contains a large proportion of anhydrous iron oxide. It is made by heating raw sienna, which dehydrates the iron oxide, changing it partially to haematite, giving it rich reddish-brown colour.
The pigment is also known as red earth, red ochre, and terra rossa. On the Colour Index International, the pigment is known as PR-102.
This version is from the Italian Ferrario 1919 colour list.
The first recorded use of "burnt sienna" as a colour name in English was in 1853.
This variation of burnt sienna is from the Maerz and Paul "A Dictionary of Color" from 1930. It is considerably lighter than most other versions of burnt sienna. It was a mix of burnt orange and raw sienna.
This infobox shows the colour dark sienna. This variation is from the ISCC-NBS colour list. A similar dark sienna paint was frequently used on Bob Ross' TV show, "The Joy of Painting".
The web colour sienna is defined by the list of X11 colours used in web browsers and web design. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29559 |
Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2001 season. The Patriots defeated the Rams by the score of 20–17. It was New England's first Super Bowl championship, and the franchise's first league championship of any kind. The game was also notable for snapping the AFC East's long streak of not being able to win a Super Bowl championship, as the division's teams had lost eight Super Bowls in total (prior to the Patriots victory in XXXVI). It would be the last time the Rams reached a Super Bowl during their time in St. Louis; the team would return to Super Bowl LIII in 2019 as the Los Angeles Rams 17 years later, where they would again face the Patriots, only to lose 13–3.
The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, on February 3, 2002. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks earlier in the season, the NFL postponed a week of regular-season games and moved the league's playoff schedule back. As a result, Super Bowl XXXVI was rescheduled from the original date of January 27 to February 3, becoming the first Super Bowl played in February. The pregame ceremonies and the halftime show headlined by the Irish rock band U2 honored the victims of 9/11. Due to heightened security measures following the terrorist attacks, this was the first Super Bowl designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the Office of Homeland Security (OHS). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which replaced the OHS in 2003, later established the practice of naming each subsequent Super Bowl an NSSE. Additionally, it was the last Super Bowl to be played in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina slammed the city on August 29, 2005; the first since then was Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
This game marked the Rams' third Super Bowl appearance in franchise history and the second in three seasons. St. Louis posted an NFL-best 14–2 regular season record, led by quarterback Kurt Warner and "The Greatest Show on Turf" offense. The Patriots clinched their third Super Bowl berth after posting an 11–5 regular season record, led by second-year quarterback Tom Brady and a defense that ended the regular season ranked sixth in scoring.
Although the Rams out-gained the Patriots 427–267 in total yards, New England built a 17–3 third-quarter lead off three Rams turnovers. After a holding penalty in the fourth quarter negated a Patriots fumble return for a touchdown, Warner scored a 2-yard touchdown run and threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to tie the game, 17–17, with 1:30 remaining. Without any timeouts, Brady led his team down the field to set up kicker Adam Vinatieri's game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired. Brady, who completed 16 of 27 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, was named Super Bowl MVP.
After the Rams’ 1999 season that had culminated in a gripping victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV, their offense again dominated the league in 2000, leading the NFL in passing, scoring, and total yards. However, the Rams had one of the worst defenses in the league, ranking last in points allowed (471). This, along with injury problems and a coaching change from championship-winning coach Dick Vermeil – who resigned just 48 hours after the game – to his offensive coordinator Mike Martz, caused the Rams to slip to a 10–6 record in 2000. The season ended with a disappointing loss to the New Orleans Saints in the wild card round of the playoffs.
After signing several new defensive players in the off-season, and hiring new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, the Rams finished the 2001 season with the NFL's best regular season record at 14–2. They led the league in both total offensive yards (6,930) and scoring (503). This was the Rams' third consecutive season with over 500 points, an NFL record. On defense, they only allowed 271 points, improving their 31st ranking in 2000 to 7th in 2001.
The Rams' 1999–2001 offense, nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf", is widely considered one of the best in NFL history. The team possessed an incredible amount of offensive talent at nearly every position. In 2001, quarterback Kurt Warner was awarded his second NFL Most Valuable Player Award after throwing for 4,830 yards and 36 touchdowns, with 22 interceptions, and earned a league high 101.4 passer rating. Wide receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce each amassed over 1,100 receiving yards, combining for 142 receptions, 2,469 yards, and 13 touchdowns. Wide receiver Ricky Proehl caught 40 passes for 563 yards and 5 touchdowns. Tight end Ernie Conwell caught 38 passes for 431 yards and 4 touchdowns. Wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim caught 39 passes for 374 yards, and added another 333 yards returning punts.
Running back Marshall Faulk won NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award for the third year in a row in 2001. He rushed for 1,382 yards, caught 83 passes for 765 yards, scored 21 touchdowns, and became the first NFL player ever to gain more than 2,000 combined rushing and receiving yards for 4 consecutive seasons. Running back Trung Canidate was also a major contributor, rushing for 441 yards, catching 17 passes for 154 yards, returning kickoffs for 748 yards, and scoring 6 touchdowns. The Rams offensive line was led by guard Adam Timmerman and offensive tackle Orlando Pace, who was selected to the Pro Bowl for the third consecutive year.
The Rams' defense ranked third in the league in fewest yards allowed (4,733). The line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Leonard Little, who led the team with 14.5 sacks and recovered a fumble, and defensive end Grant Wistrom, who recorded 9 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 1 fumble recovery. The Rams linebackers unit was led by London Fletcher, who had 4.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 4 forced fumbles. St. Louis also had an outstanding secondary, led by Dré Bly (6 interceptions, 150 return yards, and 2 touchdowns), Pro Bowl selection Aeneas Williams (4 interceptions, 69 return yards, 2 touchdowns), and Dexter McCleon (4 interceptions, 66 yards).
The Rams also bested the Patriots in a nationally televised ESPN Sunday night game on November 18 at Foxboro Stadium. Although the Patriots jumped out to an early lead, a critical turnover before the end of the first half that led to a Rams score proved costly. In the second half, the Rams wore New England down and won 24–17. The Rams lost four of their defensive players with injuries. The Patriots' physical play led Rams coach Mike Martz to say after the game that the Patriots were "a Super Bowl–caliber team."
The Patriots' chances for a Super Bowl appearance seemed bleak shortly after the season had begun. Before the season even started, quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein died of a heart attack at the age of 45. The Patriots, coached by Bill Belichick, lost their first two games, and moreover, in their second loss at home to the New York Jets, starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe suffered a sheared blood vessel on a hit by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis that caused him to miss several weeks. His replacement was second-year quarterback Tom Brady, a sixth-round draft pick who had thrown only 3 passes in 2000. Also, midway through the season, wide receiver Terry Glenn, the team's leading receiver in 2000, was benched due to off-the-field problems. He had been suspended for the first four games for failing a drug test and after serving it he played in just four more before injuries and disputes with the coaching staff caused Belichick to deactivate him for good.
Upon assuming the role of starting quarterback, Brady enjoyed immediate success in the regular season, leading New England to a 44–13 win over the Indianapolis Colts in his first start and eventually to an 11–5 record. He completed 63.9 percent of his passes for 2,843 yards and 18 touchdowns with 12 interceptions and was selected to the Pro Bowl. Veteran Pro Bowl wide receiver Troy Brown was the main receiving threat, recording 101 receptions for 1,199 yards and 5 touchdowns, while also adding another 413 yards and 2 touchdowns returning punts. His 14.2 yards per punt return average led the NFL. Wide receiver David Patten also was productive, catching 51 passes for 749 yards and 4 touchdowns. Running back Antowain Smith provided the team with a stable running game, rushing for 1,157 yards, catching 19 passes for 192 yards, and scoring 13 touchdowns.
New England was outstanding on defense as well. Up front, linemen Bobby Hamilton (7 sacks, 1 fumble recovery) and rookie Richard Seymour excelled at pressuring quarterbacks and stuffing the run. Behind them, the Patriots had three outstanding linebackers: Mike Vrabel (2 interceptions, 3 sacks), Willie McGinest (5 sacks), and Tedy Bruschi (2 interceptions). The secondary also featured outstanding talent such as defensive back Otis Smith, who led the team with 5 interceptions for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. Cornerback Ty Law intercepted 3 passes, returning them for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. Safety Lawyer Milloy had 2 interceptions during the season, and was selected along with Law to represent the New England defense in the Pro Bowl. The defense ended the season ranked 6th in scoring, but 24th in total yards allowed. Following their loss to the Rams at home, the Patriots dropped to 5–5, but did not lose again the rest of the season to clinch a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs.
Coincidentally, this was the third straight time that the New England Patriots' Super Bowl appearance would be at the Superdome, meaning they joined the Dallas Cowboys as the only teams to play three different Super Bowls in one stadium; the Cowboys had played three at the old Miami Orange Bowl in the 1970s. In their maiden Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XX, the Patriots lost 46–10 – the biggest margin of victory in a Super Bowl to that point – to a Chicago Bears team coached by Mike Ditka and including Mike Singletary and Walter Payton. The Patriots returned to the Superdome 11 years later for Super Bowl XXXI but lost 35–21 to a Green Bay Packers team including Brett Favre, Reggie White and Desmond Howard and coached by Mike Holmgren. Milloy, Law, Vinatieri, Bledsoe, McGinest, Bruschi and Otis Smith were among the players who had played in that game, while Belichick had been assistant head coach to Bill Parcells. The Patriots did not appear in a Super Bowl hosted by another city until the team played in Super Bowl XXXVIII two years later in Houston, Texas.
The Rams began their postseason run with a 45–17 win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional round. Expected to be a close shootout between Warner and Packers quarterback Brett Favre, the Rams defense dominated the Packers by intercepting a playoff record 6 passes from Favre and returning 3 of them for touchdowns. The Rams offense also racked up 24 points on 2 touchdown passes by Warner, a touchdown run by Faulk, and a field goal by Jeff Wilkins, helping St. Louis put the game away by the end of the third quarter.
One week later, the Rams advanced to the Super Bowl with a 29–24 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. Philadelphia managed to build a 17–13 halftime lead, but St. Louis scored 16 consecutive second half points (2 touchdown runs by Faulk and a Wilkins field goal) to earn the win, limiting the Eagles to only one touchdown pass in the second half. Warner finished the game with 22 of 33 pass completions for 212 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, while Faulk rushed for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns.
In the AFC Divisional Round, the Patriots defeated the Oakland Raiders 16–13 during a raging New England snowstorm in the last game ever played at Foxboro Stadium. The signature moment of the game was a controversial ruling by referee Walt Coleman in the fourth quarter that caused this game to be commonly known as the "Tuck Rule Game." While the Patriots possessed the ball, trailing the Raiders 13–10 with under two minutes left in regulation and no time outs, Brady was sacked by defensive back Charles Woodson, and appeared to fumble the ball. The fumble was recovered by Raiders linebacker Greg Biekert, presumably ending the game with a Raiders victory. After reviewing the play using instant replay, Coleman reversed the call on the field pursuant to the "tuck rule", where a loose ball is ruled an incomplete pass if lost while "tucking" the ball. Most of the controversy centered on whether Brady was still trying to tuck the ball away when he lost control. Brady then led his team to the Raiders 27-yard line, where kicker Adam Vinatieri made a 45-yard field goal which barely cleared the crossbar to send the game into overtime. The Patriots won the toss in overtime and won on another Vinatieri field goal from 23 yards; per the overtime rules in place at that time. Oakland's offense never regained possession.
In the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots traveled to Heinz Field to face the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were coming off a 27–10 win over the previous season's Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. New England scored first with a 55-yard punt return touchdown by Brown, but in the second quarter, Brady was knocked out of the game with a sprained ankle. He was replaced by Bledsoe in Bledsoe's first game action since being injured in September. Upon entering the game, Bledsoe quickly moved the Patriots down the field and threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Patten to give the Patriots a 14–3 halftime lead. Early in the second half, the Steelers moved from their own 32 to the New England 16, where they lined up for a field goal by Kris Brown. However, Brandon Mitchell blocked the kick, Brown picked up the ball at the 40 and ran 11 yards before lateraling to Antwan Harris, who took it 49 yards for a touchdown that made the score 21–3. But Pittsburgh scored two third-quarter touchdowns to make the score 21–17. The Patriots ended the comeback attempt by scoring a field goal in the fourth quarter and intercepting 2 passes from Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart in the final 3 minutes of the game.
New Orleans had been preparing for Super Bowl XXXVI ever since the city was awarded the game on October 28, 1998 during the NFL's meetings in Kansas City, Missouri, beating out San Diego as host city. However, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks led the league to postpone its September 16 games and play them a week after the scheduled conclusion of the regular season. This caused the playoffs and Super Bowl to be delayed by one week. Rescheduling Super Bowl XXXVI from January 27 to February 3 proved extraordinarily difficult. In addition to rescheduling the game itself, all related events and activities had to be accommodated. This marked the first time in NFL history that the Super Bowl was played in February; all subsequent Super Bowls (excluding Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003) after that have been played in February.
Historically, the NFL made allowance for an open weekend between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. However, there wasn't one scheduled for 2001, due to the NFL's decision beginning in the 1999 season to move the opening week of games to the weekend after Labor Day. Because the date of the Super Bowl had been set through 2003, the bye week prior to the Super Bowl did not return until 2004.
The NFL and New Orleans officials worked diligently to put together a deal to reschedule the game. The league considered a number of options, including shortening the regular season, shortening the playoffs, condensing the three playoff rounds in two weeks, and moving the game to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. It was eventually decided to make every effort to maintain a full regular season and playoff, and push the Super Bowl back to February 3. Also, due to the Super Bowl being sent back a week, the first week of New Orleans Mardi Gras parades rolled one week earlier than normal.
One of the most significant logistical challenges was accommodating the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention, which was originally slated to occupy the Superdome on February 3. On October 3, 2001, the NFL announced its intentions to hold the game on February 3, even though no agreement had been reached with NADA. Several weeks later, the three parties came to an accord in which the NADA agreed to move its convention date to the original Super Bowl week in exchange for financial and other considerations, including promotional spots shown during selected regular season NFL games. This agreement permitted the NFL to move the game back to February 3, and allowed for a full standard playoff tournament.
The original logo for Super Bowl XXXVI had a style that reflected the host city, and was distributed on some memorabilia items during 2001. However, after the 9/11 attacks, a new logo reflecting American patriotism was designed, featuring the shape of the 48 contiguous states and the American flag colors of red, white, and blue. Rob Tornoe of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" noted that it had "become one of the most iconic logos in Super Bowl history".
Janet Jackson was originally scheduled to perform during the Halftime Show, but allowed U2 to perform to tribute the events of September 11.
This was the final Super Bowl played on the first-generation AstroTurf surface. From 2000 to 2005, NFL stadiums phased out the short-pile AstroTurf in favor of natural grass or other, newer artificial surfaces which closely simulate grass, like FieldTurf.
Prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, Superdome officials considered installing natural grass for the game. The proposed installation method was comparable to what had been used at the Silverdome during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and at Giants Stadium from 2000 to 2002. The plan called for large trays of grass to be grown and cultivated outdoors, then brought inside the dome and placed on the field for the game. In the end, cost and quality concerns prompted stadium and league officials to abandon the project.
The Rams entered as 14-point favorites. This was partly because Rams quarterback Kurt Warner statistically had his best year of his career, with a quarterback rating of 101.4, a 68.7 percent completion rate, and threw for 4,830 yards. Many had believed that the Patriots' Cinderella story was simply a fluke, especially after beating the veteran Oakland Raiders in a controversial playoff game in which a recovered fumble by the Raiders was reversed by the tuck rule.
There had been speculation on whether longtime starter Drew Bledsoe might start the game. As stated above, Bledsoe replaced an injured Brady against the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. Eventually, though, Brady was named starter.
The game was broadcast in the United States by Fox; the telecast was presented in a 480p enhanced-definition format marketed as "Fox Widescreen". While promoted as having higher quality than standard-definition, and being the first widescreen sports telecast on U.S. television to use a singular telecast for all viewers (rather than using a separate production exclusive to the widescreen feed), it was not true high definition, but still matched the aspect ratio of HDTV sets.
The game was called by play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. Pam Oliver and Ron Pitts served as sideline reporters. This was Summerall's 26th and final Super Bowl broadcast on television or radio. It was also the eighth and final Super Bowl telecast (and final NFL telecast of any kind) for the Summerall and Madden announcing team. The two had become the NFL's most famous broadcast duo since they were paired together in 1981 on CBS. After this game, Summerall retired from broadcasting and Madden moved to ABC. As a result, Madden was the first person to announce Super Bowls on different networks in consecutive years when he called Super Bowl XXXVII on ABC with Al Michaels.
James Brown hosted all the events with help from his fellow "Fox NFL Sunday" cast members Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Cris Collinsworth. Jillian Barberie served as the weather and entertainment reporter during the pre-game show.
Memorable television commercials that aired during the game included Sony Pictures' trailer for "Spider-Man", Budweiser's "Picking a Card", and Super Bowl Ad Meter commercial of the year winners Bud Light "Satin Sheets." The best commercial of the year from Adbowl M&M's "Chocolate on our Pillow or Hotel Check In" and EA Sports' Madden NFL 2002 which aired during the game three days after Madden NFL 2002 start selling in Japan by Electronic Arts Square.
Before the game, an ensemble of singers featured Barry Manilow, Yolanda Adams, James Ingram, Wynonna Judd, and Patti LaBelle performing Manilow's song "Let Freedom Ring."
In a video segment, past and present NFL players read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, which has become a part of all subsequent Super Bowls carried by Fox Sports. Super Bowls XXXIX, XLII, and XLV used different active and former players (and a player's widow) reading the Declaration for each version. Former U.S. presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton appeared in another videotaped segment and recited some of the speeches by Abraham Lincoln. Because Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer's disease, his wife Nancy appeared on the segment in place of him.
Singers Mary J. Blige and Marc Anthony, along with the Boston Pops Orchestra, performed "America the Beautiful". Paul McCartney then sang his post-9/11 song "Freedom". Afterwards, singer Mariah Carey, accompanied by the Boston Pops Orchestra, performed the national anthem.
George H. W. Bush became the first president, past or present, to participate in a Super Bowl coin toss in person (Ronald Reagan participated in the Super Bowl XIX coin toss via satellite from the White House in 1985). Bush was joined by former Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach. Staubach played at the United States Naval Academy and was the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl VI, which was played 30 years prior at New Orleans' Tulane Stadium.
As was customary at the time, the Rams' individual offensive starters were introduced first, as the Rams were considered the visitors. However, when it came time to introduce the Patriots' starters, Pat Summerall, making the public address announcement, revealed that the Patriots chose "to be introduced as a team." According to David Halberstam's book, "The Education of a Coach", Belichick was given a choice by the NFL to introduce either the offense or defense. Belichick chose neither, asking that the team be introduced all at once in the spirit of unity. Although this was initially rejected by the NFL, Belichick held his ground and the NFL honored his request. The full team introduction demonstrated solidarity, and struck a chord with the audience in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Since the next Super Bowl game, both Super Bowl participants have been introduced collectively as a team, a precedent which has continued.
The halftime show featured a three-song set from Irish rock band U2, who had just completed their successful Elevation Tour. After a rendition of "Beautiful Day", the band played "MLK" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" as the names of the victims from the September 11 attacks were projected onto a sheet behind the stage. While singing "Where the Streets Have No Name", the group's lead singer Bono replaced the lyrics "take shelter from the poison rain" with "dance in the Louisiana rain", "high on a desert plain" with "where there's no sorrow or pain", and the final line "it's all I can do" with "it's all we can do". At the conclusion of the song, Bono opened his jacket to reveal an American flag printed into the lining. U2's halftime show captivated the audience as a poignant tribute to those who had been lost in the attacks. In 2009, SI.com ranked it as the best halftime show in Super Bowl history, while it was rated the second-greatest by "Askmen.com".
Janet Jackson was originally selected to perform during the Halftime Show, but due to traveling concerns following the September 11 tragedies, the NFL opted for other acts. The NFL thought U2 would "set the right tone" in respect to the tragedy, after executives attended the band's Elevation Tour in New York City. She performed for the Super Bowl halftime two years later, when her highly controversial Super Bowl Halftime Show performance incident occurred.
The Rams scored first midway through the first quarter, with quarterback Kurt Warner completing 6-of-7 passes for 43 yards on a 48-yard, 10-play drive to set up a 50-yard field goal by kicker Jeff Wilkins. At the time, the field goal was the third longest in Super Bowl history. While the rest of the quarter was scoreless, the Patriots were stifling the typically high powered Rams offense by playing physical man coverage with the Rams receivers, forcing them into long drives that would end in punts or field goal attempts.
Early in the second quarter, the Rams drove to New England's 34-yard line, but Warner threw an incompletion on third down, and Wilkins' subsequent 52-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.
With 8:49 left in the second quarter, a blitz by linebacker Mike Vrabel led Warner to be intercepted by Patriots defensive back Ty Law on a pass that was intended for wide receiver Isaac Bruce, Law then scored on a 47-yard return to give the Patriots a 7–3 lead. With less than two minutes left in the first half, Warner completed a pass to receiver Ricky Proehl at the Rams 40-yard line, but New England defensive back Antwan Harris tackled him, and forced a fumble which was recovered by Patriots defensive back Terrell Buckley. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady started off the Patriots drive with a 16-yard completion to Troy Brown and finished it with an 8-yard touchdown pass to receiver David Patten with 31 seconds left in the half. By halftime, New England owned a surprising 14–3 lead. It was the first time in the entire 2001 season that the Rams fell behind by more than eight points in a game.
The Patriots received the opening kickoff of the second half, but could only reach the St. Louis 43-yard line before being forced to punt. Aided by a 20-yard reception by wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim, a 22-yard reception by Bruce, and a defensive pass interference penalty on Patriots defensive back Otis Smith, the Rams advanced to the New England 41-yard line. However, on the next play, Vrabel and defensive lineman Richard Seymour sacked Warner for a 9-yard loss. Warner then threw two consecutive incomplete passes, which resulted in the Rams punting.
Later in the third quarter, Smith intercepted a pass intended for Rams wide receiver Torry Holt after Holt slipped while coming off the line of scrimmage, and returned the ball 30 yards to the Rams 33-yard line. Though St. Louis' defense did not give up a touchdown to the Patriots, kicker Adam Vinatieri made a 37-yard field goal to increase New England's lead to 17–3.
The Rams responded by driving to the Patriots' 3-yard line on their ensuing drive. On fourth-and-goal, the Rams attempted to score a touchdown. Warner went back to pass and finding no one open scrambled to his right trying to run the ball in for a touchdown. Warner fumbled the ball while being tackled by linebacker Roman Phifer, which was recovered by defensive back Tebucky Jones who returned it 97 yards for a touchdown that would have increased the Patriots lead to 23–3. However, the play was nullified by a holding penalty on linebacker Willie McGinest, who illegally hugged Rams running back Marshall Faulk and prevented him from becoming an eligible receiver. This gave the Rams a first down on the 1-yard line. On second down, Warner scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to cut the Patriots' lead to 17–10.
After Warner's touchdown, the Rams defense forced the Patriots to a three-and-out. St. Louis then drove from own 7-yard line to the New England 36-yard line, aided by a 30-yard reception by Proehl. However, McGinest sacked Warner for a 16-yard loss on second down, pushing the Rams back to their 46-yard line. St. Louis punted after Warner's third down pass was incomplete.
The Rams forced New England to another three-and-out, and got the ball back on their own 45-yard line with 1:51 left in the game. Warner threw three consecutive completions: an 18-yard pass to Hakim, an 11-yard one to wide receiver Yo Murphy, and finally a 26-yard touchdown completion to Proehl that tied the game 17–17 with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter.
The Patriots had no timeouts left for their ensuing drive, which led Fox color commentator John Madden to initially suggest that the Patriots should run out the clock and attempt to win in overtime. Instead, New England attempted to get the winning score in regulation on the final drive. Bill Belichick conferred with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and they agreed to go for it. Belichick later stated, "With a quarterback like Brady, going for the win is not that dangerous, because he's not going to make a mistake." Brady opened the drive with three dump-off completions to running back J. R. Redmond, who got out of bounds on the last one and moved the ball to their 41-yard line with 33 seconds left. At this point, Madden admitted on the air that he now liked what the Patriots were doing. After an incomplete pass, Brady completed a 23-yard pass underneath the Rams' zone defense to wide receiver Troy Brown—who also got out of bounds—and followed it up with a 6-yard completion to tight end Jermaine Wiggins to advance to the Rams' 30-yard line. Brady then spiked the ball with seven seconds left, which set up Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal attempt. Vinatieri, who had never missed a field goal indoors, made the kick as time ran out, marking the first time in Super Bowl history that a game was won by a score on the final play.
Warner finished the game with 28 completions out of 44 passes for 365 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions, and rushed 3 times for 6 yards and a touchdown. Warner's 365 passing yards were the second highest total in Super Bowl history behind his own record of 414 yards set in Super Bowl XXXIV. Hakim was the top receiver of the game with 5 catches for 90 yards, and also rushed once for 5 yards. Faulk led the team with 76 rushing yards, and also caught 4 passes for 54 yards.
Patriots running back Antowain Smith was the top rusher of the game with 92 yards, and caught a pass for 4 yards. Troy Brown was the Patriots leading receiver with 6 catches for 89 yards. Brown also had a 15-yard kickoff return, and a 4-yard punt return, which gave him 108 total yards. Although the Rams outgained the Patriots 427–267 in total yards, New England forced three turnovers that were converted into 17 points. The Patriots, on the other hand, committed no turnovers.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXVI, Super Bowl XXXVI Play Finder NE, Super Bowl XXXVI Play Finder StL
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXXVI, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Records tied
Source:
Four hours after the game ended, Tom Brady visited Bill Belichick's hotel room where, as per team rules, he had to get his coach's permission to miss the team flight and instead travel to Walt Disney World in Orlando. Belichick gave him a perplexed look, and after a few seconds of dead silence, responded, "Of course you can go. How many times do you win the Super Bowl?"
The game heralded the Patriots dynasty, being the first of nine Super Bowl appearances under the duo of head coach Belichick and quarterback Brady. The Patriots finished the 2002 NFL season 9–7, missing the playoffs. But they went on to win Super Bowl XXXVIII, Super Bowl XXXIX, thus winning three Super Bowls in four years. Then, they won their fourth, fifth, and sixth Super Bowls (Super Bowl XLIX, Super Bowl LI, and Super Bowl LIII) a decade after their third. Brady also won three more Super Bowl MVP awards in Super Bowl XXXVIII, Super Bowl XLIX, and Super Bowl LI, making him the only player to be named Super Bowl MVP four times. Super Bowl XXXVI later became part of the wider 2007 New England Patriots videotaping controversy, also known as "Spygate". In addition to other videotaping allegations, the "Boston Herald" reported, citing an unnamed source, that the Patriots had also taped the Rams' walkthrough practice prior to the game. After further investigations, the league determined that no tape of the Rams' Super Bowl walkthrough was made, and the "Herald" later issued an apology in 2008 for their article about the alleged walkthrough tape. Nevertheless, the Patriots finished the 2007 regular season with a perfect 16–0 record, but failed to record an undefeated 19–0 championship season after losing Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants. And at the conclusion of the 2015 NFL season, the Patriots held the NFL's best record since Spygate, compiling a 96–32 record from 2008 to 2015.
The Patriots' win in this Super Bowl, beyond just serving as a springboard to five more championships, also became the starting point for a decade of success in Boston sports, with the city's teams winning seven championships in the four major North American sports leagues (the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and MLB), including at least one in each league. Over the next fifteen years, in addition to the Patriots' five additional Super Bowls:
Following the Bruins winning the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, "Boston Globe" columnist Dan Shaughnessy ranked all seven championships from the past decade and ranked the Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVI as the second-greatest Boston sports championship of the decade behind only the Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series.
After the Patriots won their first championship in franchise history, it started a run of a team in American sports from NCAA and the four major sports winning their first (or next) franchise championship with a wait of 17 years or more between titles. This streak is still continuing in 2019 after the University of Virginia won their first NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship, the St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup championship in their 52-year franchise history (which was coincidentally against another New England team, the Boston Bruins), the Toronto Raptors won their first NBA Championship in their 24-year franchise history, the Washington Nationals won their first World Series in their 15th season in Washington, D.C. and their 51st season overall, including their time as the Montreal Expos, and the Kansas City Chiefs won their first Super Bowl championship in 50 years.
Brady, Malloy and Vinatieri also provided the team's commentary in the 2001 Patriots' episode of "", narrated by actor Martin Sheen.
Beginning with the Rams' appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI, 10 different NFC teams appeared in the Super Bowl over the next 10 years. This trend was broken when the New York Giants earned a trip to Super Bowl XLVI after participating in Super Bowl XLII four years earlier (the Giants defeated the Patriots in both games).
This game was regarded as a "Super Bowl hangover" for the Rams because they lost a Super Bowl where they were heavy favorites, with a win potentially ushering in a Rams dynasty, but instead the loss signaled the beginning of the end of The Greatest Show on Turf era. Due to injuries to Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk, the Rams finished with a 7–9 record the following year and missed the postseason. They qualified for the playoffs only two more times (2003 and 2004), and only won one more playoff game (the 2004–05 wild card game) during the remainder of their tenure in St. Louis. Head coach Mike Martz was fired after missing most of the 2005 season due to illness. Warner suffered a concussion on opening day in 2003, and was later demoted to backup quarterback for the rest of that season. He then signed with the New York Giants in 2004 as a caretaker quarterback, eventually losing the starting job to rookie quarterback Eli Manning. Warner later joined the Arizona Cardinals in 2005 and eventually gained the starting job where led that team to their first Super Bowl appearance, XLIII, following the 2008 season.
Super Bowl XXXVI ended up being the last Super Bowl that the Rams participated while based in St. Louis; they relocated back to Los Angeles in 2016. The Rams would once again reach the Super Bowl in the 2018 season.
The Patriots and the now Los Angeles Rams rematched 17 years later in Super Bowl LIII (2019); again featuring the head coach-quarterback tandem of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady who, in addition to Dante Scarnecchia, are the only active personnel left from Super Bowl XXXVI. Coincidentally like XXXVI, LIII also featured one of the league's top offenses (Rams) against one of the top defenses (Patriots). The Patriots won their record-tying sixth Super Bowl by defeating the Rams 13–3, with Brady remarking that LIII had a "throwback feel" to XXXVI. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29564 |
Sheldon Rampton
Sheldon Rampton (born August 4, 1957) is an American editor and author. He was editor of "PR Watch", and is the author of several books that criticize the public relations industry and what he sees as other forms of corporate and government propaganda.
Rampton was born in Long Beach, California. At the age of one, his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where his father worked as a musician. Raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), he spent two years in Japan as a Latter-day Saint missionary from 1976 to 1978. Upon returning to the United States, however, he left the LDS Church, influenced in part by Mormon feminist Sonia Johnson.
Upon graduation in 1982, Rampton worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming a peace activist. During the 1980s and 1990s, he worked closely with the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN), which opposed the Reagan administration's military interventions in Central America and works to promote economic development, human rights, and mutual friendship between the people of the United States and Nicaragua. At WCCN, Rampton helped establish the Nicaraguan Credit Alternatives Fund (NICA Fund) in 1992, which channels loans from US investors to support microcredit and other "alternative credit" programs in Nicaragua.
In 1995, Rampton teamed with John Stauber as co-editors of PR Watch, a publication of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). They were described as liberal, and their writings are regarded by some members of the public relations industry as one-sided and hostile, but their work drew wide attention. ActivistCash, a website hosted by Washington lobbyist Richard Berman, has castigated them as "self-anointed watchdogs," "scare-mongers," "reckless" and "left-leaning." Rampton and Stauber have in turn argued that the ActivistCash critique contains a number of "demonstrably false" claims. According to a review in the Denver Post, their 2001 book, "Toxic Sludge Is Good for You," offered "a sardonic, wide-ranging look at the public relations industry."
Rampton is also a contributor to the Wikipedia open content project, and was the person who coined the name "Wikimedia" which later became the name of the foundation that manages Wikipedia and its sister projects. Inspired by Wikipedia's collaborative writing model, Rampton founded Disinfopedia (now known as SourceWatch), another CMD project, to complement his PR Watch work to expose what Rampton perceives as deceptive and misleading public relations campaigns.
After leaving the Center for Media and Democracy in 2009, Rampton became a website developer, joining an open government initiative led by New York State Senate chief information officer Andrew Hoppin. In 2010, Hoppin and Rampton co-founded NuCivic, an open source software company, which they sold in December 2014 to GovDelivery, a software services company now known as Granicus. Rampton currently works as a software engineer at Granicus. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29578 |
Miller test
The Miller test, also called the three-prong obscenity test, is the United States Supreme Court's test for determining whether speech or expression can be labeled obscene, in which case it is not protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and can be prohibited.
The Miller test was developed in the 1973 case "Miller v. California". It has three parts:
The work is considered obscene only if "all three" conditions are satisfied.
The first two prongs of the Miller test are held to the standards of the community, and the last prong is held to what is reasonable to a person of the United States as a whole. The national reasonable person standard of the third prong acts as a check on the community standard of the first two prongs, allowing protection for works that in a certain community might be considered obscene but on a national level might have redeeming value.
For legal scholars, several issues are important. One is that the test allows for community standards rather than a national standard. What offends the average person in Manhattan, Kansas, may differ from what offends the average person in Manhattan, New York. The relevant community, however, is not defined.
Another important issue is that the Miller test asks for an interpretation of what the "average" person finds offensive, rather than what the more sensitive persons in the community are offended by, as obscenity was defined by the previous test, the Hicklin test, stemming from the English precedent.
In practice, pornography showing genitalia and sexual acts is not "ipso facto" obscene according to the Miller test. For instance, in 2000, a jury in Provo, Utah, took only a few minutes to clear Larry Peterman, owner of a Movie Buffs video store, in Utah County, Utah. He had been charged with distributing obscene material for renting pornographic videos which were displayed in a screened-off area of the store clearly marked as adult-only. The Utah County region had often boasted of being one of the most socially conservative areas in the United States. However, researchers had shown that guests at the local Marriott Hotel were disproportionately large consumers of pay-per-view pornographic material, accessing far more material than the store was distributing.
Because it allows for community standards and demands "serious" value, Justice Douglas worried in his dissent that this test would make it easier to suppress speech and expression. "Miller" replaced a previous test asking whether the speech or expression was "utterly without redeeming social value". As used, however, the test generally makes it difficult to outlaw any form of expression. Many works decried as pornographic have been successfully argued to have some artistic or literary value, most publicly in the context of the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s.
The advent of the Internet has made the "community standards" part of the test even more difficult to judge; as material published on a web server in one place can be read by a person residing anywhere else, there is a question as to which jurisdiction should apply. In "United States of America v. Extreme Associates", a pornography distributor from North Hollywood, California, was judged to be held accountable to the community standards applying in western Pennsylvania, where the Third Circuit made its ruling, because the materials were available via Internet in that area. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled in "United States v. Kilbride" that a "national community standard" should be used for the Internet, but this has yet to be upheld at the national level. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29579 |
Set-top box
A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the source signal into content in a form that can then be displayed on the television screen or other display device. They are used in cable television, satellite television, and over-the-air television systems as well as other uses.
According to the "Los Angeles Times", the cost to a cable provider in the United States for a set-top box is between $150 for a basic box to $250 for a more sophisticated box. In 2016, the average pay-TV subscriber paid $231 per year to lease their set-top box from a cable service provider.
The signal source might be an Ethernet cable, a satellite dish, a coaxial cable (see cable television), a telephone line (including DSL connections), broadband over power lines (BPL), or even an ordinary VHF or UHF antenna. Content, in this context, could mean any or all of video, audio, Internet web pages, interactive video games, or other possibilities. Satellite and microwave-based services also require specific external receiver hardware, so the use of set-top boxes of various formats has never completely disappeared. Set-top boxes can also enhance source signal quality.
Before the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962 required US television receivers to be able to tune the entire VHF and UHF range (which in North America was NTSC-M channels 2 through 83 on 54 to 890 MHz), a set-top box known as a UHF converter would be installed at the receiver to shift a portion of the UHF-TV spectrum onto low-VHF channels for viewing. As some 1960s-era 12-channel TV sets remained in use for many years, and Canada and Mexico were slower than the US to require UHF tuners to be factory-installed in new TVs, a market for these converters continued to exist for much of the 1970s.
Cable television represented a possible alternative to deployment of UHF converters as broadcasts could be frequency-shifted to VHF channels at the cable head-end instead of the final viewing location. However, most cable systems could not accommodate the full 54-890 MHz VHF/UHF frequency range and the twelve channels of VHF space were quickly exhausted on most systems. Adding any additional channels therefore needed to be done by inserting the extra signals into cable systems on nonstandard frequencies, typically either below VHF channel 7 (midband) or directly above VHF channel 13 (superband).
These frequencies corresponded to non-television services (such as two-way radio) over-the-air and were therefore not on standard TV receivers. Before cable-ready TV sets became common in the late 1980s, an electronic tuning device called a cable converter box was needed to receive the additional analog cable TV channels and transpose or convert the selected channel to analog radio frequency (RF) for viewing on a regular TV set on a single channel, usually VHF channel 3 or 4. The box allowed an analog non-cable-ready television set to receive analog encrypted cable channels and was a prototype topology for later date digital encryption devices. Newer televisions were then converted to be analog cypher cable-ready, with the standard converter built-in for selling premium television (aka pay per view). Several years later and slowly marketed, the advent of digital cable continued and increased the need for various forms of these devices. Block conversion of the entire affected frequency band onto UHF, while less common, was used by some models to provide full VCR compatibility and the ability to drive multiple TV sets, albeit with a somewhat nonstandard channel numbering scheme.
Newer television receivers greatly reduced the need for external set-top boxes, although cable converter boxes continue to be used to descramble premium cable channels according to carrier-controlled access restrictions, and to receive digital cable channels, along with using interactive services like video on demand, pay per view, and home shopping through television.
Set-top boxes were also made to enable closed captioning on older sets in North America, before this became a mandated inclusion in new TV sets. Some have also been produced to mute the audio (or replace it with noise) when profanity is detected in the captioning, where the offensive word is also blocked. Some also include a V-chip that allows only programs of some television content ratings. A function that limits children's time watching TV or playing video games may also be built in, though some of these work on main electricity rather than the video signal.
The transition to digital terrestrial television after the turn of the millennium left many existing television receivers unable to tune and display the new signal directly. In the United States, where analog shutdown was completed in 2009 for full-service broadcasters, a federal subsidy was offered for coupon-eligible converter boxes with deliberately limited capability which would restore signals lost to digital transition.
Professional set-top boxes are referred to as IRDs or integrated receiver/decoders in the professional broadcast audio/video industry. They are designed for more robust field handling and rack mounting environments. IRDs are capable of outputting uncompressed serial digital interface signals, unlike consumer STBs which usually don't, mostly because of copyright reasons.
Hybrid set-top boxes, such as those used for Smart TV programming, enable viewers to access multiple TV delivery methods (including terrestrial, cable, internet, and satellite); like IPTV boxes, they include video on demand, time-shifting TV, Internet applications, video telephony, surveillance, gaming, shopping, TV-centric electronic program guides, and e-government. By integrating varying delivery streams, hybrids (sometimes known as "TV-centric") enable pay-TV operators more flexible application deployment, which decreases the cost of launching new services, increases speed to market, and limits disruption for consumers.
As examples, Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) set-top boxes allow traditional TV broadcasts, whether from terrestrial (DTT), satellite, or cable providers, to be brought together with video delivered over the Internet and personal multimedia content. Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) launched its first hybrid DTT/IPTV set-top box in 2005, which provided Telefónica with the digital TV platform for its Movistar TV service by the end of that year. In 2009, ADB provided Europe's first three-way hybrid digital TV platform to Polish digital satellite operator n, which enables subscribers to view integrated content whether delivered via satellite, terrestrial, or internet.
UK based Inview Technology has over 8M STBs deployed in the UK for Teletext and an original push VOD service for Top Up TV.
In IPTV networks, the set-top box is a small computer providing two-way communications on an IP network and decoding the video streaming media. IP set-top boxes have a built-in home network interface that can be Ethernet, Wireless (802.11 g,n,ac), or one of the existing wire home networking technologies such as HomePNA or the ITU-T G.hn standard, which provides a way to create a high-speed (up to 1Gbit/s) local area network using existing home wiring (power lines, phone lines, and coaxial cables).
In the US and Europe, telephone companies use IPTV (often on ADSL or optical fiber networks) as a means to compete with traditional local cable television monopolies.
This type of service is distinct from Internet television, which involves third-party content over the public Internet not controlled by the local system operator.
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming. Some guides, such as ITV, also feature backward scrolling to promote their catch-up content.
This feature allows the user to choose preferred channels, making them easier and quicker to access; this is handy with the wide range of digital channels on offer. The concept of favourite channels is superficially similar to that of the "bookmark" function offered in many Web browsers.
The timer allows the user to program and enable the box to switch between channels at certain times: this is handy to record from more than one channel while the user is out. The user still needs to program the VCR or DVD recorder.
Some models have controls on the box, as well as on the remote control. This is useful should the user lose the remote or if the batteries age.
Some remote controls can also control some basic functions of various brands of TVs. This allows the user to use just one remote to turn the TV on and off, adjust volume, or switch between digital and analog TV channels or between terrestrial and internet channels.
The parental lock or content filters allow users over 18 years old to block access to channels that are not appropriate for children, using a personal identification number. Some boxes simply block all channels, while others allow the user to restrict access to chosen channels not suitable for children below certain ages.
As complexity and potential programming faults of the set-top box increase, software such as MythTV, Select-TV and Microsoft's Media Center have developed features comparable to those of set-top boxes, ranging from basic DVR-like functionality to DVD copying, home automation, and housewide music or video playback.
Almost all modern set-top boxes feature automatic firmware update processes. The firmware update is typically provided by the service provider.
With the advent of flat-panel televisions, set-top boxes are now deeper in profile than the tops of most modern TV sets. Because of this, set-top boxes are often placed beneath televisions, and the term set-top box has become something of a misnomer, possibly helping the adoption of the term "digibox". Additionally, newer set-top boxes that sit at the edge of IP-based distribution networks are often called net-top boxes or NTBs, to differentiate between IP and RF inputs. The Roku LT is around the size of a pack of cards and delivers Smart TV to conventional sets.
The distinction between external tuner or demodulator boxes (traditionally considered to be "set-top boxes") and storage devices (such as VCR, DVD, or disc-based PVR units) is also blurred by the increasing deployment of satellite and cable tuner boxes with hard disk, network or USB interfaces built-in.
Devices with the capabilities of computer terminals, such as the WebTV thin client, also fall into the grey area that could invite the term "NTB".
In Europe, a set-top box does not necessarily contain a tuner of its own. A box connected to a television (or VCR) SCART connector is fed with the baseband television signal from the set's tuner, and can have the television display the returned processed signal instead.
This SCART feature had been used for connection to analogue decoding equipment by pay TV operators in Europe, and in the past was used for connection to teletext equipment before the decoders became built-in. The outgoing signal could be of the same nature as the incoming signal, or RGB component video, or even an "insert" over the original signal, due to the "fast switching" feature of SCART.
In case of analogue pay-TV, this approach avoided the need for a second remote control. The use of digital television signals in more modern pay-TV schemes requires that decoding take place before the digital-to-analogue conversion step, rendering the video outputs of an analogue SCART connector no longer suitable for interconnection to decryption hardware. Standards such as DVB's Common Interface and ATSC's CableCARD therefore use a PCMCIA-like card inserted as part of the digital signal path as their alternative to a tuner-equipped set-top box.
In June 2011 a report from the American National Resources Defense Council brought attention to the energy efficiency of set-top boxes, and the US Department of Energy announced plans to consider the adoption of energy efficiency standards for set-top boxes. In November 2011, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association announced a new energy efficiency initiative that commits the largest American cable operators to the purchase of set-top boxes that meet Energy Star standards and the development of sleep modes that will use less energy when the set-top box is not being used to watch or record video. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29580 |
Scatology
In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of feces.
Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases such as tapeworms.
A comprehensive study of scatology was documented by John Gregory Bourke under the title " Rites of All Nations" (1891). An abbreviated version of the work (with a foreword by Sigmund Freud), was published as "The Portable Scatalog" in 1994.
The word derives from the Greek ( ) meaning "dung, feces"; "coprology" derives from the Greek of similar meaning.
In psychology, a scatology is an obsession with excretion or excrement, or the study of such obsessions.
In sexual fetishism, scatology (usually abbreviated "scat") refers to coprophilia, when a person is sexually aroused by fecal matter, whether in the use of feces in various sexual acts, watching someone defecating, or simply seeing the feces. Entire subcultures in sexuality are devoted to this fetish.
In literature, "scatological" is a term to denote the literary trope of the grotesque body. It is used to describe works that make particular reference to excretion or excrement, as well as to toilet humor. Well known for his scatological tropes is the late medieval fictional character of Till Eulenspiegel. Another common example is John Dryden's "Mac Flecknoe", a poem that employs extensive scatological imagery to ridicule Dryden's contemporary Thomas Shadwell. In German literature in particular is a wealth of scatological texts and references, which includes such books as Collofino's "Non Olet". A case which has provoked an unusual amount of comment in the academic literature is Mozart's scatological humour. Smith, in his review of English literature's representations of scatology from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, notes two attitudes towards scatology. One of these emphasises the merry and the carnivalesque. This is found in Chaucer and Shakespeare. The other attitude is one of self-disgust and misanthropy. This is found in the works of the Earl of Rochester and Jonathan Swift. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29582 |
Σ-algebra
In mathematical analysis and in probability theory, a σ-algebra (also σ-field) on a set "X" is a collection Σ of subsets of "X" that
includes "X" itself, is closed under complement, and is closed under countable unions.
The definition implies that it also includes
the empty subset and that it is closed under countable intersections.
The pair ("X", Σ) is called a measurable space or Borel space.
A σ-algebra is a type of algebra of sets. An algebra of sets needs only to be closed under the union or intersection of "finitely" many subsets, which is a weaker condition.
The main use of σ-algebras is in the definition of measures; specifically, the collection of those subsets for which a given measure is defined is necessarily a σ-algebra. This concept is important in mathematical analysis as the foundation for Lebesgue integration, and in probability theory, where it is interpreted as the collection of events which can be assigned probabilities. Also, in probability, σ-algebras are pivotal in the definition of conditional expectation.
In statistics, (sub) σ-algebras are needed for the formal mathematical definition of a sufficient statistic, particularly when the statistic is a function or a random process and the notion of conditional density is not applicable.
If one possible σ-algebra on "X" is where ∅ is the empty set. In general, a finite algebra is always a σ-algebra.
If {"A"1, "A"2, "A"3, …} is a countable partition of "X" then the collection of all unions of sets in the partition (including the empty set) is a σ-algebra.
A more useful example is the set of subsets of the real line formed by starting with all open intervals and adding in all countable unions, countable intersections, and relative complements and continuing this process (by transfinite iteration through all countable ordinals) until the relevant closure properties are achieved - the σ-algebra produced by this process is known as the Borel algebra on the real line, and can also be conceived as the smallest (i.e. "coarsest") σ-algebra containing all the open sets, or equivalently containing all the closed sets. It is foundational to measure theory, and therefore modern probability theory, and a related construction known as the Borel hierarchy is of relevance to descriptive set theory.
There are at least three key motivators for σ-algebras: defining measures, manipulating limits of sets, and managing partial information characterized by sets.
A measure on "X" is a function that assigns a non-negative real number to subsets of "X"; this can be thought of as making precise a notion of "size" or "volume" for sets. We want the size of the union of disjoint sets to be the sum of their individual sizes, even for an infinite sequence of disjoint sets.
One would like to assign a size to "every" subset of "X", but in many natural settings, this is not possible. For example, the axiom of choice implies that, when the size under consideration is the ordinary notion of length for subsets of the real line, then there exist sets for which no size exists, for example, the Vitali sets. For this reason, one considers instead a smaller collection of privileged subsets of "X". These subsets will be called the measurable sets. They are closed under operations that one would expect for measurable sets; that is, the complement of a measurable set is a measurable set and the countable union of measurable sets is a measurable set. Non-empty collections of sets with these properties are called σ-algebras.
Many uses of measure, such as the probability concept of almost sure convergence, involve limits of sequences of sets. For this, closure under countable unions and intersections is paramount. Set limits are defined as follows on σ-algebras.
In much of probability, especially when conditional expectation is involved, one is concerned with sets that represent only part of all the possible information that can be observed. This partial information can be characterized with a smaller σ-algebra which is a subset of the principal σ-algebra; it consists of the collection of subsets relevant only to and determined only by the partial information. A simple example suffices to illustrate this idea.
Imagine you and another person are betting on a game that involves flipping a coin repeatedly and observing whether it comes up Heads ("H") or Tails ("T"). Since you and your opponent are each infinitely wealthy, there is no limit to how long the game can last. This means the sample space Ω must consist of all possible infinite sequences of "H" or "T":
However, after "n" flips of the coin, you may want to determine or revise your betting strategy in advance of the next flip. The observed information at that point can be described in terms of the 2n possibilities for the first "n" flips. Formally, since you need to use subsets of Ω, this is codified as the σ-algebra
Observe that then
where formula_8 is the smallest σ-algebra containing all the others.
Let "X" be some set, and let formula_9 represent its power set. Then a subset formula_10 is called a "σ"-algebra if it satisfies the following three properties:
From these properties, it follows that the σ-algebra is also closed under countable intersections (by applying De Morgan's laws).
It also follows that the empty set ∅ is in Σ, since by (1) "X" is in Σ and (2) asserts that its complement, the empty set, is also in Σ. Moreover, since } satisfies condition (3) as well, it follows that } is the smallest possible σ-algebra on "X". The largest possible σ-algebra on "X" is 2"X":=formula_9.
Elements of the "σ"-algebra are called measurable sets. An ordered pair , where "X" is a set and Σ is a "σ"-algebra over "X", is called a measurable space. A function between two measurable spaces is called a measurable function if the preimage of every measurable set is measurable. The collection of measurable spaces forms a category, with the measurable functions as morphisms. Measures are defined as certain types of functions from a "σ"-algebra to [0, ∞].
A σ-algebra is both a π-system and a Dynkin system (λ-system). The converse is true as well, by Dynkin's theorem (below).
This theorem (or the related monotone class theorem) is an essential tool for proving many results about properties of specific σ-algebras. It capitalizes on the nature of two simpler classes of sets, namely the following.
Dynkin's π-λ theorem says, if "P" is a π-system and "D" is a Dynkin system that contains "P" then the σ-algebra σ("P") generated by "P" is contained in "D". Since certain π-systems are relatively simple classes, it may not be hard to verify that all sets in "P" enjoy the property under consideration while, on the other hand, showing that the collection "D" of all subsets with the property is a Dynkin system can also be straightforward. Dynkin's π-λ Theorem then implies that all sets in σ("P") enjoy the property, avoiding the task of checking it for an arbitrary set in σ("P").
One of the most fundamental uses of the π-λ theorem is to show equivalence of separately defined measures or integrals. For example, it is used to equate a probability for a random variable "X" with the Lebesgue-Stieltjes integral typically associated with computing the probability:
where "F"("x") is the cumulative distribution function for "X", defined on R, while formula_13 is a probability measure, defined on a σ-algebra Σ of subsets of some sample space Ω.
Suppose formula_14 is a collection of σ-algebras on a space "X".
Suppose "Y" is a subset of "X" and let ("X", Σ) be a measurable space.
A "σ"-algebra Σ is just a "σ"-ring that contains the universal set "X". A "σ"-ring need not be a "σ"-algebra, as for example measurable subsets of zero Lebesgue measure in the real line are a "σ"-ring, but not a "σ"-algebra since the real line has infinite measure and thus cannot be obtained by their countable union. If, instead of zero measure, one takes measurable subsets of finite Lebesgue measure, those are a ring but not a "σ"-ring, since the real line can be obtained by their countable union yet its measure is not finite.
"σ"-algebras are sometimes denoted using calligraphic capital letters, or the Fraktur typeface. Thus may be denoted as formula_23 or formula_24.
A separable σ-algebra (or separable σ-field) is a σ-algebra formula_25 that is a separable space when considered as a metric space with metric formula_26 for formula_27 and a given measure formula_28 (and with formula_29 being the symmetric difference operator). Note that any σ-algebra generated by a countable collection of sets is separable, but the converse need not hold. For example, the Lebesgue σ-algebra is separable (since every Lebesgue measurable set is equivalent to some Borel set) but not countably generated (since its cardinality is higher than continuum).
A separable measure space has a natural pseudometric that renders it separable as a pseudometric space. The distance between two sets is defined as the measure of the symmetric difference of the two sets. Note that the symmetric difference of two distinct sets can have measure zero; hence the pseudometric as defined above need not to be a true metric. However, if sets whose symmetric difference has measure zero are identified into a single equivalence class, the resulting quotient set can be properly metrized by the induced metric. If the measure space is separable, it can be shown that the corresponding metric space is, too.
Let "X" be any set.
A stopping time formula_30 can define a formula_31-algebra formula_32, the
so-called formula_33-Algebra of τ-past, which in a filtered probability space describes the information up to the random time formula_30 in the sense that, if the filtered probability space is interpreted as a random experiment, the maximum information that can be found out about the experiment from arbitrarily often repeating it until the time formula_30 is formula_32.
Let "F" be an arbitrary family of subsets of "X". Then there exists a unique smallest σ-algebra which contains every set in "F" (even though "F" may or may not itself be a σ-algebra). It is, in fact, the intersection of all σ-algebras containing "F". (See intersections of σ-algebras above.) This σ-algebra is denoted σ("F") and is called the σ-algebra generated by "F".
Then σ("F") consists of all the subsets of "X" that can be made from elements of "F" by a countable number of complement, union and intersection operations. If "F" is empty, then σ("F") = }, since an empty union and intersection produce the empty set and universal set, respectively.
For a simple example, consider the set "X" = {1, 2, 3}. Then the σ-algebra generated by the single subset {1} is }}. By an abuse of notation, when a collection of subsets contains only one element, "A", one may write σ("A") instead of σ({"A"}) if it is clear that "A" is a subset of "X"; in the prior example σ({1}) instead of σ(). Indeed, using to mean is also quite common.
There are many families of subsets that generate useful σ-algebras. Some of these are presented here.
If "f" is a function from a set "X" to a set "Y" and "B" is a σ-algebra of subsets of "Y", then the σ-algebra generated by the function "f", denoted by σ("f"), is the collection of all inverse images "f" -1("S") of the sets "S" in "B". i.e.
A function "f" from a set "X" to a set "Y" is measurable with respect to a σ-algebra Σ of subsets of "X" if and only if σ("f") is a subset of Σ.
One common situation, and understood by default if "B" is not specified explicitly, is when "Y" is a metric or topological space and "B" is the collection of Borel sets on "Y".
If "f" is a function from "X" to R"n" then σ("f") is generated by the family of subsets which are inverse images of intervals/rectangles in R"n":
A useful property is the following. Assume "f" is a measurable map from ("X", Σ"X") to ("S", Σ"S") and "g" is a measurable map from ("X", Σ"X") to ("T", Σ"T"). If there exists a measurable map "h" from ("T", Σ"T") to ("S", Σ"S") such that "f"("x") = "h"("g"("x")) for all "x", then σ("f") ⊂ σ("g"). If "S" is finite or countably infinite or, more generally, ("S", Σ"S") is a standard Borel space (e.g., a separable complete metric space with its associated Borel sets), then the converse is also true. Examples of standard Borel spaces include R"n" with its Borel sets and R∞ with the cylinder σ-algebra described below.
An important example is the Borel algebra over any topological space: the σ-algebra generated by the open sets (or, equivalently, by the closed sets). Note that this σ-algebra is not, in general, the whole power set. For a non-trivial example that is not a Borel set, see the Vitali set or Non-Borel sets.
On the Euclidean space R"n", another σ-algebra is of importance: that of all Lebesgue measurable sets. This σ-algebra contains more sets than the Borel σ-algebra on R"n" and is preferred in integration theory, as it gives a complete measure space.
Let formula_39 and formula_40 be two measurable spaces. The σ-algebra for the corresponding product space formula_41 is called the product σ-algebra and is defined by
Observe that formula_43 is a π-system.
The Borel σ-algebra for R"n" is generated by half-infinite rectangles and by finite rectangles. For example,
For each of these two examples, the generating family is a π-system.
Suppose
is a set of real-valued functions on formula_46. Let formula_47 denote the Borel subsets of R. For each formula_48 and formula_49 a cylinder subset of is a finitely restricted set defined as
For each formula_48,
is a π-system that generates a σ-algebra formula_53. Then the family of subsets
is an algebra that generates the cylinder σ-algebra for . This σ-algebra is a subalgebra of the Borel σ-algebra determined by the product topology of formula_55 restricted to .
An important special case is when formula_46 is the set of natural numbers and is a set of real-valued sequences. In this case, it suffices to consider the cylinder sets
for which
is a non-decreasing sequence of σ-algebras.
Suppose formula_59 is a probability space. If formula_60 is measurable with respect to the Borel σ-algebra on R"n" then is called a random variable ("n = 1") or random vector ("n" > 1). The σ-algebra generated by is
Suppose formula_59 is a probability space and formula_63 is the set of real-valued functions on formula_46. If formula_65 is measurable with respect to the cylinder σ-algebra formula_66 (see above) for , then is called a stochastic process or random process. The σ-algebra generated by is
the σ-algebra generated by the inverse images of cylinder sets. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29586 |
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt.
In August 1942, General Claude Auchinleck had been sacked as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army. Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive.
The Allied victory was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November, the Battle of Stalingrad and the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Panzer Army Africa (/, "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel), composed of German and Italian tank and infantry units, had advanced into Egypt after its success at the Battle of Gazala (26 May – 21 June 1942). The Axis advance threatened British control of the Suez Canal, the Middle East and its oil resources. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within of Alexandria where the Qattara Depression was south of El Alamein on the coast. The depression was impassable and meant that any attack had to be frontal; Axis attacks in the First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July) were defeated.
Eighth Army counter-attacks in July also failed, as the Axis forces dug in and regrouped. Auchinleck called off the attacks at the end of July to rebuild the army. In early August, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and General Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), visited Cairo and replaced Auchinleck as Commander-in-chief Middle East Command with General Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General William Gott was made commander of the Eighth Army but was killed when his transport aircraft was shot down by "Luftwaffe" fighters; Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was flown from Britain to replace him.
Lacking reinforcements and depending on small, underdeveloped ports for supplies, aware of a huge Allied reinforcement operation for the Eighth Army, Rommel decided to attack first. The two armoured divisions of the "Afrika Korps" and the reconnaissance units of led the attack but were repulsed at the Alam el Halfa ridge and Point 102 on 30 August 1942 during the Battle of Alam el Halfa and the Axis forces retired to their start lines. The short front line and secure flanks favoured the Axis defence and Rommel had time to develop the Axis defences, sowing extensive minefields with mines and miles of barbed wire. Alexander and Montgomery intended to establish a superiority of force sufficient to achieve a breakthrough and exploit it to destroy . Earlier in the Western Desert Campaign, neither side had been able to exploit a local victory sufficiently to defeat its opponent before it had withdrawn and transferred the problem of over-extended supply lines to the victor.
The British had an intelligence advantage because Ultra and local sources exposed the Axis order of battle, its supply position and intentions. A reorganisation of military intelligence in Africa in July had also improved the integration of information received from all sources and the speed of its dissemination. With rare exceptions, intelligence identified the supply ships destined for North Africa, their location or routing and in most cases their cargoes, allowing them to be attacked. By 25 October, was down to three days' supply of fuel, only two days' worth of which were east of Tobruk. Harry Hinsley, the official historian of British intelligence wrote in 1981 that "The Panzer Army... did not possess the operational freedom of movement that was absolutely essential in consideration of the fact that the British offensive can be expected to start any day". Submarine and air transport somewhat eased the shortage of ammunition and by late October, there was sixteen days' supply at the front. After six more weeks, the Eighth Army was ready; and began the offensive against the and of the .
Montgomery's plan was for a main attack to the north of the line and a secondary attack to the south, involving XXX Corps (Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese) and XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks), while X Corps (Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden) was to exploit the success. With Operation Lightfoot, Montgomery intended to cut two corridors through the Axis minefields in the north. One corridor was to run south-west through the 2nd New Zealand Division sector towards the centre of Miteirya Ridge, while the second was to run west, passing north of the west end of the Miteirya Ridge across the 9th Australian and 51st (Highland) Division sectors. Tanks would then pass through and defeat the German armour. Diversions at Ruweisat Ridge in the centre and also the south of the line would keep the rest of the Axis forces from moving northwards. Montgomery expected a 12-day battle in three stages: the break-in, the dogfight and the final breaking of the enemy.
For the first night of the offensive, Montgomery planned for four infantry divisions of XXX Corps to advance on a front to the Oxalic Line, over-running the forward Axis defences. Engineers would clear and mark the two lanes through the minefields, through which the armoured divisions from X Corps would pass to gain the Pierson Line. They would rally and consolidate their position just west of the infantry positions, blocking an Axis tank counter-attack. The British tanks would then advance to "Skinflint", astride the north–south Rahman Track deep in the Axis defensive system, to challenge the Axis armour. The infantry battle would continue as the Eighth Army infantry "crumbled" the deep Axis defensive fortifications (three successive lines of fortification had been constructed) and destroy any tanks that attacked them.
The Commonwealth forces practised a number of deceptions in the months before the battle to confuse the Axis command as to the whereabouts of the forthcoming battle and when the battle was likely to occur. This operation was code-named Operation Bertram. In September, they dumped waste materials (discarded packing cases, etc.) under camouflage nets in the northern sector, making them appear to be ammunition or ration dumps. The Axis naturally noticed these but, as no offensive action immediately followed and the "dumps" did not change in appearance, they were subsequently ignored. This allowed Eighth Army to build up supplies in the forward area unnoticed by the Axis, by replacing the rubbish with ammunition, petrol or rations at night. Meanwhile, a dummy pipeline was built, hopefully leading the Axis to believe the attack would occur much later than it, in fact, did and much further south. To further the illusion, dummy tanks consisting of plywood frames placed over jeeps were constructed and deployed in the south. In a reverse feint, the tanks destined for battle in the north were disguised as supply trucks by placing removable plywood superstructures over them.
As a preliminary, the 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade of the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division, supported by tanks from the 4th Armoured Brigade, launched Operation Braganza attacking the 185th Airborne Division Folgore on the night of 29/30 September in an attempt to capture the Deir el Munassib area. The Italian paratroopers repelled the attack, killing or capturing over 300 of the attackers. It was wrongly assumed that "Fallschirmjäger" (German paratroopers) had manned the defences and been responsible for the British reverse. The "Afrika Korps" war diary notes that the Italian paratroops "bore the brunt of the attack. It fought well and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy."
With the failure of the offensive at the Battle of Alam el Halfa, the Axis forces went onto the defensive but losses had not been excessive. The Axis supply line from Tripoli was extremely long and captured Allied supplies and equipment had been exhausted, but Rommel decided to advance into Egypt.
The Eighth Army was being supplied with men and materials from the United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as with trucks and the new Sherman tanks from the United States. Rommel continued to request equipment, supplies and fuel but the priority of the German war effort was the Eastern Front and very limited supplies reached North Africa. Rommel was ill and in early September, arrangements were made for him to return to Germany on sick leave and for "General der Panzertruppe" Georg Stumme to transfer from the Russian front to take his place. Before he left for Germany on 23 September, Rommel organised the defence and wrote a long appreciation of the situation to "Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" (OKW armed forces high command), once again setting out the essential needs of the Panzer Army.
Rommel knew that the British Commonwealth forces would soon be strong enough to attack. His only hope now relied on the German forces fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad quickly to defeat the Red Army, then move south through the Trans-Caucasus and threaten Iran (Persia) and the Middle East. If successful, large numbers of British and Commonwealth forces would have to be sent from the Egyptian front to reinforce the Ninth Army in Iran, leading to the postponement of any offensive against his army. Rommel hoped to convince OKW to reinforce his forces for the eventual link-up between and the German armies fighting in southern Russia, enabling them finally to defeat the British and Commonwealth armies in North Africa and the Middle East.
In the meantime, the dug in and waited for the attack by the Eighth Army or the defeat of the Red Army at Stalingrad. Rommel added depth to his defences by creating at least two belts of mines about apart, connected at intervals to create boxes (Devil's gardens) which would restrict enemy penetration and deprive British armour of room for manoeuvre. The front face of each box was lightly held by battle outposts and the rest of the box was unoccupied but sowed with mines and explosive traps and covered by enfilading fire. The main defensive positions were built to a depth of at least behind the second mine belt. The Axis laid around half a million mines, mostly Teller anti-tank mines with some smaller anti-personnel types (such as the S-mine). (Many of these mines were British, and had been captured at Tobruk). To lure enemy vehicles into the minefields, the Italians dragged an axle and tyres through the fields using a long rope to create what appeared to be well-used tracks.
Rommel did not want the British armour to break out into the open because he had neither the strength of numbers nor fuel to match them in a battle of manoeuvre. The battle had to be fought in the fortified zones; a breakthrough had to be defeated quickly. Rommel stiffened his forward lines by alternating German and Italian infantry formations. Because the Allied deception confused the Axis as to the point of attack, Rommel departed from his usual practice of holding his armoured strength in a concentrated reserve and split it into a northern group (15th Panzer and "Littorio" Division) and a southern group (21st Panzer and "Ariete" Division), each organised into battle groups to be able to make a quick armoured intervention wherever the blow fell and prevent narrow breakthroughs from being enlarged. A significant proportion of his armoured reserve was dispersed and held unusually far forward. The 15th Panzer Division had 125 operational tanks (16 Pz.IIs, 43 Pz.III Ausf H, 43 Pz.III Ausf J, 6 Pz.IV Ausf D, 15 Pz.IV Ausf F) while the 21st Panzer Division had 121 operational combat vehicles (12 Pz.IIs, 38 Pz.III Ausf H, 43 Pz.III Ausf J, 2 Pz.IV Ausf D, 15 Pz.IV Ausf F).
Rommel held the 90th Light Division further back and kept the "Trieste" Motorised Division in reserve near the coast. Rommel hoped to move his troops faster than the Allies, to concentrate his defences at the most important point () but lack of fuel meant that once the had concentrated, it would not be able to move again because of lack of fuel. The British were well aware that Rommel would be unable to mount a defence based on his usual manoeuvre tactics but no clear picture emerged of how he would fight the battle and British plans seriously underestimated the Axis defences and the fighting power of the .
Prior to the main barrage, there was a diversion by the 24th Australian Brigade, which involved the 15th Panzer Division being subjected to heavy fire for a few minutes. Then at 21:40 (Egyptian Summer Time) on 23 October on a calm, clear evening under the bright sky of a full moon, Operation Lightfoot began with a 1,000-gun barrage. The fire plan had been arranged so that the first rounds from the 882 guns from the field and medium batteries would land along the front at the same time. After twenty minutes of general bombardment, the guns switched to precision targets in support of the advancing infantry. The shelling plan continued for five and a half hours, by the end of which each gun had fired about 600 rounds, about 529,000 shells.
Operation Lightfoot alluded to the infantry attacking first. Anti-tank mines would not be tripped by soldiers stepping on them since they were too light. As the infantry advanced, engineers had to clear a path for the tanks coming behind. Each gap was to be wide, which was just enough to get tanks through in single file. The engineers had to clear a route through the Devil's Gardens. It was a difficult task that was not achieved because of the depth of the Axis minefields.
At 22:00, the four infantry divisions of XXX Corps began to move. The objective was to establish a bridgehead before dawn at the imaginary line in the desert where the strongest enemy defences were situated, on the far side of the second mine belt. Once the infantry reached the first minefields, the mine sweepers, including Reconnaissance Corps troops and sappers, moved in to create a passage for the armoured divisions of X Corps. Progress was slower than planned but at 02:00, the first of the 500 tanks crawled forward. By 04:00, the lead tanks were in the minefields, where they stirred up so much dust that there was no visibility at all, traffic jams developed and tanks bogged down. Only about half of the infantry attained their objectives and none of the tanks broke through.
The 7th Armoured Division (with one Free French Brigade under command) from XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks) made a secondary attack to the south. The main attack aimed to achieve a breakthrough, engage and pin down the 21st Panzer Division and the "Ariete" Armoured Division around Jebel Kalakh, while the Free French on the far left were to secure Qaret el Himeimat and the el Taqa plateau. The right flank of the attack was to be protected by 44th Infantry Division with the 131st Infantry Brigade. The attack met determined resistance, mainly from the 185 Airborne Division "Folgore", part of the Ramcke Parachute Brigade and the Keil Group. The minefields were deeper than anticipated and clearing paths through them was impeded by Axis defensive fire. By dawn on 24 October, paths still had not been cleared through the second minefield to release 22nd and 4th Light Armoured Brigades into the open to make their planned turn north into the rear of enemy positions west of Deir el Munassib.
Further north along the XIII Corps front, the 50th Infantry Division achieved a limited and costly success against determined resistance from the "Pavia" Division, "Brescia" Division and elements of the 185th Airborne Division "Folgore". The 4th Indian Infantry Division, on the far left of the XXX Corps front at Ruweisat Ridge, made a mock attack and two small raids intended to deflect attention to the centre of the front.
Dawn aerial reconnaissance showed little change in Axis disposition, so Montgomery gave his orders for the day: the clearance of the northern corridor should be completed and the New Zealand Division supported by 10th Armoured should push south from Miteirya Ridge. 9th Australian Division, in the north, should plan a crumbling operation for that night, while in the southern sector, 7th Armoured should continue to try to break through the minefields with support, if necessary, from 44th Division. "Panzer" units counter-attacked the 51st Highland Division just after sunrise, only to be stopped in their tracks.
The morning of Saturday 24 October brought disaster for the German headquarters.The Axis forces were stunned by Allied attack and their messages became confused and hysterical, with one Italian unit communicating to Germans that it had been wiped out by "drunken negroes with tanks" The reports that Stumme had received that morning showed the attacks had been on a broad front but that such penetration as had occurred should be containable by local units. He went forward himself to observe the state of affairs and, finding himself under fire, suffered a heart attack and died. Temporary command was given to Major-General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma. Hitler had already decided that Rommel should leave his sanatorium and return to North Africa. Rommel flew to Rome early on 25 October to press the "Commando Supremo" for more fuel and ammunition and then on to North Africa to resume command that night of the Panzer Army Africa, which that day was renamed the German-Italian Panzer Army ("Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee").
There was little activity during the day pending more complete clearance of paths through the minefields. The armour was held at "Oxalic". Artillery and the Allied Desert Air Force, making over 1,000 sorties, attacked Axis positions all day to aid the 'crumbling' of the Axis forces. By 16:00 there was little progress.
At dusk, with the sun at their backs, Axis tanks from the 15th Panzer Division and Italian "Littorio" Division swung out from the Kidney feature (also known to the Germans and Italians as Hill 28), often wrongly called a ridge as it was actually a depression, to engage the 1st Armoured Division and the first major tank battle of El Alamein began. Over 100 tanks were involved and half were destroyed by dark. Neither position was altered.
At around 10:00, Axis aircraft had destroyed a convoy of 25 Allied vehicles carrying petrol and ammunition, setting off a night-long blaze; Lumsden wanted to call off the attack, but Montgomery made it clear that his plans were to be carried out. The thrust that night by 10th Armoured Division from Miteirya Ridge failed. The lifting of mines on the Miteirya Ridge and beyond took far longer than planned and the leading unit, 8th Armoured Brigade, was caught on their start line at 22:00—zero hour—by an air attack and were scattered. By the time they had reorganised they were well behind schedule and out of touch with the creeping artillery barrage. By daylight the brigade was out in the open taking considerable fire from well sited tanks and anti-tank guns. Meanwhile 24th Armoured Brigade had pushed forward and reported at dawn they were on the Pierson line, although it turned out that, in the dust and confusion, they had mistaken their position and were well short.
The attack in the XIII Corps sector to the south fared no better. 44th Division's 131st Infantry Brigade cleared a path through the mines, but when 22nd Armoured Brigade passed through, they came under heavy fire and were repulsed, with 31 tanks disabled. Allied air activity that night focused on Rommel's northern armoured group, where of bombs were dropped. To prevent a recurrence of 8th Armoured Brigade's experience from the air, attacks on Axis landing fields were also stepped up.
The initial thrust had ended by Sunday. The Allies had advanced through the minefields in the west to make a wide and deep inroad. They now sat atop Miteirya Ridge in the south-east. Axis forces were firmly entrenched in most of their original battle positions and the battle was at a standstill. Montgomery decided that the planned advance southward from Miteirya Ridge by the New Zealanders would be too costly and instead decided that XXX Corps—while keeping firm hold of Miteirya—should strike northward toward the coast with 9th Australian Division. Meanwhile, 1st Armoured Division—on the Australians' left—should continue to attack west and north-west, and activity to the south on both Corps fronts would be confined to patrolling. The battle would be concentrated at the Kidney feature and Tel el Eisa until a breakthrough occurred.
By early morning, the Axis forces launched a series of attacks using 15th Panzer and "Littorio" divisions. The Panzer Army was probing for a weakness, but without success. When the sun set the Allied infantry went on the attack. Around midnight, 51st Division launched three attacks, but no one knew exactly where they were. Pandemonium and carnage ensued, resulting in the loss of over 500 Allied troops, and leaving only one officer among the attacking forces. While the 51st Highland Division was operating around Kidney Ridge, the Australians were attacking Point 29 (sometimes shown on Axis maps as "28") a high Axis artillery observation post south-west of Tel el Eisa, to surround the Axis coastal salient containing the German 164th Light Division and large numbers of Italian infantry.
This was the new northern thrust Montgomery had devised earlier in the day, and was to be the scene of heated battle for some days. The Australian 26th Brigade attacked at midnight, supported by artillery and 30 tanks of 40th Royal Tank Regiment. They took the position and 240 prisoners. Fighting continued in this area for the next week, as the Axis tried to recover the small hill that was so important to their defence. Night bombers dropped of bombs on targets in the battlefield and on the "Stuka" base at Sidi Haneish, while night fighters flew patrols over the battle area and the Axis forward landing grounds. In the south, the 4th Armoured Brigade and 69th Infantry Brigade attacked the 187th Paratroopers Infantry Regiment "Folgore" at Deir Munassib, but lost about 20 tanks gaining only the forward positions.
Rommel, on his return to North Africa on the evening of 25 October, assessed the battle. Casualties, particularly in the north, as a result of incessant artillery and air attack, had been severe. The Italian "Trento" Division had lost 50 per cent of its infantry and most of its artillery, the 164th Light Division had lost two battalions. The 15th Panzer and "Littorio" divisions had prevented the Allied tanks from breaking through but this had been a costly defensive success, the 15th Panzer Division being reduced to 31 tanks. Most other units were also under strength, on half rations and many men were ill; had only enough fuel for three days.
Rommel was convinced by this time that the main assault would come in the north and determined to retake Point 29. He ordered a counter-attack against it by the 15th Panzer Division and the 164th Light Division, with part of the Italian XX Corps to begin at 15:00 but under constant artillery and air attack this came to nothing. According to Rommel this attack did meet some success, with the Italians recapturing part of "Hill 28",
The bulk of the 2/17th Australian Battalion, which had defended the position, was forced to retreat. Rommel reversed his policy of distributing his armour across the front, ordering the 90th Light Division forward from Ed Daba and 21st Panzer Division north along with one third of the "Ariete" Division and half the artillery from the southern sector to join the 15th Panzer Division and the "Littorio" Division. The move could not be reversed because of the fuel shortage. The "Trieste" Division was ordered from Fuka to replace the 90th Light Division at Ed Daba but the 21st Panzer Division and the "Ariete" Division made slow progress during the night under constant attack from DAF bombers.
At the Kidney feature, the British failed to take advantage of the absent tanks; each time they tried to move forward they were stopped by anti-tank guns. Churchill railed, "Is it really impossible to find a general who can win a battle?" Three Vickers Wellington torpedo bombers of 38 Squadron destroyed the oil tanker "Tergestea" at Tobruk during the night. Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers of 42 Squadron, attached to 47 Squadron, sank the tanker "Proserpina" at Tobruk, removing the last hope for refuelling the .
By 26 October, XXX Corps had completed the capture of the bridgehead west of the second mine belt, the tanks of X Corps, established just beyond the infantry, had failed to break through the Axis anti-tank defences. Montgomery decided that over the next two days, while continuing the process of attrition, he would thin out his front line to create a reserve for another attack. The reserve was to include the 2nd New Zealand Division (with the 9th Armoured Brigade under command), the 10th Armoured Division and the 7th Armoured Division.
The attacks in the south, which lasted three days and caused considerable losses without achieving a breakthrough, were suspended.
By this time, the main battle was concentrated around Tel el Aqqaqir and the Kidney feature at the end of 1st Armoured Division's path through the minefield. A mile north-west of the feature was Outpost Woodcock and roughly the same distance south-west lay Outpost Snipe. An attack was planned on these areas using two battalions from 7th Motor Brigade. At 23:00 on 26 October 2 Battalion, The Rifle Brigade would attack Snipe and 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) would attack Woodcock. The plan was for 2nd Armoured Brigade to pass round the north of Woodcock the following dawn and 24th Armoured Brigade round the south of Snipe. The attack was to be supported by all the available artillery of both X and XXX Corps.
Both battalions had difficulty finding their way in the dark and dust. At dawn, the KRRC had not reached its objective and had to find cover and dig in some distance from Woodcock. 2nd Rifle Brigade had had better fortune and after following the shell bursts of the supporting artillery dug in when they concluded they had reached their objective having encountered little opposition.
At 06:00, the 2nd Armoured Brigade commenced its advance and ran into such stiff opposition that, by noon, it had still not linked with the KRRC. The 24th Armoured Brigade started a little later and was soon in contact with the Rifle Brigade (having shelled them in error for a while). Some hours of confused fighting ensued involving tanks from the "Littorio" and troops and anti-tank guns from 15th Panzer which managed to keep the British armour at bay in spite of the support of the Rifle Brigade battle group's anti-tank guns. Rommel had decided to make two counter-attacks using his fresh troops. 90th Light Division was to make a fresh attempt to capture Point 29 and 21st Panzer were targeted at Snipe (the "Ariete" detachment had returned south).
At Snipe, mortar and shellfire was constant all day long. At 16:00, Rommel launched his major attack. German and Italian tanks moved forward. Against them the Rifle Brigade had 13 6-pounder anti-tank guns along with six more from the supporting 239th Anti-Tank Battery, RA. Although on the point of being overrun more than once they held their ground, destroying 22 German and 10 Italian tanks. The Germans gave up but in error the British battle group was withdrawn without being replaced that evening. Its CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Buller Turner, was awarded the Victoria Cross. Only one anti-tank gun—from 239 Battery—was brought back.
When it was discovered that neither Woodcock nor Snipe was in Eighth Army hands, 133rd Lorried Infantry Brigade was sent to capture them. By 01:30 on 28 October, the 4th battalion Royal Sussex Regiment judged they were on Woodcock and dug in. At dawn, 2nd Armoured Brigade moved up in support but before contact could be made 4th Royal Sussex were counter-attacked and overrun with many losses. Meanwhile, the Lorried Brigade's two other battalions had moved on Snipe and dug in, only to find out the next day that they were in fact well short of their objective.
Further north, the 90th Light Division's attack on Point 29 during the afternoon of 27 October failed under heavy artillery and bombing which broke up the attack before it had closed with the Australians. The action at Snipe was an episode of the Battle of El Alamein described by the regiment's historian as the most famous day of the regiment's war. Lucas-Phillips, in his "Alamein" records that:
On 28 October, 15th and 21st Panzer made a determined attack on the X Corps front but were halted by sustained artillery, tank and anti-tank gun fire. In the afternoon, they paused to regroup to attack again but they were bombed for two and a half hours and were prevented from even forming up. This proved to be Rommel's last attempt to take the initiative and as such his defeat here represented a turning point in the battle.
At this point, Montgomery ordered the X Corps formations in the Woodcock-Snipe area to go over to defence while he focused his army's attack further to the north. Late on 27 October, the British 133rd Brigade was sent forward to recover lost positions but the next day, a good part of this force was overrun by German and Italian tanks from the Littorio and supporting 12th Bersaglieri Regiment and several hundred British soldiers were captured. On the night of 28/29 October, the 9th Australian Division was ordered to make a second set-piece attack. The 20th Australian Infantry Brigade with 40th R.T.R. in support would push north-west from Point 29 to form a base for 26th Australian Infantry Brigade with 46th R.T.R. in support, to attack north-east to an Axis location south of the railway known as Thompson's Post and then over the railway to the coast road, where they would advance south-east to close on the rear of the Axis troops in the coastal salient. An attack by the third brigade would then be launched on the salient from the south-east.
The 20th Brigade took its objectives with little trouble but 26th Brigade had more trouble. Because of the distances involved, the troops were riding on 46th R.T.R. Valentine tanks as well as carriers, which mines and anti-tank guns soon brought to grief, forcing the infantry to dismount. The infantry and tanks lost touch with each other in fighting with the 125th "Panzergrenadier" Regiment and a battalion of 7th Bersaglieri Regiment sent to reinforce the sector and the advance came to a halt. The Australians suffered 200 casualties in that attack and suffered 27 killed and 290 wounded. The German and Italian forces that had participated in the counter-attack formed an outpost and held on until the arrival of German reinforcements on 1 November.
It became clear that there were no longer enough hours of darkness left to reform, continue the attack and see it to its conclusion, so the operation was called off. By the end of these engagements in late October, the British had 800 tanks still in operation, while the "Panzerarmee" day report for 28 October (intercepted and read by Eighth Army the following evening) recorded 81 serviceable German tanks and 197 Italian. With the help of signals intelligence information the "Proserpina" (carrying 4,500 tonnes of fuel) and "Tergestea" (carrying 1,000 tonnes of fuel and 1,000 tonnes of ammunition) had been destroyed on 26 October and the tanker "Luisiano" (carrying 2,500 tonnes of fuel) had been sunk off the west coast of Greece by a torpedo from a Wellington bomber on 28 October. Rommel told his commanders, "It will be quite impossible for us to disengage from the enemy. There is no gasoline for such a manoeuvre. We have only one choice and that is to fight to the end at Alamein."
These actions by the Australians and British had alerted Montgomery that Rommel had committed his reserve in the form of 90th Light Division to the front and that its presence in the coastal sector suggested that Rommel was expecting the next major Eighth Army offensive in this sector. Montgomery determined therefore that it would take place further south on a front south of Point 29. The attack was to take place on the night of 31 October/1 November, as soon as he had completed the reorganisation of his front line to create the reserves needed for the offensive (although in the event it was postponed by 24 hours). To keep Rommel's attention on the coastal sector, Montgomery ordered the renewal of the 9th Australian Division operation on the night of 30/31 October.
The night of 30 October saw the third Australian attempt to reach the paved road and by the end of the night they were astride the road and the railway, making the position of the Axis troops in the salient precarious. A battle group from the 21. launched four attacks against "Thompson's Post" on 31 October, all being repulsed. Sergeant William Kibby (2/48th Infantry Battalion) who, for his heroic actions from the 23rd until his death on the 31 October, including a lone attack on a machine-gun position at his own initiative, was awarded the Victoria Cross (posthumous). On 1 November, contact with 125 in the nose of the salient was restored; the supporting 10° resisted several Australian attacks.
On 1 November, the tankers "Tripolino" and "Ostia" were torpedoed and sunk from the air north-west of Tobruk. The shortage forced him to rely increasingly on fuel flown in from Crete on the orders of Albert Kesselring, (OB , Supreme Commander South), despite the restrictions imposed by the bombing of the airfields in Crete and Desert Air Force interceptions of the transport aircraft. Rommel began to plan a retreat anticipating retiring to Fuka, some west, as he had only 90 tanks remaining, against 800 British tanks. Large amounts of fuel arrived at Benghazi after the German forces had started to retreat but little of it reached the front, a fact Kesselring tried to change by delivering it more closely to the fighting forces.
This phase of the battle began at 01:00 on 2 November, with the objective of destroying enemy armour, forcing the enemy to fight in the open, reducing the Axis stock of petrol, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes, and causing the disintegration of the enemy army. The intensity and the destruction in Supercharge were greater than anything witnessed so far during this battle. The objective of this operation was Tel el Aqqaqir, the base of the Axis defence roughly north-west of the Kidney feature and situated on the Rahman lateral track.
The initial thrust of Supercharge was to be carried out by the 2nd New Zealand Division. Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg, had tried to free them of this task, as they had lost 1,405 men in just three days, at El Ruweisat Ridge in July. However, in addition to its own 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade and 28th (Maori) Infantry Battalion, the division was to have had placed under its command 151st (Durham) Brigade from 50th Division, 152nd (Seaforth and Camerons) Brigade from 51st Division and the 133rd Royal Sussex Lorried Infantry Brigade. In addition, the division was to have British 9th Armoured Brigade under command.
As in Operation Lightfoot, it was planned that two infantry brigades (the 151st on the right and 152nd on the left) each this time supported by a regiment of tanks—the 8th and 50th Royal Tank Regiments—would advance and clear a path through the mines. Once they reached their objectives, distant, 9th Armoured Brigade would pass through supported by a heavy artillery barrage and break open a gap in the Axis defences on and around the Rahman track, some further forward, which the 1st Armoured Division, following behind, would pass through into the open to take on Rommel's armoured reserves. Rommel had ordered 21st Panzer Division from the front line on 31 October to form a mobile counterattacking force. The division had left behind a "panzergrenadier" regiment which would bolster the "Trieste" Division which had been ordered forward to replace it. Rommel had also interspersed formations from the "Trieste" and 15th Panzer Divisions to "corset" his weaker forces in the front line. On 1 November the two German armoured divisions had 102 effective tanks to face Supercharge and the "Littorio" and "Trieste" Divisions had 65 tanks between them.
Supercharge started with a seven-hour aerial bombardment focused on Tel el Aqqaqir and Sidi Abd el Rahman, followed by a four and a half-hour barrage of 360 guns firing 15,000 shells. The two assault brigades started their attack at 01:05 on 2 November and gained most of their objectives to schedule and with moderate losses. On the right of the main attack 28th (Maori) battalion captured positions to protect the right flank of the newly formed salient and 133rd Lorried Infantry did the same on the left. New Zealand engineers cleared five lines through the mines allowing the Royal Dragoons armoured car regiment to slip out into the open and spend the day raiding the Axis communications.
The 9th Armoured Brigade had started its approach march at 20:00 on 1 November from El Alamein railway station with around 130 tanks and arrived at its start line with only 94 runners (operational tanks). The brigade was to have started its attack towards Tel el Aqqaqir at 05:45 behind a barrage; the attack was postponed for 30 minutes while the brigade regrouped on Currie's orders. At 06:15, 30 minutes before dawn, the three regiments of the brigade advanced towards the gun line.
Brigadier Currie had tried to get the brigade out of doing this job, stating that he believed the brigade would be attacking on too wide a front with no reserves and that they would most likely have 50 percent losses.
The reply came from Freyberg that Montgomery
The German and Italian anti-tank guns (mostly Pak38 and Italian 47 mm guns, along with 24 of the formidable 88 mm flak guns) opened fire upon the charging tanks silhouetted by the rising sun. German tanks, which had penetrated between the Warwickshire Yeomanry and Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, also caused many casualties. British tanks attacking the "Folgore" sector were fought off with petrol bombs and mortar fire as well as with the obsolete Italian 47 mm cannons. The Axis gun screen started to inflict a steady amount of damage upon the advancing tanks but was unable to stop them; over the course of the next 30 minutes, around 35 guns were destroyed and several hundred prisoners taken. The 9th Armoured Brigade had started the attack with 94 tanks and was reduced to only 14 operational tanks and of the 400 tank crew involved in the attack, 230 were killed, wounded or captured.
After the Brigade's action, Brigadier Gentry of 6th New Zealand Brigade went ahead to survey the scene. On seeing Brigadier Currie asleep on a stretcher, he approached him saying, "Sorry to wake you John, but I'd like to know where your tanks are?" Currie waved his hand at a group of tanks around him and replied "There they are". Gentry said "I don't mean your headquarters tanks, I mean your armoured regiments. Where are they?" Currie waved his arm and again replied, "There are my armoured regiments, Bill".
The brigade had sacrificed itself upon the gun line and caused great damage but had failed to create the gap for the 1st Armoured Division to pass through; however, soon after dawn 1st Armoured Division started to deploy and the remains of 9th Armoured Brigade came under its command. 2nd Armoured Brigade came up behind the 9th, and by mid-morning 8th Armoured Brigade had come up on its left, ordered to advance to the south-west. In heavy fighting during the day the British armour made little further progress. At 11:00 on 2 November, the remains of 15th Panzer, 21st Panzer and "Littorio" Armoured Divisions counter-attacked 1st Armoured Division and the remains of 9th Armoured Brigade, which by that time had dug in with a screen of anti-tank guns and artillery together with intensive air support. The counter-attack failed under a blanket of shells and bombs, resulting in a loss of some 100 tanks.
Although X Corps had failed in its attempt to break out, it had succeeded in its objective of finding and destroying enemy tanks. Although tank losses were approximately equal, this represented only a portion of the total British armour, but most of Rommel's tanks; the "Afrika Korps" strength of tanks fit for battle fell by 70 while in addition to the losses of the 9th Armoured Brigade, the 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades lost 14 tanks in the fighting, with another 40 damaged or broken down. The fighting was later termed the "Hammering of the Panzers". In the late afternoon and early evening, the 133rd Lorried and 151st Infantry Brigades—by this time back under command of 51st Infantry Division—attacked respectively the Snipe and Skinflint (about a mile west of Snipe) positions in order to form a base for future operations. The heavy artillery concentration which accompanied their advance suppressed the opposition from the "Trieste" Division and the operation succeeded with few casualties.
On the night of 2 November, Montgomery once again reshuffled his infantry in order to bring four brigades (5th Indian, 151st, 5th New Zealand and 154th) into reserve under XXX Corps to prepare for the next thrust. He also reinforced X Corps by moving 7th Armoured Division from army reserve and sending 4th Light Armoured Brigade from XIII Corps in the south. General von Thoma's report to Rommel that night said he would have at most 35 tanks available to fight the next day and his artillery and anti-tank weapons had been reduced to ⅓ of their strength at the start of the battle. Rommel concluded that to forestall a breakthrough and the resulting destruction of his whole army he must start withdrawing to the planned position at Fuka. He called up "Ariete" from the south to join the mobile Italian XX Corps around Tel el Aqqaqir. His mobile forces (XX Corps, "Afrika Korps", 90th Light Division and 19th "Flak" Division) were ordered to make a fighting withdrawal while his other formations were to withdraw as best they could with the limited transport available.
At 20:30 on 2 November, Lumsden decided that one more effort by his X Corps would see the gun screen on the Rahman track defeated and ordered 7th Motor Brigade to seize the track along a front north of Tell el Aqqaqir. The 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades would then pass through the infantry to a distance of about . On the morning of 3 November 7 Armoured Division would pass through and swing north heading for the railway at Ghazal station. 7th Motor Brigade set off at 01:15 on 3 November, but having received its orders late, had not had the chance to reconnoitre the battle area in daylight. This combined with stiff resistance led to the failure of their attack. As a consequence, the orders for the armour were changed and 2nd Armoured Brigade was tasked to support the forward battalion of 133rd Lorried Brigade (2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps) and 8th Armoured Brigade was to push south-west. Fighting continued throughout 3 November, but 2nd Armoured was held off by elements of the "Afrika Korps" and tanks of the "Littorio" Division. Further south, 8th Armoured Brigade was held off by anti-tank units helped later by tanks of the arriving "Ariete" Division.
On 2 November, Rommel signalled to Hitler that
and at 13.30 on 3 November Rommel received a reply,
Rommel thought the order (similar to one that had been given at the same time by Benito Mussolini through ),
Rommel ordered the Italian X and XXI Corps and the 90th Light Division to hold while the withdrew approximately west during the night of 3 November. The Italian XX Corps and the Division conformed to their position and Rommel replied to Hitler confirming his determination to hold the battlefield. The Desert Air Force continued its bombing and in its biggest day of the battle it flew 1,208 sorties and dropped of bombs.
On the night of 3/4 November, Montgomery ordered three of the infantry brigades in reserve to advance on the Rahman track as a prelude to an armoured break-out. At 17:45, the 152nd Infantry Brigade with the 8th RTR in support, attacked about south of Tel el Aqqaqir. The 5th Indian Infantry Brigade was to attack the track further south during the early hours of 4 November; at 06:15, the 154th Infantry Brigade was to attack Tel el Aqqaqir. The 152nd Infantry Brigade was mistakenly told the Axis had withdrawn from their objectives and unexpectedly met determined resistance. Communications failed and the forward infantry elements ended up digging in well short of their objective. By the time the 5th Indian Brigade set off, the defenders had begun to withdraw and their objective was taken virtually unopposed. By the time the 154th Brigade moved into some artillery-fire, the Axis had left.
On 4 November, the Eighth Army plan for pursuit began at dawn; no fresh units were available and the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions were to turn northwards to roll up the Axis units still in the forward lines. The 2nd New Zealand Division with two lorried infantry brigades and the 9th Armoured and 4th Light Armoured brigades under command, was to head west along desert tracks to the escarpment above Fuka, about away. The New Zealanders got off to a slow start because its units were dispersed after the recent fighting and took time to concentrate. Paths through the minefields were congested and had deteriorated, which caused more delays. By dark, the division was only west of the Rahman track, the 9th Armoured Brigade was still at the track and the 6th New Zealand Brigade even further back.
The plan to trap the 90th Light Division with the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions misfired. The 1st Armoured Division came into contact with the remnants of 21st Panzer Division and had to spend most of the day pushing them back . The 7th Armoured Division was held up by the Armoured Division, which was destroyed conducting a determined resistance. In his diary, Rommel wrote
The Armoured Division and the Motorised Division were also destroyed. Berlin radio claimed that in this sector the "British were made to pay for their penetration with enormous losses in men and material. The Italians fought to the last man." The British took many prisoners, since the remnants of Italian infantry divisions were not motorised and could not escape from encirclement. Private Sid Martindale, 1st Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, wrote about the "Bologna" Division, which had taken the full weight of the British armoured attack:
The and the remnants of the Division tried to fight their way out and marched into the desert without water, food or transport before surrendering, exhausted and dying from dehydration. It was reported that Colonel Arrigo Dall'Olio, commanding the 40th Infantry Regiment of the Division, surrendered saying, "We have ceased firing not because we haven't the desire but because we have spent every round". In a symbolic act of defiance, no one in 40th Infantry Regiment raised their hands. Harry Zinder of "Time" magazine noted that the Italians fought better than had been expected and commented that for the Italians
By late morning on 4 November, Rommel realised his situation was desperate,
Rommel telegraphed Hitler for permission to fall back on Fuka. As further Allied blows fell, Thoma was captured and reports came in from the and divisions that they were encircled. At 17:30, unable to wait any longer for a reply from Hitler, Rommel gave orders to retreat.
Due to lack of transport, most of the Italian infantry formations were abandoned. Any chance of getting them away with an earlier move had been spoiled by Hitler's insistence that Rommel hold his ground, obliging him to keep the non-motorised Italian units well forward until it was too late. To deepen the armoured thrusts, the 1st Armoured Division was directed at El Daba, down the coast and the 7th Armoured Division towards Galal, a further west along the railway. The New Zealand Division group had hoped to reach their objective by mid-morning on 5 November but was held up by artillery-fire when picking their way through what turned out to be a dummy minefield and the 15th Panzer Division got there first.
The 7th Armoured Division was ordered cross-country to cut the coast road at Sidi Haneish, west of the Rahman track, while the 1st Armoured Division, west of El Dada, was ordered to take a wide detour through the desert to Bir Khalda, west of the Rahman track, preparatory to turning north to cut the road at Mersa Matruh. Both moves failed, the 7th Armoured Division finished the day short of its objective. The 1st Armoured Division tried to make up time with a night march but in the darkness the armour became separated from their support vehicles and ran out of fuel at dawn on 6 November, short of Bir Khalda. The DAF continued to fly in support but because of the dispersion of X Corps, it was difficult to establish bomb lines, beyond which, aircraft were free to attack.
By 11:00 on 6 November, the "B" Echelon support vehicles began to reach the 1st Armoured Division but with only enough fuel to replenish two of the armoured regiments, which set off again hoping to be in time to cut off the Axis. The regiments ran out of fuel again, south-west of Mersa Matruh. A fuel convoy had set out from Alamein on the evening of 5 November but progress was slow as the tracks had become very cut up. By midday on 6 November, it began to rain and the convoy bogged from the rendezvous with the 1st Armoured Division "B". The 2nd New Zealand Division advanced toward Sidi Haneish while the 8th Armoured Brigade, 10th Armoured Division, had moved west from Galal to occupy the landing fields at Fuka and the escarpment. Roughly south-west of Sidi Haneish, the 7th Armoured Division encountered the 21st Panzer Division and the "Voss" Reconnaissance Group that morning. In a running fight, the 21st Panzer Division lost 16 tanks and numerous guns, narrowly escaping encirclement and reached Mersa Matruh that evening. It was again difficult to define bomb lines but US heavy bombers attacked Tobruk, sinking [] and later attacked Benghazi, sinking and setting the tanker (6,572 GRT), alight.
On 7 November, waterlogged ground and lack of fuel stranded the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions. The 10th Armoured Division, on the coast road and with ample fuel, advanced to Mersa Matruh while its infantry mopped up on the road west of Galal. Rommel intended to fight a delaying action at Sidi Barrani, west of Matruh, to gain time for Axis troops to get through the bottlenecks at Halfaya and Sollum. The last rearguards left Matruh on the night of 7/8 November but were only able to hold Sidi Barrani until the evening of 9 November. By the evening of 10 November, the 2nd New Zealand Division, heading for Sollum, had the 4th Light Armoured Brigade at the foot of the Halfaya Pass while 7th Armoured Division was conducting another detour to the south, to take Fort Capuzzo and Sidi Azeiz. On the morning of 11 November, the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade captured the pass, taking 600 Italian prisoners. By nightfall on 11 November, the Egyptian wall was clear but Montgomery was forced to order that the pursuit should temporarily be continued only by armoured cars and artillery, because of the difficulty in supplying larger formations west of Bardia.
El Alamein was an Allied victory, although Rommel did not lose hope until the end of the Tunisia Campaign. Churchill said,
The Allies frequently had numerical superiority in the Western Desert but never had it been so complete in quantity and quality. With the arrival of Sherman tanks, 6-pounder anti-tank guns and Spitfires in the Western Desert, the Allies gained a comprehensive superiority. Montgomery envisioned the battle as an attrition operation, similar to those fought in the First World War and accurately predicted the length of the battle and the number of Allied casualties. Allied artillery was superbly handled and Allied air support was excellent, in contrast to the "Luftwaffe" and "Regia Aeronautica", which offered little or no support to ground forces, preferring to engage in air-to-air combat. Air supremacy had a huge effect on the battle. Montgomery wrote,
Historians debate the reasons Rommel decided to advance into Egypt. In 1997, Martin van Creveld wrote that Rommel had been advised by the German and Italian staffs that his army could not properly be supplied so far from the ports of Tripoli and Benghazi. Rommel pressed ahead with his advance to Alamein and as predicted, supply difficulties limited the attacking potential of the axis forces. According to Maurice Remy (2002), Hitler and Mussolini put pressure on Rommel to advance. Rommel had been very pessimistic, especially after the First Battle of El Alamein, and knew that as US supplies were en route to Africa and Axis ships were being sunk in the Mediterranean, the Axis was losing a race against time. On 27 August, Kesselring promised Rommel that supplies would arrive in time but Westphal pointed out that such an expectation would be unrealistic and the offensive should not begin until they had arrived. After a conversation with Kesselring on 30 August, Rommel decided to attack, "the hardest [decision] in my life".
Chief of staff Luigi Binelli Mantelli stated: "The spirit of service and cohesion are fundamental elements for the operational capacity of the armed forces ... The (Folgore) Paratroopers have always shown this. El Alamein was a battle that was lost with great honour, facing up to overwhelmingly superior fire power with poor weapons but with great spirit and capacity to resist and to hold up high the honour of Italy". Erwin Rommel described the Italians as "extraordinary, courageous, disciplined, but badly commanded and equipped." He also is quoted as saying the following phrase:
Winston Churchill included the following excerpt in a speech he made to the House of Commons a month after El Alamein: "We must honour the men that were the Lions of the Folgore". Historian John Bierman claimed that the Italian tank regiments "fought with great audacity, just as the Ariete artillery regiment did". On 30 October 2012, a historical park was unveiled on the battle site to show visitors key points in the Egyptian desert. Padua University has worked with 266 volunteers on the project, which also aims to protect the site from commercial expansion and development. A major exhibition on the battle was staged in Milan in 2008.
In 2005, Niall Barr wrote that the casualties, was an estimate because of the chaos of the Axis retreat. British figures, based on Ultra intercepts, gave German casualties as and captured. Italian losses were and captured. By 11 November, the number of Axis prisoners had risen to In a note to "The Rommel Papers", Fritz Bayerlein (quoting figures obtained from ) instead estimated German losses in the battle as 1,100 killed, 3,900 wounded and 7,900 prisoners and Italian losses as 1,200 killed, 1,600 wounded and 20,000 prisoners.
According to the Italian official history, Axis losses during the battle were 4,000 to 5,000 killed or missing, 7,000 to 8,000 wounded and 17,000 prisoners; during the retreat the losses rose to 9,000 killed or missing, 15,000 wounded and 35,000 prisoners. According to General Giuseppe Rizzo, total Axis casualties included 25,000 men killed or wounded (including 5,920 Italians killed) and 30,000 prisoners (20,000 Italians and 10,724 Germans), 510 tanks and 2,000 field guns, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns. Axis tank losses were on 4 November, only tanks were left out of the the beginning of the battle. About half of the tanks had been lost and most of the remainder were knocked out on the next day by the 7th Armoured Division. About guns were lost, along with and aircraft.
The Eighth Army had of whom had been killed, and missing; of the casualties were British, Australian, New Zealanders, South African, Indian and Allied forces. The Eighth Army lost from tanks, although by the end of the battle, had been repaired. The artillery lost and the DAF lost and aircraft.
The Eighth Army was surprised by the Axis withdrawal and confusion caused by redeployments between the three corps meant they were slow in pursuit, failing to cut off Rommel at Fuka and Mersa Matruh. The Desert Air Force failed to make a maximum effort to bomb a disorganised and retreating opponent, which on 5 November was within range and confined to the coast road. Supply shortages and a belief that the "Luftwaffe" were about to get strong reinforcements, led the DAF to be cautious, reduce the number of offensive sorties on 5 November and protect the Eighth Army.
The Axis made a fighting withdrawal to El Agheila but the Axis troops were exhausted and had received few replacements, while Montgomery had planned to transport material over great distances, to provide the Eighth Army with of supplies per day. Huge quantities of engineer stores had been collected to repair the coast road; the railway line from El Alamein to Fort Capuzzo, despite having been blown up in over 200 places, was quickly repaired. In the month after Eighth Army reached Capuzzo, the railway carried of supplies. Benghazi handled a day by the end of December, rather than the expected .
Montgomery paused for three weeks to concentrate his forces and prepare an assault on El Agheila to deny the Axis the possibility of a counter-attack . On 11 December, Montgomery launched the 51st (Highland) Division along the line of the coast road with the 7th Armoured Division on the inland flank. On 12 December the 2nd New Zealand Division started a deeper flanking manoeuvre to cut the Axis line of retreat on the coast road in the rear of the Mersa Brega position. The Highland Division made a slow and costly advance and 7th Armoured Division met stiff resistance from the "Ariete" Combat Group (the remains of the "Ariete" Armoured Division). The had lost roughly 75,000 men, 1,000 guns and 500 tanks since the Second Battle of Alamein and withdrew. By 15 December, the New Zealanders had reached the coast road but the firm terrain allowed Rommel to break his forces into smaller units and withdraw cross-country through the gaps between the New Zealand positions.
Rommel conducted a text-book retreat, destroying all equipment and infrastructure left behind and peppering the land behind him with mines and booby traps. The Eighth Army reached Sirte on 25 December but west of the port, were forced to pause to consolidate their strung out formations and to prepare an attack at Wadi Zemzem, near Buerat east of Tripoli. Rommel had, with the agreement of Field Marshal Bastico, sent a request to the Italian "Commando Supremo" in Rome to withdraw to Tunisia where the terrain would better suit a defensive action and where he could link with the Axis army forming there, in response to the Operation Torch landings. Mussolini replied on 19 December that the must resist to the last man at Buerat.
On 15 January 1943, the 51st (Highland) Division made a frontal attack while the 2nd New Zealand Division and the 7th Armoured Division drove around the inland flank of the Axis line. Weakened by the withdrawal of 21st Panzer Division to Tunisia to strengthen the 5th Panzer Army (Hans-Jürgen von Arnim), Rommel conducted a fighting retreat. The port of Tripoli, further west, was taken on 23 January as Rommel continued to withdraw to the Mareth Line, the French southern defensive position in Tunisia.
Rommel was by this time in contact with the Fifth Panzer Army, which had been fighting against the multi-national First Army in northern Tunisia, since shortly after Operation Torch. Hitler was determined to retain Tunisia and Rommel finally started to receive replacement men and materials. The Axis faced a war on two fronts, with the Eighth Army approaching from the east and the British, French and Americans from the west. The German-Italian Panzer Army was renamed the Italian First Army (General Giovanni Messe) and Rommel assumed command of the new Army Group Africa, responsible for both fronts. The two Allied armies were commanded by the 18th Army Group (General Harold Alexander). The failure of the First Army in the run for Tunis in December 1942 led to a longer North African campaign which ended when the Italian-German forces in North Africa capitulated in May 1943. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29587 |
Sextant
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celestial navigation.
The estimation of this angle, the altitude, is known as "sighting" or "shooting" the object, or "taking a sight". The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart—for example, sighting the Sun at noon or Polaris at night (in the Northern Hemisphere) to estimate latitude. Sighting the height of a landmark can give a measure of "distance off" and, held horizontally, a sextant can measure angles between objects for a position on a chart. A sextant can also be used to measure the lunar distance between the moon and another celestial object (such as a star or planet) in order to determine Greenwich Mean Time and hence longitude.
The principle of the instrument was first implemented around 1731 by John Hadley (1682–1744) and Thomas Godfrey (1704–1749), but it was also found later in the unpublished writings of Isaac Newton (1643–1727).
In 1922, it was modified for aeronautical navigation by Portuguese navigator and naval officer .
Like the Davis quadrant, the sextant allows celestial objects to be measured relative to the horizon, rather than relative to the instrument. This allows excellent precision. Also, unlike the backstaff, the sextant allows direct observations of stars. This permits the use of the sextant at night when a backstaff is difficult to use. For solar observations, filters allow direct observation of the sun.
Since the measurement is relative to the horizon, the measuring pointer is a beam of light that reaches to the horizon. The measurement is thus limited by the angular accuracy of the instrument and not the sine error of the length of an alidade, as it is in a mariner's astrolabe or similar older instrument.
A sextant does not require a completely steady aim, because it measures a relative angle. For example, when a sextant is used on a moving ship, the image of both horizon and celestial object will move around in the field of view. However, the relative position of the two images will remain steady, and as long as the user can determine when the celestial object touches the horizon, the accuracy of the measurement will remain high compared to the magnitude of the movement.
The sextant is not dependent upon electricity (unlike many forms of modern navigation) or anything human-controlled (like GPS satellites). For these reasons, it is considered an eminently practical back-up navigation tool for ships.
The frame of a sextant is in the shape of a sector which is approximately of a circle (60°), hence its name ("sextāns, -antis" is the Latin word for "one sixth"). Both smaller and larger instruments are (or were) in use: the octant, quintant (or pentant) and the (doubly reflecting) quadrant span sectors of approximately of a circle (45°), of a circle (72°) and of a circle (90°), respectively. All of these instruments may be termed "sextants".
Attached to the frame are the "horizon mirror", an "index arm" which moves the "index mirror", a sighting telescope, sun shades, a graduated scale and a micrometer drum gauge for accurate measurements. The scale must be graduated so that the marked degree divisions register twice the angle through which the index arm turns. The scales of the octant, sextant, quintant and quadrant are graduated from below zero to 90°, 120°, 140° and 180° respectively. For example, the sextant shown alongside has a scale graduated from −10° to 142°, so that is basically a quintant: the frame is a sector of a circle subtending an angle of 76° (not 72°) at the pivot of the index arm.
The necessity for the doubled scale reading follows by consideration of the relations of the fixed ray (between the mirrors), the object ray (from the sighted object) and the direction of the normal perpendicular to the index mirror. When the index arm moves by an angle, say 20°, the angle between the fixed ray and the normal also increases by 20°. But the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection so the angle between the object ray and the normal must also increase by 20°. The angle between the fixed ray and the object ray must therefore increase by 40°. This is the case shown in the graphic alongside.
There are two types of horizon mirrors on the market today. Both types give good results.
Traditional sextants have a half-horizon mirror, which divides the field of view in two. On one side, there is a view of the horizon; on the other side, a view of the celestial object. The advantage of this type is that both the horizon and celestial object are bright and as clear as possible. This is superior at night and in haze, when the horizon can be difficult to see. However, one has to sweep the celestial object to ensure that the lowest limb of the celestial object touches the horizon.
Whole-horizon sextants use a half-silvered horizon mirror to provide a full view of the horizon. This makes it easy to see when the bottom limb of a celestial object touches the horizon. Since most sights are of the sun or moon, and haze is rare without overcast, the low-light advantages of the half-horizon mirror are rarely important in practice.
In both types, larger mirrors give a larger field of view, and thus make it easier to find a celestial object. Modern sextants often have 5 cm or larger mirrors, while 19th-century sextants rarely had a mirror larger than 2.5 cm (one inch). In large part, this is because precision flat mirrors have grown less expensive to manufacture and to silver.
An artificial horizon is useful when the horizon is invisible, as occurs in fog, on moonless nights, in a calm, when sighting through a window or on land surrounded by trees or buildings. Professional sextants can mount an artificial horizon in place of the horizon-mirror assembly. An artificial horizon is usually a mirror that views a fluid-filled tube with a bubble.
Most sextants also have filters for use when viewing the sun and reducing the effects of haze. The filters usually consist of a series of progressively darker glasses that can be used singly or in combination to reduce haze and the sun's brightness. However, sextants with adjustable polarizing filters have also been manufactured, where the degree of darkness is adjusted by twisting the frame of the filter.
Most sextants mount a 1 or 3-power monocular for viewing. Many users prefer a simple sighting tube, which has a wider, brighter field of view and is easier to use at night. Some navigators mount a light-amplifying monocular to help see the horizon on moonless nights. Others prefer to use a lit artificial horizon.
Professional sextants use a click-stop degree measure and a worm adjustment that reads to a minute, 1/60 of a degree. Most sextants also include a vernier on the worm dial that reads to 0.1 minute. Since 1 minute of error is about a nautical mile, the best possible accuracy of celestial navigation is about . At sea, results within several nautical miles, well within visual range, are acceptable. A highly skilled and experienced navigator can determine position to an accuracy of about .
A change in temperature can warp the arc, creating inaccuracies. Many navigators purchase weatherproof cases so that their sextant can be placed outside the cabin to come to equilibrium with outside temperatures. The standard frame designs (see illustration) are supposed to equalise differential angular error from temperature changes. The handle is separated from the arc and frame so that body heat does not warp the frame. Sextants for tropical use are often painted white to reflect sunlight and remain relatively cool. High-precision sextants have an invar (a special low-expansion steel) frame and arc. Some scientific sextants have been constructed of quartz or ceramics with even lower expansions. Many commercial sextants use low-expansion brass or aluminium. Brass is lower-expansion than aluminium, but aluminium sextants are lighter and less tiring to use. Some say they are more accurate because one's hand trembles less. Solid brass frame sextants are less susceptible to wobbling in high winds or when the vessel is working in heavy seas, but as noted are substantially heavier. Sextants with aluminum frames and brass arcs have also been manufactured. Essentially, a sextant is intensely personal to each navigator, and he or she will choose whichever model has the features which suit them best.
Aircraft sextants are now out of production, but had special features. Most had artificial horizons to permit taking a sight through a flush overhead window. Some also had mechanical averagers to make hundreds of measurements per sight for compensation of random accelerations in the artificial horizon's fluid. Older aircraft sextants had two visual paths, one standard and the other designed for use in open-cockpit aircraft that let one view from directly over the sextant in one's lap. More modern aircraft sextants were periscopic with only a small projection above the fuselage. With these, the navigator pre-computed his sight and then noted the difference in observed versus predicted height of the body to determine his position.
A "sight" (or "measure") of the angle between the sun, a star, or a planet, and the horizon is done with the 'star telescope' fitted to the sextant using a visible horizon. On a vessel at sea even on misty days a sight may be done from a low height above the water to give a more definite, better horizon. Navigators hold the sextant by its handle in the right hand, avoiding touching the arc with the fingers.
For a sun sight, a filter is used to overcome the glare such as "shades" covering both index mirror and the horizon mirror designed to prevent eye damage. By setting the index bar to zero, the sun can be viewed through the telescope. Releasing the index bar (either by releasing a clamping screw, or on modern instruments, using the quick-release button), the image of the sun can be brought down to about the level of the horizon. It is necessary to flip back the horizon mirror shade to be able to see the horizon, and then the fine adjustment screw on the end of the index bar is turned until the bottom curve (the "lower limb") of the sun just touches the horizon. "Swinging" the sextant about the axis of the telescope ensures that the reading is being taken with the instrument held vertically. The angle of the sight is then read from the scale on the arc, making use of the micrometer or vernier scale provided. The exact time of the sight must also be noted simultaneously, and the height of the eye above sea-level recorded.
An alternative method is to estimate the current altitude (angle) of the sun from navigation tables, then set the index bar to that angle on the arc, apply suitable shades only to the index mirror, and point the instrument directly at the horizon, sweeping it from side to side until a flash of the sun's rays are seen in the telescope. Fine adjustments are then made as above. This method is less likely to be successful for sighting stars and planets.
Star and planet sights are normally taken during nautical twilight at dawn or dusk, while both the heavenly bodies and the sea horizon are visible. There is no need to use shades or to distinguish the lower limb as the body appears as a mere point in the telescope. The moon can be sighted, but it appears to move very fast, appears to have different sizes at different times, and sometimes only the lower or upper limb can be distinguished due to its phase.
After a sight is taken, it is reduced to a position by looking at several mathematical procedures. The simplest sight reduction is to draw the equal-altitude circle of the sighted celestial object on a globe. The intersection of that circle with a dead-reckoning track, or another sighting, gives a more precise location.
Sextants can be used very accurately to measure other visible angles, for example between one heavenly body and another and between landmarks ashore. Used horizontally, a sextant can measure the apparent angle between two landmarks such as a lighthouse and a church spire, which can then be used to find the distance "off" or out to sea (provided the distance between the two landmarks is known). Used vertically, a measurement of the angle between the lantern of a lighthouse of known height and the sea level at its base can also be used for distance off.
Due to the sensitivity of the instrument it is easy to knock the mirrors out of adjustment. For this reason a sextant should be checked frequently for errors and adjusted accordingly.
There are four errors that can be adjusted by the navigator, and they should be removed in the following order. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29588 |
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote (STV) is a proportional voting system designed to achieve or closely approach proportional representation through voters ranking candidates in multi-seat organizations or constituencies (voting districts). There are various ways of counting votes under STV, as described below.
Under STV, each elector (voter) gets a single vote in an election electing multiple winners. Each elector marks their ballot for the most preferred candidate and also marks back-up preferences. The vote goes to the voter's first preference if possible, but if their first preference is eliminated, instead of being thrown away, the vote is transferred to a back-up preference, with the vote being assigned to the voter's second, third, or lower choice or being apportioned fractionally to different candidates.
The counting process works thus: votes are totalled, and a quota (the minimum number of votes required to win a seat) is derived. If the elector's first-ranked candidate achieves the quota, the candidate is declared elected; and, in some STV systems, any surplus vote is transferred to other candidates in proportion to the next back-up preference marked on the ballots. If more candidates than seats remain, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, with the votes in their favour being transferred to other candidates as determined by the voters' next back-up preference. These elections and eliminations, and vote transfers if applicable, continue until enough candidates exceed quota to fill all the seats or until there are only as many remaining candidates as there are unfilled seats, at which point the remaining candidates are declared elected.
The specific method of transferring votes varies in different systems (see ).
Advocates for STV say that it enables votes to be cast for individual candidates rather than for parties and party machine-controlled party lists, andcompared to first-past-the-post (FPTP) votingreduces "wasted" votes (votes being wasted on losers and surplus votes being wasted on sure winners) by transferring them to other preferred candidates.
STV also provides approximately proportional representation, even in non-partisan elections, ensuring that minority factions have some representation. The key to STV's achievement of proportionality is that each elector (voter) only casts "one single vote", in an election "electing multiple winners".
STV elections grow more proportional in direct relation to the number of seats to be elected in each constituencythe more seats to be won, the more the distribution of the seats in an STV election will be proportional. For example, in a three-seat STV election using the Hare Quota of formula_1, a candidate needs only a third of the votes to win a seat. In a seven-seat STV election, any candidate who can get the support of approximately 14 percent of the vote (either first preferences alone or a combination of first preferences and transferred lower-ranked preferences) will win a seat.
Advocates for STV argue it is an improvement over winner-take-all non-proportional voting systems such as first-past-the-post, where vote splits commonly result in a majority of voters electing no one and the successful candidate having support from just a minority of the district voters. STV prevents in most cases one single party taking all the seats and in its thinning out of the candidates in the field prevents the election of an extreme candidate or party if it does not have enough overall general appeal.
STV is the system of choice of the Proportional Representation Society of Australia (which calls it quota-preferential proportional representation), the Electoral Reform Society in the United Kingdom and FairVote in the USA (which refers to STV as fair representation voting and instant-runoff voting as "ranked-choice voting", although there are other preferential voting methods that use ranked-choice ballots).
Its critics contend that some voters find the mechanisms behind STV difficult to understand, but this does not make it more difficult for voters to rank the list of candidates in order of preference on an STV ballot paper (see ).
Others see a vote transfer process that is more time-consuming than in first-past-the-post elections where the result is known within a few hours and say it is not worth using STV just to have more proportional results. However, STV's supporters say that some winners are known in the same period as under FPTP, and that with delays under FPTP caused by mail-in or absentee ballots, any delays in an STV scenario are not noticeable or are no great hardship.
STV has had its widest adoption in the English-speaking world. , in government elections, STV is used for:
In British Columbia, Canada, a type of STV called BC-STV was recommended for provincial elections by the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform in 2004. In a 2005 provincial referendum, it received 57.69% support and passed in 77 of 79 electoral districts. It was not adopted, however, because it fell short of the 60% threshold requirement the BC Liberal government had set for the referendum to be binding. In a second referendum, on 12 May 2009, BC-STV was defeated 60.91% to 39.09%.
STV has also been used in several other jurisdictions, particularly in provincial elections in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta (until 1959, when the Alberta provincial government changed it to first past the post). Less well known is STV use at the municipal level in western Canada – Calgary used STV for more than 50 years before it was changed to first past the post. For a more complete list, see "History and use of the single transferable vote".
When STV is used for single-winner elections, it is equivalent to the instant-runoff voting (alternative vote) method. STV used for multi-winner elections is sometimes called "proportional representation through the single transferable vote", or PR-STV. "STV" usually refers to the multi-winner version, as it does in this article. In the United States, it is sometimes called choice voting, preferential voting, or preference voting. ("Preferential voting" can also refer to a broader category, ranked voting systems.)
Hare-Clark is the name given to PR-STV elections in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
In STV, each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, marking a '1' beside their most preferred candidate, a '2' beside their second most preferred, and so on as shown in the sample ballot on the right. As noted, this is a simplified example. In practice, the ballot would usually be organized in columns so that voters are informed of each candidate's party affiliations or whether they are standing as independents.
The most straightforward way to count a ranked ballot vote is simply to sequentially identify the candidate with the least support, eliminate that candidate, and transfer those votes to the next-named candidate on each ballot. This process is repeated until there are only as many candidates left as seats available. This method was used for a period of time in several local elections in South Australia. In effect, it is identical to instant-runoff voting, which is commonly used in leadership contests, except that the transfer process is terminated when there are still several candidates remaining, if all the seats have been filled. However, preferences for elected candidates are not transferred at any value, possibly penalising those who vote for a popular candidate.
In most STV elections, an additional step is taken that ensures that all elected candidates are elected with approximately equal numbers of votes. It can be shown that a candidate requires a minimum number of votes – the quota (or threshold) – to be elected. A number of different quotas can be used; the most common is the Droop quota, given by the floor function formula:
The Droop quota is an extension of requiring a 50% + 1 majority in single-winner elections. For example, at most 3 people can have 25% + 1 in 3-winner elections, 9 can have 10% + 1 in 9-winner elections, and so on.
If fractional votes can be submitted, then the Droop quota may be modified so that the fraction is not rounded down.
Major Frank Britton, of the Election Ballot Services at the Electoral Reform Society, observed that the final plus one of the Droop quota is not needed; the exact quota is then simply formula_3. Without fractional votes, the equivalent integer quota may be written:
So, the quota for one seat is fifty out of a hundred votes, not fifty-one.
An STV election count starts with a count of each voters' first choice, recording how many for each candidate, calculation of the total number of votes and the quota and then taking the following steps:
There are variations, such as how to transfer surplus votes from winning candidates and whether to transfer votes to already-elected candidates. When the number of votes transferred from the losing candidate with the fewest votes is too small to change the ordering of remaining candidates, more than one candidate can be eliminated simultaneously.
One simplistic formula for how to transfer surplus votes is:
however, this can produce fractional votes. See for a discussion of how this is handled.
If a candidate is eliminated and their votes are transferred to already victorious candidates, then the new excess votes for the victorious candidate (transferred from the eliminated candidate) will be transferred to the next preference of the victorious candidate, as happened with their initial excess. However, any votes which would transfer from the victorious candidate to one who was already eliminated must be reallocated. See for details.
Because votes cast for losing candidates and excess votes cast for winning candidates are transferred to voters' next choice candidates, STV is said to minimize wasted votes.
Suppose a food election is conducted to determine what three foods to serve at a party. There are 5 candidates, 3 of which will be chosen. The candidates are: "Oranges", "Pears", "Chocolate", "Strawberries", and "Hamburgers". The 20 guests at the party mark their ballots according to the table below. In this example, a second choice is made by only some of the voters.
First, the quota is calculated. Using the Droop quota, with 20 voters and 3 winners to be found, the number of votes required to be elected is:
When ballots are counted the election proceeds as follows:
Result: The winners are Chocolate, Oranges and Strawberries. This result differs from the one that would have occurred if the three winners were decided by first preference plurality rankings, in which case Pear would have been a winner as opposed to Strawberry for having a greater number of first preference votes.
STV systems primarily differ in how they transfer votes and in the size of the quota. For this reason some have suggested that STV can be considered a family of voting systems rather than a single system.
The quota must be set so that no more candidates can reach quota than there are seats to be filled. The Droop quota is the most commonly used quota. It being relatively low means that the largest party is likely to take the majority of the seats in a district. The Hare quota, which was used in the original proposals by Thomas Hare, ensures greater representation to less-popular parties with in a district.
The easiest methods of transferring surpluses involve an element of randomness; partially random systems, such as the Hare system, are used in the Republic of Ireland (except Senate elections) and in Malta, among other places. The Gregory method (also known as Newland-Britain or Senatorial rules) eliminates randomness by allowing for the transfer of fractions of votes. Gregory is in use in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland (Senate elections) and in Australia. Both Gregory and earlier methods have the problem that in some circumstances they do not treat all votes equally. For this reason Meek's method, Warren's method and the Wright system have been invented. While easier methods can usually be counted by hand, except in a very small election Meek and Warren require counting to be conducted by computer. The Wright system is a refinement of the Australian Senate system replacing the process of distribution and segmentation of preferences by a reiterative counting process where the count is reset and restarted on every exclusion. Meek is used in local body elections in New Zealand.
Meek in 1969 was the first to realize that computers make it possible to count votes in way that is conceptually simpler and closer to the original concept of STV. One advantage of Meek's method is that the quota is adjusted at each stage of counting when the number of votes decreases because some become non-transferable.
Meek also considered a variant on his system which allows for equal preferences to be expressed. This has subsequently (since 1998) been used by the John Muir Trust for electing its trustees.
The concept of transferable voting was first proposed by Thomas Wright Hill in 1819. The system remained unused in public elections until 1855, when Carl Andræ proposed a transferable vote system for elections in Denmark, and his system was used in 1856 to elect the Rigsraad and from 1866 it was also adapted for indirect elections to the second chamber, the Landsting, until 1915.
Although he was not the first to propose transferable votes, the English barrister Thomas Hare is generally credited with the conception of STV, and he may have independently developed the idea in 1857. Hare's view was that STV should be a means of "making the exercise of the suffrage a step in the elevation of the individual character, whether it be found in the majority or the minority." In Hare's original system, he further proposed that electors should have the opportunity of discovering which candidate their vote had ultimately counted for, to improve their personal connection with voting. At the time of Hare's original proposal, the UK did not use the secret ballot, so not only could the voter determine the ultimate role of their vote in the election, the elected MPs would have been able to determine who had voted for them. As Hare envisaged that the whole House of Commons be elected "at large" this would have replaced geographical constituencies with what Hare called "constituencies of interest" – those people who had actually voted for each MP. In modern elections, held by secret ballot, a voter can discover how their vote was distributed by viewing detailed election results. This is particularly easy to do using Meek's method, where only the final weightings of each candidate need to be published. The elected member is, however, unable to verify whom their supporters were.
The noted political essayist John Stuart Mill was a friend of Hare's and an early proponent of STV, praising it at length in his essay "Considerations on Representative Government", in which he writes: "Of all modes in which a national representation can possibly be constituted, this one affords the best security for the intellectual qualifications desirable in the representatives. At present... the only persons who can get elected are those who possess local influence, or make their way by lavish expenditure..." His contemporary, Walter Bagehot, also praised the Hare system for allowing everyone to elect an MP, even ideological minorities, but also argued that the Hare system would create more problems than it solved: "[the Hare system] is inconsistent with the extrinsic independence as well as the inherent moderation of a Parliament – two of the conditions we have seen, are essential to the bare possibility of parliamentary government."
Advocacy of STV spread throughout the British Empire, leading it to be sometimes known as "British Proportional Representation". In 1896, Andrew Inglis Clark was successful in persuading the Tasmanian House of Assembly to be the first parliament in the world elected by what became known as the "Hare-Clark electoral system", named after himself and Thomas Hare. H. G. Wells was a strong advocate, calling it "Proportional Representation".
The HG Wells formula for scientific voting, repeated, over many years, in his PR writings, to avoid misunderstanding, is Proportional Representation by the Single Transferable Vote in large constituencies.
STV in large constituencies permits an approach to the Hare-Mill-Wells ideal of mirror representation. The UK National Health Service used to elect, First Past The Post, all white male General Practitioners. In 1979, STV proportionally represented women, immigrants and specialists, to the General Medical Council.
In 1948, single transferable vote proportional representation on a state-by-state basis became the method for electing Senators to the Australian Senate. This change has led to the rise of a number of minor parties such as the Democratic Labor Party, Australian Democrats and Australian Greens who have taken advantage of this system to achieve parliamentary representation and the balance of power. From the 1984 election, group ticket voting was introduced in order to reduce a high rate of informal voting but in 2016, group tickets were abolished to avoid undue influence of preference deals amongst parties that were seen as distorting election results and a form of optional preferential voting was introduced.
Beginning in the 1970s, Australian states began to reform their upper houses to introduce proportional representation in line with the Federal Senate. The first was the South Australian Legislative Council in 1973, which initially used a party list system (replaced with STV in 1985), followed by the Single Transferable Vote being introduced for the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1978, the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1987 and the Victorian Legislative Council in 2003. The Single Transferable Vote was also introduced for the elections to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly after a 1992 referendum.
In the United States, the Proportional Representation League was founded in 1893 to promote STV, and their efforts resulted in its adoption by many city councils in the first half of the 20th century. More than twenty cities have used STV, including Cleveland, Cincinnati and New York City. As of January 2010, it is used to elect the city council and school committee in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the park board in Minneapolis, Minnesota. STV has also been adopted for student government elections at several American universities, including Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Oberlin, Reed, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Vassar, UCLA, Whitman, and UT Austin. Legislation (HR 3057), was introduced in Congress in June 2017 that would establish STV for US House elections starting in 2022.
The degree of proportionality of STV election results depends directly on the district magnitude (i.e. the number of seats in each district). While Ireland originally had a median district magnitude of five (ranging from three to nine) in 1923, successive governments lowered this. Systematically lowering the number of representatives from a given district directly benefits larger parties at the expense of smaller ones.
Supposing that the Droop quota is used: in a nine-seat district, the quota or threshold is 10% (plus one vote); in a three-seat district, it would be 25% (plus one vote).
A parliamentary committee in 2010 discussed the "increasing trend towards the creation of three-seat constituencies in Ireland" and recommended not less than four-seaters, except where the geographic size of such a constituency would be disproportionately large.
STV provides proportionality by transferring votes to minimize waste, and therefore also minimizes the number of unrepresented or disenfranchised voters.
A frequent concern about STV is its complexity compared with plurality voting methods. Before the advent of computers, this complexity made ballot-counting more difficult than for some other voting methods.
The algorithm is complicated. In large elections with many candidates, a computer may be required. (This is because after several rounds of counting, there may be many different categories of previously transferred votes, each with a different permutation of early preferences and thus each with a different carried-forward weighting, all of which have to be kept track of.)
STV differs from other proportional representation systems in that candidates of one party can be elected on transfers from voters for other parties. Hence, STV may reduce the role of political parties in the electoral process and corresponding partisanship in the resulting government. A district only needs to have four members to be proportional for the major parties, but may under-represent smaller parties, even though they may well be more likely to be elected under STV than under first past the post. Also, while small parties seen as reasonable second preferences by others (such as the Green Party in Ireland) more easily get elected, parties seen as more extreme by others (such as Sinn Féin in Ireland) find it harder to attract second preferences and therefore find it harder to win seats.
As STV is a multi-member system, filling vacancies between elections can be problematic, and a variety of methods have been devised:
If there are not enough candidates to represent one of the priorities the electorate vote for (such as a party), all of them may be elected in the early stages, with votes being transferred to candidates with other views. On the other hand, putting up too many candidates might result in first preference votes being spread too thinly among them, and consequently several potential winners with broad second-preference appeal may be eliminated before others are elected and their second-preference votes distributed. In practice, the majority of voters express preference for candidates from the same party in order, which minimizes the impact of this potential effect of STV.
The outcome of voting under STV is proportional within a single election to the collective preference of voters, assuming voters have ranked their real preferences and vote along strict party lines (assuming parties and no individual independents participate in the election). However, due to other voting mechanisms usually used in conjunction with STV, such as a district or constituency system, an election using STV may not guarantee proportionality across all districts put together.
A number of methods of tactical or strategic voting exist that can be used in STV elections, but much less so than with First Past the Post. (In STV elections, most constituencies will be marginal, at least with regard to the allocation of a final seat.)
STV systems vary, both in ballot design and in whether or not voters are obliged to provide a full list of preferences. In jurisdictions such as Malta, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, voters may rank as many or as few candidates as they wish. Consequently, voters sometimes, for example, rank only the candidates of a single party, or of their most preferred parties. A minority of voters, especially if they do not fully understand the system, may even "bullet vote", only expressing a first preference, or indicate a first preference for multiple candidates, especially when both STV and plurality are being used in concurrent elections. Allowing voters to rank only as many candidates as they wish grants them greater freedom, but can also lead to some voters ranking so few candidates that their vote eventually becomes "exhausted"–that is, at a certain point during the count, it can no longer be transferred and therefore loses an opportunity to influence the result.
The method can be confusing, and may cause some people to vote incorrectly with respect to their actual preferences. The ballots can also be long; having multiple pages also increases the chances of people missing the later opportunities to continue voting.
Some opponents argue that larger, multi-seat districts would require more campaign funds to reach the voters. Proponents argue that STV can lower campaign costs because like-minded candidates can share some expenses. Proponents reason that negative advertising is disincentivized in such a system, as its effect is diluted among a larger pool of candidates. In addition, unlike in at-large plurality elections, candidates do not have to secure the support of at least 50% of voters, allowing candidates to focus campaign spending primarily on supportive voters.
Academic analysis of voting systems such as STV generally centers on the voting system criteria that they pass. No preference voting system satisfies all the criteria in Arrow's impossibility theorem: in particular, STV fails to achieve independence of irrelevant alternatives (like most other vote-based ordering systems) and monotonicity.
The relative performance of political parties in STV systems is analysed in a different fashion from that used in other electoral schemes. For example, seeing which candidates are declared elected on first preference votes alone can be shown as follows:
The data can also be analysed to find the proportion of voters who express only a single preference, or those who express a minimum number of preferences, in order to assess party strength. Where parties nominate multiple candidates in an electoral district, analysis can also be done to assess their relative strength.
Other useful information can be found by analysing terminal transfersi.e., when the votes of a candidate are transferred and no other candidate from that party remains in the countespecially with respect to the first instance in which that occurs:
Another effect of STV is that candidates who did well on first preference votes may not be elected, and those who did poorly on first preferences can be elected, because of differences in second and later preferences. This can also be analysed:
Stellarator
A stellarator is a plasma device that relies primarily on external magnets to confine a plasma. In the future, scientists researching magnetic confinement fusion aim to use stellarator devices as a vessel for nuclear fusion reactions. The name refers to the possibility of harnessing the power source of the stars, including the sun. It is one of the earliest fusion power devices, along with the z-pinch and magnetic mirror.
The stellarator was invented by American scientist Lyman Spitzer of Princeton University in 1951, and much of its early development was carried out by his team at what became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Lyman's Model A began operation in 1953 and demonstrated plasma confinement. Larger models followed, but these demonstrated poor performance, suffering from a problem known as pump-out that caused them to lose plasma at rates far worse than theoretical predictions. By the early 1960s, any hope of quickly producing a commercial machine faded, and attention turned to studying the fundamental theory of high-energy plasmas. By the mid-1960s, Spitzer was convinced that the stellarator was matching the Bohm diffusion rate, which suggested it would never be a practical fusion device.
The release of information on the USSR's tokamak design in 1968 indicated a leap in performance. After great debate within the US industry, PPPL converted the Model C stellarator to the Symmetrical Tokamak (ST) as a way to confirm or deny these results. ST confirmed them, and large-scale work on the stellarator concept ended as the tokamak got most of the attention for the next two decades. The tokamak ultimately proved to have similar problems to the stellarators, but for different reasons.
Since the 1990s, the stellarator design has seen renewed interest. New methods of construction have increased the quality and power of the magnetic fields, improving performance. A number of new devices have been built to test these concepts. Major examples include Wendelstein 7-X in Germany, the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) in the US, and the Large Helical Device in Japan.
In 1934, Mark Oliphant, Paul Harteck and Ernest Rutherford were the first to achieve fusion on Earth, using a particle accelerator to shoot deuterium nuclei into a metal foil containing deuterium, lithium or other elements. These experiments allowed them to measure the nuclear cross section of various reactions of fusion between nuclei, and determined that the tritium-deuterium reaction occurred at a lower energy than any other fuel, peaking at about 100,000 electronvolts (100 keV).
100 keV corresponds to a temperature of about a billion kelvins. Due to the Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics, a bulk gas at a much lower temperature will still contain some particles at these much higher energies. Because the fusion reactions release so much energy, even a small number of these reactions can release enough energy to keep the gas at the required temperature. In 1944, Enrico Fermi demonstrated that this would occur at a bulk temperature of about 50 million Celsius, still very hot but within the range of existing experimental systems. The key problem was "confining" such a plasma; no material container could withstand those temperatures. But because plasmas are electrically conductive, they are subject to electric and magnetic fields which provide a number of solutions.
In a magnetic field, the electrons and nuclei of the plasma circle the magnetic lines of force. One way to provide some confinement would be to place a tube of fuel inside the open core of a solenoid. A solenoid creates magnetic lines running down its center, and fuel would be held away from the walls by orbiting these lines of force. But such an arrangement does not confine the plasma along the length of the tube. The obvious solution is to bend the tube around into a torus (donut) shape, so that any one line forms a circle, and the particles can circle forever.
However, this solution does not actually work. For purely geometric reasons, the magnets ringing the torus are closer together on the inside curve, inside the "donut hole". Fermi noted this would cause the electrons to drift away from the nuclei, eventually causing them to separate and cause large voltages to develop. The resulting electric field would cause the plasma ring inside the torus to expand until it hit the walls of the reactor.
In the post-war era, a number of researchers began considering different ways to confine a plasma. George Paget Thomson of Imperial College London proposed a system now known as z-pinch, which runs a current through the plasma. Due to the Lorentz force, this current creates a magnetic field that pulls the plasma in on itself, keeping it away from the walls of the reactor. This eliminates the need for magnets on the outside, avoiding the problem Fermi noted. Various teams in the UK had built a number of small experimental devices using this technique by the late 1940s.
Another person working on controlled fusion reactors was Ronald Richter, a former German scientist who moved to Argentina after the war. His "thermotron" used a system of electrical arcs and mechanical compression (sound waves) for heating and confinement. He convinced Juan Perón to fund development of an experimental reactor on an isolated island near the Chilean border. Known as the Huemul Project, this was completed in 1951. Richter soon convinced himself fusion had been achieved in spite of other people working on the project disagreeing. The "success" was announced by Perón on 24 March 1951, becoming the topic of newspaper stories around the world.
While preparing for a ski trip to Aspen, Lyman Spitzer received a telephone call from his father, who mentioned an article on Huemul in "The New York Times". Looking over the description in the article, Spitzer concluded it could not possibly work; the system simply could not provide enough energy to heat the fuel to fusion temperatures. But the idea stuck with him, and he began considering systems that would work. While riding the ski lift, he hit upon the stellarator concept.
The basic concept was a way to modify the torus layout so that it addressed Fermi's concerns though the device's geometry. By twisting one end of the torus compared to the other, forming a figure-8 layout instead of a circle, the magnetic lines no longer travelled around the tube at a constant radius, instead they moved closer and further from the torus' center. A particle orbiting these lines would find itself constantly moving in and out across the minor axis of the torus. The drift upward while it travelled through one section of the reactor would be reversed after half an orbit and it would drift downward again. The cancellation was not perfect, but it appeared this would so greatly reduce the net drift rates that the fuel would remain trapped long enough to heat it to the required temperatures.
His 1958 description was simple and direct:
While working at Los Alamos in 1950, John Wheeler suggested setting up a secret research lab at Princeton University that would carry on theoretical work on H-bombs after he returned to the university in 1951. Spitzer was invited to join this program, given his previous research in interstellar plasmas.
But by the time of his trip to Aspen, Spitzer had lost interest in bomb design and he turned his attention full-time to fusion as a power source. Over the next few months, Spitzer produced a series of reports outlining the conceptual basis for the stellarator, as well as potential problems. The series is notable for its depth; it not only included a detailed analysis of the mathematics of the plasma and stability but also outlined a number of additional problems like heating the plasma and dealing with impurities.
With this work in hand, Spitzer began to lobby the Department of Energy (DOE) for funding to develop the system. He outlined a plan involving three stages. The first would see the construction of a Model A, whose purpose was to demonstrate that a plasma could be created and that its confinement time was better than a torus. If the A model was successful, the B model would attempt to heat the plasma to fusion temperatures. This would be followed by a C model, which would attempt to actually create fusion reactions at a large scale. This entire series was expected to take about a decade.
Around the same time, Jim Tuck had been introduced to the pinch concept while working at Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University. He was offered a job in the US and eventually ended up at Los Alamos, where he acquainted the other researchers with the concept. When he heard Spitzer was promoting the stellarator, he also travelled to Washington to propose building a pinch device. He considered Spitzer's plans "incredibly ambitious." Nevertheless, Spitzer was successful in gaining $50,000 in funding from the DOE, while Tuck received nothing.
The Princeton program was officially created on 1 July 1951. Spitzer, an avid mountain climber, proposed the name "Project Matterhorn" because he felt "the work at hand seemed difficult, like the ascent of a mountain." Two sections were initially set up, S Section working on the stellarator under Spitzer, and B Section working on bomb design under Wheeler. Matterhorn was set up at Princeton's new Forrestal Campus, a plot of land the University purchased from the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research when Rockefeller relocated to Manhattan. The land was located about from the main Princeton campus and already had sixteen laboratory buildings. Spitzer set up the top-secret S Section in a former rabbit hutch.
It was not long before the other labs began agitating for their own funding. Tuck had managed to arrange some funding for his Perhapsatron through some discretionary budgets at LANL, but other teams at LANL, Berkeley and Oak Ridge (ORNL) also presented their ideas. The DOE eventually organized a new department for all of these projects, becoming "Project Sherwood".
With the funding from the DOE, Spitzer began work by inviting James Van Allen to join the group and set up an experimental program. Allen suggested starting with a small "tabletop" device. This led to the Model A design, which began construction in 1952. It was made from pyrex tubes about in total length, and magnets capable of about 1,000 gauss. The machine began operations in early 1953 and clearly demonstrated improved confinement over the simple torus.
This led to the construction of the Model B, which had the problem that the magnets were not well mounted and tended to move around when they were powered to their maximum capacity of 50,000 gauss. A second design also failed for the same reason, but this machine demonstrated several-hundred-kilovolt X-rays that suggested good confinement. The lessons from these two designs led to the B-1, which used ohmic heating (see below) to reach plasma temperatures around 100,000 degrees. This machine demonstrated that impurities in the plasma caused large x-ray emissions that rapidly cooled the plasma. In 1956, B-1 was rebuilt with an ultra-high vacuum system to reduce the impurities but found that even at smaller quantities they were still a serious problem. Another effect noticed in the B-1 was that during the heating process, the particles would remain confined for only a few tenths of a millisecond, while once the field was turned off, any remaining particles were confined for as long as 10 milliseconds. This appeared to be due to "cooperative effects" within the plasma.
Meanwhile, a second machine known as B-2 was being built. This was similar to the B-1 machine but used pulsed power to allow it to reach higher magnetic energy and included a second heating system known as magnetic pumping. This machine was also modified to add an ultra-high vacuum system. Unfortunately, B-2 demonstrated little heating from the magnetic pumping, which was not entirely unexpected because this mechanism required longer confinement times, and this was not being achieved. As it appeared that little could be learned from this system in its current form, in 1958 it was sent to the Atoms for Peace show in Geneva. However, when the heating system was modified, the coupling increased dramatically, demonstrating temperatures within the heating section as high as .
Two additional machines were built to study pulsed operation. B-64 was completed in 1955, essentially a larger version of the B-1 machine but powered by pulses of current that produced up to 15,000 gauss. This machine included a "diverter", which removed impurities from the plasma, greatly reducing the x-ray cooling effect seen on earlier machines. B-64 included straight sections in the curved ends which gave it a squared-off appearance. This appearance led to its name, it was a "figure-8, squared", or 8 squared, or 64. This led to experiments in 1956 where the machine was re-assembled without the twist in the tubes, allowing the particles to travel without rotation.
B-65, completed in 1957, was built using the new "racetrack" layout. This was the result of the observation that adding helical coils to the curved portions of the device produced a field that introduced the rotation purely through the resulting magnetic fields. This had the added advantage that the magnetic field included "shear", which was known to improve stability. B-3, also completed in 1957, was a greatly enlarged B-2 machine with ultra-high vacuum and pulsed confinement up to 50,000 gauss and projected confinement times as long as 0.01 second. The last of the B-series machines was the B-66, completed in 1958, which was essentially a combination of the racetrack layout from B-65 with the larger size and energy of the B-3.
Unfortunately, all of these larger machines demonstrated a problem that came to be known as "pump out". This effect was causing plasma drift rates that were not only higher than classical theory suggested but also much higher than the Bohm rates. B-3's drift rate was a full three times that of the worst-case Bohm predictions, and failed to maintain confinement for more than a few tens of microseconds.
As early as 1954, as research continued on the B-series machines, the design of the Model C device was becoming more defined. It emerged as a large racetrack-layout machine with multiple heating sources and a diverter, essentially an even larger B-66. Construction began in 1958 and was completed in 1961. It could be adjusted to allow a plasma minor axis between and was in length. The toroidal field coils normally operated at 35,000 gauss.
By the time Model C began operations, information collected from previous machines was making it clear that it would not be able to produce large-scale fusion. Ion transport across the magnetic field lines was much higher than classical theory suggested. Greatly increased magnetic fields of the later machines did little to address this, and confinement times simply were not improving. Attention began to turn to a much greater emphasis on the theoretical understanding of the plasma. In 1961, Melvin B. Gottlieb took over the Matterhorn Project from Spitzer, and on 1 February the project was renamed as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).
Continual modification and experimentation on the Model C slowly improved its operation, and the confinement times eventually increased to match that of Bohm predictions. New versions of the heating systems were used that slowly increased the temperatures. Notable among these was the 1964 addition of a small particle accelerator to accelerate fuel ions to high enough energy to cross the magnetic fields, depositing energy within the reactor when they collided with other ions already inside. This method of heating, now known as neutral beam injection, has since become almost universal on magnetic confinement fusion machines.
Model C spent most of its history involved in studies of ion transport. Through continual tuning of the magnetic system and the addition of the new heating methods, in 1969, Model C eventually reached electron temperatures of 400 eV.
Through this period, a number of new potential stellarator designs emerged, which featured a simplified magnetic layout. The Model C used separate confinement and helical coils, as this was an evolutionary process from the original design which had only the confinement coils. Other researchers, notably in Germany, noted that the same overall magnetic field configuration could be achieved with a much simpler arrangement. This led to the torastron or heliotron layout.
In these designs, the primary field is produced by a single helical magnet, similar to one of the helical windings of the "classical" stellarator. In contrast to those systems, only a single magnet is needed, and it is much larger than those in the stellarators. To produce the net field, a second set of coils running poloidally around the outside of the helical magnet produces a second vertical field that mixes with the helical one. The result in a much simpler layout, as the poloidal magnets are generally much smaller and there is ample room between them to reach the interior, whereas in the original layout the toroidal confinement magnets are relatively large and leave little room between them.
A further update emerged from the realization that the total field could be produced through a series of independent magnets shaped like the local field. This results in a series of complex magnets that are arranged like the toroidal coils of the original layout. The advantage of this design is that the magnets are entirely independent; if one is damaged it can be individually replaced without affecting the rest of the system. Additionally, one can re-arrange the overall field layout by replacing the elements. These "modular coils" are now a major part of ongoing research.
In 1968, scientists in the Soviet Union released the results of their tokamak machines, notably their newest example, T-3. The results were so startling that there was widespread scepticism. To address this, the Soviets invited a team of experts from the United Kingdom to test the machines for themselves. Their tests, made using a laser-based system developed for the ZETA reactor in England, verified the Soviet claims of electron temperatures of 1,000 eV. What followed was a "veritable stampede" of tokamak construction worldwide.
At first the US labs ignored the tokamak; Spitzer himself dismissed it out of hand as experimental error. However, as new results came in, especially the UK reports, Princeton found itself in the position of trying to defend the stellarator as a useful experimental machine while other groups from around the US were clamoring for funds to build tokamaks. In July 1969 Gottlieb had a change of heart, offering to convert the Model C to a tokamak layout. In December it was shut down and reopened in May as the Symmetric Tokamak (ST).
The ST immediately matched the performance being seen in the Soviet machines, besting the Model C's results by over ten times. From that point, PPPL was the primary developer of the tokamak approach in the US, introducing a series of machines to test various designs and modifications. The Princeton Large Torus of 1975 quickly hit several performance numbers that were required for a commercial machine, and it was widely believed the critical threshold of breakeven would be reached in the early 1980s. What was needed was larger machines and more powerful systems to heat the plasma to fusion temperatures.
Tokamaks are a type of pinch machine, differing from earlier designs primarily in the amount of current in the plasma: above a certain threshold known as the "safety factor", or "q", the plasma is much more stable. ZETA ran at a "q" around , while experiments on tokamaks demonstrated it needs to be at least 1. Machines following this rule showed dramatically improved performance. However, by the mid-1980s the easy path to fusion disappeared; as the amount of current in the new machines began to increase, a new set of instabilities in the plasma appeared. These could be addressed, but only by greatly increasing the power of the magnetic fields, requiring superconducting magnets and huge confinement volumes. The cost of such a machine was such that the involved parties banded together to begin the ITER project.
As the problems with the tokamak approach grew, interest in the stellarator approach reemerged. This coincided with the development of advanced computer aided planning tools that allowed the construction of complex magnets that were previously known but considered too difficult to design and build.
New materials and construction methods have increased the quality and power of the magnetic fields, improving performance. New devices have been built to test these concepts. Major examples include Wendelstein 7-X in Germany, the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) in the US, and the Large Helical Device in Japan. W7X and LHD use superconducting magnetic coils.
The lack of an internal current eliminates some of the instabilities of the tokamak, meaning the stellarator should be more stable at similar operating conditions. On the downside, since it lacks the confinement provided by the current found in a tokamak, the stellarator requires more powerful magnets to reach any given confinement. The stellarator is an inherently steady-state machine, which has several advantages from an engineering standpoint.
In 2019 a Hessian matrix was applied to simplify the math required to assess the error fields associated with important coil imperfections. Magnetic island size and quasi-symmetry are analytically differentiated over coil parameters. The eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix identify sensitive coil deviations. Each coil requires separate tolerance and some certain perturbation combinations, permitting greater coil tolerances, which could reduce time and cost.
Heating a gas increases the energy of the particles within it, so by heating a gas into the hundreds of millions of degrees, the majority of the particles within it would reach the energy required to fuse. According to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, some of the particles will reach the required energies at much lower average temperatures. Because the energy released by the reaction is much greater than what it takes to start it, even a small number of reactions can heat surrounding fuel until it fuses as well. In 1944, Enrico Fermi calculated the D-T reaction would be self-sustaining at about .
Materials heated beyond a few tens of thousand degrees ionize into their electrons and nuclei, producing a gas-like state of matter known as plasma. According to the ideal gas law, like any hot gas, plasma has an internal pressure and thus wants to expand. For a fusion reactor, the challenge is to keep the plasma contained; any known substance would melt or sublime at these temperatures. But because a plasma is electrically conductive, it is subject to electric and magnetic fields. In a magnetic field, the electrons and nuclei orbit around the magnetic field lines, confining them to the area defined by the field.
A simple confinement system can be made by placing a tube inside the open core of a solenoid. The tube can be evacuated and then filled with the requisite gas and heated until it becomes a plasma. The plasma naturally wants to expand outwards to the walls of the tube, as well as move along it, towards the ends. The solenoid creates magnetic field lines running down the center of the tube, and the plasma particles orbit these lines, preventing their motion towards the sides. Unfortunately, this arrangement would not confine the plasma along the "length" of the tube, and the plasma would be free to flow out the ends.
The obvious solution to this problem is to bend the tube around into a torus (a ring or donut) shape. Motion towards the sides remains constrained as before, and while the particles remain free to move along the lines, in this case, they will simply circulate around the long axis of the tube. But, as Fermi pointed out, when the solenoid is bent into a ring, the electrical windings would be closer together on the inside than the outside. This would lead to an uneven field across the tube, and the fuel will slowly drift out of the center. Since the electrons and ions would drift in opposite directions, this would lead to a charge separation and electrostatic forces that would eventually overwhelm the magnetic force. Some additional force needs to counteract this drift, providing long-term "confinement".
Spitzer's key concept in the stellarator design is that the drift that Fermi noted could be canceled out through the physical arrangement of the vacuum tube. In a simple torus, particles on the inside edge of the tube, where the field was stronger, would drift up, while those on the outside would drift down (or vice versa). However, if the particle were made to alternate between the inside and outside of the tube, the drifts would cancel out. The cancellation is not perfect, leaving some net drift, but basic calculations suggested drift would be lowered enough to confine plasma long enough to heat it sufficiently.
Spitzer's suggestion for doing this was simple. Instead of a normal torus, the device would essentially be cut in half to produce two half-tori. They would then be joined with two straight sections between the open ends. The key was that they were connected to alternate ends so that the right half of one of the tori was connected to the left of the other. The resulting design resembled a figure-8 when viewed from above. Because the straight tubes could not pass through each other, the design did not lie flat, the tori at either end had to be tilted. This meant the drift cancellation was further reduced, but again, calculations suggested the system would work.
To understand how the system works to counteract drift, consider the path of a single particle in the system starting in one of the straight sections. If that particle is perfectly centered in the tube, it will travel down the center into one of the half-tori, exit into the center of the next tube, and so on. This particle will complete a loop around the entire reactor without leaving the center. Now consider another particle traveling parallel to the first, but initially located near the inside wall of the tube. In this case, it will enter the "outside" edge of the half-torus and begin to drift down. It exits that section and enters the second straight section, still on the outside edge of that tube. However, because the tubes are crossed, when it reaches the second half-torus it enters it on the "inside" edge. As it travels through this section it drifts back up.
This effect would reduce one of the primary causes of drift in the machine, but there were others to consider as well. Although the ions and electrons in the plasma would both circle the magnetic lines, they would do so in opposite directions, and at very high rotational speeds. This leads to the possibility of collisions between particles circling different lines of force as they circulate through the reactor, which due to purely geometric reasons, causes the fuel to slowly drift outward. This process eventually causes the fuel to either collide with the structure or cause a large charge separation between the ions and electrons. Spitzer introduced the concept of a "divertor", a magnet placed around the tube that pulled off the very outer layer of the plasma. This would remove the ions before they drifted too far and hit the walls. It would also remove any heavier elements in the plasma.
Using classical calculations the rate of diffusion through collisions was low enough that it would be much lower than the drift due to uneven fields in a normal toroid. But earlier studies of magnetically confined plasmas in 1949 demonstrated much higher losses and became known as Bohm diffusion. Spitzer spent considerable effort considering this issue and concluded that the anomalous rate being seen by Bohm was due to instability in the plasma, which he believed could be addressed.
Practical complications make the original figure-8 device less than ideal. This led to alternative designs and additions.
One of the major concerns is that the magnetic fields in the system will only properly confine a particle of a given mass traveling at a given speed. Particles traveling faster or slower will not circulate in the desired fashion. Particles with very low speeds (corresponding to low temperatures) are not confined and can drift out to the tube walls. Those with too much energy may hit the outside walls of the curved sections. To address these concerns, Spitzer introduced the concept of a "divertor" that would connect to one of the straight sections. This was essentially a mass spectrometer that would remove particles that were moving too fast or too slow for proper confinement.
The physical limitation that the two straight sections cannot intersect means that the rotational transform within the loop is not a perfect 180 degrees, but typically closer to 135 degrees. This led to alternate designs in an effort to get the angle closer to 180. An early attempt was built into the Stellarator B-2, which placed both curved sections flat in relation to the ground, but at different heights. The formerly straight sections had additional curves inserted, two sections of about 45 degrees, so they now formed extended S-shapes. This allowed them to route around each other while being perfectly symmetrical in terms of angles.
A better solution to the need to rotate the particles was introduced in the Stellarator B-64 and B-65. These eliminated the cross-over and flattened the device into an oval, or as they referred to it, a racetrack. The rotation of the particles was introduced by placing a new set of magnetic coils on the half-torus on either end, the "corkscrew windings". The field from these coils mixes with the original confinement fields to produce a mixed field that rotates the lines of force through 180 degrees. This made the mechanical design of the reactor much simpler, but in practice, it was found that the mixed field was very difficult to produce in a perfectly symmetrical fashion.
Unlike the z-pinch designs being explored in the UK and other US labs, the stellarator has no induced electrical current within the plasma – at a macroscopic level, the plasma is neutral and unmoving, in spite of the individual particles within it rapidly circulating. In pinch machines, and the later tokamaks, the current itself is one of the primary methods of heating the plasma. In the stellarator, no such natural heating source is present.
Early stellarator designs used a system similar to those in the pinch devices to provide the initial heating to bring the gas to plasma temperatures. This consisted of a single set of windings from a transformer, with the plasma itself forming the secondary set. When energized with a pulse of current, the particles in the region are rapidly energized and begin to move. This brings additional gas into the region, quickly ionizing the entire mass of gas. This concept was referred to as "ohmic heating" because it relied on the resistance of the gas to create heat, in a fashion not unlike a conventional resistance heater. As the temperature of the gas increases, the conductivity of the plasma improves. This makes the ohmic heating process less and less effective, and this system is limited to temperatures of about 1 million kelvins.
To heat the plasma to higher temperatures, a second heat source was added, the "magnetic pumping" system. This consisted of radio-frequency source fed through a coil spread along the vacuum chamber. The frequency is chosen to be similar to the natural frequency of the particles around the magnetic lines of force, the "cyclotron frequency". This causes the particles in the area to gain energy, which causes them to orbit in a wider radius. Since other particles are orbiting their own lines nearby, at a macroscopic level, this change in energy appears as an increase in pressure. According to the ideal gas law, this results in an increase in temperature. Like the ohmic heating, this process also becomes less efficient as the temperature increases, but is still capable of creating very high temperatures. When the frequency is deliberately set close to that of the ion circulation, this is known as "ion-cyclotron resonance heating", although this name is not widely used.
There are several ways to heat the plasma (which must be done before ignition can occur).
Several different configurations of stellarator exist, including:
The goal of magnetic confinement devices is to minimise energy transport across a magnetic field. Toroidal devices are relatively successful because the magnetic properties seen by the particles are averaged as they travel around the torus. The strength of the field seen by a particle, however, generally varies, so that some particles will be trapped by the mirror effect. These particles will not be able to average the magnetic properties so effectively, which will result in increased energy transport. In most stellarators, these changes in field strength are greater than in tokamaks, which is a major reason that transport in stellarators tends to be higher than in tokamaks.
University of Wisconsin electrical engineering Professor David Anderson and research assistant John Canik proved in 2007 that the Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX) can overcome this major barrier in plasma research. The HSX is the first stellarator to use a quasisymmetric magnetic field. The team designed and built the HSX with the prediction that quasisymmetry would reduce energy transport. As the team's latest research showed, that is exactly what it does. "This is the first demonstration that quasisymmetry works, and you can actually measure the reduction in transport that you get," says Canik.
The newer Wendelstein 7-X in Germany was designed to be close to omnigeneity (a property of the magnetic field such that the mean radial drift is zero), which is a necessary but not sufficient condition for quasisymmetry; that is, all quasisymmetric magnetic fields are omnigenous, but not all omnigenous magnetic fields are quasisymmetric.
SLA
SLA may refer to:
SYSTRAN
SYSTRAN, founded by Dr. Peter Toma in 1968, is one of the oldest machine translation companies. SYSTRAN has done extensive work for the United States Department of Defense and the European Commission.
SYSTRAN provided the technology for Yahoo! Babel Fish until May 30, 2012, among others. It was used by Google's language tools until 2007. SYSTRAN is used by the Dashboard Translation widget in macOS.
Commercial versions of SYSTRAN can run on Microsoft Windows (including Windows Mobile), Linux, and Solaris. Historically, SYSTRAN systems used rule-based machine translation (RbMT) technology. With the release of SYSTRAN Server 7 in 2010, SYSTRAN implemented a hybrid rule-based/statistical machine translation (SMT) technology which was the first of its kind in the marketplace.
, the company had 59 employees of whom 26 are computational experts and 15 computational linguists. The number of employees decreased from 70 in 2006 to 59 in 2008.
With its origin in the Georgetown machine translation effort, SYSTRAN was one of the few machine translation systems to survive the major decrease of funding after the ALPAC Report of the mid-1960s. The company was established in La Jolla in California to work on translation of Russian to English text for the United States Air Force during the Cold War. Large numbers of Russian scientific and technical documents were translated using SYSTRAN under the auspices of the USAF Foreign Technology Division (later the National Air and Space Intelligence Center) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The quality of the translations, although only approximate, was usually adequate for understanding content.
The company was sold in 1986 to the Gachot family, based in Paris, and is now traded publicly on the French stock exchange. Its company headquarters is in Paris, while its U.S. headquarters is still in La Jolla.
During the dot-com boom, the international language industry started a new era, and SYSTRAN entered into agreements with a number of translation integrators, the most successful of these being WorldLingo.
In 2014, the company was acquired by CSLi (Korea).
Most of SYSTRAN's revenue comes from a few customers. 57.1% comes from the 10 main customers and the three largest customers account for 10.9%, 8.9%, and 8.9% of its revenues, respectively. Revenues had been declining in the early 2000s: 10.2 million euros in 2004, 10.1 million euros in 2005, 9.3 million euros in 2006, 8.8 million euros in 2007, and 7.6 million euros in 2008, before seeing a rebound in 2009 with 8.6 million euros.
The following is a list of the source and target languages with which SYSTRAN works. Many of the pairs are to or from English or French.
Stephen I of Hungary
Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( ; ; ; 975 – 15 August 1038 AD), was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first King of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his birth is uncertain, but many details of his life suggest that he was born in or after 975 in Esztergom. At his birth, he was given the pagan name Vajk. The date of his baptism is unknown. He was the only son of Grand Prince Géza and his wife, Sarolt, who was descended from the prominent family of the "gyulas". Although both of his parents were baptized, Stephen was the first member of his family to become a devout Christian. He married Gisela of Bavaria, a scion of the imperial Ottonian dynasty.
After succeeding his father in 997, Stephen had to fight for the throne against his relative, Koppány, who was supported by large numbers of pagan warriors. He defeated Koppány mainly with the assistance of foreign knights, including Vecelin, Hont and Pázmány, but also with help from native lords. He was crowned on 25 December 1000 or 1 January 1001 with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II. In a series of wars against semi-independent tribes and chieftainsincluding the Black Hungarians and his uncle, Gyula the Youngerhe unified the Carpathian Basin. He protected the independence of his kingdom by forcing the invading troops of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, to withdraw from Hungary in 1030.
Stephen established at least one archbishopric, six bishoprics and three Benedictine monasteries; thus the Church in Hungary developed independently of the archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire. He encouraged the spread of Christianity with severe punishments for ignoring Christian customs. His system of local administration was based on counties organized around fortresses and administered by royal officials. Hungary, which enjoyed a lasting period of peace during his reign, became a preferred route for pilgrims and merchants traveling between Western Europe and the Holy Land or Constantinople.
He survived all of his children. He died on 15 August 1038 and was buried in his new basilica, built in Székesfehérvár and dedicated to the Holy Virgin. His death caused civil wars which lasted for decades. He was canonized by Pope Gregory VII, together with his son, Emeric, and Bishop Gerard of Csanád, in 1083. Stephen is a popular saint in Hungary and the neighboring territories. In Hungary, his feast day (celebrated on 20 August) is also a public holiday commemorating the foundation of the state, known as State Foundation Day.
Stephen's birth date is uncertain as it was not recorded in contemporaneous documents. Hungarian and Polish chronicles written centuries later give three different years: 967, 969 and 975. The unanimous testimony of his three late 11th-century or early 12th-century hagiographies and other Hungarian sources, which state that Stephen was "still an adolescent" in 997, substantiate the reliability of the later year (975). Stephen's "Lesser Legend" adds that he was born in Esztergom, which implies that he was born after 972 because his father, Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, chose Esztergom as royal residence around that year. Géza promoted the spread of Christianity among his subjects by force, but never ceased worshipping pagan gods. Both his son's "Greater Legend" and the nearly contemporaneous Thietmar of Merseburg described Géza as a cruel monarch, suggesting that he was a despot who mercilessly consolidated his authority over the rebellious Hungarian lords.
Hungarian chronicles agree that Stephen's mother was Sarolt, daughter of Gyula, a Hungarian chieftain with jurisdiction either in Transylvania or in the wider region of the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Maros. Many historiansincluding Pál Engel and Gyula Kristópropose that her father was identical with "Gylas", who had been baptized in Constantinople around 952 and "remained faithful to Christianity", according to Byzantine chronicler John Skylitzes. However, this identification is not unanimously accepted; historian György Györffy states that it was not Sarolt's father, but his younger brother, who was baptized in the Byzantine capital. In contrast with all Hungarian sources, the "Polish-Hungarian Chronicle" and later Polish sources state that Stephen's mother was Adelhaid, an otherwise unknown sister of Duke Mieszko I of Poland, but the reliability of this report is not accepted by modern historians.
Stephen was born as Vajk, a name derived from the Turkic word "baj", meaning "hero", "master", "prince" or "rich". Stephen's "Greater Legend" narrates that he was baptized by the saintly Bishop Adalbert of Prague, who stayed in Géza's court several times between 983 and 994. However, Saint Adalbert's nearly contemporaneous "Legend", written by Bruno of Querfurt, does not mention this event. Accordingly, the date of Stephen's baptism is unknown: Györffy argues that he was baptized soon after birth, while Kristó proposes that he only received baptism just before his father's death in 997.
Stephen's official hagiography, written by Bishop Hartvic and sanctioned by Pope Innocent III, narrates that he "was fully instructed in the knowledge of the grammatical art" in his childhood. This implies that he studied Latin, though some scepticism is warranted as few kings of this era were able to write. His two other late 11th-century hagiographies do not mention any grammatical studies, stating only that he "was brought up by receiving an education appropriate for a little prince". Kristó says that the latter remark only refers to Stephen's physical training, including his participation in hunts and military actions. According to the "Illuminated Chronicle", one of his tutors was a Count Deodatus from Italy, who later founded a monastery in Tata.
According to Stephen's legends, Grand Prince Géza convoked an assembly of the Hungarian chieftains and warriors when Stephen "ascended to the first stage of adolescence", at the age of 14 or 15. Géza nominated Stephen as his successor and all those present took an oath of loyalty to the young prince. Györffy also writes, without identifying his source, that Géza appointed his son to rule the "Nyitra ducate" around that time. Slovak historians, including Ján Steinhübel and Ján Lukačka, accept Györffy's view and propose that Stephen administered Nyitra (now Nitra, Slovakia) from around 995.
Géza arranged Stephen's marriage, to Gisela, daughter of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, in or after 995. This marriage established the first family link between a Hungarian ruler and a Western European ruling house, as Gisela was closely related to the Ottonian dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. According to popular tradition preserved in the Scheyern Abbey in Bavaria, the ceremony took place at the Scheyern castle and was celebrated by Saint Adalbert. Gisela was accompanied to her new home by Bavarian knights, many of whom received land grants from her husband and settled in Hungary, helping to strengthen Stephen's military position. Györffy writes that Stephen and his wife "presumably" settled in Nyitra after their marriage.
Grand Prince Géza died in 997. Stephen convoked an assembly at Esztergom where his supporters declared him grand prince. Initially, he only controlled the northwestern regions of the Carpathian Basin; the rest of the territory was still dominated by tribal chieftains. Stephen's ascension to the throne was in line with the principle of primogeniture, which prescribed that a father was succeeded by his son. On the other hand, it contradicted the traditional idea of seniority, according to which Géza should have been succeeded by the most senior member of the Árpád dynasty, which was Koppány at that time. Koppány, who held the title Duke of Somogy, had for many years administered the regions of Transdanubia south of Lake Balaton.
Koppány proposed to Géza's widow, Sarolt, in accordance with the pagan custom of levirate marriage. He also announced his claim to the throne. Although it is not impossible that Koppány had already been baptized, in 972, most of his supporters were pagans, opponents of the Christianity represented by Stephen and his predominantly German retinue. A charter of 1002 for the Pannonhalma Archabbey writes of a war between "the Germans and the Hungarians" when referring to the armed conflicts between Stephen and Koppány. Even so, Györffy says that "Oszlar" ("Alan"), "Besenyő" ("Pecheneg"), "Kér" and other place names, referring to ethnic groups or Hungarian tribes in Transdanubia around the supposed borders of Koppány's duchy, suggest that significant auxiliary units and groups of Hungarian warriorswho had been settled there by Grand Prince Gézafought in Stephen's army.
Kristó states that the entire conflict between Stephen and Koppány was only a feud between two members of the Árpád dynasty, with no effect on other Hungarian tribal leaders. Koppány and his troops invaded the northern regions of Transdanubia, took many of Stephen's forts and plundered his lands. Stephen, who according to the "Illuminated Chronicle" "was for the first time girded with his sword", placed the brothers Hont and Pázmány at the head of his own guard and nominated Vecelin to lead the royal army. The latter was a German knight who had come to Hungary in the reign of Géza. Hont and Pázmány were, according to Simon of Kéza's "Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum" and the "Illuminated Chronicle", "knights of Swabian origin" who settled in Hungary either under Géza or in the first years of Stephen's reign. On the other hand, Lukačka and other Slovak historians say that Hont and Pázmány were "Slovak" noblemen who had joined Stephen during his rule in Nyitra.
Koppány was besieging Veszprém when he was informed of the arrival of Stephen's army. In the ensuing battle, Stephen won a decisive victory over his enemies. Koppány was killed on the battlefield. His body was quartered and its parts were displayed at the gates of the forts of Esztergom, Győr, Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, Romania) and Veszprém in order to threaten all of those who were conspiring against the young monarch.
Stephen occupied Koppány's duchy and granted large estates to his own partisans. He also prescribed that Koppány's former subjects were to pay tithes to the Pannonhalma Archabbey, according to the deed of the foundation of this monastery which has been preserved in a manuscript containing interpolations. The same document declares that "there were no other bishoprics and monasteries in Hungary" at that time. On the other hand, the nearly contemporary Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg stated that Stephen "established bishoprics in his kingdom" before being crowned king. If the latter report is valid, the dioceses of Veszprém and Győr are the most probable candidates, according to historian Gábor Thoroczkay.
By ordering the display of one part of Koppány's quartered corpse in Gyulafehérvár, the seat of his maternal uncle, Gyula the Younger, Stephen asserted his claim to reign all lands dominated by Hungarian lords. He also decided to strengthen his international status by adopting the title of king. However, the exact circumstances of his coronation and its political consequences are subject to scholarly debate.
Thietmar of Merseburg writes that Stephen received the crown "with the favour and urging" of Emperor Otto III (r. 996–1002), implying that Stephen accepted the Emperor's suzerainty before his coronation. On the other hand, all of Stephen's legends emphasize that he received his crown from Pope Sylvester II (r. 999–1003). Kristó and other historians point out that Pope Sylvester and Emperor Otto were close allies, which implies that both reports are valid: Stephen "received the crown and consecration" from the Pope, but not without the Emperor's consent. Around 75 years after the coronation, Pope Gregory VII (r. 1075–1085), who claimed suzerainty over Hungary, declared that Stephen had "offered and devotedly surrendered" Hungary "to Saint Peter" (that is to the Holy See). In a contrasting report, Stephen's "Greater Legend" states that the King offered Hungary to the Virgin Mary. Modern historiansincluding Pál Engel, and Miklós Molnárwrite that Stephen always asserted his sovereignty and never accepted papal or imperial suzerainty. For instance, none of his charters were dated according to the years of the reign of the contemporary emperors, which would have been the case if he had been their vassal. Furthermore, Stephen declared in the preamble to his "First Book of Laws" that he governed his realm "by the will of God".
The exact date of Stephen's coronation is unknown. According to later Hungarian tradition, he was crowned on the first day of the second millennium, which may refer either to 25 December 1000 or to 1 January 1001. Details of Stephen's coronation preserved in his "Greater Legend" suggest that the ceremony, which took place in Esztergom or Székesfehérvár followed the rite of the coronation of the German kings. Accordingly, Stephen was anointed with consecrated oil during the ceremony. Stephen's portrait, preserved on his royal cloak from 1031, shows that his crown, like the Holy Roman Emperor's diadem, was a hoop crown decorated with gemstones.
Besides his crown, Stephen regarded a spear with a flag as an important symbol of his sovereignty. For instance, his first coins bear the inscription LANCEA REGIS ("the king's spear") and depict an arm holding a spear with flag. According to the contemporaneous Adémar de Chabannes, a spear had been given to Stephen's father by Emperor Otto III as a token of Géza's right to "enjoy the most freedom in the possession of his country". Stephen is styled in various ways"Ungarorum rex" ("king of the Hungarians"), "Pannoniorum rex" ("king of the Pannonians") or "Hungarie rex" ("king of Hungary")in his charters.
Although Stephen's power did not rely on his coronation, the ceremony granted him the internationally accepted legitimacy of a Christian monarch who ruled his realm "by the Grace of God". All his legends testify that he established an archbishopric with its see in Esztergom shortly after his coronation. This act ensured that the Church in Hungary became independent of the prelates of the Holy Roman Empire. The earliest reference to an archbishop of Esztergom, named Domokos, has been preserved in the deed of foundation of the Pannonhalma Archabbey from 1002. According to historian Gábor Thoroczkay, Stephen also established the Diocese of Kalocsa in 1001. Stephen invited foreign priests to Hungary to evangelize his kingdom. Associates of the late Adalbert of Prague, including Radla and Astrik, arrived in Hungary in the first years of his reign. The presence of an unnamed "Archbishop of the Hungarians" at the synod of 1007 of Frankfurt and the consecration of an altar in Bamberg in 1012 by Archbishop Astrik show that Stephen's prelates maintained a good relationship with the clergy of the Holy Roman Empire.
The transformation of Hungary into a Christian state was one of Stephen's principal concerns throughout his reign. Although the Hungarians' conversion had already begun in his father's reign, it was only Stephen who systematically forced his subjects to give up their pagan rituals. His legislative activity was closely connected with Christianity. For example, his "First Book of Laws" from the first years of his reign includes several provisions prescribing the observance of feast days and the confession before death. His other laws protected property rights and the interests of widows and orphans, or regulated the status of serfs.
Many Hungarian lords refused to accept Stephen's suzerainty even after his coronation. The new King first turned against his own uncle, Gyula the Younger, whose realm "was most wide and rich", according to the "Illuminated Chronicle". Stephen invaded Transylvania and seized Gyula and his family around 1002 or in 1003. The contemporary "Annals of Hildesheim" adds that Stephen converted his uncle's "country to the Christian faith by force" after its conquest. Accordingly, historians date the establishment of the Diocese of Transylvania to this period. If the identification, proposed by Kristó, Györffy and other Hungarian historians, of Gyula with one Prokuiwho was Stephen's uncle according to Thietmar of Merseburgis valid, Gyula later escaped from captivity and fled to Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland (r. 992–1025).
About a hundred years later, the chronicler Gallus Anonymus also made mention of armed conflicts between Stephen and Boleslav, stating that the latter "defeated the Hungarians in battle and made himself master of all their lands as far as the Danube". Györffy says that the chronicler's report refers to the occupation of the valley of the river Moravaa tributary of the Danubeby the Poles in the 1010s. On the other hand, the "Polish-Hungarian Chronicle" states that the Polish duke occupied large territories north of the Danube and east of the Morava as far as Esztergom in the early 11th century. According to Steinhübel, the latter source proves that a significant part of the lands that now form Slovakia were under Polish rule between 1002 and 1030. In contrast with the Slovak historian, Györffy writes that this late chronicle "in which one absurdity follows another" contradicts all facts known from 11th-century sources.
The "Illuminated Chronicle" narrates that Stephen "led his army against Kean, Duke of the Bulgarians and Slavs whose lands are by their natural position most strongly fortified" following the occupation of Gyula's country. According to a number of historians, including Zoltán Lenkey and Gábor Thoroczkay, Kean was the head of a small state located in the southern parts of Transylvania and Stephen occupied his country around 1003. Other historians, including Györffy, say that the chronicle's report preserved the memory of Stephen's campaign against Bulgaria in the late 1010s.
Likewise, the identification of the "Black Hungarians"who were mentioned by Bruno of Querfurt and Adémar de Chabannes among the opponents of Stephen's proselytizing policyis uncertain. Györffy locates their lands to the east of the river Tisza; while Thoroczkay says they live in the southern parts of Transdanubia. Bruno of Querfurt's report of the Black Hungarians' conversion by force suggests that Stephen conquered their lands at the latest in 1009 when "the first mission of Saint Peter"a papal legate, Cardinal Azoarrived in Hungary. The latter attended the meeting in Győr where the royal charter determining the borders of the newly established Bishopric of Pécs was issued on 23 August 1009.
The Diocese of Eger was also set up around 1009. According to Thoroczkay, "it is very probable" that the bishopric's establishment was connected with the conversion of the Kabarsan ethnic group of Khazar origin and their chieftain. The head of the Kabarswho was either Samuel Aba or his father married Stephen's unnamed younger sister on this occasion. The Aba clan was the most powerful among the native families who joined Stephen and supported him in his efforts to establish a Christian monarchy. The reports by Anonymus, Simon of Kéza and other Hungarian chroniclers of the Bár-Kalán, Csák and other 13th-century noble families descending from Hungarian chieftains suggest that other native families were also involved in the process.
Stephen set up a territory-based administrative system, establishing counties. Each county, headed by a royal official known as a count or "ispán", was an administrative unit organized around a royal fortress. Most fortresses were earthworks in this period, but the castles at Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Veszprém were built of stone. Forts serving as county seats also became the nuclei of Church organization. The settlements developing around them, where markets were held on each Sunday, were important local economic centers.
Stephen's brother-in-law, Henry II, became King of Germany in 1002 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1013. Their friendly relationship ensured that the western borders of Hungary experienced a period of peace in the first decades of the 11th century. Even when Henry II's discontented brother, Bruno, sought refuge in Hungary in 1004, Stephen preserved the peace with Germany and negotiated a settlement between his two brothers-in-law. Around 1009, he gave his younger sister in marriage to Otto Orseolo, Doge of Venice (r. 1008–1026), a close ally of the Byzantine Emperor, Basil II (r. 976–1025), which suggests that Hungary's relationship with the Byzantine Empire was also peaceful. On the other hand, the alliance between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire brought her into a war with Poland lasting from around 1014 until 1018. The Poles occupied the Hungarian posts along the river Morava. Györffy and Kristó write that a Pecheneg incursion into Transylvania, the memory of which has been preserved in Stephen's legends, also took place in this period, because the Pechenegs were close allies of the Polish duke's brother-in-law, Grand Prince Sviatopolk I of Kiev (r. 1015–1019).
Poland and the Holy Roman Empire concluded the Peace of Bautzen in January 1018. Later in the same year, 500 Hungarian horsemen accompanied Boleslav of Poland to Kiev, suggesting that Hungary had been included in the peace treaty. The historian Ferenc Makk says that the Peace of Bautzen obliged Boleslav to hand over all the territories he had occupied in the Morava valley to Stephen. According to Leodvin, the first known Bishop of Bihar (r. 1050 – 1060), Stephen allied with the Byzantines and led a military expedition to assist them against "barbarians" in the Balkan Peninsula. The Byzantine and Hungarian troops jointly took "Cesaries" which Györffy identifies as the present-day town of Ohrid. Leodvin's report suggests that Stephen joined the Byzantines in the war ending with their conquest of Bulgaria in 1018. However, the exact date of his expedition is uncertain. Györffy argues that it was only in the last year of the war that Stephen led his troops against the Bulgarians.
Bishop Leodvin wrote that Stephen collected relics of a number of saints in "Cesaries" during his campaign in the Balkans, including Saint George and Saint Nicholas. He donated them to his new triple-naved basilica dedicated to the Holy Virgin in Székesfehérvár, where he also set up a cathedral chapter and his new capital. His decision was influenced by the opening, in 1018 or 1019, of a new pilgrimage route that bypassed his old capital, Esztergom. The new route connected Western Europe and the Holy Land through Hungary. Stephen often met the pilgrims, contributing to the spread of his fame throughout Europe. Abbot Odilo of Cluny, for example, wrote in a letter to Stephen that "those who have returned from the shrine of our Lord" testify to the king's passion "towards the honour of our divine religion". Stephen also established four hostels for pilgrims in Constantinople, Jerusalem, Ravenna and Rome.
In addition to pilgrims, merchants often used the safe route across Hungary when travelling between Constantinople and Western Europe. Stephen's legends refer to 60 wealthy Pechenegs who travelled to Hungary, but were attacked by Hungarian border guards. The king sentenced his soldiers to death in order to demonstrate his determination to preserve internal peace. Regular minting of coinage began in Hungary in the 1020s. Stephen's silver dinars bearing the inscriptions STEPHANUS REX ("King Stephen") and REGIA CIVITAS ("royal city") were popular in contemporary Europe, as demonstrated by counterfeited copies unearthed in Sweden.
Stephen convinced some pilgrims and merchants to settle in Hungary. Gerard, a Benedictine monk who arrived in Hungary from the Republic of Venice between 1020 and 1026, initially planned to continue his journey to the Holy Land, but decided to stay in the country after his meeting with the king. Stephen also established a number of Benedictine monasteriesincluding the abbeys at Pécsvárad, Zalavár and Bakonybélin this period.
The "Long Life of Saint Gerard" mentions Stephen's conflict with Ajtony, a chieftain in the region of the river Maros. Many historians date their clash to the end of the 1020s, although Györffy and other scholars put it at least a decade earlier. The conflict arose when Ajtony, who "had taken his power from the Greeks", according to Saint Gerard's legend, levied tax on the salt transported to Stephen on the river. The king sent a large army led by Csanád against Ajtony, who was killed in battle. His lands were transformed into a Hungarian county and the king set up a new bishopric at Csanád (Cenad, Romania), Ajtony's former capital, which was renamed after the commander of the royal army. According to the "Annales Posonienses", the Venetian Gerard was consecrated as the first bishop of the new diocese in 1030.
Stephen's brother-in-law, Emperor Henry, died on 13 July 1024. He was succeeded by a distant relative, Conrad II (r. 1024–1039), who adopted an offensive foreign policy. Conrad II expelled Doge Otto Orseolothe husband of Stephen's sisterfrom Venice in 1026. He also persuaded the Bavarians to proclaim his own son, Henry, as their duke in 1027, although Stephen's son, Emeric had a strong claim to the Duchy of Bavaria through his mother. Emperor Conrad planned a marriage alliance with the Byzantine Empire and dispatched one of his advisors, Bishop Werner of Strasbourg, to Constantinople. In the autumn of 1027, the bishop seemingly travelled as a pilgrim, but Stephen, who had been informed of his actual purpose, refused to let him enter into his country. Conrad II's biographer Wipo of Burgundy narrated that the Bavarians incited skirmishes along the common borders of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire in 1029, causing a rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries.
Emperor Conrad personally led his armies to Hungary in June 1030 and plundered the lands west of the River Rába. However, according to the "Annals of Niederalteich", the emperor, suffering from consequences of the scorched earth tactics used by the Hungarian army, returned to Germany "without an army and without achieving anything, because the army was threatened by starvation and was captured by the Hungarians at Vienna". Peace was restored after Conrad had ceded the lands between the rivers Lajta and Fischa to Hungary in the summer of 1031.
Stephen's biographer, Hartvic, narrates that the King, whose children died one by one in infancy, "restrained the grief over their death by the solace on account of the love of his surviving son", Emeric. However, Emeric was wounded in a hunting accident and died in 1031. After the death of his son, the elderly King could never "fully regain his former health", according to the "Illuminated Chronicle". Kristó writes that the picture, which has been preserved in Stephen's legends, of the king keeping the vigils and washing the feet of paupers, is connected with Stephen's last years, following the death of his son.
Emeric's death jeopardized his father's achievements in establishing a Christian state, because Stephen's cousin, Vazulwho had the strongest claim to succeed himwas suspected of an inclination towards paganism. According to the "Annals of Altaich" Stephen disregarded his cousin's claim and nominated his sister's son, the Venetian Peter Orseolo, as his heir. The same source adds that Vazul was captured and blinded, and his three sons, Levente, Andrew and Béla, were expelled from Hungary. Stephen's legends refer to an unsuccessful attempt upon the elderly king's life by members of his court. According to Kristó, the legends refer to a plot in which Vazul participated and his mutilation was a punishment for this act. That Vazul's ears were filled with molten lead was only recorded in later sources, including the "Illuminated Chronicle".
In the view of some historians, provisions in Stephen's "Second Book of Laws" on the "conspiracy against the king and the kingdom" imply that the book was promulgated after Vazul's unsuccessful plot against Stephen. However, this view has not been universally accepted. Györffy states that the law book was issued, not after 1031, but around 1009. Likewise, the authenticity of the decree on tithes is debated: according to Györffy, it was issued during Stephen's reign, but Berend, Laszlovszky and Szakács argue that it "might be a later addition".
Stephen died on 15 August 1038. He was buried in the basilica of Székesfehérvár. His reign was followed by a long period of civil wars, pagan uprisings and foreign invasions. The instability ended in 1077 when Ladislaus, a grandson of Vazul, ascended the throne.
Stephen married Gisela, a daughter of Duke Henry the Wrangler of Bavaria, who was a nephew of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Gisela's mother was Gisela of Burgundy, a member of the Welf dynasty. Born around 985, Gisela was younger than her husband, whom she survived. She left Hungary in 1045 and died as Abbess of the Niedernburg Abbey in Passau in Bavaria around 1060.
Although the "Illuminated Chronicle" states that Stephen "begot many sons", only two of them, Otto and Emeric, are known by name. Otto, who was named after Otto III, seems to have been born before 1002. He died as a child.
Emeric, who received the name of his maternal uncle, Emperor Henry II, was born around 1007. His "Legend" from the early 12th century describes him as a saintly prince who preserved his chastity even during his marriage. According to Györffy, Emeric's wife was a kinswoman of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. His premature death led to the series of conflicts leading to Vazul's blinding and civil wars.
The following family tree presents Stephen's ancestors and his relatives who are mentioned in the article.
"*A Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian lady.""**Györffy writes that she may have been a member of the Bulgarian Cometopuli dynasty.""***Samuel Aba might have been the son of Stephen's sister instead of her husband."
Stephen has always been considered one of the most important statesmen in the history of Hungary. His main achievement was the establishment of a Christian state that ensured that the Hungarians survived in the Carpathian Basin, in contrast to the Huns, Avars and other peoples who had previously controlled the same territory. As Bryan Cartledge emphasizes, Stephen also gave his kingdom "forty years of relative peace and sound but unspectacular rule".
His successors, including those descended from Vazul, were eager to emphasize their devotion to Stephen's achievements. Although Vazul's son, Andrew I of Hungary, secured the throne due to a pagan uprising, he prohibited pagan rites and declared that his subjects should "live in all things according to the law which King St. Stephen had taught them", according to the 14th-century "Illuminated Chronicle". In medieval Hungary, communities that claimed a privileged status or attempted to preserve their own "liberties" often declared that the origin of their special status was to be attributed to King Saint Stephen. An example is a 1347 letter from the people of Táp telling the king about their grievances against the Pannonhalma Archabbey and stating that the taxes levied upon them by the abbot contradicted "the liberty granted to them in the time of King Saint Stephen".
Stephen's cult emerged after the long period of anarchy characterizing the rule of his immediate successors. However, there is no evidence that Stephen became an object of veneration before his canonization. For instance, the first member of the royal family to be named after him, Stephen II, was born in the early 12th century.
Stephen's canonization was initiated by Vazul's grandson, King Ladislaus I of Hungary, who had consolidated his authority by capturing and imprisoning his cousin, Solomon. According to Bishop Hartvic, the canonization was "decreed by apostolic letter, by order of the Roman see", suggesting that the ceremony was permitted by Pope Gregory VII. The ceremony started at Stephen's tomb, where on 15 August 1083 masses of believers began three days of fasting and praying. Legend tells that Stephen's coffin could not be opened until King Ladislaus held Solomon in captivity at Visegrád. The opening of Stephen's tomb was followed by the occurrence of healing miracles, according to Stephen's legends. Historian Kristó attributes the healings either to mass psychosis or deception. Stephen's legends also say that his "balsam-scented" remains were elevated from the coffin, which was filled with "rose-colored water", on 20 August. On the same day, Stephen's son, Emeric, and the bishop of Csanád, Gerard, were also canonized.
Stephen's first legend, the so-called "Greater Legend", was written between 1077 and 1083. It provided an idealized portrait of the king, one who dedicated himself and his kingdom to the Virgin Mary. However, Stephen's "Lesser Legend"composed around 1100, under King Colomanemphasized Stephen's severity. A third legend, also composed during King Coloman's reign by Bishop Hartvic, was based on the two existing legends. Sanctioned in 1201 by Pope Innocent III, Hartvic's work served as Stephen's official legend. Gábor Klaniczay wrote that Stephen's legends "opened a new chapter in the legends of holy rulers as a genre", suggesting that a monarch can achieve sainthood through actively using his royal powers. Stephen was the first triumphant "miles Christi" ("Christ's soldier") among the canonized monarchs. He was also a "confessor king", one who had not suffered martyrdom, whose cult was sanctioned, in contrast with earlier holy monarchs.
Stephen's cult spread beyond the borders of Hungary. Initially, he was primarily venerated in Scheyern and Bamberg, in Bavaria, but his relics were also taken to Aachen, Cologne, Montecassino and Namur. Upon the liberation of Buda from the Ottoman Turks, Pope Innocent XI expanded King Saint Stephen's cult to the entire Roman Catholic Church in 1686, and declared 2 September his feast day. As the feast of Saint Joachim was moved, in 1969, from 16 August, the day immediately following the day of Stephen's death, Stephen's feast was moved to that date. Stephen is venerated as the patron saint of Hungary, and regarded as the protector of kings, masons, stonecutters, stonemasons and bricklayers, and also of children suffering from severe illnesses. His canonization was recognized by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in 2000. In the calendar of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Stephen's feast is observed on 20 August, the day on which his relics were translated. In addition, a separate feast day (30 May) is dedicated to his "Holy Dexter".
Stephen's intact dexter, or right hand (), became the subject of a cult. A cleric named Mercurius stole it, but it was discovered on 30 May 1084 in Bihar County. The theft of sacred relics, or "furta sacra", had by that time become a popular topic of saints' biographies. Bishop Hartvic described the discovery of Stephen's right hand in accordance with this tradition, referring to adventures and visions. An abbey erected in Bihar County (now Sâniob, Romania) was named after and dedicated to the veneration of the Holy Dexter.
The Holy Dexter was kept for centuries in the Szentjobb Abbey, except during the Mongol invasion of 1241 and 1242, when it was transferred to Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia). The relic was then taken to Székesfehérvár around 1420. Following the Ottoman occupation of the central territories of the Kingdom of Hungary in the mid-16th century, it was guarded in many places, including Bosnia, Ragusa and Vienna. It was returned to Hungary in 1771, when Queen Maria Theresa donated it to the cloister of the Sisters of Loreto in Buda. It was kept in Buda Castle's St. Sigismund Chapel between around 1900 and 1944, in a cave near Salzburg in 1944 and 1945, and again by the Sisters of Loreto in Buda, between 1945 and 1950. Finally, since 1950, the Holy Dexter has been in St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. An annual procession celebrating the relic was instituted in 1938, and continued until 1950, when the procession was forbidden by the Communist government. It was resumed in 1988.
According to Stephen's "Greater Legend", the king "himself compiled a book for his son on moral education". This work, now known as "Admonitions" or "De institutione morum", was preserved in manuscripts written in the Late Middle Ages. Although scholars debate whether it can actually be attributed to the king or a cleric, most of them agree that it was composed in the first decades of the 11th century.
The "Admonitions" argues that kingship is inseparably connected with the Catholic faith. Its author emphasized that a monarch is required to make donations to the Church and regularly consult his prelates, but is entitled to punish clergymen who do wrong. One of its basic ideas was that a sovereign has to cooperate with the "pillars of his rule", meaning the prelates, aristocrats, "ispáns" and warriors.
King St Stephen has been a popular theme in Hungarian poetry since the end of the 13th century. The earliest poems were religious hymns which portrayed the holy king as the apostle of the Hungarians. Secular poetry, especially poems written for his feast day, followed a similar pattern, emphasizing Stephen's role as the first king of Hungary. Poets described Stephen as the symbol of national identity and independence and of the ability of the Hungarian nation to survive historical cataclysms during the Communist regime between 1949 and 1989.
A popular hymn, still sung in the churches, was first recorded in the late . It hails King St. Stephen as "radiant star of Hungarians". Ludwig van Beethoven composed his "King Stephen Overture" for the inauguration of the Hungarian theatre in Pest in 1812. According to musician James M. Keller, "[t]he descending unisons that open the "King Stephen Overture" would seem to prefigure the opening of the "Ninth Symphony" [a]nd then a later theme, introduced by flutes and clarinets, seems almost to be a of the famous "Ode 'To Joy"' melody of the Ninth Symphony's finale". Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel named his last complete opera from 1885, "István király" ("King Stephen"), after him. In 1938, Zoltán Kodály wrote a choral piece titled "Ének Szent István Királyhoz" ("Hymn to King Stephen"). In 1983, Levente Szörényi and János Bródy composed a rock opera—"István, a király" ("Stephen, the King")—about the early years of his reign. Seventeen years later, in 2000, Szörényi composed a sequel called "Veled, Uram!" ("You, Sir").
San Giovanni di Posada
San Giovanni di Posada (Latin: Portus Luguidonis or Portus Liquidonis) is a "frazione" and small village in Sardinia, Italy, on the Tyrrhenian coast of the island, in the territory of the "comune" of Posada.
Formerly known as Marina di Posada, it underwent rebuilding in the 1970s as an elegant residential village for holidays.
Its history goes back to the Roman harbour (named "Portus Luguidonis" - presumably located in the little bay in front of the ancient church of St. John), from where the Romans entered inner Sardinia. Through this harbour passed all the goods to or from Rome, but all the cargo was carried by small and light ships directed to Olbia (some 50km north), where bigger ships would have trafficked with Ostia. Traffic was supposedly intense, Sardinia bearing the "sobriquet" "the granary of Rome".
In the immediate surroundings, it is supposed there was a temple in honour of Feronia, an Etruscan deity, goddess of the waters; this would prove the presence of Etruscans in this area at the time of Nuragici people. A similar cult of Feronia is reported on the Italian mainland at least in two places: in Fiano Romano (near Rome), and in Terracina, some 120km south of Rome.
It is one of the main tourist destinations of Sardinia, has a long beach (more than 15km of white sand) and a system of rivers of biological importance. A part of this territory is going to be formally protected in the near future with the creation of a nature park ("Parco Fluviale").
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin (c. 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote over 100 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.
Joplin grew up in a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Arkansas, and developed his own musical knowledge with the help of local teachers. While in Texarkana, Texas, he formed a vocal quartet and taught mandolin and guitar. During the late 1880s, he left his job as a railroad laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician. He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897.
Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher. There he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden and Brun Campbell. He began publishing music in 1895, and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame. This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime. It also brought Joplin a steady income for life, though he did not reach this level of success again and frequently had financial problems. In 1901, Joplin moved to St. Louis, where he continued to compose and publish, and regularly performed in the community. The score to his first opera, "A Guest of Honor", was confiscated in 1903 with his belongings for non-payment of bills, and is now considered lost.
In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera. He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the musical form that had made him famous, but without much monetary success. His second opera, "Treemonisha", was never fully staged during his life.
In 1916, Joplin descended into dementia as a result of syphilis. He was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital in January 1917, and died there three months later at the age of 48. Joplin's death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format; over the next several years, it evolved with other styles into stride, jazz and eventually big band swing.
Joplin's music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin. This was followed by the Academy Award-winning 1973 film "The Sting", which featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably "The Entertainer", a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch that received wide airplay. "Treemonisha" was finally produced in full, to wide acclaim, in 1972. In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
Joplin was the second of six children born to Giles Joplin, an ex-slave from North Carolina, and Florence Givens, a freeborn African-American woman from Kentucky.. His birth date was accepted by early biographers Blesh and Haskins as November 24, 1868 , although later biographer Berlin showed this was "almost certainly incorrect". There is disagreement over his exact place of birth in Texas, with Blesh identifying Texarkana, Texas, and Berlin showing the earliest record of Joplin being the June 1870 census which locates him in Linden, Texas as a two-year old.
By 1880 the Joplins moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, where Giles worked as a railroad laborer and Florence as a cleaner. As Joplin's father had played the violin for plantation parties in North Carolina, and his mother sang and played the banjo, he was given a rudimentary musical education by his family, and from the age of seven, he was allowed to play the piano while his mother cleaned.
At some point in the early 1880s, Giles Joplin left the family for another woman, and Florence struggled to support her children through domestic work. Biographer Susan Curtis speculates that Florence's support of her son's musical education was a critical factor behind her separation from Giles, who wanted the boy to pursue practical employment that would supplement the family income.
According to a family friend, the young Joplin was serious and ambitious, studying music and playing the piano after school. While a few local teachers aided him, he received most of his musical education from Julius Weiss, a German-born American Jewish music professor who had immigrated to Texas in the late 1860s and was employed as music tutor by a prominent local business family. Weiss, as described by "San Diego Jewish World" writer Eric George Tauber, "was no stranger to [receiving] race hatred... As a German Jew, he was often slapped and called a “Christ-killer." Weiss had studied music at a German university and was listed in town records as a professor of music. Impressed by Joplin's talent, and realizing the Joplin family's dire straits, Weiss taught him free of charge. While tutoring the 11-year-old Joplin until age 16, Weiss introduced him to folk and classical music, including opera. Weiss helped Joplin appreciate music as an "art as well as an entertainment," and helped Florence acquire a used piano. According to Weiss' wife Lottie, Joplin never forgot Weiss. In his later years, after achieving fame as a composer, Joplin sent his former teacher "...gifts of money when he was old and ill" until Weiss died. At the age of 16, Joplin performed in a vocal quartet with three other boys in and around Texarkana, also playing piano. He also taught guitar and mandolin.
In the late 1880s, having performed at various local events as a teenager, Joplin gave up his job as a railroad laborer and left Texarkana to become a traveling musician. Little is known about his movements at this time, although he is recorded in Texarkana in July 1891 as a member of the Texarkana Minstrels, who were raising money for a monument to Jefferson Davis, president of the former Confederate States of America. However, Joplin soon learned that there were few opportunities for black pianists. Churches and brothels were among the few options for steady work. Joplin played pre-ragtime"jig-piano" in various red-light districts throughout the mid-South, and some claim he was in Sedalia and St. Louis, Missouri, during this time.
In 1893, while in Chicago for the World's Fair, Joplin formed his first band, in which he played cornet and also arranged the band's music. Although the World's Fair minimized the involvement of African-Americans, black performers still came to the saloons, cafés and brothels that lined the fair. The exposition was attended by 27 million visitors and had a profound effect on many areas of American cultural life, including ragtime. Although specific information is sparse, numerous sources have credited the Chicago World's Fair with spreading the popularity of ragtime. Joplin found that his music, as well as that of other black performers, was popular with visitors. By 1897, ragtime had become a national craze in U.S. cities, and was described by the "St. Louis Dispatch" as "a veritable call of the wild, which mightily stirred the pulses of city bred people."
In 1894 Joplin arrived in Sedalia, Missouri. At first, Joplin stayed with the family of Arthur Marshall, at the time a 13-year-old boy but later one of Joplin's students and a ragtime composer in his own right. There is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence in the town until 1904, as Joplin was making a living as a touring musician.
There is little precise evidence known about Joplin's activities at this time, although he performed as a solo musician at dances and at the major black clubs in Sedalia, the Black 400 Club and the Maple Leaf Club. He performed in the Queen City Cornet Band and his own six-piece dance orchestra. A tour with his own singing group, the Texas Medley Quartet, gave him his first opportunity to publish his own compositions, and it is known that he went to Syracuse, New York and Texas. Two businessmen from New York published Joplin's first two works, the songs "Please Say You Will" and "A Picture of Her Face", in 1895. Joplin's visit to Temple, Texas enabled him to have three pieces published there in 1896, including the "Great Crush Collision March", which commemorated a planned train crash on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad on September 15 that he may have witnessed. The march was described by one of Joplin's biographers as a "special... early essay in ragtime." While in Sedalia, Joplin taught piano to students who included future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Brun Campbell and Scott Hayden. Joplin enrolled at the George R. Smith College, where he apparently studied "...advanced harmony and composition." The college's records were destroyed in a fire in 1925, and biographer Edward A. Berlin notes that it was unlikely that a small college for African-Americans would be able to provide such a course.
In 1899, Joplin married Belle, the sister-in-law of collaborator Scott Hayden. Although there were hundreds of rags in print by the time the "Maple Leaf Rag" was published, Joplin was not far behind. His first published rag, "Original Rags", had been completed in 1897, the same year that the first ragtime work appeared in print, the "Mississippi Rag" by William Krell. The "Maple Leaf Rag" was likely to have been known in Sedalia before its publication in 1899; Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in around 1898. The exact circumstances that led to the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag" are unknown, and a number of versions of the event contradict each other. After several unsuccessful approaches to publishers, Joplin signed a contract on August 10, 1899 with John Stillwell Stark, a retailer of musical instruments who later became his most important publisher. The contract stipulated that Joplin would receive a 1% royalty on all sales of the rag, with a minimum sales price of 25 cents. With the inscription "To the Maple Leaf Club" prominently visible along the top of at least some editions, it is likely that the rag was named after the Maple Leaf Club, although there is no direct evidence to prove the link, and there were many other possible sources for the name in and around Sedalia at the time.
There have been many claims about the sales of the "Maple Leaf Rag", for example that Joplin was the first musician to sell 1 million copies of a piece of instrumental music. Joplin's first biographer, Rudi Blesh wrote that during its first six months the piece sold 75,000 copies, and became "...the first great instrumental sheet music hit in America." However, research by Joplin's later biographer Edward A. Berlin demonstrated that this was not the case; the initial print-run of 400 took one year to sell, and under the terms of Joplin's contract with a 1% royalty would have given Joplin an income of $4 (or approximately $ at current prices). Later sales were steady, and would have given Joplin an income that would have covered his expenses. In 1909, estimated sales would have given him an income of $600 annually (approximately $16,968 in current prices).
The "Maple Leaf Rag" did serve as a model for the hundreds of rags to come from future composers, especially in the development of classic ragtime. After the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin was soon being described as "King of rag time writers", not least by himself on the covers of his own work, such as "The Easy Winners" and "Elite Syncopations".
After the Joplins moved to St. Louis in early 1900, they had a baby daughter who died only a few months after birth. Joplin's relationship with his wife was difficult, as she had no interest in music. They eventually separated and then divorced. About this time, Joplin collaborated with Scott Hayden in the composition of four rags. It was in St. Louis that Joplin produced some of his best-known works, including "The Entertainer", "March Majestic", and the short theatrical work "The Ragtime Dance". By 1903 the Joplins had moved to a 13-room house, renting some of the rooms to lodgers which included pianist-composers Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. Joplin did not work as a pianist in the saloons in St Louis, which was usually a major source of income for musicians, as he was "probably outclassed by the competition" and was, according to Stark's son, "a mediocre pianist". Biographer Berlin speculated that by 1903 Joplin was already showing early signs of syphilis which negatively affected his coordination and "pianistic skills" .
In June 1904, Joplin married Freddie Alexander of Little Rock, Arkansas, the young woman to whom he had dedicated "The Chrysanthemum". She died on September 10, 1904, of complications resulting from a cold, ten weeks after their wedding. Joplin's first work copyrighted after Freddie's death, "Bethena", was described by one biographer as "...an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of ragtime waltzes."
During this time, Joplin created an opera company of 30 people and produced his first opera "A Guest of Honor" for a national tour. It is not certain how many productions were staged, or even if this was an all-black show or a racially mixed production. During the tour, either in Springfield, Illinois, or Pittsburg, Kansas, someone associated with the company stole the box office receipts. Joplin could not meet the company's payroll or pay for its lodgings at a theatrical boarding house. It is believed that the score for "A Guest of Honor" was lost and perhaps destroyed because of non-payment of the company's boarding house bill.
In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City, which he believed was the best place to find a producer for a new opera. After his move to New York, Joplin met Lottie Stokes, whom he married in 1909. In 1911, unable to find a publisher, Joplin undertook the financial burden of publishing "Treemonisha" himself in piano-vocal format. In 1915, as a last-ditch effort to see it performed, he invited a small audience to hear it at a rehearsal hall in Harlem. Poorly staged and with only Joplin on piano accompaniment, it was "a miserable failure" to a public not ready for "crude" black musical forms—so different from the European grand opera of that time. The audience, including potential backers, was indifferent and walked out. Scott writes that "after a disastrous single performance ... Joplin suffered a breakdown. He was bankrupt, discouraged, and worn out." He concludes that few American artists of his generation faced such obstacles: ""Treemonisha" went unnoticed and unreviewed, largely because Joplin had abandoned commercial music in favor of art music, a field closed to African Americans." In fact, it was not until the 1970s that the opera received a full theatrical staging.
In 1914, Joplin and Lottie self-published his "Magnetic Rag" as the Scott Joplin Music Company, which he had formed the previous December. Biographer Vera Brodsky Lawrence speculates that Joplin was aware of his advancing deterioration due to syphilis and was "...consciously racing against time." In her sleeve notes on the 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of "Treemonisha" she notes that he "...plunged feverishly into the task of orchestrating his opera, day and night, with his friend Sam Patterson standing by to copy out the parts, page by page, as each page of the full score was completed."
By 1916, Joplin was suffering from tertiary syphilis but more specifically it likely was neurosyphilis. In January 1917, he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital, a mental institution. He died there on April 1 of syphilitic dementia at the age of 48 and was buried in a pauper's grave that remained unmarked for 57 years. His grave at Saint Michaels Cemetery in East Elmhurst was finally given a marker in 1974, the year "The Sting", which showcased his music, won for Best Picture at the Oscars.
The combination of classical music, the musical atmosphere present around Texarkana (including work songs, gospel hymns, spirituals and dance music) and Joplin's natural ability have been cited as contributing significantly to the invention of a new style that blended African-American musical styles with European forms and melodies, and first became celebrated in the 1890s: ragtime.
When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs "...cranked out by the tune-smiths of Tin Pan Alley." As a composer Joplin refined ragtime, elevating it above the low and unrefined form played by the "...wandering honky-tonk pianists... playing mere dance music" of popular imagination. This new art form, the classic rag, combined Afro-American folk music's syncopation and 19th-century European romanticism, with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos. In the words of one critic, "Ragtime was basically... an Afro-American version of the polka, or its analog, the Sousa-style march." With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them – without improvisation. Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music in miniature form in order to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work that opera historian Elise Kirk described as, "... more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."
Some speculate that Joplin's achievements were influenced by his classically trained German music teacher Julius Weiss, who may have brought a polka rhythmic sensibility from the old country to the 11-year old Joplin. As Curtis put it, "The educated German could open up the door to a world of learning and music of which young Joplin was largely unaware."
Joplin's first and most significant hit, the "Maple Leaf Rag", was described as the archetype of the classic rag, and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years after its initial publication thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony, though with the exception of Joseph Lamb, they generally failed to enlarge upon it. Joplin used the "Maple Leaf Rag" as inspiration for subsequent works such as "The Cascades" in 1903, "Leola" in 1905, "Gladiolus Rag" in 1907, and "Sugar Cane Rag" in 1908. While he used similar harmonic and melodic patterns the later compositions were not simple copies, but were distinctly new works, which used dissonance, chromatic sections and the blues third.
The opera's setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin's childhood town Texarkana in September 1884. The plot centers on an 18-year-old woman Treemonisha who is taught to read by a white woman, and then leads her community against the influence of conjurers who prey on ignorance and superstition. Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her. The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader.
Joplin wrote both the score and the libretto for the opera, which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias, ensembles and choruses. In addition the themes of superstition and mysticism evident in "Treemonisha" are common in the operatic tradition, and certain aspects of the plot echo devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner (of which Joplin was aware). A sacred tree Treemonisha sits beneath recalls the tree that Siegmund takes his enchanted sword from in "Die Walküre", and the retelling of the heroine's origins echos aspects of the opera "Siegfried". In addition, African-American folk tales also influence the story—the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch.
"Treemonisha" is not a ragtime opera—because Joplin employed the styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly, using them to convey "racial character," and to celebrate the music of his childhood at the end of the 19th century. The opera has been seen as a valuable record of rural black music from late 19th century re-created by a "skilled and sensitive participant."
Berlin speculates about parallels between the plot and Joplin's own life. He notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw a connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance, and a similar desire in the composer. In addition, it has been speculated that Treemonisha represents Freddie, Joplin's second wife, because the date of the opera's setting was likely to have been the month of her birth.
At the time of the opera's publication in 1911, the "American Musician and Art Journal" praised it as, "...an entirely new form of operatic art." Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history, with its heroine, "...a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes, notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement." Curtis's conclusion is similar: "In the end, "Treemonisha" offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race." Berlin describes it as a "...fine opera, certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States," but later states that Joplin's own libretto showed the composer, "...was not a competent dramatist," with the book not up to the quality of the music.
As Rick Benjamin, the founder and director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, found out, Joplin succeeded in performing "Treemonisha" for paying audiences in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1913. On 6 December 2011, the centenary of the Joplin piano score's publication, New World Records released an entirely new recording of "Treemonisha". August 1984 saw the German premiere of "Treemonisha" at the Stadttheater Gießen. In October 2013, Nicolás Isasi directed the premiere of "Treemonisha" in Argentina with a team of 60 young artists at the in Buenos Aires. Another performance in Germany, falsely labelling itself as the German premiere, occurred on 25 April 2015 at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden under direction and choreography of .
Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well. However, the son of publisher John Stark stated that Joplin was a rather mediocre pianist and that he composed on paper, rather than at the piano. Artie Matthews recalled the "delight" the St. Louis players took in outplaying Joplin.
While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved on seven piano rolls for use in mechanical player pianos. All seven were made in 1916. Of these, the six released under the Connorized label show evidence of significant editing to correct the performance to strict rhythm and add embellishments, probably by the staff musicians at Connorized. Berlin theorizes that by the time Joplin reached St. Louis, he may have experienced discoordination of the fingers, tremors, and an inability to speak clearly—all symptoms of the syphilis that killed him in 1917. Biographer Blesh described the second roll recording of "Maple Leaf Rag" on the UniRecord label from June 1916 as "...shocking... disorganized and completely distressing to hear." While there is disagreement among piano-roll experts as to how much of this is due to the relatively primitive recording and production techniques of the time, Berlin notes that the "Maple Leaf Rag" roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin's playing at the time. The roll, however, may not reflect his abilities earlier in life.
Joplin and his fellow ragtime composers rejuvenated American popular music, fostering an appreciation for African-American music among European-Americans by creating exhilarating and liberating dance tunes. "Its syncopation and rhythmic drive gave it a vitality and freshness attractive to young urban audiences indifferent to Victorian proprieties ... Joplin's ragtime expressed the intensity and energy of a modern urban America."
Joshua Rifkin, a leading Joplin recording artist, wrote, "A pervasive sense of lyricism infuses his work, and even at his most high-spirited, he cannot repress a hint of melancholy or adversity ... He had little in common with the fast and flashy school of ragtime that grew up after him." Joplin historian Bill Ryerson adds that, "In the hands of authentic practitioners like Joplin, ragtime was a disciplined form capable of astonishing variety and subtlety ... Joplin did for the rag what Chopin did for the mazurka. His style ranged from tones of torment to stunning serenades that incorporated the bolero and the tango." Biographer Susan Curtis wrote that Joplin's music had helped to "revolutionise American music and culture" by removing Victorian restraint.
Composer and actor Max Morath found it striking that the vast majority of Joplin's work did not enjoy the popularity of the "Maple Leaf Rag", because while the compositions were of increasing lyrical beauty and delicate syncopation they remained obscure and unheralded during his life. Joplin apparently realized that his music was ahead of its time: As music historian Ian Whitcomb mentions that Joplin, "...opined that "Maple Leaf Rag" would make him 'King of Ragtime Composers' but he also knew that he would not be a pop hero in his own lifetime. 'When I'm dead twenty-five years, people are going to recognize me,' he told a friend." Just over thirty years later he was recognized, and later historian Rudi Blesh wrote a large book about ragtime, which he dedicated to the memory of Joplin.
Although he was penniless and disappointed at the end of his life, Joplin set the standard for ragtime compositions and played a key role in the development of ragtime music. And as a pioneer composer and performer, he helped pave the way for young black artists to reach American audiences of all races. After his death, jazz historian Floyd Levin noted: "Those few who realized his greatness bowed their heads in sorrow. This was the passing of the king of all ragtime writers, the man who gave America a genuine native music."
The home Joplin rented in St. Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community. In 1983, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources made it the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to African American heritage. At first it focused entirely on Joplin and ragtime music, ignoring the urban milieu which shaped his musical compositions. A newer heritage project has expanded coverage to include the more complex social history of black urban migration and the transformation of a multi-ethnic neighborhood to the contemporary community. Part of this diverse narrative now includes coverage of uncomfortable topics of racial oppression, poverty, sanitation, prostitution, and sexually transmitted diseases.
After his death in 1917, Joplin's music and ragtime in general waned in popularity as new forms of musical styles, such as jazz and novelty piano, emerged. Even so, jazz bands and recording artists such as Tommy Dorsey in 1936, Jelly Roll Morton in 1939 and J. Russel Robinson in 1947 released recordings of Joplin compositions. "Maple Leaf Rag" was the Joplin piece found most often on 78 rpm records.
In the 1960s, a small-scale reawakening of interest in classical ragtime was underway among some American music scholars such as Trebor Tichenor, William Bolcom, William Albright and Rudi Blesh. Audiophile Records released a two-record set, "The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, The Greatest of Ragtime Composers", performed by Knocky Parker, in 1970.
In 1968, Bolcom and Albright interested Joshua Rifkin, a young musicologist, in the body of Joplin's work. Together, they hosted an occasional ragtime-and-early-jazz evening on WBAI radio. In November 1970, Rifkin released a recording called "" on the classical label Nonesuch. It sold 100,000 copies in its first year and eventually became Nonesuch's first million-selling record. The "Billboard" Best-Selling Classical LPs chart for September 28, 1974 has the record at number 5, with the follow-up "Volume 2" at number 4, and a combined set of both volumes at number 3. Separately both volumes had been on the chart for 64 weeks. In the top seven spots on that chart, six of the entries were recordings of Joplin's work, three of which were Rifkin's. Record stores found themselves for the first time putting ragtime in the classical music section. The album was nominated in 1971 for two Grammy Award categories: Best Album Notes and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra). Rifkin was also under consideration for a third Grammy for a recording not related to Joplin, but at the ceremony on March 14, 1972, Rifkin did not win in any category. He did a tour in 1974, which included appearances on BBC Television and a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall. In 1979, Alan Rich wrote in the magazine "New York" that by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin's music on disc, Nonesuch Records "...created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival."
In January 1971, Harold C. Schonberg, music critic at "The New York Times", having just heard the Rifkin album, wrote a featured Sunday edition article entitled "Scholars, Get Busy on Scott Joplin!" Schonberg's call to action has been described as the catalyst for classical music scholars, the sort of people Joplin had battled all his life, to conclude that Joplin was a genius. Vera Brodsky Lawrence of the New York Public Library published a two-volume set of Joplin works in June 1971, entitled "The Collected Works of Scott Joplin", stimulating a wider interest in the performance of Joplin's music.
In mid-February 1973 under the direction of Gunther Schuller, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded an album of Joplin's rags taken from the period collection "Standard High-Class Rags" called "Joplin: The Red Back Book". The album won a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance in that year, and went on to become "Billboard" magazine's Top Classical Album of 1974. The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records: "More Scott Joplin Rags" in 1974 and "The Road From Rags To Jazz" in 1975.
In 1973, film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately, asking each man to write the score for a film project he was working on: "The Sting". Both men turned down the request because of previous commitments. Instead Hill found Marvin Hamlisch available, and brought him into the project as composer. Hamlisch lightly adapted Joplin's music for "The Sting", for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Adaptation on April 2, 1974. His version of "The Entertainer" reached number 3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the American Top 40 music chart on May 18, 1974, prompting "The New York Times" to write, "The whole nation has begun to take notice." Thanks to the film and its score, Joplin's work became appreciated in both the popular and classical music world, becoming (in the words of music magazine "Record World"), the "classical phenomenon of the decade." Rifkin later said of the film soundtrack that Hamlisch lifted his piano adaptations directly from Rifkin's style and his band adaptations from Schuller's style. Schuller said Hamlisch, "...got the Oscar for music he didn't write (since it is by Joplin) and arrangements he didn't write, and 'editions' he didn't make. A lot of people were upset by that, but that's show biz!"
On October 22, 1971, excerpts from "Treemonisha" were presented in concert form at Lincoln Center with musical performances by Bolcom, Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams supporting a group of singers. Finally, on January 28, 1972, T.J. Anderson's orchestration of "Treemonisha" was staged for two consecutive nights, sponsored by the Afro-American Music Workshop of Morehouse College in Atlanta, with singers accompanied by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Shaw, and choreography by Katherine Dunham. Schonberg remarked in February 1972 that the "Scott Joplin Renaissance" was in full swing and still growing. In May 1975, "Treemonisha" was staged in a full opera production by the Houston Grand Opera. The company toured briefly, then settled into an eight-week run in New York on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in October and November. This appearance was directed by Gunther Schuller, and soprano Carmen Balthrop alternated with Kathleen Battle as the title character. An "original Broadway cast" recording was produced. Because of the lack of national exposure given to the brief Morehouse College staging of the opera in 1972, many Joplin scholars wrote that the Houston Grand Opera's 1975 show was the first full production.
1974 saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet under director Kenneth MacMillan create "Elite Syncopations", a ballet based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era. That year also brought the premiere by the Los Angeles Ballet of "Red Back Book", choreographed by John Clifford to Joplin rags from the collection of the same name, including both solo piano performances and arrangements for full orchestra.
Syncopation
In music, syncopation involves a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur". It is the correlation of at least two sets of time intervals.
Syncopation is used in many musical styles, especially dance music: "All dance music makes use of syncopation, and it's often a vital element that helps tie the whole track together". In the form of a back beat, syncopation is used in virtually all contemporary popular music.
Syncopation can also occur when a strong harmony is placed on a weak beat, for instance, when a 7th-chord is placed on the second beat of measure or a dominant chord is placed at the fourth beat of a measure. The latter frequently occurs in tonal cadences in 18th- and early-19th-century music and is the usual conclusion of any section.
A hemiola can also be seen as one straight measure in three with one long chord and one short chord and a syncope in the measure thereafter, with one short chord and one long chord. Usually, the last chord in a hemiola is a (bi-)dominant, and as such a strong harmony on a weak beat, hence a syncope.
Technically, "syncopation occurs when a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent occurs, causing the emphasis to shift from a strong accent to a weak accent". "Syncopation is", however, "very simply, a deliberate disruption of the two- or three-beat stress pattern, most often by stressing an off-beat, or a note that is not on the beat."
In the following example, there are two points of syncopation where the third beats are carried over (sustained) from the second beats. In the same way, the first beat of the second bar is carried over from the fourth beat of the first bar.
Though syncopation may be highly complex, dense or complex-looking rhythms often contain no syncopation. The following rhythm, though dense, stresses the regular downbeats, 1 and 4 (in ):
However, whether it's a placed rest or an accented note, any point in a piece of music that moves the listener's sense of the downbeat is a point of syncopation because it's shifting where the strong and weak accents are built.
The stress can shift by less than a whole beat, so it falls on an offbeat, as in the following example, where the stress in the first bar is shifted back by an eighth note (or quaver):
Whereas the notes are expected to fall "on" the beat:
Playing a note ever so slightly before, or after, a beat is another form of syncopation because this produces an unexpected accent:
It can be helpful to think of a rhythm in eighth notes and count it as "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and". In general, emphasizing the "and" would be considered the off-beat.
Anticipated bass is a bass tone that comes syncopated shortly before the downbeat, which is used in Son montuno Cuban dance music. Timing can vary, but it usually falls on the 2+ and the 4 of the time, thus anticipating the third and first beats. This pattern is commonly known as the Afro-Cuban bass tumbao.
Richard Middleton suggests adding the concept of transformation to Narmour's prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions in order to explain or generate syncopations. "The syncopated pattern is heard 'with reference to', 'in light of', as a remapping of, its partner." He gives examples of various types of syncopation: Latin, backbeat, and before-the-beat. First however, one may listen to the audio example of stress on the "strong" beats, where expected:
In the example below, the first two measures has an unsyncopated rhythm is shown in the first measure The third measure has a syncopated rhythm in which the first and fourth beat are provided as expected, but the accent unexpectedly lands in between the second and third beats, creating a familiar "Latin rhythm" known as tresillo.
The accent may be shifted from the first to the second beat in duple meter (and the third to fourth in quadruple), creating the backbeat rhythm:
Different crowds will "clap along" at concerts either on 1 and 3 or on 2 and 4, as above.
The phrasing of "Satisfaction" is a good example of syncopation. It is derived here from its theoretic unsyncopated form, a repeated trochee (¯ ˘ ¯ ˘). A backbeat transformation is applied to "I" and "can't", and then a before-the-beat transformation is applied to "can't" and "no".
This demonstrates how each syncopated pattern may be heard as a remapping, "with reference to" or "in light of", an unsyncopated pattern.
Syncopation has been an important element of European musical composition since at least the Middle Ages. Many Italian and French compositions of the music of the 14th-century Trecento make use of syncopation, as in of the following madrigal by Giovanni da Firenze. (See also hocket.)
The refrain "Deo Gratias" from the 15th-century anonymous English "Agincourt Carol" is also characterised by lively syncopation:
“The 15th-century carol repertory is one of the most substantial monuments of English medieval music... The early carols are rhythmically straightforward, in modern 6/8 time; later the basic rhythm is in 3/4, with many cross-rhythms... as in the famous Agincourt carol 'Deo gratias Anglia'. As in other music of the period, the emphasis is not on harmony, but on melody and rhythm.”
Composers of the musical High Renaissance Venetian School, such as Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1612), exploited syncopation in both their secular madrigals and instrumental pieces and also in their choral sacred works, such as the motet "Domine, Dominus noster":
Denis Arnold (1979, p. 93) says: "the syncopations of this passage are of a kind which is almost a Gabrieli fingerprint, and they are typical of a general liveliness of rhythm common to Venetian music". The composer Igor Stravinsky (1959, p. 91), no stranger to syncopation himself, spoke of "those marvellous rhythmic inventions" that feature in Gabrieli's music.
J. S. Bach and Handel used syncopated rhythms as an inherent part of their compositions. One of the best-known examples of syncopation in music from the Baroque era was the "Hornpipe" from Handel’s "Water Music" (1733).
Christopher Hogwood (2005, p. 37) describes the Hornpipe as “possibly the most memorable movement in the collection, combining instrumental brilliance and rhythmic vitality… Woven amongst the running quavers are the insistent off-beat syncopations that symbolise confidence for Handel.” Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 features striking deviations from the established rhythmic norm in its first and third movements. According to Malcolm Boyd (1993, p. 53), each ritornello section of the first movement, "is clinched with an "Epilog" of syncopated antiphony":
Boyd (1993, p. 85) also hears the coda to the third movement as "remarkable… for the way the rhythm of the initial phrase of the fugue subject is expressed… with the accent thrown on to the second of the two minims (now staccato)":
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert used syncopation to create variety especially in their symphonies. The opening movement of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony No. 3 exemplifies powerfully the uses of syncopation in a piece in triple time. After setting up a clear pattern of three beats to a bar at the outset, Beethoven disrupts it through syncopation in a number of ways:
(1) By displacing the rhythmic emphasis to a weak part of the beat, as in the first violin part in bars 7–9:
Taruskin (2010, p. 658) describes here how "the first violins, entering immediately after the C sharp, are made palpably to totter for two bars".
(2) By placing accents on normally weak beats, as in bars 25–26 and 28–35:
This "long sequence of syncopated sforzandi" recurs later during the development section of this movement, in a passage that Antony Hopkins (1981, p. 75) describes as "a rhythmic pattern that rides roughshod over the properties of a normal three-in-a bar".
(3) By inserting silences (rests) at points where a listener might expect strong beats, in the words of George Grove (1896, p. 61), "nine bars of discords given fortissimo on the weak beats of the bar":
Strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία "stratēgia", "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art of the general", which included several subsets of skills including tactics, siegecraft, logistics etc., the term came into use in the 6th century C.E. in East Roman terminology, and was translated into Western vernacular languages only in the 18th century. From then until the 20th century, the word "strategy" came to denote "a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills" in a military conflict, in which both adversaries interact.
Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). Strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes. It involves activities such as strategic planning and strategic thinking.
Henry Mintzberg from McGill University defined strategy as a pattern in a stream of decisions to contrast with a view of strategy as planning, while Henrik von Scheel defines the essence of strategy as the activities to deliver a unique mix of value – choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals. while Max McKeown (2011) argues that "strategy is about shaping the future" and is the human attempt to get to "desirable ends with available means". Dr. Vladimir Kvint defines strategy as "a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully." Complexity theorists define strategy as the unfolding of the internal and external aspects of the organization that results in actions in a socio-economic context.
Professor Richard P. Rumelt described strategy as a type of problem solving in 2011. He wrote that good strategy has an underlying structure he called a "kernel". The kernel has three parts: 1) A "diagnosis" that defines or explains the nature of the challenge; 2) A "guiding policy" for dealing with the challenge; and 3) Coherent "actions" designed to carry out the guiding policy.
President Kennedy illustrated these three elements of strategy in his Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation of 22 October 1962:
Rumelt wrote in 2011 that three important aspects of strategy include "premeditation, the anticipation of others' behavior, and the purposeful design of coordinated actions." He described strategy as solving a design problem, with trade-offs among various elements that must be arranged, adjusted and coordinated, rather than a plan or choice.
Strategy typically involves two major processes: "formulation" and "implementation". "Formulation" involves analyzing the environment or situation, making a diagnosis, and developing guiding policies. It includes such activities as strategic planning and strategic thinking. "Implementation" refers to the action plans taken to achieve the goals established by the guiding policy.
Bruce Henderson wrote in 1981 that: "Strategy depends upon the ability to foresee future consequences of present initiatives." He wrote that the basic requirements for strategy development include, among other factors: 1) extensive knowledge about the environment, market and competitors;
2) ability to examine this knowledge as an interactive dynamic system; and
3) the imagination and logic to choose between specific alternatives. Henderson wrote that strategy was valuable because of: "finite resources, uncertainty about an adversary's capability and intentions; the irreversible commitment of resources; necessity of coordinating action over time and distance; uncertainty about control of the initiative; and the nature of adversaries' mutual perceptions of each other."
In military theory, strategy is "the utilization during both peace and war, of all of the nation's forces, through large scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security and victory" ("Random House Dictionary").
The father of Western modern strategic study, Carl von Clausewitz, defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end of war." B. H. Liddell Hart's definition put less emphasis on battles, defining strategy as "the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy". Hence, both gave the pre-eminence to political aims over military goals. U.S. Naval War College instructor Andrew Wilson defined strategy as the "process by which political purpose is translated into military action." Lawrence Freedman defined strategy as the "art of creating power."
Eastern military philosophy dates back much further, with examples such as "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu dated around 500 B.C.
Modern business strategy emerged as a field of study and practice in the 1960s; prior to that time, the words "strategy" and "competition" rarely appeared in the most prominent management literature.
Alfred Chandler wrote in 1962 that: "Strategy is the determination of the basic long-term goals of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals." Michael Porter defined strategy in 1980 as the "...broad formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what policies will be needed to carry out those goals" and the "...combination of the "ends" (goals) for which the firm is striving and the "means" (policies) by which it is seeking to get there."
Henry Mintzberg described five definitions of strategy in 1998:
In game theory, a "strategy" refers to the rules that a player uses to choose between the available actionable options. Every player in a non-trivial game has a set of possible strategies to use when choosing what moves to make.
A strategy may recursively look ahead and consider what actions can happen in each contingent state of the game—e.g. if the player takes action 1, then that presents the opponent with a certain situation, which might be good or bad, whereas if the player takes action 2 then the opponents will be presented with a different situation, and in each case the choices they make will determine their own future situation.
Strategies in game theory may be random (mixed) or deterministic (pure). Pure strategies can be thought of as a special case of mixed strategies, in which only probabilities 0 or 1 are assigned to actions.
Strategy based games generally require a player to think through a sequence of solutions to determine the best way to defeat the opponent.
Because counterterrorism involves the synchronized efforts of numerous competing bureaucratic entities, national governments frequently create overarching counterterrorism strategies at the national level. A national counterterrorism strategy is a government’s plan to use the instruments of national power to neutralize terrorists, their organizations, and their networks in order to render them incapable of using violence to instill fear and to coerce the government or its citizens to react in accordance with the terrorists’ goals. The United States has had several such strategies in the past, including the "United States National Strategy for Counterterrorism" (2018); the Obama-era "National Strategy for Counterterrorism" (2011); and the "National Strategy for Combatting Terrorism" (2003). There have also been a number of ancillary or supporting plans, such as the 2014 "Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant", and the 2016 "Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States". Similarly, the United Kingdom's counterterrorism strategy, CONTEST, seeks "to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence."
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi (, ) (November 21, 1979 – September 11, 2001) was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Arabia, Ghamdi left his home to fight in Chechnya after dropping out of college, but was reported to have diverted to Afghanistan to train in an al-Qaeda camp. It was reported he was chosen by Osama bin Laden to participate in terrorist attacks in the United States and arrived in the U.S. in June 2001. During his stay in the U.S., he quietly settled in Florida, planning out how the attacks would commence and training on flight simulators.
On September 11, 2001, he boarded United 93 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane, which was crashed into a field in the control of hijacker-pilot Ziad Jarrah in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the passengers attempted to retake control of the plane in an uprising.
Ghamdi was from the al Bahah province of Saudi Arabia, and shared the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Haznawi, although he was not related to either Ghamdi. He may have been in contact with the two Ghamdis and Haznawi as early as 1999. This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers. Ghamdi spent time in al Qasim province, Saudi Arabia where he transferred to college but soon dropped out and ceased contact with his family. While there he probably associated with the radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al-Alwan as several other future hijackers had.
Saeed later headed to Chechnya to participate in the conflict against the Russians. At this time, Chechen fighters were turning away additional foreigners, many of whom ended up in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan to train and await entry to Chechnya. Saeed ended up at the Al Farouq training camp, where he met Ahmed al-Nami, and the brothers Wail and Waleed al-Shehri. The four reportedly pledge themselves to Jihad in the Spring of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail—who had dubbed himself "Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi" after one of Muhammad's companions.
Saeed was known to Tawfiq bin Attash who is thought to have convinced him to become a martyr. Saeed was at that time working as a security guard at Kandahar airport along with Waleed al-Shehri.
Some time late in 2000, Saeed traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he purchased traveler's cheques presumed to have been paid for by Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques, including Majed Moqed, Wail al-Shehri, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Haznawi and Ahmed al-Nami.
On November 13, 2000, another Saeed al-Ghamdi tried to obtain a visa to enter the United States, but was declined. Although the 9/11 Commission makes mention of him, there is no evidence he was associated with the hijackers.
In March 2001, Saeed was filmed in a farewell video that was later aired on al-Jazeera. In the video, many future 9/11 hijackers swear to become martyrs, although no details of the plot are revealed. Saeed referred to America as "the enemy", and is seen studying maps and flight manuals.
On June 12, 2001, Saeed al-Ghamdi applied for and received a second two-year US B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His application was submitted by a local travel agency and processed through Visa Express, a controversial US visa program in Saudi Arabia which was discontinued the following year.
Arriving in the U.S. on June 27, 2001, with Fayez Banihammad, Saeed shared an apartment with Ahmed al-Nami in Delray Beach, Florida. Oddly, he listed the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, as his permanent address on his driver's license. He was one of 9 hijackers to open a SunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001.
According to al-Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda's documentary "Top Secret: The Road to September 11", three weeks prior to the attacks Saeed is believed to have used the name 'Abdul Rahman' to send a message to Ramzi bin al-Shibh (who was posing as a girlfriend) online, in which he wrote
On September 7, all four of Flight 93 hijackers flew from Fort Lauderdale to Newark International Airport aboard Spirit Airlines.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Ghamdi boarded United Airlines Flight 93 without incident. Due to the flight's delay, the pilot and crew were notified of the previous hijackings that day, and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.
At least two of the cell phone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandanas. The calls also indicated that one of the men had tied a box around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside; it is not known which hijacker this was.
The flight transcript suggests that at least two hijackers were in the cockpit. Ziad Jarrah was identified as the pilot and is heard calling another hijacker "Saeed", indicating that Ghamdi, who also trained in flight simulators, was helping Jarrah with the controls.
Passengers on the plane heard through phone calls the fates of the other hijacked planes. A passenger uprising resulted in the plane crashing into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.
On September 23, 2001, before the FBI had released the pictures of the hijackers, the BBC and "The Daily Telegraph" reported that a Saudi Airlines pilot named Saeed al-Ghamdi was furious that a name on the hijacker's list released by the FBI matched his own. CNN also showed a picture of the "living" Ghamdi as the hijacker. The man claimed CNN likely got his picture from a Flight Safety flying school in Florida he attended. "Der Spiegel" later investigated the claims of "living" hijackers by the BBC and discovered them to be cases of mistaken identity.
In June 2005 the Saudi government released a list (see al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) of 36 wanted (and alive) terrorists, one of whom was Salih Sa'id Al Batih al-Ghamdi. 9/11 conspiracy theorists quickly confused him with the hijacker Saeed al-Ghamdi.
He has been portrayed by Iraqi actor Lewis Alsamari in "United 93" and Shawn Ahmed in "Flight 93".
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, while blending practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture (known as eclecticism) as well as politics (syncretic politics).
The English word is first attested in the early 17th century, from Modern Latin "syncretismus", drawing on Greek συγκρητισμός ("synkretismos"), supposedly meaning "Cretan federation", but this is a spurious etymology from the naive idea in Plutarch's 1st-century AD essay on "Fraternal Love (Peri Philadelphias)" in his collection "Moralia" (2.490b). He cites the example of the Cretans, who compromised and reconciled their differences and came together in alliance when faced with external dangers. "And that is their so-called "Syncretism" [Union of Cretans]". More likely as an etymology is sun- ("with") plus kerannumi ("mix") and its related noun, "krasis," "mixture."
Erasmus probably coined the modern usage of the Latin word in his "Adagia" ("Adages"), published in the winter of 1517–1518, to designate the coherence of dissenters in spite of their differences in theological opinions. In a letter to Melanchthon of April 22, 1519, Erasmus specifically adduced the Cretans of Plutarch as an example of his adage "Concord is a mighty rampart".
Overt syncretism in folk belief may show cultural acceptance of an alien or previous tradition, but the "other" cult may survive or infiltrate without authorized "syncresis". For example, some conversos developed a sort of cult for martyr-victims of the Spanish Inquisition, thus incorporating elements of Catholicism while resisting it.
The Kushite kings who ruled Upper Egypt for approximately a century and the whole of Egypt for approximately 57 years, from 721 to 664 BC, constituting the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in Manetho's "Aegyptiaca", developed a syncretic worship identifying their own god Dedun with the Egyptian Osiris. They maintained that worship even after they had been driven out of Egypt. A temple dedicated to this syncretic god, built by the Kushite ruler Atlanersa, was unearthed at Jebel Barkal.
Syncretism was common during the Hellenistic period, with rulers regularly identifying local deities in various parts of their domains with the relevant god or goddess of the Greek Pantheon as a means of increasing the cohesion of their kingdom. This practice was accepted in most locations but vehemently rejected by the Jews, who considered the identification of Yahweh with the Greek Zeus as the worst of blasphemy. The Roman Empire continued the practice, first by the identification of traditional Roman deities with Greek ones, producing a single Graeco-Roman pantheon, and then identifying members of that pantheon with the local deities of various Roman provinces. Allegedly, an undeclared form of syncretism was the transfer of many attributes of the goddess Isis, whose worship was widespread in the Later Roman Empire, to the Christian Virgin Mary. Some religious movements have embraced overt syncretism, such as the case of melding Shintō beliefs into Buddhism or the supposed amalgamation of Germanic and Celtic pagan views into Christianity during its spread into Gaul, the British Isles, Germany and Scandinavia. In later times, Christian missionaries in North America identified Manitou, the spiritual and fundamental life force in the traditional beliefs of the Algonquian groups, with the God of Christianity. Similar identifications were made by missionaries at other locations in the Americas and Africa whenever they encountered a local belief in a Supreme God or Supreme Spirit of some kind.
Indian influences are seen in the practice of Shi'i Islam in Trinidad. Others have strongly rejected it as devaluing and compromising precious and genuine distinctions; examples include post-Exile Second Temple Judaism, Islam, and most of Protestant Christianity.
Syncretism tends to facilitate co-existence and unity between otherwise l-different cultures and world views (intercultural competence), a factor that has recommended it to rulers of multiethnic realms. Conversely, the rejection of syncretism, usually in the name of "piety" and "orthodoxy", may help to generate, bolster or authenticate a sense of uncompromised cultural unity in a well-defined minority or majority.
Religious syncretism is the blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from unrelated traditions. This can occur for many reasons, and the latter scenario happens quite commonly in areas where multiple religious traditions exist in proximity and function actively in a culture, or when a culture is conquered, and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in entirely eradicating the old beliefs or (especially) practices.
Religions may have syncretic elements to their beliefs or history, but adherents of so-labeled systems often frown on applying the label, especially adherents who belong to "revealed" religious systems, such as the Abrahamic religions, or any system that exhibits an exclusivist approach. Such adherents sometimes see syncretism as a betrayal of their pure truth. By this reasoning, adding an incompatible belief corrupts the original religion, rendering it no longer true. Indeed, critics of a syncretistic trend may use the word or its variants as a disparaging epithet, as a charge implying that those who seek to incorporate a new view, belief, or practice into a religious system pervert the original faith. Non-exclusivist systems of belief, on the other hand, may feel quite free to incorporate other traditions into their own. Keith Ferdinando notes that the term "syncretism" is an elusive one, and can apply to refer to substitution or modification of the central elements of a religion by beliefs or practices introduced from elsewhere. The consequence under such a definition, according to Ferdinando, can lead to a fatal "compromise" of the original religion's "integrity".
In modern secular society, religious innovators sometimes construct new faiths or key tenets syncretically, with the added benefit or aim of reducing inter-religious discord. Such chapters often have a side-effect of arousing jealousy and suspicion among authorities and ardent adherents of the pre-existing religion. Such religions tend to inherently appeal to an inclusive, diverse audience. Sometimes the state itself sponsored such new movements, such as the Living Church founded in Soviet Russia and the German Evangelical Church in Nazi Germany, chiefly to stem all outside influences.
According to some authors, "Syncretism is often used to describe the product of the large-scale imposition of one alien culture, religion, or body of practices over another that is already present." Others such as Jerry H. Bentley, however, have argued that syncretism has also helped to create cultural compromise. It provides an opportunity to bring beliefs, values, and customs from one cultural tradition into contact with, and to engage different cultural traditions. Such a migration of ideas is generally successful only when there is a resonance between both traditions. While, as Bentley has argued, there are numerous cases where expansive traditions have won popular support in foreign lands, this is not always so.
In the 16th century a new religion called the Din-i Ilahi (literally, "Religion of God") was propounded by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1582 CE, intending to merge some of the elements of the religions of his empire, and thereby reconcile the differences that divided his subjects. The elements were primarily drawn from Islam and Hinduism, but some others were also taken from Christianity, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism.
The modern, rational non-pejorative connotations of syncretism arguably date from Denis Diderot's "Encyclopédie" articles: "Eclecticisme" and "Syncrétistes, Hénotiques, ou Conciliateurs." Diderot portrayed syncretism as the concordance of eclectic sources. Scientific or legalistic approaches of subjecting all claims to critical thinking prompted at this time much literature in Europe and the Americas studying non-European religions such as Edward Moor's "The Hindu Pantheon" of 1810, much of which was almost evangelistically appreciative, embracing spirituality and creating the space and tolerance in particular disestablishment of religion (or its stronger form, official secularisation as in France) whereby believers of spiritualism, agnosticism, atheists and in many cases more innovative or pre-Abrahimic based religions could promote and spread their belief system, whether in the family or beyond.
S7G reactor
The S7G reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S7G designation stands for:
This prototype design was a land-based nuclear reactor that did not use control rods. It was tested in the late 1970s and early 1980s at the Modifications and Additions to a Reactor Facility (MARF) plant located at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory's Kesselring Site in Ballston Spa, New York. It consisted of an experimental reactor core installed in a modified S5W reactor plant.
Instead of the movable hafnium-based control rods used in all of the other United States Naval reactors, reactivity in the S7G core was controlled by stationary gadolinium-clad tubes partially filled with water. Water could be pumped from the portion of the tube inside the core up to a reservoir above the core, or allowed to flow back down into the tube. A higher water level in the tube slowed more neutrons in the core, causing more neutron capture by the gadolinium tube cladding rather than by the uranium fuel, thus lowering the power level.
The system was configured with the pump running continually to keep the water level low; on loss of electrical power, all of the water would flow back into the tube, shutting down the reactor. As with all small pressurized water reactors, the design also had the advantage of negative feedback: an increase in reactor power caused the water to expand, leading to reduced thermalization of neutrons and lowering absorption by the fuel, therefore lowering the power. Thus, changes in the average coolant temperature, notably from the steam demand of engine throttles, naturally maintains reactor power without intervention from a reactor operator.
The S7G reactor was never used on a ship. In the late 1980s the S7G core was replaced with the experimental DMC (Developmental Materials Core)
Subject–verb–object
In linguistic typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third. Languages may be classified according to the dominant sequence of these elements in unmarked sentences (i.e., sentences in which an unusual word order is not used for emphasis). The label is often used for ergative languages that do not have subjects, but have an agent–verb–object (AVO) order.
SVO is the second-most common order by number of known languages, after SOV. Together, SVO and SOV account for more than 75% of the world's languages. It is also the most common order developed in Creole languages, suggesting that it may be somehow more initially "obvious" to human psychology.
Languages regarded as SVO include: Albanian, Arabic dialects, Assyrian, Bosnian, Chinese, English, Estonian, Finnish (but see below), French, Kiswahili, Luganda, Greek, Hausa, Icelandic (with the V2 restriction), Igbo, Italian, Javanese, Khmer, Latvian, Macedonian, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Quiche, Reo Rapa, Romanian, Russian (but see below), Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish (with the V2 restriction), Thai and Lao, Ukrainian (but see below), Vietnamese, Yoruba and Zulu.
Ancient Greek has free syntactic order, though Classical Greeks tended to favor SOV. Many famous phrases are SVO, however.
Subject–verb–object languages almost always place relative clauses after the nouns which they modify and adverbial subordinators before the clause modified, with varieties of Chinese being notable exceptions.
Although some subject–verb–object languages in West Africa, the best known being Ewe, use postpositions in noun phrases, the vast majority of them, such as English, have prepositions. Most subject–verb–object languages place genitives after the noun, but a significant minority, including the postpositional SVO languages of West Africa, the Hmong–Mien languages, some Sino-Tibetan languages, and European languages like Swedish, Danish, Lithuanian and Latvian have "prenominal" genitives (as would be expected in an SOV language).
Non-European languages, usually subject–verb–object languages, have a strong tendency to place adjectives, demonstratives and numerals after nouns that they modify, but Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian place numerals before nouns, as in English. Some linguists have come to view the numeral as the head in the
E relationship to fit the rigid right-branching of these languages.
There is a strong tendency, as in English, for main verbs to be preceded by auxiliaries: "I am thinking. He should reconsider."
An example of SVO order in English is:
In analytic languages such as English, subject–verb–object order is relatively inflexible because it identifies which part of the sentence is the subject and which one is the object. ("The dog bit Andy" and "Andy bit the dog" mean two completely different things, while, in case of "Bit Andy the dog", it may be difficult to determine whether it's a complete sentence or a fragment, with "Andy the dog" the object and an omitted/implied subject.) The situation is more complex in languages that have no word order imposed by their grammar; example: Russian, Finnish, Ukrainian, and Hungarian have both the VO and OV constructs in their common word order uses.
In some languages, some word orders are considered more "natural" than others. In some, the order is the matter of emphasis. For example, Russian allows the use of subject–verb–object in any order and "shuffles" parts to bring up a slightly different contextual meaning each time. E.g. "любит она его" (loves she him) may be used to point out "she acts this way because she LOVES him", or "его она любит" (him she loves) is used in the context "if you pay attention, you'll see that HE is the one she truly loves", or "его любит она" (him loves she) may appear along the lines "I agree that cat is a disaster, but since my wife adores it and I adore her...". Regardless of order, it is clear that "его" is the object because it is in the accusative case. In Polish, SVO order is basic in an affirmative sentence, and a different order is used to either emphasize some part of it or to adapt it to a broader context logic. For example, ""Roweru" ci nie kupię" (I won't buy you "a bicycle"), ""Od piątej" czekam" (I've been waiting "since five").
In Turkish, it is normal to use SOV, but SVO may be used sometimes to emphasize the verb. For example, "John terketti Mary'yi" (Lit. "John/left/Mary": John left Mary) is the answer to the question "What did John do with Mary?" instead of the regular [SOV] sentence "John Mary'yi terketti" (Lit. "John/Mary/left").
In German, Dutch, and Kashmiri, SOV with V2 word order in main clauses coexists with SOV in subordinate clauses, as given in Example 1 below; and a change in syntax, such as by bringing an adpositional phrase to the front of the sentence for emphasis, may also dictate the use of VSO, as in Example 2. In Kashmiri, the word order in embedded clauses is conditioned by the category of the subordinating conjunction, as in Example 3.
English developed from such a reordering language and still bears traces of this word order, for example in locative inversion ("In the garden sat a cat.") and some clauses beginning with negative expressions: "only" ("Only then do we find X."), "not only" ("Not only did he storm away but also slammed the door."), "under no circumstances" ("under no circumstances are the students allowed to use a mobile phone"), "never" ("Never have I done that."), "on no account" and the like. In such cases, "do"-support is sometimes required, depending on the construction.
Skopje
Skopje (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992.
From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called it "Üsküb", with this name also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars. During the First World War the city was seized by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and, after the war, it became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the capital of Vardarska Banovina. In the Second World War the city was again captured by Bulgaria and in 1944 became the capital of SR Macedonia, a federated state within the Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake.
Skopje is located on the upper course of the Vardar River, and is located on a major north-south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a centre for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje had a population of 506,926 inhabitants; according to official estimates, the city had a population of 544,086 inhabitants, as of 30 June 2015, meaning slightly more than a quarter of all North Macedonia's population lives in the city and its immediate surrounding area.
Skopje is located in the north of the country, in the centre of the Balkan peninsula, and halfway between Belgrade and Athens. The city was built in the Skopje valley, oriented on a west-east axis, along the course of the Vardar river, which flows into the Aegean Sea in Greece. The valley is approximately wide and it is limited by several mountain ranges to the North and South. These ranges limit the urban expansion of Skopje, which spreads along the Vardar and the Serava, a small river which comes from the North. In its administrative boundaries, the City of Skopje stretches for more than , but it is only wide.
Skopje is approximately 245 m above sea level and covers 571.46 km2. The urbanized area only covers 337 km2, with a density of 65 inhabitants per hectare. Skopje, in its administrative limits, encompasses many villages and other settlements, including Dračevo, Gorno Nerezi and Bardovci. According to the 2002 census, the City of Skopje comprised 506,926 inhabitants.
The City of Skopje reaches the Kosovo border to the North-East. Clockwise, it is also bordered by the municipalities of Čučer-Sandevo, Lipkovo, Aračinovo, Ilinden, Studeničani, Sopište, Želino and Jegunovce.
The Vardar river, which flows through Skopje, is at approximately from its source near Gostivar. In Skopje, its average discharge is 51 m3/s, with a wide amplitude depending on seasons, between 99.6 m3/s in May and 18.7 m3/s in July. The water temperature is comprised between 4.6 °C in January and 18.1 °C in July.
Several rivers meet the Vardar within the city boundaries. The largest is the Treska, which is long. It crosses the Matka Canyon before reaching the Vardar on the western extremity of the City of Skopje. The Lepenec, coming from Kosovo, flows into the Vardar on the northwestern end of the urban area. The Serava, also coming from the North, had flowed through the Old Bazaar until the 1960s, when it was diverted towards the West because its waters were very polluted. Originally, it met the Vardar close to the seat of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Nowadays, it flows into the Vardar near the ruins of Scupi. Finally, the Markova Reka, the source of which is on Mount Vodno, meets the Vardar at the eastern extremity of the city. These three rivers are less than long.
The city of Skopje comprises two artificial lakes, located on the Treska. The lake Matka is the result of the construction of a dam in the Matka Canyon in the 1930s, and the Treska lake was dug for leisure purpose in 1978. Three small natural lakes can be found near Smiljkovci, on the northeastern edge of the urban area.
The river Vardar historically caused many floods, such as in 1962, when its outflow reached 1110 m3/s−1. Several works have been carried since Byzantine times to limit the risks, and since the construction of the Kozjak dam on the Treska in 1994, the flood risk is close to zero.
The subsoil contains a large water table which is alimented by the Vardar river and functions as an underground river. Under the table lies an aquifer contained in marl. The water table is 4 to 12 m under the ground and 4 to 144 m deep. Several wells collect its waters but most of the drinking water used in Skopje comes from a karstic spring in Rašče, located west of the city.
The Skopje valley is bordered on the West by the Šar Mountains, on the South by the Jakupica range, on the East by hills belonging to the Osogovo range, and on the North by the Skopska Crna Gora. Mount Vodno, the highest point inside the city limits, is 1066 m high and is part of the Jakupica range.
Although Skopje is built on the foot of Mount Vodno, the urban area is mostly flat. It comprises several minor hills, generally covered with woods and parks, such as Gazi Baba hill (325 m), Zajčev Rid (327 m), the foothills of Mount Vodno (the smallest are between 350 and 400 m high) and the promontory on which Skopje Fortress is built.
The Skopje valley is located near a seismic fault between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates and experiences regular seismic activity. This activity in enhanced by the porous structure of the subsoil. Large earthquakes occurred in Skopje in 518, 1505 and 1963.
The Skopje valley belongs to the Vardar geotectonic region, the subsoil of which is formed of Neogene and Quaternary deposits. The substratum is made of Pliocene deposits including sandstone, marl and various conglomerates. It is covered by a first layer of Quaternary sands and silt, which is between 70 and 90 m deep. The layer is topped by a much smaller layer of clay, sand, silt and gravel, carried by the Vardar river. It is between 1.5 and 5.2 m deep.
In some areas, the subsoil is karstic. It led to the formation of canyons, such as the Matka Canyon, which is surrounded by ten caves. They are between 20 and 176 m deep.
Skopje has a borderline Humid Subtropical Climate (Cfa) and Cold Semi-Arid Climate (BSk) with a mean annual temperature of . Precipitation is relatively low due to the pronounced rain shadow of the Prokletije mountains to the northwest, being significantly less than what is received on the Adriatic Sea coast at the same latitude. The summers are long, hot and relatively dry with low humidity. Skopje's average July high is . On average Skopje sees 88 days above each year, and 10.2 days above every year. Winters are short, relatively cold and wet. Snowfalls are common in the winter period, but heavy snow accumulation is rare and the snowcover lasts only for a few hours or a few days if heavy. In summer, temperatures are usually above and sometimes above . In spring and autumn, the temperatures range from . In winter, the day temperatures are roughly in the range from , but at nights they often fall below and sometimes below . Typically, temperatures throughout one year range from −13 °C to 39 °C. Occurrences of precipitation are evenly distributed throughout the year, being heaviest from October to December, and from April to June.
The city of Skopje encompasses various natural environments and its fauna and flora are rich. However, it is threatened by the intensification of agriculture and the urban extension. The largest protected area within the city limits is Mount Vodno, which is a popular leisure destination. A cable car connects its peak to the downtown, and many pedestrian paths run through its woods. Other large natural spots include the Matka Canyon.
The city itself comprises several parks and gardens amounting to 4,361 hectares. Among these are the City Park (Gradski Park), built by the Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century; Žena Borec Park, located in front of the Parliament; the University arboretum; and Gazi Baba forest. Many streets and boulevards are planted with trees.
Skopje experiences many environmental issues which are often overshadowed by the economic poverty of the country. However, alignment of North Macedonian law on European law has brought progress in some fields, such as water and waste treatment, and industrial emissions. Skopje remains one of the most polluted cities in the world, topping the ranks in December 2017.
Steel processing, which a crucial activity for the local economy, is responsible for soil pollution with heavy metals such as lead, zinc and cadmium, and air pollution with nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. Vehicle traffic and district heating plants are also responsible for air pollution. The highest pollution levels usually occur in autumn and winter.
Water treatment plants are being built, but much polluted water is still discharged untreated into the Vardar. Waste is disposed of in the open-air municipal landfill site, located north of the city. Every day, it receives 1,500 m3 of domestic waste and 400 m3 of industrial waste. Health levels are better in Skopje than in the rest of North Macedonia, and no link has been found between the low environmental quality and the health of the residents.
Air pollution is a serious problem in Skopje, especially in winter. Concentrations of certain types of particulate matter (PM2 and PM10) are regularly over twelve times the WHO recommended maximum levels. In winter, smoke regularly obscures vision and can lead to problems for drivers. Together with India and Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia is one of the most polluted places in the world.
Skopje's high levels of pollution are caused by a combination of smoke from houses, emissions from buses and other forms of public transport, as well as from cars, and a lack of interest in caring for the environment. Central heating is often not affordable, and so households often burn firewood, as well as used car tyres, various plastic garbage, petroleum and other possible flammable waste, which emits toxic chemicals harmful to the population, especially to children and the elderly.
The city's smog has reduced its air quality and affected the health of many of its citizens, many of which have died from pollution-related illnesses.
An application called "MojVozduh" ('My Air') has been launched to help citizens track pollution levels. It uses a traffic light system, with red for heavily polluted air, amber for high levels detected, and green for when the air is safe to inhale. However, this application relies on frequently inoperable and malfunctioning sensors which monitor pollution levels in the city. Faults are especially frequent when the pollution is measured is extremely high, according to the AQILHC (Air Quality Index Levels of Health Concern).
On 29 November 2019, a march, organized by the Skopje Smog Alarm activist community, attracted thousands of people who opposed the government's lack of action in dealing with the city's pollution, which has worsened since 2017, contributing to around 1300 deaths annually.
There is little evidence that the actions and measures for minimizing pollution in Skopje have started to have an effect, and the city's goal of a better and healthier future for its residents has not yet occurred.
The urban morphology of Skopje was deeply impacted by the 26 July 1963 earthquake, which destroyed 80% of the city, and by the reconstruction that followed. For instance, neighbourhoods were rebuilt in such a way that the demographic density remains low to limit the impact of potential future earthquakes.
Reconstruction following the 1963 earthquake was mainly conducted by the Polish architect Adolf Ciborowski, who had already planned the reconstruction of Warsaw after World War II. Ciborowski divided the city in blocks dedicated to specific activities. The banks of the Vardar river became natural areas and parks, areas located between the main boulevards were built with highrise housing and shopping centres, and the suburbs were left to individual housing and industry. Reconstruction had to be quick in order to relocate families and to relaunch the local economy. To stimulate economic development, the number of thoroughfares was increased and future urban extension was anticipated.
The south bank of the Vardar river generally comprises highrise tower blocks, including the vast Karpoš neighbourhood which was built in the 1970s west of the centre. Towards the East, the new municipality of Aerodrom was planned in the 1980s to house 80,000 inhabitants on the site of the old airport. Between Karpoš and Aerodrom lies the city centre, rebuilt according to plans by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The centre is surrounded by a row of long buildings suggesting a wall ("Gradski Zid").
On the north bank, where the most ancient parts of the city lie, the Old Bazaar was restored and its surroundings were rebuilt with low-rise buildings, so as not to spoil views of the Skopje Fortress. Several institutions, including the university and the Macedonian academy, were also relocated on the north bank in order to reduce borders between the ethnic communities. Indeed, the north bank is mostly inhabited by Muslim Albanians, Turks and Roma, whereas Christian ethnic Macedonians predominantly reside on the south bank.
The earthquake left the city with few historical monuments, apart from the Ottoman Old Bazaar, and the reconstruction, conducted between the 1960s and 1980s, turned Skopje into a modernist but grey city. At the end of the 2000s, the city centre experienced profound changes. A highly controversial urban project, "Skopje 2014", was adopted by the municipal authorities in order to give the city a more monumental and historical aspect, and thus to transform it into a proper national capital. Several neoclassical buildings destroyed in the 1963 earthquake were rebuilt, including the national theatre, and streets and squares were refurbished. Many other elements were also built, including fountains, statues, hotels, government buildings and bridges. The project has been criticized because of its cost and its historicist aesthetics. The large Albanian minority felt it was not represented in the new monuments, and launched side projects, including a new square over the boulevard that separate the city centre from the Old Bazaar.
Some areas of Skopje suffer from a certain anarchy because many houses and buildings were built without consent from the local authorities.
Outside of the urban area, the City of Skopje encompasses many small settlements. Some of them are becoming outer suburbs, such as Čento, located on the road to Belgrade, which has more than 23,000 inhabitants, and Dračevo, which has almost 20,000 inhabitants. Other large settlements are located north of the city, such as Radišani, with 9,000 inhabitants, whereas smaller villages can be found on Mount Vodno or in Saraj municipality, which is the most rural of the ten municipalities that form the City of Skopje.
Some localities located outside the city limits are also becoming outer suburbs, particularly in Ilinden and Petrovec municipality. They benefit from the presence of major roads, railways and the airport, located in Petrovec.
Skopje is an ethnically diverse city, and its urban sociology primarily depends on ethnic and religious belonging. Macedonians form 66% of the city population, while Albanians and Roma account respectively for 20% and 6%. Each ethnic group generally restrict itself to certain areas of the city. Macedonians live south of the Vardar, in areas massively rebuilt after 1963, and Muslims live on the northern side, in the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. These neighbourhoods are considered more traditional, whereas the south side evokes to Macedonians modernity and rupture from rural life.
The northern areas are the poorest. This is especially true for Topaana, in Čair municipality, and for Šuto Orizari municipality, which are the two main Roma neighbourhoods. They are made of many illegal constructions not connected to electricity and water supply, which are passed from a generation to the other. Topaana, located close to the Old Bazaar, is a very old area: it was first mentioned as a Roma neighbourhood in the beginning of the 14th century. It has between 3,000 and 5,000 inhabitants. Šuto Orizari, located on the northern edge of the city, is a municipality of its own, with Romani as its local official language. It was developed after the 1963 earthquake to accommodate Roma who had lost their house.
The population density varies greatly from an area to the other. So does the size of the living area per person. The city average was at per person , but at in Centar on the south bank, and only in Čair on the north bank. In Šuto Orizari, the average was at .
The current name of the city comes from Scupi, which was the name of early Paeonian settlement (later capital of Dardania and subsequently Roman colony) located nearby. The meaning of that name is not known for sure, but there is a hypothesis, it derives from the Greek , (lit. "watcher, observer"), referring to its position on a high place, from which the whole place could be observed.
After Antiquity, Scupi was occupied by various people and consequently its name was translated several times in several languages. Thus Scupi became "Skopie" () for Bulgarians, and later "Üsküb" () for the Turks. This name was adapted in Western languages in "Uskub" or "Uskup", and these two appellations were used in the Western world until 1912. Some Western sources also cite "Scopia" and "Skopia".
When Vardar Macedonia was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, the city officially became "Skoplje" and this name was adopted by many languages. To reflect local pronunciation, the city's name was eventually spelled as "Skopje" () after the Second World War, when standard Macedonian became the official language of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. The local Albanians call the city "Shkup" and "Shkupi", the latter being the definite form.
The rocky promontory on which stands the Fortress was the first site settled by man in Skopje. The earliest vestiges of human occupation found on this site date from the Chalcolithic (4th millennium BC).
Although the Chalcolithic settlement must have been of some significance, it declined during the Bronze Age. Archeological research suggest that the settlement always belonged to a same culture, which progressively evolved thanks to contacts with Balkan and Danube cultures, and later with the Aegean. The locality eventually disappeared during the Iron Age when Scupi emerged. It was located on Zajčev Rid hill, some west of the fortress promontory. Located at the centre of the Balkan peninsula and on the road between Danube and Aegean Sea, it was a prosperous locality, although its history is not well known.
The earliest people in Skopje Valley were probably the Triballi. Later the area was populated by the Paionians. Scupi was originally a Paionian settlement, but it became afterwards Dardanian town. Dardanians, who lived in present-day Kosovo, invaded the region around Skopje during the 3rd century BC. "Scupi", the ancient name for Skopje, became the capital of Dardania, which extended from Naissus to Bylazora in the second century BC. The Dardanians had remained independent after the Roman conquest of Macedon, and it seems most likely that Dardania lost independence in 28 BC.
Roman expansion east brought Scupi under Roman rule as a colony of legionnaires, mainly veterans of the Legio VII Claudia in the time of Domitian (81–96 AD). However, several legions from the Roman province of Macedonia of Crassus' army may already have been stationed in there around 29–28 BC, before the official imperial command was instituted. The first mention of the city was made at that period by Livy, who died in 17 AD. Scupi first served as a military base to maintain peace in the region and was officially named "Colonia Flavia Scupinorum", "Flavia" being the name of the emperor's dynasty. Shortly afterwards it became part of the province of Moesia during Augustus's rule. After the division of the province by Domitian in 86 AD, Scupi was elevated to colonial status, and became a seat of government within the new province of Moesia Superior. The district called Dardania (within Moesia Superior) was formed into a special province by Diocletian, with the capital at Naissus. In Roman times the eastern part of Dardania, from Scupi to Naissus, remained inhabited mostly by a local population, mainly from Thracian origin.
The city population was very diverse. Engravings on tombstones suggest that only a minority of the population came from Italy, while many veterans were from Dalmatia, South Gaul and Syria. Because of the ethnic diversity of the population, Latin maintained itself as the main language in the city at the expense of Greek, which was spoken in most of the Moesian and Macedonian cities. During the following centuries, Scupi experienced prosperity. The period from the end of the 3rd century to the end of the 4th century was particularly flourishing. A first church was founded under the reign of Constantine the Great and Scupi became the seat of a diocese. In 395, following the division of the Roman Empire in two, Scupi became part of the Eastern Roman Empire.
In its heyday, Scupi covered 40 hectares and was closed by a wide wall. It had many monuments, including four necropoles, a theatre, thermae, and a large Christian basilica.
In 518, Scupi was destroyed by a violent earthquake, possibly the most devastating the town experienced. At that time, the region was threatened by the Barbarian invasions, and the city inhabitants had already fled in forests and mountains before the disaster occurred. The city was eventually rebuilt by Justinian I. During his reign, many Byzantine towns were relocated on hills and other easily defendable places to face invasions. It was thus transferred on another site: the promontory on which stands the fortress. However, Scupi was sacked by Slavs at the end of the 6th century and the city seems to have fallen under Slavic rule in 595. The Slavic tribe which sacked Scupi were probably the Berziti, who had invaded the entire Vardar valley. However the Slavs did not settle permanently in the region that had been already plundered and depopulated, but continued south to the Mediterranean coast. After the Slavic invasion it was deserted for some time and is not mentioned during the following centuries. Perhaps in the late 7th or the early 8th century the Byzantines have again settled at this strategic location. Along with the rest of Upper Vardar valley it became part of the expanding First Bulgarian Empire in the 830s.
Starting from the end of the 10th century Skopje experienced a period of wars and political troubles. It served as Bulgarian capital from 972 to 992, and Samuil ruled it from 976 until 1004 when its governor Roman surrendered it to Byzantine Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer in 1004 in exchange for the titles of patrician and strategos. It became a centre of a new Byzantine province called Bulgaria. Later Skopje was briefly seized twice by Slavic insurgents who wanted to restore the Bulgarian state. At first in 1040 under Peter Delyan's command, and in 1072 under the orders of Georgi Voyteh. In 1081, Skopje was captured by Norman troops led by Robert Guiscard and the city remained in their hands until 1088. Skopje was subsequently conquered by the Serbian Grand Prince Vukan in 1093, and again by the Normans four years later. However, because of epidemics and food shortage, Normans quickly surrendered to the Byzantines.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, Bulgarians and Serbs took advantage of Byzantine decline to create large kingdoms stretching from Danube to the Aegean Sea. Kaloyan brought Skopje back into reestablished Bulgaria in 1203 until his nephew Strez declared autonomy along the Upper Vardar with Serbian help only five years later. In 1209 Strez switched allegiances and recognized Boril of Bulgaria with whom he led a successful joint campaign against Serbia's first internationally recognized king Stefan Nemanjić. From 1214 to 1230 Skopje was a part of Byzantine successor state Epirus before recaptured by Ivan Asen II and held by Bulgaria until 1246 when the Upper Vardar valley was incorporated once more into a Byzantine state – the Empire of Nicaea. Byzantine conquest was briefly reversed in 1255 by the regents of the young Michael Asen I of Bulgaria. Meanwhile, in the parallel civil war for the Crown in Tarnovo Skopje bolyar and grandson to Stefan Nemanja Constantine Tikh gained the upper hand and ruled until Europe's only successful peasant revolt the Uprising of Ivaylo deposed him.
In 1282 Skopje was captured by Serbian king Stefan Milutin. Under the political stability of the Nemanjić rule, settlement has spread outside the walls of the fortress, towards Gazi Baba hill. Churches, monasteries and markets were built and tradesmen from Venice and Dubrovnik opened shops. The town greatly benefited from its location near European, Middle Eastern, and African market. In the 14th century, Skopje became such an important city that king Stefan Dušan made it the capital of the Serbian Empire. In 1346, he was crowned "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks" in Skopje. After his death the Serbian Empire collapsed into several principalities which were unable to defend themselves against the Turks. Skopje was first inherited by the Lordship of Prilep and finally taken by Vuk Branković in the wake of the Battle of Maritsa (1371) before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1392.
Skopje economic life greatly benefited from its position in the middle of Ottoman Europe. Until the 17th century, Skopje experienced a long golden age. Around 1650, the number of inhabitants in Skopje was between 30,000 and 60,000, and the city contained more than 10,000 houses. It was then one of the only big cities on the territory of future Yugoslavia, together with Belgrade and Sarajevo. At that time, Dubrovnik, which was a busy harbour, had not even 7,000 inhabitants. Following the Ottoman conquest, the city population changed. Christians were forcibly converted to Islam or were replaced by Turks and Jews. At that time, Christians of Skopje were mostly non-converted Slavs and Albanians, but also Ragusan and Armenian tradesmen. The Ottomans drastically changed the appearance of the city. They organized the Bazaar with its caravanserais, mosques and baths.
The city severely suffered from the Great Turkish War at the end of the 17th century and consequently experienced recession until the 19th century. In 1689, Austrians seized Skopje which was already weakened by a cholera epidemic. The same day, general Silvio Piccolomini set fire to the city to end the epidemic. It is however possible that he wanted to avenge damages that Ottomans caused in Vienna in 1683. Skopje burned during two days. The Austrian presence in Macedonia motivated Slav uprisings. Nevertheless, Austrians left the country within the year and Hajduks, leaders of the uprisings, had to follow them in their retreat north of the Balkans. Some were arrested by the Ottomans, such as Petar Karposh, who was impaled on Skopje Stone Bridge.
After the war, Skopje was in ruins. Most of the official buildings were restored or rebuilt, but the city experienced new plague and cholera epidemics and many inhabitants emigrated. The Ottoman Turkish Empire as a whole entered in recession and political decline. Many rebellions and pillages occurred in Macedonia during the 18th century, either led by Turkish outlaws, Janissaries or Hajduks. An estimation conducted by French officers around 1836 revealed that at that time Skopje only had around 10,000 inhabitants. It was surpassed by two other towns of present-day North Macedonia: Bitola (40,000) and Štip (15–20,000).
Skopje began to recover from decades of decline after 1850. At that time, the city experienced a slow but steady demographic growth, mainly due to the rural exodus of Slav Macedonians. It was also fuelled by the exodus of Muslims from Serbia and Bulgaria, which were gaining autonomy and independence from the Empire at that time. During the Tanzimat reforms, nationalism arose in the Empire and in 1870 a new Bulgarian Church was established and its separate diocese was created, based on ethnic identity, rather than religious principles. The Slavic population of the bishopric of Skopje voted in 1874 overwhelmingly, by 91% in favour of joining the Exarchate and became part of the Bulgarian Millet. Economic growth was permitted by the construction of the Skopje-Salonica railway in 1873. The train station was built south of the Vardar and this contributed to the relocation of economic activities on this side of the river, which had never been urbanized before. Because of the rural exodus, the share of Christians in the city population arose. Some of the newcomers became part of the local elite and helped to spread nationalist ideas Skopje was one of the five main centres of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization when it organized the 1903 Ilinden uprising. Its revolutionary network in Skopje region was not well-developed and the lack of weapons was a serious problem. At the outbreak of the uprising the rebel forces derailed a military train. On 3 and 5 August respectively, they attacked a Ottoman unit guarding the bridge on the Vardar river and gave a battle in the "St. Jovan" monastery. In the next few days the band was pursued by numerous Bashibozuks and moved to Bulgaria.
In 1877, Skopje was chosen as the capital city of the new Kosovo Vilayet, which encompassed present-day Kosovo, northwestern Macedonia and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. In 1905, the city had 32,000 inhabitants, making it the largest of the vilayet, although closely followed by Prizren with its 30,000 inhabitants. German linguist Gustav Weigand described that the Skopje Muslim population of "Turks" or Ottomans (Osmanli) during the late Ottoman period were mainly Albanians that spoke Turkish in public and Albanian at home. At the beginning of the 20th century, local economy was focused on dyeing, weaving, tanning, ironworks and wine and flour processing.
Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Ottoman Empire experienced democracy and several political parties were created. However, some of the policies implemented by the Young Turks, such as a tax rise and the interdiction of ethnic-based political parties, discontented minorities. Albanians opposed the nationalist character of the movement and led local uprisings in 1910 and 1912. During the latter they managed to seize most of Kosovo and took Skopje on 11 August. On 18 August, the insurgents signed the Üsküb agreement which provided for the creation of an autonomous Albanian province and they were amnestied the day later.
Following an alliance contracted in 1912, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Their goal was to definitely expel the Ottomans from Europe. The First Balkan War started on 8 October 1912 and lasted six weeks. Serbians reached Skopje on 26 October. Ottoman forces had left the city the day before. During the conflict, Chetniks, a Serb irregular force razed the Albanian quarter of Skopje and killed numerous Albanian inhabitants from the city. The Serbian annexation led to the exodus of 725 Muslim families which left the city on 27 January 1913. The same year, the city population was evaluated at 37,000 by the Serbian authorities.
In 1915, during the First World War, Serbian Macedonia was invaded by Bulgaria, which captured Skopje on 22 October 1915. Serbia, allied to the Triple Entente, was helped by France, Britain, Greece, and Italy, which formed the Macedonian front. Following a great Allied offensive in 1918, the Armée française d'Orient reached Skopje 29 September and took the city by surprise. After the end of the World War, Macedonia became part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which became "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" in 1929. A mostly foreign ethnic Serb ruling class gained control, imposing a large-scale repression. The policies of de-Bulgarization and assimilation were pursued. At that time part of the young locals, repressed by the Serbs, tried to find a separate way of ethnic Macedonian development. In 1931, in a move to formally decentralize the country, Skopje was named the capital of the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Until the Second World War, Skopje experienced strong economic growth, and its population increased. The city had 41,066 inhabitants in 1921, 64,807 in 1931, and 80,000 in 1941. Although located in an underdeveloped region, it attracted wealthy Serbs who opened businesses and contributed to the modernization of the city. In 1941, Skopje had 45 factories, half of the industry in the whole of Socialist Macedonia.
In 1941, during the Second World War, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany. Germans seized Skopje 8 April and left it to their Bulgarian allies on 22 April 1941. To ensure bulgarization of the society, authorities closed Serbian schools and churches and opened new schools and a higher education institute, the King Boris University. The 4,000 Jews of Skopje were all deported in 1943 to Treblinka where almost all of them died. Local Partisan detachments started a widespread guerrilla after the proclamation of the "Popular Republic of Macedonia" by the ASNOM on 2 August 1944.
Skopje was liberated on 13 November 1944 by Yugoslav Partisan units of the Macedonian National Liberation Army, together with units of the newly allied Bulgarian People's Army (Bulgaria having switched sides in the war in September).
After World War II, Skopje greatly benefited from Socialist Yugoslav policies which encouraged industry and the development of Macedonian cultural institutions. Consequently, Skopje became home to a national library, a national philharmonic orchestra, a university and the Macedonian Academy. However, its post-war development was altered by the 1963 earthquake which occurred 26 July. Although relatively weak in magnitude, it caused enormous damage in the city and can be compared to the 1960 Agadir earthquake. The disaster killed 1,070 people, injuring 3,300 others. 16,000 people were buried alive in ruins and 70% of the population lost their home. Many educational facilities, factories and historical buildings were destroyed.
After the earthquake, reconstruction was quick. It had a deep psychological impact on the population because neighbourhoods were split and people were relocated to new houses and buildings they were not familiar with. Many Albanians, some from Kosovo participated in the reconstruction effort. Reconstruction was finished by 1980, even if many elements were never built because funds were exhausted. Skopje cityscape was drastically changed and the city became a true example of modernist architecture. Demographic growth was very important after 1963, and Skopje had 408,100 inhabitants in 1981. After 1963, rural youth migrated to Skopje and were involved in the reconstruction process resulting in a large growth of the urban Macedonian population. The Albanian population of Skopje also increased as people from the northern villages migrated to the city and others came from Kosovo either to provide manpower for reconstruction or fled the deteriorating political situation, especially during the 1990s. However, during the 1980s and the 1990s, the country experienced inflation and recession and the local economy heavily suffered. The situation became better during the 2000s thanks to new investments. Many landmarks were restored and the "Skopje 2014" project renewed the appearance of the city centre.
The Flag of Skopje is a red banner in proportions 1:2 with a gold-coloured coat of arms of the city positioned in the upper-left corner. It is either vertical or horizontal, but the vertical version was the first to be used.
The coat of arms of the city was adopted in the 1950s. It depicts the Stone Bridge with the Vardar river, the Kale Fortress and the snow-capped peaks of the Šar mountains.
Being the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, Skopje enjoys a particular status granted by law. The last revision of its status was made in 2004. Since then, the City of Skopje has been divided into 10 municipalities which all have a council and a mayor, like all of the country's municipalities. Municipalities only deal with matters specific of their territory, and the City of Skopje deals with matters that concern all of them, or that cannot be divided between two or more municipalities.
The City of Skopje is part of Skopje Statistical Region, which has no political or administrative power.
The City Council consists of 45 members who serve a four-year term. It primarily deals with budget, global orientations and relations between the City and the government. Several commissions exist to treat more specific topics, such as urbanism, finances, environment of local development. The President of the Council is elected by the Council Members. Since 2017 the president has been Ljubica Jancheva, member of SDSM.
Following the 2017 local elections, the City Council is constituted as follows:
The Mayor of Skopje is elected every four years.
The mayor represents the City of Skopje and he can submit ideas to the Council. He manages the administrative bodies and their officials.
Skopje was first divided into administrative units in 1945, but the first municipalities were created in 1976. They were five: Centar, Čair, Karpoš, Gazi Baba and Kisela Voda. After the independence of the Republic of Macedonia, power was centralized and municipalities lost much of their competences. A 1996 law restored them and created two new municipalities: Gjorče Petrov and Šuto Orizari. After the insurgency between Albanian rebels and Macedonian forces in 2001, a new law was enacted in 2004 to incorporate Saraj municipality into the City of Skopje. Saraj is mostly populated by Albanians and, since then, Albanians represent more than 20% of the city population. Thus Albanian became the second official language of the city administration, something which was one of the claims of the Albanian rebels. The same year, Aerodrom Municipality separated itself from Kisela Voda, and Butel municipality from Čair.
Municipalities are administered by a council of 23 members elected every four years. They also have a mayor and several departments (education, culture, finances...). The mayor primarily deals with these departments.
Skopje is a medium city at European level. Being the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, Skopje concentrates a large share of the national economy. The Skopje Statistical Region, which encompasses the City of Skopje and some neighbouring municipalities, produces 45,5% of the North Macedonian GDP. In 2009, the regional GDP per capita amounted to US$6,565, or 155% of the North Macedonian GDP per capita. This figure is, however, smaller than the one of Sofia (US$10,106), Sarajevo (US$10,048) or Belgrade (US$7,983), but higher than the one of Tirana (US$4,126).
Because there are no other large cities in the country, and because of political and economical centralization, a large number of Macedonians living outside of Skopje work in the capital city. The dynamism of the city also encourages rural exodus, not only from North Macedonia, but also from Kosovo, Albania and Southern Serbia.
In 2009, Skopje had 26,056 firms but only 145 of them had a large size. The large majority of them are either small (12,017) or very small (13,625). A large share of the firms deal with trade of goods (9,758), 3,839 are specialized in business and real estate, and 2,849 are manufacturers. Although few in number, large firms account for 51% of the local production outside finance.
The city industry is dominated by food processing, textile, printing and metal processing. In 2012, it accounted for 30% of the city GDP. Most of the industrial areas are located in Gazi Baba municipality, on the major routes and rail lines to Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Notably, the ArcelorMittal and Makstil steel plants are located there, and also the Skopje Brewery. Other zones are located between Aerodrom and Kisela Voda, along the railway to Greece. These zones comprise Alkaloid Skopje (pharmaceuticals), Rade Končar (electrical supplies), Imperial Tobacco, and Ohis (fertilizers). Two special economic zones also exist, around the airport and the Okta refinery. They have attracted several foreign companies, such as Johnson Controls, Johnson Matthey and Van Hool.
As the country's financial capital, Skopje is the seat of the Macedonian Stock Exchange, of the National Bank and of most of the North Macedonian banking, insurance and telecommunication companies, such as Makedonski Telekom, Komercijalna banka Skopje and Stopanska Banka. The services sector produces 60% of the city GDP.
Besides many small traditional shops, Skopje has two large markets, the "Zelen Pazar" (green market) and the "Bit Pazar" (flea market). They are both considered as local institutions. However, since the 1970s, retailing has largely been modernized and Skopje now has many supermarkets and shopping centres. The largest, Skopje City Mall, opened in 2012. It comprises a Carrefour hypermarket, 130 shops and a cinema, and employs 2,000 people.
51% of the Skopje active population is employed in small firms. 52% of the population work in the services sector, 34% in industry, and the remaining is mainly employed in administration.
The unemployment rate for the Skopje Statistical Region was at 27% in 2009, three points under the national rate (30%). The neighbouring Polog Region had a similar rate, but the less affected region was the South-West, with 22%. Unemployment in Skopje mainly affects men, who represent 56% of job-seekers, people between 25 and 44 years old (45% of job-seekers), and non-qualified people (43%). Unemployment also concerns Roma people, who represent 4.63% of the city population but affects 70% of the active population in the community.
The average net monthly wage in Skopje was at €400 in October 2010, which represented 120% of the national figure. The average wage in Skopje was then lower than in Sarajevo (€522), Sofia (€436), and in Belgrade (€440).
The City of Skopje had 506,926 inhabitants within its administrative limits in 2002. Skopje's employment area covers a large part of the country, including Veles, Kumanovo and Tetovo, and totaling more than one million inhabitants.
Skopje concentrates a third of North Macedonia's population and other North Macedonian towns are much smaller. The second most populous municipality, Kumanovo, had 107,632 inhabitants in 2011, and an urban unit of 76,272 inhabitants in 2002.
Before the Austro-Turkish war and the 1698 Great Fire, Skopje was one of the biggest cities in the Balkans, with a population estimated between 30,000 and 60,000 inhabitants. After the fire, it experienced a long period of decline and only had 10,000 inhabitants in 1836. However, the population started to rise again after 1850 and reached 32,000 inhabitants in 1905. In the 20th century, Skopje was one of the fastest growing cities in Yugoslavia and it had 448,200 inhabitants in 1971. Since then, the demographic growth has continued at a steady pace.
Skopje, just like North Macedonia as a whole, is characterized by a large ethnic diversity. The city is located in a region where Macedonians and ethnic Albanians meet, and it welcomed Romani, Turks, Jews and Serbs throughout its history. Skopje was mainly a Muslim city until the 19th century, when large numbers of Christians started to settle there. According to the 2002 census, Macedonians were the largest ethnic group in Skopje, with 338,358 inhabitants, or 66.75% of the population. Then came Albanians with 103,891 inhabitants (20.49%), Roma people with 23,475 (4.63%), Serbs (14,298 inhabitants), Turks (8,595), Bosniaks (7,585) and Vlachs (2,557). 8,167 people did not belong to any of these groups.
Ethnic Macedonians form an overwhelming majority of the population in the municipalities of Aerodrom, Centar, Gjorče Petrov, Karpoš and Kisela Voda, which are all located south of the Vardar. They also form a majority in Butel and Gazi Baba which are north of the river. Albanians form a majority in Čair which roughly corresponds to the Old Bazaar, and in Saraj. They form a large minority in Butel and Gazi Baba. Šuto Orizari, located on the northern edge of the city, is predominantly Roma. When an ethnic minority forms at least 20% of the population in a municipality, its language can become official on the local level. Thus, in Čair and Saraj schools and administration use Albanian, and Romani in Šuto Orizari. The latter is the only municipality in the world where Romani is an official language.
Relations between the two largest groups, Macedonians and Albanians, are sometimes difficult, as in the rest of the country. Each group tolerate the other but they tend to avoid each other and live in what can appear as two parallel worlds. Both Macedonians and Albanians view themselves each as the original population of Skopje and the other as newcomers. The Roma minority is on its side very deprived. Its exact size is not known because many Macedonian Roma declare themselves as belonging to other ethnic groups or simply avoid censuses. However, even if official figures are underestimated, Skopje is the city in the world with the largest Roma population.
Religious affiliation is diverse: Macedonians, Serbs, and Vlachs are mainly Orthodox, with the majority affiliated to the Macedonian Orthodox Church; Turks are almost entirely Muslim; those of Albanian ethnicity are largely Muslim, although Skopje also has a sizeable Roman Catholic Albanian minority, into which Mother Teresa was born; the Roma (Gypsies) represent a mixture (in almost equal numbers) of Muslim and Orthodox religious heritage.
According to the 2002 census, 68.5% of the population of Skopje belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church, while 28.6% of it belonged to Islam. The city also had Catholic (0.5%) and Protestant (0.04%) minorities. The Catholics are served by the Latin bishopric of Skopje, in which is also vested the Byzantine Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Macedonia.
Until World War II, Skopje had a significant Jewish minority which mainly descended from Spanish Sephardis who had escaped the Inquisition. The community comprised 2,424 members in 1939 (representing about 3% of the city population), but most of them were deported and killed by Nazis. After the war, most of the survivors settled in Israel. Today the city has around 200 Jewish inhabitants (about 0.04% of the population).
Because of its Ottoman past, Skopje has more mosques than churches. Religious communities often complain about the lack of infrastructure and new places of worship are often built. Skopje is the seat of many Macedonian religious organizations, such as the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Religious Union of Macedonia. It has an Orthodox cathedral and seminary, several madrasahs, a Roman Catholic cathedral and a synagogue.
Skopje has several public and private hospitals and specialized medical institutions, such as the Filip II Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, two obstetric hospitals, a gerontology hospital and institutes for respiratory and ocular diseases. In 2012, Skopje had a ratio of one physician per 251.6 inhabitants, a figure higher than the national ratio (one per 370.9). The ratio of medical specialists was also higher than in the rest of the country. However, the ratio of hospital beds, pharmacists and dentists was lower in Skopje. The population in Skopje enjoys better health standards than other Macedonians. In 2010, the mortality rate was at 8.6‰ in Skopje and 9.3‰ on the national level. The infant mortality rate was at 6.8‰ in Skopje and 7.6‰ in North Macedonia.
Skopje's citizenry is generally more educated than the rest of the country. For one, 16% of Skopjans have graduated from university in contrast to 10% for the rest of the country. The number of people with a complete lack of education or ones who received a partial education is lower in Skopje at 9% compared to the provincial average of 17%. 80% of Macedonian citizens who hold a PhD take up residence in Skopje.
Skopje has 21 secondary schools; 5 of which serve as general high-school gymnasiums and 16 vocational schools. The city is also host to several higher education institutions, the most notable of which is Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, founded in 1949. The university has 23 departments, 10 research institutes and is attended by an average of 50,000 students. After the country's declaration of independence in 1991, several private universities were brought to existence. The largest private universities in Skopje are currently European University with 7 departments and FON University with 9 departments respectively.
Skopje is the largest media centre in North Macedonia. Of the 818 newspapers surveyed in 2000 by the Ministry of Information, over 600 had their headquarters in Skopje. The daily Dnevnik, founded in 1996, with 60 000 runs per day is the most printed in the country. Also based in Skopje, Večer is pulled 50,000 copies and the state owns one third of its capital, as well as Nova Makedonija, reprinted 20,000 copies. Other major newspapers in Skopje, totally private, are Utrinski Vesnik (30,000 copies), Vest (25,000 copies) and Vreme (15,000 copies). Magazines Fokus (12,000 copies), Start (10,000 copies), and Denes (7,500 copies) also have their headquarters in Skopje.
The city is home of the studios of Macedonian Radio-Television (MRT), the country's public radio and television. Founded in 1966, it operates with three national broadcast channels, twenty-four hours at day. The most popular private television stations are Sitel, Kanal 5, Telma, Alfa TV and AlsatM are another major private television companies. MRT also operates radio stations with national coverage, the private station Skopje's Kanal 77 is the only one to have such a span. Radio Antenna 5 and Metropolis are two other major private stations that have their headquarters in Skopje.
Also, the city boasts big news agencies in the country, both public, as the North Macedonian Information Agency, and private, such as the Makfax.
As the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, Skopje has many major sporting facilities. The city has three large swimming pools, two of which feature Olympic pools. These pools are particularly relevant to coaching water polo teams. Skopje also boasts many football stadiums, like Ilinden in Čair and Železarnica, which can accommodate between 4,000 and 4,500 spectators. The basketball court Kale can accommodate 5 000 people and the court of Jane Sandanski, 4000 people.
The largest stadium remains Toše Proeski Arena. The stadium, built in 1947 and named until 2008, City Stadium Skopje experienced a total renovation, begun in 2009 to meet the standards of FIFA. Fully renovated the stadium contains 32,580 seats, and a health spa and fitness. The Boris Trajkovski Sports Center is the largest sports complex in the country. It was opened in 2008 and named after president Boris Trajkovski, who died in 2004. It includes room dedicated to handball, basketball and volleyball, a bowling alley, a fitness area and an ice hockey court. Its main hall, which regularly hosts concerts, holds around 10,000 people.
FK Vardar and FK Rabotnički are the two most popular football teams, playing in the first national league. Their workouts are held at Philip II Arena, like those of the national team. The city is also home to many smaller football clubs, such as: FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov, FK Gorno Lisiče, FK Lokomotiva Skopje, FK Metalurg Skopje, FK Madžari Solidarnost and FK Skopje, who play in first, second or third national league. Another popular sport in North Macedonia is basketball, represented in particular by the teams Rabotnički and MZT Skopje. Handball is illustrated by RK Vardar PRO and RK Metalurg Skopje, also the women's team ŽRK Metalurg and ŽRK Vardar. The city co-hosted the 2008 European Women's Handball Championship together with Ohrid, and hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, the match between the two giants of the European football Real Madrid and Manchester United
Skopje is located near three other capital cities, Prishtina ( away), Tirana (291 km) and Sofia (245 km). Thessaloniki is south and Belgrade is north. Skopje is also at the crossroad of two Pan-European corridors: Corridor X, which runs between Austria and Greece, and Corridor VIII, which runs from the Adriatic in Albania to the Black sea in Bulgaria. Corridor X links Skopje to Thessaloniki, Belgrade and Western Europe, while Corridor VIII links it with Tirana and Sofia.
Corridor X locally corresponds to the M-1 motorway (E75), which is the longest North Macedonian highway. It also corresponds to the Tabanovce-Gevgelija railway. Corridor VIII, less developed, corresponds to the M-4 motorway and the Kičevo-Beljakovce railway. Skopje is not quite on the Corridor X and the M-1 does not pass on the city territory. Thus the junction between the M-1 and M-4 is located some east, close to the airport. Although Skopje is geographically close to other major cities, movement of people and goods is not optimized, especially with Albania. This is mainly due to poor infrastructure. As a result, 61.8% of Skopjans have never been to Tirana, while only 6.7% have never been to Thessaloniki and 0% to Sofia. Furthermore, 26% of Thessalonians, 33% of Sofians and 37% of Tiranans have never been to Skopje.
The first highways were built during Yugoslav period, when Skopje was linked through the Brotherhood and Unity Highway to, what was then, Yugoslav capital Belgrade to North, and Greek border to South.
The main railway station in Skopje is serviced by the Belgrade-Thessaloniki and Skopje-Prishtina international lines. After the completion of the Corridor VIII railway scheduled for 2022, the city will also be linked to Tirana and Sofia. Daily trains also link Skopje with other North Macedonian towns, such as Kumanovo, Kičevo, Štip, Bitola or Veles.
Skopje has several minor railway stations but the city does not have its own railway network and they are only serviced by intercity or international lines. On the railway linking the main station to Belgrade and Thessaloniki are Dračevo and Dolno Lisiče stations, and on the railway to Kičevo are Skopje-North, Gjorče Petrov and Saraj stations. Several other stations are freight-only.
Skopje coach station opened in 2005 and is built right under the main railway station. It can host 450 coaches in a day. Coach connections to and from Skopje are much more efficient and diverse than train connections. Indeed, it is regularly linked to many North Macedonian localities and foreign cities including Istanbul, Sofia, Prague, Hamburg and Stockholm.
Skopje has a bus network managed by the city and operated by three companies. The oldest and largest is JSP Skopje, a public company founded in 1948. JSP lost its monopoly on public transport in 1990 and two new companies, Sloboda Prevoz and Mak Ekspres, obtained several lines. However, most of the network is still in the hands of JSP which operates 67 lines out of 80. Only 24 lines are urban, the others serving localities around the city. Many of the JSP vehicles are red double-decker buses built by Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong and designed to resemble the classic British AEC Routemaster.
A tram network has long been planned in Skopje and the idea was first proposed in the 1980s. The project became real in 2006 when the mayor Trifun Kostovski asked for feasibility studies. His successor Koce Trajanovski launched a call for tenders in 2010 and the first line is scheduled for 2019.
A new network for small buses started to operate in June 2014, not to replace but to decrease the number of big buses in the city centre.
The airport was built in 1928. The first commercial flights in Skopje were introduced in 1929 when the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced a route linking the city with the capital, Belgrade. A year later the route was extended to Thessaloniki in Greece, and further extended to Greek capital Athens in 1933. In 1935 Aeroput linked Skopje with Bitola and Niš, and also operated a longer international route linking Vienna and Thessaloniki through Zagreb, Belgrade and Skopje. After the Second World War, Aeroput was replaced by JAT Yugoslav Airlines, which linked Skopje to a number of domestic and international destinations until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Nowadays, International Airport Skopje is located in Petrovec, some east of the city. Since 2008, it has been managed by the Turkish TAV Airports Holding and it can accommodate up to four million passengers per year. The annual traffic has constantly risen since 2008, reaching one million passengers in 2014.
Skopje's airport has connections to several European cities, including Athens, Vienna, Zürich, Brussels, Istanbul, London and Rome. It also maintains a direct connection with Dubai and Doha, Qatar.
Skopje is home to the largest cultural institutions of the country, such as the National and University Library "St. Kliment of Ohrid", the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the National Theatre, the National Philarmonic Orchestra and the Macedonian Opera and Ballet. Among the local institutions are the Brothers Miladinov Library which has more than a million documents, the Cultural Information Centre which manages festivals, exhibitions and concerts, and the House of Culture Kočo Racin which is dedicated to contemporary art and young talents.
Skopje has also several foreign cultural centres, such as a Goethe-Institut, a British Council, an Alliance française, an American Corner.
The city has several theatres and concert halls. The Univerzalna Sala, seating 1,570, was built in 1966 and is used for concerts, fashion shows and congresses. The Metropolis Arena, designed for large concerts, has 3,546 seats. Other large halls include the Macedonian Opera and Ballet (800 seats), the National Theatre (724), and the Drama Theatre (333). Other smaller venues exist, such as the Albanian Theatre and the Youth Theatre. A Turkish Theatre and a Philharmonic hall are under construction.
The largest museum in Skopje is the Museum of Macedonia which details the history of the country. Its icons and lapidary collections are particularly rich. The Macedonian Archeological Museum, opened in 2014, keeps some of the best archeological finds in North Macedonia, dating from Prehistory to the Ottoman period. The National Gallery of Macedonia exhibits paintings dating from the 14th to the 20th century in two former Turkish baths of the Old Bazaar. The Contemporary Art Museum of Macedonia was built after the 1963 earthquake thanks to international assistance. Its collections include Macedonian and foreign art, with works by Fernand Léger, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Hans Hartung, Victor Vasarely, Alexander Calder, Pierre Soulages, Alberto Burri and Christo.
The Skopje City Museum is located inside the remains of the old railway station, destroyed by the 1963 earthquake. It is dedicated to local history and it has four departments: archeology, ethnology, history, and art history. The Memorial House of Mother Teresa was built in 2009 on the original site of the church in which the saint had been baptized. The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle is dedicated to the modern national history and the struggle of Macedonians for their independence. Nearby is the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia. The Macedonian Museum of Natural History showcases some 4,000 items while the 12-ha Skopje Zoo is home to 300 animals.
Although Skopje has been destroyed many times through its history, it still has many historical landmarks which reflect the successive occupations of the city. Skopje has one of the biggest Ottoman urban complexes in Europe, with many Ottoman monuments still serving their original purpose. It was also a ground for modernist experiments in the 20th century, following the 1963 earthquake. In the beginning of the 21st century, it is again the subject of massive building campaigns, thanks to the "Skopje 2014" project. Skopje is thus an environment where old, new, progressist, reactionary, eastern and western perspectives coexist.
Skopje has some remains of Prehistorical architecture which can be seen on the Tumba Madžari Neolithic site. On the other side of the city lie the remains of the ancient Scupi, with ruins of a theatre, thermae and a basilica. The Skopje Aqueduct, located between Scupi and the city centre, is rather mysterious because its date of construction is unknown. It seems to have been built by the Byzantines or the Turks, but it was already out of use in the 16th century. It consists of 50 arches, worked in cloisonné masonry.
Skopje Fortress was rebuilt several times before it was destroyed by the 1963 earthquake. Since then, it has been restored to its medieval appearance. It is the only medieval monument in Skopje, but several churches located around the city illustrate the Vardar architectural school which flourished around 1300. Among these churches are the ones around Matka Canyon (St Nicholas, St Andrew and Matka churches). The church of St. Panteleimon in Gorno Nerezi dates from the 12th century. Its expressive frescoes anticipate the Italian primitives.
Examples of Ottoman Turkish architecture are located in the Old Bazaar. Mosques in Skopje are usually simple in design, with a square base and a single dome and minaret. There entrance is usually emphasized by a portico, as on Mustafa Pasha Mosque, dating from the 15th century. Some mosques show some originality in their appearance: Sultan Murad and Yahya Pasha mosques have lost their dome and have a pyramidal roof, while Isa Bey mosque has a rectangular base, two domes and two side wings. The Aladža Mosque was originally covered with blue faience, but it disappeared in the 1689 Great Fire. However, some tiles are still visible on the adjoining türbe. Other Turkish public monuments include the 16th-century clock tower, a bedesten, three caravanserais, two Turkish baths and the Stone Bridge, first mentioned in 1469.
The oldest churches in the city centre, the Ascension and St Dimitri churches, were built in the 18th century, after the 1689 Great Fire. They were both renovated in the 19th century. The Church of the Ascension is particularly small it is half-buried in order not to overlook neighbouring mosques. In the 19th century, several new churches were built, including the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which is a large three-nave building designed by Andrey Damyanov.
After 1912, when Skopje was annexed by Serbia, the city was drastically westernized. Wealthy Serbs built mansions and town houses such as the 1926 Ristiḱ Palace. Architecture of that time is very similar to the one of Central Europe, but some buildings are more creative, such as the Neo-Moorish Arab House and the Neo-Byzantine train station, both built in 1938. Modernism appeared as early as 1933 with the former Ethnographic Museum (today the City Gallery), designed by Milan Zloković. However, modernist architecture only fully developed in Skopje after the 1963 earthquake. The reconstruction of city centre was partially planned by Japanese Kenzo Tange who designed the new train station. Macedonian architects also took part to the reconstruction: Georgi Konstantinovski designed the City Archives building in 1968 and the Hall of residence Goce Delčev in 1975, while Janko Konstantinov designed the Telecommunication Centre and the main post office (1974–1989). Slavko Brezovski designed the Church of St. Clement of Ohrid. These two buildings are noted for their originality although they are directly inspired by brutalism.
The reconstruction turned Skopje into a proper modernist city, with large blocks of flats, austere concrete buildings and scattered green spaces. The city centre was considered as a grey and unattractive place when local authorities unveiled the "Skopje 2014" project in 2010. It made plans to erect a large number of statues, fountains, bridges, and museums at a cost of about €500 million.
The project has generated controversy: critics have described the new landmark buildings as signs of reactionary historicist aesthetics. Also, the government has been criticized for its cost and for the original lack of representation of national minorities in the coverage of its set of statues and memorials. However, representations of minorities have since been included among the monuments. The scheme is accused of turning Skopje to a theme park, which is viewed as nationalistic kitsch, and has made Skopje an example to see how national identities are constructed and how this construction is mirrored in the urban space.
The Skopje Jazz Festival has been held annually in October since 1981. It is part of the European Jazz Network and the European Forum of World Wide Festivals. The artists' profiles include fusion, acid jazz, Latin jazz, smooth jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Gotan Project, Al Di Meola, Youssou N'Dour, among others, have performed at the festival. Another music festival in Skopje is the Blues and Soul Festival. It is a relatively new event in the Macedonian cultural scene that occurs every summer in early July. Past guests include Larry Coryell, Mick Taylor & the All-Stars Blues Band, Candy Dulfer & Funky Stuff, João Bosco, The Temptations, Tolo Marton Trio, Blues Wire, and Phil Guy.
The Skopje Cultural Summer Festival is a renowned cultural event that takes place in Skopje each year during the summer. The festival is a member of the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) and it includes musical concerts, operas, ballets, plays, art and photograph exhibitions, movies, and multimedia projects that gather 2,000 participants from around the world each year including the St Petersburg Theatre, the Chamber Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Irina Arkhipova, Viktor Tretiakov, The Theatre of Shadows, Michel Dalberto, and David Burgess.
May Opera Evenings is a festival that has occurred annually in Skopje since 1972 and is dedicated to promoting opera among the general public. Over the years, it has evolved into a stage on which artists from some 50 countries have performed. There is one other major international theatre festival that takes place each year at the end of month September, the Young Open Theater Festival (MOT), which was organized for the first time in May 1976 by the Youth Cultural Center – Skopje. More than 700 theatrical performances have been presented at this festival so far, most of them being alternative, experimental theatre groups engaging young writers and actors. The MOT International theatre festival is also a member of the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts or IETM. Within the framework of the MOT Festival, the Macedonian National Center of the International Theater Institute (ITI) was established, and at the 25th ITI World Congress in Munich in 1993, it became a regular member of this theatre association. The festival has an international character, always representing theatres from all over the world that present and enhance exchange and circulation of young-fresh-experimental-avant guard theatrical energy and experience between its participants on one side and the audience on the other.
The Skopje Film Festival is an annual event held in the city every March. Over 50 films are shown at this five-day festival, mostly from Macedonia and Europe, but also including some non-commercial film productions from all over the world.
Skopje has a diverse nightlife. There is a large emphasis on casinos, many of which are associated with hotels, such as that of the Holiday Inn. Other casinos include Helios Metropol, Olympic, Bon Venon, and Sherry. Among young people the most popular destinations are bars, discos, and nightclubs which can be found in the centre and the City Park. Among the most popular nightclubs are The Loft, Club Epicentar, Stanica 26, Midnight, Maracana, Havana Summer Club, XL Summer Club (former Colosseum Summer Club) where world-famous disc jockeys and idiosyncratic local performances are frequent. In 2010, the Colosseum club was named fifth on a list of the best clubs in Southeastern Europe. Armin van Buuren, Above and Beyond, The Shapeshifters are just some of the many musicians that have visited the club. Nighttime concerts in local, regional and global music are often held at the Philip II National Arena and Boris Trajkovski Sports Center. For middle-aged people, places for having fun are also the "kafeanas" where traditional Macedonian food is served and traditional Macedonian music ("Starogradska muzika") is played, but music from all the Balkans, particularly Serbian folk music is also popular. Apart from the traditional Macedonian restaurants, there are restaurants featuring international cuisines. Some of the most popular cafés in Skopje are Café Trend, Izlet, Ljubov, Vinyl, Public Room, Kino Karposh, Krug, Sindkat. The Old Bazaar was a popular nightlife destination in the past. The national government has created a project to revive nightlife in the Old Bazaar. The closing time in shops, cafés and restaurants was extended due to the high attendances recorded. In the bazaar's restaurants, along with the traditional Macedonian wine and food, dishes of the Ottoman cuisine are also served.
Skopje is twinned with:
Speed metal
Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots. It is described by AllMusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music.
"It is usually considered less abrasive and more melodic than thrash metal, showing less influence from hardcore punk. However, speed metal is usually faster and more aggressive than traditional heavy metal, also showing more inclination to virtuoso soloing and featuring short instrumental passages between couplets. Speed metal songs frequently make use of highly expressive vocals, but are usually less likely to employ 'harsh' vocals than thrash metal songs."
One of the key influences on the development of speed metal was the new wave of British heavy metal, or NWOBHM. This was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. NWOBHM bands toned down the blues influences of earlier acts, incorporated elements of punk, increased the tempo, and adopted a "tougher" sound, taking a harder approach to its music.
It was an era directed almost exclusively at heavy metal fans and is considered to be a major foundation stone for the extreme metal genres.
The NWOBHM came to dominate the heavy metal scene of the early-mid-1980s. It was musically characterized by fast upbeat tempo songs, power chords, fast guitar solos and melodic, soaring vocals. Groups such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Venom, Saxon and Motörhead as well as many lesser-known ones, became part of the canon that influenced American bands that formed in the early eighties.
Motörhead is often credited as the first band to play speed metal. Some of speed metal's earlier influences include Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" and "Symptom of the Universe", Budgie's "Breadfan" and Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" (the latter two were eventually covered by the thrash metal band Metallica), as well as certain Deep Purple songs such as "Speed King", "Fireball" and "Highway Star". The latter was called "early speed metal" by Robb Reiner of speed metal band Anvil.
The origin song for the genre was aptly named "Speed King" by Deep Purple. Recording on the song started in 1969 making it nearly a full decade ahead of the musical style being recognized. The song is not only very fast and technical but was also extremely loud creating noticeable distortion in the recording process. The title song for the band's next album, "Fireball", is a further refinement of the band's influence with drummer Ian Paice's use of the double bass. The way the double bass is played in "Fireball"—uptempo "four on the floor"—becomes a mainstay in many Heavy, Speed and Thrash Metal songs in the years to come. This is the only Deep Purple song that employs the double bass, and video from the band shows them actually bring out the second bass as needed to play the song. While speedy, technical playing did not dominate Deep Purple's music, they clearly were the inventors of rock that was fast, technical and loud. Those characteristics would become the hallmarks of Speed Metal. Given the name of the origin song—Speed King—they also probably played a role in the genre's naming. At the very least they acknowledged what they were doing which was a radical departure from all prior rock music.
Black Sabbath are a British heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, and are often cited as one of the grandfathers of the genre. Though usually known for playing a fairly slow, sludgy tempo, "After Forever" is a very up-tempo song with a much faster pace than other songs in their catalogue. Still in certain other songs such as "Electric Funeral", "Into the Void" and "Under the Sun (Every Day Comes and Goes)" there is a section in the middle of the song that shifts away from the core music and plays a much faster pace than in the rest of the song, then returns to the original melody. There are those who believe that their song "Symptom of the Universe" from their 1975 release "Sabotage" album is the first true example of a speed metal song.
Judas Priest are a British heavy metal band, also formed in Birmingham, England. They often played faster than most rock groups of the time and brought a more "metallic" sound to the guitars. Some songs, such as 1978's "Exciter", were groundbreaking for their sheer ferocity and speed; few, if any, bands exempting Motörhead played with the same tempo.
Exciter (who took their name from the aforementioned Judas Priest song) is a Canadian speed metal band from Ottawa, Ontario, which was formed in 1978. They are widely considered to be one of the first speed metal bands and a seminal influence of the thrash metal genre. Anvil are another Canadian speed metal band, from Toronto, Ontario, who also formed in 1978. To date, the band has released sixteen studio albums, and has been cited as having influenced many notable thrash metal groups, including Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth.
Accept is a German heavy metal band which played an important role in the development of speed and thrash metal, being part of the German heavy metal scene, which emerged in the early to mid-1980s. Of particular importance was their 1982 track "Fast as a Shark".
Speed metal eventually evolved into thrash metal. Although many tend to equate the two subgenres, others argue that there is a distinct difference between them. In his book "", Ian Christe states that "...thrash metal relies more on long, wrenching rhythmic breaks, while speed metal... is a cleaner and more musically intricate subcategory, still loyal to the dueling melodies of classic metal." However, on the very next page, Christe calls speed metal a "subset of thrash metal" and argues that "There was little intrinsic difference between speed metal and thrash metal. With the sudden boom of fast, raging bands, however, it sometimes helped to distinguish between the throbbing, rhythm-heavy thrash metal and something a bit cleaner and more melodic--dubbed speed metal."
Speed metal's sound varied between various regional scenes. European bands leaned towards the sound of bands like Venom and Motörhead. Japanese bands had a more melodic sound that resembled power metal. North American bands had a faster, more aggressive sound that would later influence the thrash metal movement.
Stan Rogers
Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter.
Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and the daily lives of working people, especially those from the fishing villages of the Maritime provinces and, later, the farms of the Canadian prairies and Great Lakes. Rogers died in a fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797 on the ground at the Greater Cincinnati Airport at the age of 33.
Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the eldest son of Nathan Allison Rogers and Valerie (née Bushell) Rogers, two Maritimers who had relocated to Ontario in search of work shortly after their marriage in July 1948. Although Rogers was raised in Binbrook, Ontario, he often spent summers visiting family in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.
It was there that he became familiar with the way of life in the Maritimes, an influence which was to have a profound impact on his subsequent musical development. He was interested in music from an early age, reportedly beginning to sing shortly after learning to speak. He received his first guitar, a miniature hand-built by his uncle Lee Bushell, when he was five years of age. He was exposed to a variety of music influences, but among the most lasting were the country and western tunes his uncles would sing during family get-togethers. Throughout his childhood, he would practice his singing and playing along with his brother Garnet, six years his junior.
While Rogers was attending Saltfleet High School, Stoney Creek, Ontario, he started to meet other young people interested in folk music, although at this time he was dabbling in rock and roll, singing and playing bass guitar in garage bands such as "Stanley and the Living Stones" and "The Hobbits". After high school, Rogers briefly attended both McMaster University and Trent University, where he performed in small venues with other student musicians, including Ian Tamblyn, Chris Ward and fellow Hobbit Nigel Russell. Russell wrote the song "White Collar Holler", which Rogers sang frequently on stage.
Rogers signed with RCA Records in 1970 and recorded two singles: "Here's to You Santa Claus" in 1970, and "The Fat Girl Rag" in 1971. In 1973, Rogers recorded three singles for Polygram: "Three Pennies", "Guysborough Train", and "Past Fifty."
In 1976, Rogers recorded his debut album, "Fogarty's Cove", released in 1977 on Barnswallow Records. The album's subject matter dealt almost entirely with life in maritime Canada, and was an immediate success. Rogers then formed Fogarty's Cove Music, and bought Barnswallow during the production of "Turnaround", allowing him to release his own albums. Posthumously, additional albums were released.
Rogers' songs often had a Celtic feel which was due, in part, to his frequent use of DADGAD guitar tuning. He regularly used his William 'Grit' Laskin built 12-string guitar in his performances. His best-known pieces include "Northwest Passage", "Barrett's Privateers", "The Mary Ellen Carter", "Make and Break Harbour", "The Idiot", "Fogarty's Cove", and "White Squall".
Rogers died alongside 22 other passengers most likely of smoke inhalation on June 2, 1983, while traveling on Air Canada Flight 797 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9) after performing at the Kerrville Folk Festival. The airliner was flying from Dallas, Texas, to Toronto and Montreal when a fire of unknown ignition source within the vanity or toilet shroud of the aft washroom forced it to make an emergency landing at the Greater Cincinnati Airport in northern Kentucky.
There were initially no visible flames, and after attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, smoke filled the cabin. Upon landing, the plane's doors were opened, allowing the five crew and 18 of the passengers to escape, but approximately 60 to 90 seconds into the evacuation the oxygen rushing in from outside caused a flash fire. Rogers was one of the passengers still on the plane at the time of the fire.
His ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Rogers' legacy includes his recordings, songbook, and plays for which he was commissioned to write music. His songs are still frequently covered by other musicians, and are perennial favourites at Canadian campfires and song circles. Members of Rogers' band, including his brother Garnet Rogers, continue to be active performers and form a significant part of the fabric of contemporary Canadian folk music. Following his death, he was nominated for the 1984 Juno Awards in the category for Best Male Vocalist. That same year, he was posthumously awarded the Diplôme d’Honneur of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. In 1994, his posthumous live album "Home in Halifax" was likewise nominated for Best Roots and Traditional Album.
His widow, Ariel, continues to oversee his estate and legacy. His music and lyrics have been featured in numerous written publications and films. For instance, his lyrics have appeared in school poetry books, taking their place alongside acknowledged classics. His song "Northwest Passage" was featured in the last episode of the TV show "Due South", his songs "Barrett's Privateers" and "Watching the Apples Grow" having been previously featured. "Barrett's Privateers" has also been used extensively in promotion ads for Alexander Keith's ale. In the 2005 CTV made-for-TV movie on the life of Terry Fox, Rogers' "Turnaround" is the music over the closing shot. As the movie ends, Fox is depicted, alone, striding up a hill, while the lyric "And yours was the open road. The bitter song / The heavy load that I'll never share, tho' the offer's still there / Every time you turn around," forges a link between these Canadian icons. Many of his songs on the albums "Northwest Passage" and "From Fresh Water" refer to events in Canadian history.
Adrienne Clarkson, who, prior to serving as the Governor General of Canada from 1999 to 2005, had worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, highlighted Rogers' career in a 1989 television documentary called "One Warm Line" on CBC Television; she also quoted Rogers in her investitural address.
When CBC's Peter Gzowski asked Canadians to pick an alternate national anthem, "Northwest Passage" was the overwhelming choice.
The Stan Rogers Folk Festival is held every year in Canso, Nova Scotia. In 1995, several artists performed two nights of concerts at Halifax's Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, which were released on album that year as "Remembering Stan Rogers".
Rogers is also a lasting fixture of the Canadian folk festival Summerfolk, held annually in Owen Sound, Ontario, where the main stage and amphitheater are dedicated as the "Stan Rogers Memorial Canopy". The festival is firmly fixed in tradition, with Rogers' song "The Mary Ellen Carter" being sung by all involved, including the audience and a medley of acts at the festival.
At The Canmore Folk Festival, Alberta's longest running folk music festival, performers take to the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage, which is the festival's main stage.
Stan's son, Nathan Rogers, is also an established Canadian folk artist with a voice and lyrical acumen similar to his father's. He has released two critically acclaimed solo discs and tours internationally as a solo act and in the trio "Dry Bones".
In 2007, Rogers was recognized posthumously with a National Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards held in Toronto.
In 2011, the pirate metal band Alestorm released a cover of Rogers' song "Barrett's Privateers" (Label Napalm Records).
In 2013, Groundwood Books turned Rogers' song "Northwest Passage" into a children's book illustrated by award-winning artist Matt James.
In 2019, Canadian metal band Unleash the Archers released a cover of Rogers' "Northwest Passage" on Napalm Records.
In 2019, Canadian folk punk band The Dreadnoughts released a cover of Rogers' "Northwest Passage", as well as a commemorative song named "Dear Old Stan", on Stomp Records.
In 2020, Canadian Premier League soccer club HFX Wanderers FC's home kit featured a soundwave image taken from Rogers' "Barrett's Privateers", inspired in part by the song's adoption by Privateers 1882, a supporters group of the Wanderers.
Sacramento, California
Sacramento ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat and largest city of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's estimated 2019 population of 513,625 makes it the sixth-largest city in California and the ninth-largest capital in the United States. Sacramento is the seat of the California Legislature and the Governor of California, making it the state's political center and a hub for lobbying and think tanks. Sacramento is also the cultural and economic core of the Sacramento metropolitan area, which at the 2010 census had a population of 2,414,783, making it the fifth-largest in California.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by the Nisenan, Maidu, and other indigenous peoples of California. Spanish cavalryman Gabriel Moraga surveyed and named the "Rio del Santísimo Sacramento" (Sacramento River) in 1808, after the Blessed Sacrament, referring to the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. In 1839, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Mexican governor of Alta California, granted the responsibility of colonizing the Sacramento Valley to Swiss-born Mexican citizen John Augustus Sutter, who subsequently established Sutter's Fort and the settlement at the "Rancho Nueva Helvetia." Following the American Conquest of California and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the waterfront developed by Sutter began to be developed, and incorporated in 1850 as the City of Sacramento. As a result of the California Gold Rush, Sacramento became a major commercial center and distribution point for Northern California, serving as the terminus for the Pony Express and the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Sacramento is the fastest-growing major city in California, owing to its status as a notable financial center on the West Coast and as a major educational hub, home of California State University, Sacramento and University of California, Davis. Similarly, Sacramento is a major center for the California healthcare industry, as the seat of Sutter Health, the world-renowned UC Davis Medical Center, and the UC Davis School of Medicine, and notable tourist destination in California, as the site of the California Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, the California State Railroad Museum, the California Hall of Fame, the California State Capitol Museum, and the Old Sacramento State Historic Park. Sacramento International Airport, located northwest of the city, is the city's major airport. Sacramento is known for its evolving contemporary culture, dubbed the most "hipster city" in California. In 2002, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project conducted for "Time" magazine named Sacramento "America's Most Diverse City".
Nisenan (Southern Maidu), Modoc, and Plains Miwok Native Americans had lived in the area for perhaps thousands of years. Unlike the settlers who would eventually make Sacramento their home, these Native Americans left little evidence of their existence. Traditionally, their diet was dominated by acorns taken from the plentiful oak trees in the region, and by fruits, bulbs, seeds, and roots gathered throughout the year.
In 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga encountered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River. A Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote: "Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths. The air was like champagne, and "(the Spaniards)" drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. "¡Es como el sagrado sacramento! (It's like the Blessed Sacrament.)" The valley and the river were then christened after the "Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ", referring to the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist.
John Sutter Sr. first arrived in the area on August 13, 1839, at the divergence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of 50,000 acres. The next year, his party and he established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls 18 feet high and three feet thick.
Representing Mexico, Sutter Sr. called his colony New Helvetia, a Swiss-inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west. Within just a few short years, Sutter Sr. had become a grand success, owning a 10-acre orchard and a herd of 13,000 cattle. Fort Sutter became a regular stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter Sr. received 2,000 fruit trees, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. Later that year, Sutter Sr. hired James Marshall to build a sawmill so he could continue to expand his empire, but unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on thin margins of credit.
In 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma (some northeast of the fort), a large number of gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. In August 1848, Sutter Sr.'s son, John Sutter Jr., arrived in the area to assist his father in relieving his indebtedness. Now compounding the problem of his father's indebtedness, was the additional strain placed on the Sutters by the ongoing arrival of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many quite content to squat on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands, or to abscond with various unattended Sutter properties or belongings if they could. In Sutter's case, rather than being a 'boon' for Sutter, his employee's discovery of gold in the area turned out to be more of a personal 'bane' for him.
By December 1848, John Sutter Jr., in association with Sam Brannan, began laying out the City of Sacramento, 2 miles south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr., but the father, being deeply in debt, was in no position to stop the venture. For commercial reasons, the new city was named "Sacramento City" after the Sacramento River. Sutter Jr. and Brannon hired topographical engineer William H. Warner to draft the official layout of the city, which included 26 lettered and 31 numbered streets (today's grid from C St. to Broadway and from Front St. to Alhambra Blvd.). Unfortunately, a certain bitterness grew between the elder Sutter and his son as Sacramento became an overnight commercial success (Sutter's Fort, Mill, and the town of Sutterville, all founded by John Sutter Sr., would eventually fail).
The citizens of Sacramento adopted a city charter in 1849, which was recognized by the state legislature in 1850. Sacramento is the oldest incorporated city in California, incorporated on February 27, 1850. During the early 1850s, the Sacramento valley was devastated by floods, fires and cholera epidemics. Despite this, because of its position just downstream from the Mother Lode in the Sierra Nevada, the new city grew, quickly reaching a population of 10,000.
The California State Legislature, with the support of Governor John Bigler, moved to Sacramento in 1854. The capital of California under Spanish (and, subsequently, Mexican) rule had been Monterey, where, in 1849, the first Constitutional Convention and state elections were held. The convention decided San Jose would be the new state's capital. After 1850, when California's statehood was ratified, the legislature met in San Jose until 1851, Vallejo in 1852, and Benicia in 1853, before moving to Sacramento. In the Sacramento Constitutional Convention of 1879, Sacramento was named to be the permanent state capital.
Begun in 1860 to be reminiscent of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Classical Revival style California State Capitol was completed in 1874. In 1861, the legislative session was moved to the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco for one session because of massive flooding in Sacramento. The legislative chambers were first occupied in 1869 while construction continued. From 1862 to 1868, part of the Leland Stanford Mansion was used for the governor's offices during Stanford's tenure as the Governor; and the legislature met in the Sacramento County Courthouse.
With its new status and strategic location, Sacramento quickly prospered and became the western end of the Pony Express. Later it became a terminus of the First Transcontinental Railroad, which began construction in Sacramento in 1863 and was financed by "The Big Four"—Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, and Leland Stanford. Both the American and especially Sacramento rivers would be key elements in the economic success of the city. In fact, Sacramento effectively controlled commerce on these rivers, and public works projects were funded through taxes levied on goods unloaded from boats and loaded onto rail cars in the historic Sacramento Rail Yards.
In 1850 and again in 1861, Sacramento citizens were faced with a completely flooded town. In 1861, Governor Leland Stanford, who was inaugurated in early January 1861, had to attend his inauguration in a rowboat, which was not too far from his house in town on N street. The flood waters were so bad, the legend says, that when he returned to his house, he had to enter into it through the second floor window. From 1862 until the mid-1870s Sacramento raised the level of its downtown by building reinforced brick walls on its downtown streets, and filling the resulting street walls with dirt. Thus the previous first floors of buildings became the basements, with open space between the street and the building, previously the sidewalk, now at the basement level. Over the years, many of these underground spaces have been filled or destroyed by subsequent development. However, it is still possible to view portions of the "Sacramento Underground".
The city's current charter was adopted by voters in 1920. As a charter city, Sacramento is exempt from many laws and regulations passed by the state legislature. The city has expanded continuously over the years. The 1964 merger of the City of North Sacramento with Sacramento substantially increased its population, and large annexations of the Natomas area eventually led to significant population growth throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Sacramento County (along with a portion of adjacent Placer County) is served by a customer-owned electric utility, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). Sacramento voters approved the creation of SMUD in 1923. In April 1946, after 12 years of litigation, a judge ordered Pacific Gas & Electric to transfer title of Sacramento's electric distribution system to SMUD. Today SMUD is the sixth-largest public electric utility in the U.S., and is a leader for innovative programs and services, including the development of clean fuel resources, such as solar power.
The year following the creation of SMUD, 1924, brought several events in Sacramento: Standard Oil executive Verne McGeorge established McGeorge School of Law, American department store Weinstock & Lubin opened a new store at 12th and K street, the US$2 million Senator Hotel was opened, Sacramento's drinking water became filtered and treated drinking water, and Sacramento boxer Georgie Lee fought Francisco Guilledo, a Filipino professional boxer known as Pancho Villa, at L Street Auditorium on March 21.
Early in World War II, the Sacramento Assembly Center (also known as the Walerga Assembly Center) was established to house Japanese Americans forcibly "evacuated" from the West Coast under Executive Order 9066. The camp was one of fifteen temporary detention facilities where over 110,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were held while construction on the more permanent War Relocation Authority camps was completed. The assembly center was built on the site of a former migrant labor camp, and inmates began arriving from Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties on May 6, 1942. It closed after only 52 days, on June 26, and the population of 4,739 was transferred to the Tule Lake concentration camp. The site was then turned over to the Army Signal Corps and dedicated as Camp Kohler.
After the war and the end of the incarceration program, returning Japanese Americans were often unable to find housing and so 234 families temporarily lived at the former assembly center. Camp Kohler was destroyed by a fire in December 1947, and the assembly center site is now part of the Foothill Farms-North Highlands subdivision.
The Sacramento-Yolo Port District was created in 1947, and ground was broken on the Port of Sacramento in 1949.
On June 29, 1963, with 5,000 spectators waiting to welcome her, the Motor Vessel "Taipei Victory" arrived. The Nationalist Chinese flagship docked at the Port of Sacramento, being first ocean-going vessel in Sacramento since the steamship "Harpoon" in 1934.
In 1967, Ronald Reagan became the last Governor of California to live permanently in the city. The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of several local military bases: McClellan Air Force Base, Mather Air Force Base, and Sacramento Army Depot. In 1980, there was another flood.
In spite of military base closures and the decline of agricultural food processing, Sacramento has continued to experience population growth in recent years. Primary sources of population growth are an influx of residents from the nearby San Francisco Bay Area, as well as immigration from Asia and Latin America. In 1985, Hugh Scrutton, a 38-year-old Sacramento, California, computer store owner, was killed by a nail-and-splinter-loaded bomb placed in the parking lot of his store. In 1996, his death was attributed to the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski.
After acquiring the majority stake in the Sacramento Kings, the team's new owner, Vivek Ranadivé with the help of the city, agreed to build a new Arena in the downtown area. With a final estimated cost of $558.2 million, Sacramento's Golden 1 Center opened on September 30, 2016.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers , 97.81% of it land, and 2.19% of it water.
Depth to groundwater is typically about . Much of the land to the west of the city (in Yolo County) is permanently reserved for a vast flood control basin (the Yolo Bypass), due to the city's historical vulnerability to floods. As a result, the contiguous urban area sprawls only four miles (6 km) west of downtown (as West Sacramento, California) but northeast and east, into the Sierra Nevada foothills, and to the south into valley farmland.
The city is at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River, and has a deep-water port connected to the San Francisco Bay by a channel through the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. It is the shipping and rail center for the Sacramento Valley.
The city groups most of its neighborhoods into four areas:
Additional prominent regions and neighborhoods in the city include American River Parkway, Arden-Arcade, Arden Fair, Cal Expo, Capital Avenue, Coffing, College Glen, College Greens, Cordova, Creekside, East Fruitridge, Elder Creek, Elkhorn, Elvas, Erikson Industrial Park, Excelsior Sunrise, Foothill Farms, Franklin, Frates Ranch, Gateway Center, Gateway West, Glenwood Meadows, Hansen Park, Heritage Park, Johnson Business Park, Johnson Heights, Mayhew, Metro Center, Mills, Natomas Corporate Center, Natomas Creek, Natomas Crossing, Natomas Park, Newton Booth, Noralto, Northpointe, Norwood, Oak Knoll, Old North Sacramento, Parker Homes, Point West, Raley Industrial Park, Regency Park, Richardson Village, Richmond Grove, Rosemont, Sierra Oaks, Sports Complex, Strawberry Manor, Sundance Lake, Swanston Palms, Town and Country Village, Upper Land Park, Village 5, Village 7, Village 12, Village 14, Village Green, Walerga, Walsh Station, West Del Paso Heights, Westlake, Willowcreek, Wills Acres, Winn Park, Woodside and Youngs Heights.
Sacramento has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csa"), characterized by very hot, dry summers and mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall. The wet season is generally October through April, though there may be a day or two of light rainfall in June or September. The normal annual mean temperature is , with the monthly daily average temperature ranging from in December to in July. Summer heat is sometimes moderated by a sea breeze known as the "delta breeze" which comes through the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta from the San Francisco Bay, and temperatures cool down sharply at night.
The foggiest months are December and January. Tule fog can be extremely dense, lowering visibility to less than and making driving conditions extremely hazardous. Chilling tule fog events have been known to last for several consecutive days or weeks. During Tule fog events, temperatures do not exceed .
Snowfall is rare in Sacramento, which is only above sea level. In the downtown area, only three significant snow accumulations have occurred since 1900, the last one being in 1976. During especially cold winter and spring storms, intense showers do occasionally produce a significant amount of hail, which can create hazardous driving conditions. Snowfall in the city often melts upon ground contact, with traceable amounts occurring in some years. Significant annual snow accumulations occur in the foothills east of the city, which had brief and traceable amounts of snowfall in January 2002, December 2009, and February 2011. The greatest snowfall ever recorded in Sacramento was on January 5, 1888.
On average, there are 73 days where the high exceeds , and 14 days where the high exceeds ; On the other extreme, there are 15 days where the temperature does not exceed , and 15 freezing nights per year. Official temperature extremes range from on December 22, 1990 to on June 15, 1961; a station around east-southeast of the city dipped to on December 11, 1932.
The average annual precipitation is . On average, precipitation falls on 60 days each year in Sacramento, and nearly all of this falls during the winter months. Average January rainfall is , and measurable precipitation is rare during the summer months. In February 1992, Sacramento had 16 consecutive days of rain, resulting in an accumulation of for the period. On rare occasions, monsoonal moisture surges from the Desert Southwest can bring upper-level moisture to the Sacramento region, leading to increased summer cloudiness, humidity, and even light showers and thunderstorms. Monsoon clouds do occur, usually during late July through early September. Sacramento is the second most flood susceptible city in the United States after New Orleans.
Sacramento has been noted as being the sunniest location on the planet for three months of the year, from July through September. It holds the distinction as the sunniest month, in terms of percent possible sunshine, of anywhere in the world; July in Sacramento averages 14 hours and 12 minutes of sunshine per day, amounting to approximately 100% of possible sunshine.
In 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University conducted for "Time" magazine named Sacramento "America's Most Diverse City". The U.S. Census Bureau also groups Sacramento with other U.S. cities having a "high diversity" rating of the diversity index. Moreover, Sacramento is one of the most well-integrated U.S. cities, having a relatively high level of ethnic and racial heterogeneity within its neighborhoods.
The 2010 United States Census reported Sacramento had a population of 466,488. The population density was 4,660.0 people per square mile (1,799.2/km2).
The racial makeup of Sacramento was:
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 125,276 persons (26.9%); 22.6% of Sacramento's population is of Mexican heritage, 0.7% Puerto Rican, 0.5% Salvadoran, 0.2% Guatemalan, and 0.2% Nicaraguan. Non-Hispanic Whites were 34.5% of the population in 2010, down from 71.4% in 1970.
The Census reported 458,174 people (98.2% of the population) lived in households, 4,268 (0.9%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 4,046 (0.9%) were institutionalized. The recent housing crash has not impacted these numbers.
There were 174,624 households, out of which 57,870 (33.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 65,556 (37.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 27,640 (15.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 10,534 (6.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 13,234 (7.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 2,498 (1.4%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 53,342 households (30.5%) were made up of individuals and 14,926 (8.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62. There were 103,730 families (59.4% of all households); the average family size was 3.37.
Sacramento has one of the highest LGBT populations per capita, ranking seventh among major American cities, and third in California behind San Francisco and slightly behind Oakland, with roughly 10% of the city's total population identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
The age distribution of the city was follows: 116,121 people (24.9%) were under the age of 18, 52,438 people (11.2%) aged 18 to 24, 139,093 people (29.8%) aged 25 to 44, 109,416 people (23.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 49,420 people (10.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.
There were 190,911 housing units at an average density of 1,907.1 per square mile (736.3/km2), of which 86,271 (49.4%) were owner-occupied, and 88,353 (50.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.3%. 231,593 people (49.6% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 226,581 people (48.6%) lived in rental housing units.
The Sacramento metropolitan area is the fifth largest in California after the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Inland Empire, and the San Diego metropolitan area, and is the 27th largest in the United States.
Sutter Health, Blue Diamond Growers, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Teichert, and The McClatchy Company are among the companies based in Sacramento.
The Port of Sacramento has been plagued with operating losses in recent years and faces bankruptcy. This severe loss in business is due to the heavy competition from the Port of Stockton, which has a larger facility and a deeper channel. As of 2006, the city of West Sacramento took responsibility for the Port of Sacramento. During the Vietnam War era, the Port of Sacramento was the major terminus in the supply route for all military parts, hardware and other cargo going to Southeast Asia.
As of 2012, the top employers in the County of Sacramento were:
The Sacramento Ballet, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sacramento Opera perform at the Community Center Theater.
There are several major theater venues in Sacramento. The Sacramento Convention Center Complex governs both the Community Center Theatre and Memorial Auditorium. The H Street Theatre Complex consists of the Wells Fargo Pavilion, built in 2003 atop the old Music Circus tent foundations, the McClatchy Mainstage and the Pollock Stage, originally built as a television studio and renovated at the same time the Pavilion was built. These smaller venues seat 300 and 90, offering a more intimate presentation than the 2300-seat Pavilion. The newest venue in the city, the Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, consists of the 365-seat Sutter Theatre for Children and the Mainstage, seating 250.
Professional theatre is represented in Sacramento by a number of companies. Broadway Sacramento and its locally produced Summer stock theatre, Broadway at Music Circus, lures many directors, performers, and artists from New York and Los Angeles to work alongside a large local staff at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. During the fall, winter and spring seasons Broadway Sacramento brings bus and truck tours to the Community Center Theater. Resident at the H Street Theatre Complex for the remainder of the year (from September to May), the Sacramento Theatre Company prepares to celebrate its 75th season, beginning in the Fall of 2019. In addition to a traditional regional theatre fare of classical plays and musicals, the Sacramento Theatre Company has a large School of the Arts with a variety of opportunities for arts education. The B Street Theatre, having completed its 2018 move into the new Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, continues its pursuit of producing smaller and more intimate professional works for families and children. Rounding out the professional companies is Capital Stage, which performed aboard the Delta King until the end of the 2010–2011 season and soon took up residence at its own venue along the J-Street corridor.
The Sacramento area has one of the largest collection of community theatres in California. Some of these include the Thistle Dew Dessert Theatre and Playwrights Workshop, Davis Musical Theatre Co., El Dorado Musical Theatre, Runaway Stage Productions, River City Theatre Company, Flying Monkey Productions, The Actor's Theatre, KOLT Run Productions, Kookaburra Productions, Big Idea Theatre, Celebration Arts, Lambda Player, Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento, Synergy Stage and the historic Eagle Theatre. The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival provides entertainment under the stars every summer in William Land Park. Many of these theatres compete annually for the Elly Awards overseen by The Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance or SARTA.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission is an organization that was established as the Sacramento arts council in 1977 to provide several arts programs for the city. These include Art in Public Places, Arts Education, Grants and Cultural Programs, Poet Laureate Program, Arts Stabilization Programs and Other Resources and opportunities.
Sacramento Second Saturday Art Walk is a program of local art galleries that stay open into the late evenings every second Saturday of each month, providing a unique experience for the local population as well as tourists to view original art and meet the artists themselves.
Sacramento has several major museums. The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest public art museum west of the Mississippi River. On July 26, 2007, the museum broke ground for an expansion that more than tripled the museum's floor space. The modern architecture is very different from the museum's original Victorian style building. Construction was completed in 2010.
Also of interest is the Governor's Mansion State Historic Park, a large Victorian Mansion which was home to 13 of California's Governors, as well as the official residence for former governor Jerry Brown following renovations in 2015. The Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park, which was completely restored in 2006, serves as the State's official address for diplomatic and business receptions. Guided public tours are available. The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts, home of the California Hall of Fame, is a cultural destination dedicated to telling the rich history of California and its unique influence on the world of ideas, innovation, art and culture. The museum educates tens of thousands of school children through inspiring programs, sharing with world visitors California's rich art, history and cultural legacy through dynamic exhibits, and serving as a public forum and international meeting place.
The California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento has historical exhibits and live steam locomotives that patrons may ride. The California Automobile Museum, just south of Old Sacramento, is filled with automotive history and vehicles from 1880 to 2006 and is the oldest non-profit automotive museum in the West. The mission of it is to preserve, promote, and teach automotive culture and its influence on our lives—past, present and future. In addition, the Sacramento History Museum, in the heart of Old Sacramento, focuses on the history of Sacramento from the region's pre-Gold Rush history through the present day.
There is a Museum Day held in Sacramento every year, when 26 museums in the greater Sacramento area offer free admission. The 2009 Sacramento Museum Day brought out more than 80,000 people, the largest number the event has gathered. Sacramento Museum Day is held every year on the first Saturday of February.
Tower Records was started and based in Sacramento until its closing.
Sierpinski carpet
The Sierpinski carpet is a plane fractal first described by Wacław Sierpiński in 1916. The carpet is one generalization of the Cantor set to two dimensions; another is the Cantor dust.
The technique of subdividing a shape into smaller copies of itself, removing one or more copies, and continuing recursively can be extended to other shapes. For instance, subdividing an equilateral triangle into four equilateral triangles, removing the middle triangle, and recursing leads to the Sierpinski triangle. In three dimensions, a similar construction based on cubes is known as the Menger sponge.
The construction of the Sierpinski carpet begins with a square. The square is cut into 9 congruent subsquares in a 3-by-3 grid, and the central subsquare is removed. The same procedure is then applied recursively to the remaining 8 subsquares, "ad infinitum". It can be realised as the set of points in the unit square whose coordinates written in base three do not both have a digit '1' in the same position.
The process of recursively removing squares is an example of a finite subdivision rule.
The area of the carpet is zero (in standard Lebesgue measure).
The interior of the carpet is empty.
The Hausdorff dimension of the carpet is .
Sierpiński demonstrated that his carpet is a universal plane curve. That is: the Sierpinski carpet is a compact subset of the plane with Lebesgue covering dimension 1, and every subset of the plane with these properties is homeomorphic to some subset of the Sierpinski carpet.
This 'universality' of the Sierpinski carpet is not a true universal property in the sense of category theory: it does not uniquely characterize this space up to homeomorphism. For example, the disjoint union of a Sierpinski carpet and a circle is also a universal plane curve. However, in 1958 Gordon Whyburn uniquely characterized the Sierpinski carpet as follows: any curve that is locally connected and has no 'local cut-points' is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet. Here a local cut-point is a point for which some connected neighborhood of has the property that is not connected. So, for example, any point of the circle is a local cut point.
In the same paper Whyburn gave another characterization of the Sierpinski carpet. Recall that a continuum is a nonempty connected compact metric space. Suppose is a continuum embedded in the plane. Suppose its complement in the plane has countably many connected components and suppose:
Then is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet.
The topic of Brownian motion on the Sierpinski carpet has attracted interest in recent years. Martin Barlow and Richard Bass have shown that a random walk on the Sierpinski carpet diffuses at a slower rate than an unrestricted random walk in the plane. The latter reaches a mean distance proportional to after steps, but the random walk on the discrete Sierpinski carpet reaches only a mean distance proportional to for some . They also showed that this random walk satisfies stronger large deviation inequalities (so called "sub-Gaussian inequalities") and that it satisfies the elliptic Harnack inequality without satisfying the parabolic one. The existence of such an example was an open problem for many years.
A variation of the Sierpinski carpet, called the Wallis sieve, starts in the same way, by subdividing the unit square into nine smaller squares and removing the middle of them. At the next level of subdivision, it subdivides each of the squares into 25 smaller squares and removes the middle one, and it continues at the th step by subdividing each square into (the odd squares) smaller squares and removing the middle one.
By the Wallis product, the area of the resulting set is , unlike the standard Sierpinski carpet which has zero limiting area.
However, by the results of Whyburn mentioned above, we can see that the Wallis sieve is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet. In particular, its interior is still empty.
Mobile phone and WiFi fractal antennas have been produced in the form of few iterations of the Sierpinski carpet. Due to their self-similarity and scale invariance, they easily accommodate multiple frequencies. They are also easy to fabricate and smaller than conventional antennas of similar performance, thus being optimal for pocket-sized mobile phones.
Subspace
Subspace may refer to:
Sierpiński triangle
The Sierpiński triangle (sometimes spelled "Sierpinski"), also called the Sierpiński gasket or Sierpiński sieve, is a fractal attractive fixed set with the overall shape of an equilateral triangle, subdivided recursively into smaller equilateral triangles. Originally constructed as a curve, this is one of the basic examples of self-similar sets—that is, it is a mathematically generated pattern that is reproducible at any magnification or reduction. It is named after the Polish mathematician Wacław Sierpiński, but appeared as a decorative pattern many centuries before the work of Sierpiński.
There are many different ways of constructing the Sierpinski triangle.
The Sierpinski triangle may be constructed from an equilateral triangle by repeated removal of triangular subsets:
Each removed triangle (a "trema") is topologically an open set.
This process of recursively removing triangles is an example of a finite subdivision rule.
The same sequence of shapes, converging to the Sierpinski triangle, can alternatively be generated by the following steps:
Note that this infinite process is not dependent upon the starting shape being a triangle—it is just clearer that way. The first few steps starting, for example, from a square also tend towards a Sierpinski triangle. Michael Barnsley used an image of a fish to illustrate this in his paper "V-variable fractals and superfractals."
The actual fractal is what would be obtained after an infinite number of iterations. More formally, one describes it in terms of functions on closed sets of points. If we let "d"A denote the dilation by a factor of about a point A, then the Sierpinski triangle with corners A, B, and C is the fixed set of the transformation "d"A ∪ "d"B ∪ "d"C.
This is an attractive fixed set, so that when the operation is applied to any other set repeatedly, the images converge on the Sierpinski triangle. This is what is happening with the triangle above, but any other set would suffice.
If one takes a point and applies each of the transformations "d"A, "d"B, and "d"C to it randomly, the resulting points will be dense in the Sierpinski triangle, so the following algorithm will again generate arbitrarily close approximations to it:
Start by labeling p1, p2 and p3 as the corners of the Sierpinski triangle, and a random point v1. Set , where "rn" is a random number 1, 2 or 3. Draw the points v1 to v∞. If the first point v1 was a point on the Sierpiński triangle, then all the points v"n" lie on the Sierpinski triangle. If the first point v1 to lie within the perimeter of the triangle is not a point on the Sierpinski triangle, none of the points v"n" will lie on the Sierpinski triangle, however they will converge on the triangle. If v1 is outside the triangle, the only way v"n" will land on the actual triangle, is if v"n" is on what would be part of the triangle, if the triangle was infinitely large.
Or more simply:
This method is also called the chaos game, and is an example of an iterated function system. You can start from any point outside or inside the triangle, and it would eventually form the Sierpinski Gasket with a few leftover points (if the starting point lies on the outline of the triangle, there are no leftover points). With pencil and paper, a brief outline is formed after placing approximately one hundred points, and detail begins to appear after a few hundred. An interactive version of the chaos game can be found here.
Another construction for the Sierpinski gasket shows that it can be constructed as a curve in the plane. It is formed by a process of repeated modification of simpler curves, analogous to the construction of the Koch snowflake:
At every iteration, this construction gives a continuous curve. In the limit, these approach a curve that traces out the Sierpenski triangle by a single continuous directed (infinitely wiggly) path, which is called the Sierpinski arrowhead. In fact, the aim of the original article by Sierpinski of 1915, was to show an example of a curve (a Cantorian curve), as the title of the article itself declares.
The Sierpinski triangle also appears in certain cellular automata (such as Rule 90), including those relating to Conway's Game of Life. For instance, the Life-like cellular automaton B1/S12 when applied to a single cell will generate four approximations of the Sierpinski triangle. A very long one cell thick line in standard life will create two mirrored Sierpinski triangles. The time-space diagram of a replicator pattern in a cellular automaton also often resembles a Sierpinski triangle, such as that of the common replicator in HighLife. The Sierpinski triangle can also be found in the Ulam-Warburton automaton and the Hex-Ulam-Warburton automaton.
If one takes Pascal's triangle with 2"n" rows and colors the even numbers white, and the odd numbers black, the result is an approximation to the Sierpinski triangle. More precisely, the limit as "n" approaches infinity of this parity-colored 2"n"-row Pascal triangle is the Sierpinski triangle.
The Towers of Hanoi puzzle involves moving disks of different sizes between three pegs, maintaining the property that no disk is ever placed on top of a smaller disk. The states of an "n"-disk puzzle, and the allowable moves from one state to another, form an undirected graph, the Hanoi graph, that can be represented geometrically as the intersection graph of the set of triangles remaining after the "n"th step in the construction of the Sierpinski triangle. Thus, in the limit as "n" goes to infinity, this sequence of graphs can be interpreted as a discrete analogue of the Sierpinski triangle.
For integer number of dimensions "d", when doubling a side of an object, 2"d" copies of it are created, i.e. 2 copies for 1-dimensional object, 4 copies for 2-dimensional object and 8 copies for 3-dimensional object. For the Sierpinski triangle, doubling its side creates 3 copies of itself. Thus the Sierpinski triangle has Hausdorff dimension = log2 3 ≈ 1.585, which follows from solving 2"d" = 3 for "d".
The area of a Sierpinski triangle is zero (in Lebesgue measure). The area remaining after each iteration is of the area from the previous iteration, and an infinite number of iterations results in an area approaching zero.
The points of a Sierpinski triangle have a simple characterization in barycentric coordinates. If a point has coordinates (0."u"1"u"2"u"3…, 0."v"1"v"2"v"3…, 0."w"1"w"2"w"3…), expressed as binary numerals, then the point is in Sierpinski's triangle if and only if for all "i".
A generalization of the Sierpinski triangle can also be generated using Pascal's triangle if a different Modulo is used. Iteration "n" can be generated by taking a Pascal's triangle with "P""n" rows and coloring numbers by their value for "x" mod "P". As "n" approaches infinity, a fractal is generated.
The same fractal can be achieved by dividing a triangle into a tessellation of "P"2 similar triangles and removing the triangles that are upside-down from the original, then iterating this step with each smaller triangle.
Conversely, the fractal can also be generated by beginning with a triangle and duplicating it and arranging of the new figures in the same orientation into a larger similar triangle with the vertices of the previous figures touching, then iterating that step.
The Sierpinski tetrahedron or tetrix is the three-dimensional analogue of the Sierpinski triangle, formed by repeatedly shrinking a regular tetrahedron to one half its original height, putting together four copies of this tetrahedron with corners touching, and then repeating the process.
A tetrix constructed from an initial tetrahedron of side-length "L" has the property that the total surface area remains constant with each iteration. The initial surface area of the (iteration-0) tetrahedron of side-length "L" is "L"2. The next iteration consists of four copies with side length , so the total area is 4()2 = 4"L"2· = "L"2 again. Meanwhile the volume of the construction is halved at every step and therefore approaches zero. The limit of this process has neither volume nor surface but, like the Sierpinski gasket, is an intricately connected curve. Its Hausdorff dimension is = 2. If all points are projected onto a plane that is parallel to two of the outer edges, they exactly fill a square of side length without overlap.
Wacław Sierpiński described the Sierpinski triangle in 1915. However, similar patterns appear already in the 13th-century Cosmati mosaics in the cathedral of Anagni, Italy, and other places of central Italy, for carpets in many places such as the nave of the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and for isolated triangles positioned in rotae in several churches and basilicas. In the case of the isolated triangle, the iteration is at least of three levels.
A medieval triangle, with historically certain dating has been studied recently. It is in porphiry and golden leaf, isolated, level 4 iteration
The Apollonian gasket was first described by Apollonius of Perga (3rd century BC) and further analyzed by Gottfried Leibniz (17th century), and is a curved precursor of the 20th-century Sierpiński triangle.
The usage of the word "gasket" to refer to the Sierpinski triangle refers to gaskets such as are found in motors, and which sometimes feature a series of holes of decreasing size, similar to the fractal; this usage was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot, who thought the fractal looked similar to "the part that prevents leaks in motors".
Siberia
Siberia (; ) is an extensive geographical region spanning much of Eurasia and Northern Asia. Siberia has been part of modern Russia since the latter half of the 16th century.
The territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed
between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. The river Yenisey conditionally divides Siberia into two parts, Western and Eastern. Siberia stretches southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and to the national borders of Mongolia and China.
With an area of , Siberia accounts for 77% of Russia's land area, but it is home to approximately 33 million people—23% of the country's population. This is equivalent to an average population density of about (approximately equal to that of Australia), making Siberia one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth. If it were a country by itself, it would still be the largest country by area, but in population it would be the world's 35th-largest and Asia's 14th-largest.
Worldwide, Siberia is well-known primarily for its long, harsh winters, with a January average of −25 °C (−13 °F), as well as its extensive history of use by Russian and Soviet governments as a place for prisons, labor camps, and internal exile.
European influences, especially Russian, are strong in the southwestern and central part of the region, due to its high Russian population from Eastern Europe, which began to settle the area in the 18th-century CE.
The origin of the name is unknown. Some sources say that "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land" (Sib Ir). Another account sees the name as the ancient tribal ethnonym of the (also "Syopyr" (sʲɵpᵻr)), an ethnic group which spoke a Paleosiberian language. The Sirtya people were later assimilated into the Siberian Tatars.
The modern usage of the name was recorded in the Russian language after the Empire's conquest of the Siberian Khanate. A further variant claims that the region was named after the Xibe people. The Polish historian Chyliczkowski has proposed that the name derives from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (север, "sever"), same as Severia.
Anatole Baikaloff has dismissed this explanation. He said that the neighbouring Chinese, Turks, and Mongolians, who have similar names for the region, would not have known Russian. He suggests that the name might be a combination of two words with Turkic origin, ""su"" (water) and ""bir"" (wild land).
The region has paleontological significance, as it contains bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch, preserved in ice or in permafrost. Specimens of Goldfuss cave lion cubs, Yuka the mammoth and another woolly mammoth from Oymyakon, a woolly rhinoceros from the Kolyma, and bison and horses from Yukagir have been found.
The Siberian Traps were formed by one of the largest-known volcanic events of the last 500 million years of Earth's geological history. Their activity continued for a million years and some scientists consider it a possible cause of the "Great Dying" about 250 million years ago, – estimated to have killed 90% of species existing at the time.
At least three species of human lived in Southern Siberia around 40,000 years ago: "H. sapiens", "H. neanderthalensis", and the Denisovans.
In 2010 DNA evidence identified the last as a separate species.
During past millennia different groups of nomads – such as the Enets, the Nenets, the Huns, the Xiongnu, the Scythians and the Uyghurs inhabited various parts of Siberia. The proto-Mongol Khitan people also occupied parts of the region. In 630 the Khan of Sibir in the vicinity of modern Tobolsk was known as a prominent figure who endorsed Kubrat as "Khagan" of Old Great Bulgaria. In the 13th century, during the period of the Mongol Empire, the Mongols conquered a large part of this area.
With the breakup of the Golden Horde, the autonomous Khanate of Sibir formed in the late-15th century. Turkic-speaking Yakut migrated north from the Lake Baikal region under pressure from the Mongol tribes during the 13th to 15th century. Siberia remained a sparsely populated area. Historian John F. Richards wrote: "... it is doubtful that the total early modern Siberian population exceeded 300,000 persons".
The growing power of Russia in the West began to undermine the Siberian Khanate in the 16th century. First, groups of traders and Cossacks began to enter the area. The Russian Army was directed to establish forts farther and farther east to protect new settlers who migrated from European Russia. Towns such as Mangazeya, Tara, Yeniseysk and Tobolsk developed, the last becoming the "de facto" capital of Siberia from 1590. At this time, "Sibir" was the name of a fortress at Qashlik, near Tobolsk. Gerardus Mercator, in a map published in 1595, marks "Sibier" both as the name of a settlement and of the surrounding territory along a left tributary of the Ob. Other sources contend that the Xibe, an indigenous Tungusic people, offered fierce resistance to Russian expansion beyond the Urals. Some suggest that the term "Siberia" is a russification of their ethnonym.
By the mid-17th century Russia had established areas of control that extended to the Pacific. Some 230,000 Russians had settled in Siberia by 1709. Siberia became one of the destinations for sending internal exiles.
The first great modern change in Siberia was the Trans-Siberian Railway, constructed during 1891–1916. It linked Siberia more closely to the rapidly industrialising Russia of Nicholas II (). Around seven million people moved to Siberia from European Russia between 1801 and 1914. Between 1859 and 1917 more than half a million people migrated to the Russian Far East. Siberia has extensive natural resources: during the 20th century, large-scale exploitation of these took place, and industrial towns cropped up throughout the region.
At 7:15 a.m. on 30 June 1908 the Tunguska Event felled millions of trees near the Podkamennaya Tunguska (Stony Tunguska) in central Siberia. Most scientists believe this resulted from the air burst of a meteor or a comet. Even though no crater has ever been found, the landscape in the (sparsely inhabited) area still bears the scars of this event.
In the early decades of the Soviet Union (especially in the 1930s and 1940s), the government used the Gulag state agency to administer a system of penal labour camps, replacing the previous katorga system. According to semi-official Soviet estimates, which did not become public until after the fall of the Soviet government in 1991, from 1929 to 1953 more than 14 million people passed through these camps and prisons, many of them in Siberia. Another seven to eight million people were internally deported to remote areas of the Soviet Union (including entire nationalities or ethnicities in several cases).
Half a million (516,841) prisoners died in camps from 1941 to 1943 due to food shortages caused by World War II. At other periods, mortality was comparatively lower. The size, scope, and scale of the Gulag slave-labour camps remain subjects of much research and debate. Many Gulag camps operated in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia. The best-known clusters included "Sevvostlag" ("the North-East Camps") along the Kolyma and "Norillag" near Norilsk, where 69,000 prisoners lived in 1952. Major industrial cities of Northern Siberia, such as Norilsk and Magadan, developed from camps built by prisoners and run by former prisoners.
From the era of Imperial Russia, to Soviet Russia, to modern Russia, all forms of extradition to Siberia have used a brutal system of prisoner transport called Road Prisons (étapes).
With an area of , Siberia makes up roughly 77% of Russia's total territory and almost 9% of Earth's land surface (). While Siberia falls entirely within Asia, many authorities such as the UN geoscheme will not subdivide countries and will place all of Russia as part of Europe and/or Eastern Europe. Major geographical zones include the West Siberian Plain and the Central Siberian Plateau.
Eastern and central Sakha comprises numerous north–south mountain ranges of various ages. These mountains extend up to almost , but above a few hundred metres they are almost completely devoid of vegetation. The Verkhoyansk Range was extensively glaciated in the Pleistocene, but the climate was too dry for glaciation to extend to low elevations. At these low elevations are numerous valleys, many of them deep and covered with larch forest, except in the extreme north where the tundra dominates. Soils are mainly turbels (a type of gelisol). The active layer tends to be less than one metre deep, except near rivers.
The highest point in Siberia is the active volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Its peak is at .
The West Siberian Plain consists mostly of Cenozoic alluvial deposits and is somewhat flat. Many deposits on this plain result from ice dams which produced a large glacial lake. This mid- to late-Pleistocene lake blocked the northward flow of the Ob and Yenisey rivers, resulting in a redirection southwest into the Caspian and Aral seas via the Turgai Valley. The area is very swampy, and soils are mostly peaty histosols and, in the treeless northern part, histels. In the south of the plain, where permafrost is largely absent, rich grasslands that are an extension of the Kazakh Steppe formed the original vegetation, most of which is no longer visible.
The Central Siberian Plateau is an ancient craton (sometimes named "Angaraland") that formed an independent continent before the Permian (see the Siberian continent). It is exceptionally rich in minerals, containing large deposits of gold, diamonds, and ores of manganese, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt and molybdenum. Much of the area includes the Siberian Traps—a large igneous province. This massive eruptive period was approximately coincident with the Permian–Triassic extinction event. The volcanic event is said to be the largest known volcanic eruption in Earth's history. Only the extreme northwest was glaciated during the Quaternary, but almost all is under exceptionally deep permafrost, and the only tree that can thrive, despite the warm summers, is the deciduous Siberian Larch ("Larix sibirica") with its very shallow roots. Outside the extreme northwest, the taiga is dominant, covering a significant fraction of the entirety of Siberia. Soils here are mainly turbels, giving way to spodosols where the active layer becomes thicker and the ice content lower.
The "Lena-Tunguska petroleum province" includes the Central Siberian platform (some authors refer to it as the Eastern Siberian platform), bounded on the northeast and east by the Late Carboniferous through Jurassic Verkhoyansk foldbelt, on the northwest by the Paleozoic Taymr foldbelt, and on the southeast, south and southwest by the Middle Silurian to Middle Devonian Baykalian foldbelt. A regional geologic reconnaissance study begun in 1932, followed by surface and subsurface mapping, revealed the Markova-Angara Arch (anticline). This led to the discovery of the Markovo Oil Field in 1962 with the Markovo 1 well, which produced from the Early Cambrian Osa Horizon bar-sandstone at a depth of . The "Sredne-Botuobin Gas Field" was discovered in 1970, producing from the Osa and the Proterozoic Parfenovo Horizon. The Yaraktin Oil Field was discovered in 1971, producing from the Vendian Yaraktin Horizon at depths of up to , which lies below Permian to Lower Jurassic basalt traps.
The climate of Siberia varies dramatically, but it typically has short summers and long, brutally cold winters. On the north coast, north of the Arctic Circle, there is a very short (about one month long) summer.
Almost all the population lives in the south, along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The climate in this southernmost part is Humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfb") with cold winters but fairly warm summers lasting at least four months. The annual average is about . January averages about and July about while daytime temperatures in summer typically are above . With a reliable growing season, an abundance of sunshine and exceedingly fertile chernozem soils, southern Siberia is good enough for profitable agriculture, as was proven in the early 20th century.
By far the most commonly occurring climate in Siberia is continental subarctic (Koppen "Dfc" or "Dwc"), with the annual average temperature about and an average for January of and an average for July of , although this varies considerably, with a July average about in the taiga–tundra ecotone. The Business oriented website and blog "Business Insider" lists Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon, in Siberia's Sakha Republic, as being in competition for the title of the Northern Hemisphere's "Pole of Cold". Oymyakon is a village which recorded a temperature of on 6 February 1933. Verkhoyansk, a town further north and further inland, recorded a temperature of for three consecutive nights: 5, 6 and 7 February 1933. Each town is alternately considered the Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold, meaning the coldest inhabited point in the Northern hemisphere. Each town also frequently reaches in the summer, giving them, and much of the rest of Russian Siberia, the world's greatest temperature variation between summer's highs and winter's lows, often being well over between the seasons.
Southwesterly winds bring warm air from Central Asia and the Middle East. The climate in West Siberia (Omsk, Novosibirsk) is several degrees warmer than in the East (Irkutsk, Chita) where in the north an extreme winter subarctic climate (Köppen "Dfd" or "Dwd") prevails. But summer temperatures in other regions can reach . In general, Sakha is the coldest Siberian region, and the basin of the Yana has the lowest temperatures of all, with permafrost reaching . Nevertheless, as far as Imperial Russian plans of settlement were concerned, cold was never viewed as an impediment. In the winter, southern Siberia sits near the center of the semi-permanent Siberian High, so winds are usually light in the winter.
Precipitation in Siberia is generally low, exceeding only in Kamchatka where moist winds flow from the Sea of Okhotsk onto high mountains – producing the region's only major glaciers, though volcanic eruptions and low summer temperatures allow limited forests to grow. Precipitation is high also in most of Primorye in the extreme south where monsoonal influences can produce quite heavy summer rainfall.
Researchers, including Sergei Kirpotin at Tomsk State University and Judith Marquand at Oxford University, warn that Western Siberia has begun to thaw as a result of global warming. The frozen peat bogs in this region may hold billions of tons of methane gas, which may be released into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas 22 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. In 2008, a research expedition for the American Geophysical Union detected levels of methane up to 100 times above normal in the atmosphere above the Siberian Arctic, likely the result of methane clathrates being released through holes in a frozen 'lid' of seabed permafrost, around the outfall of the Lena and the area between the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea.
Pleistocene Park has been created in Siberia in order to do research in relation Siberia and global warming, including working towards possible solutions to the problem.
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The term "Siberia" has a long history. Its meaning has gradually changed during ages. Historically, Siberia was defined as the whole part of Russia to the east of Ural Mountains, including the Russian Far East. According to this definition, Siberia extended eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific coast, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the border of Russian Central Asia and the national borders of both Mongolia and China.
Soviet-era sources ("Great Soviet Encyclopedia" and others) and modern Russian ones usually define Siberia as a region extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between Pacific and Arctic drainage basins, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the national borders of both Mongolia and China. By this definition, Siberia includes the federal subjects of the Siberian Federal District, and some of the Ural Federal District, as well as Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, which is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Geographically, this definition includes subdivisions of several other subjects of Urals and Far Eastern federal districts, but they are not included administratively. This definition excludes Sverdlovsk Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast, both of which are included in some wider definitions of Siberia.
Other sources may use either a somewhat wider definition that states the Pacific coast, not the watershed, is the eastern boundary (thus including the whole Russian Far East) or a somewhat narrower one that limits Siberia to the Siberian Federal District (thus excluding all subjects of other districts). In Russian, the word for Siberia is used as a substitute for the name of the federal district by those who live in the district itself and less commonly used to denote the federal district by people residing outside of it.
The most populous city of Siberia, as well as the third most populous city of Russia, is the city of Novosibirsk. Other major cities include:
Wider definitions of Siberia also include:
Siberia is extraordinarily rich in minerals, containing ores of almost all economically valuable metals. It has some of the world's largest deposits of nickel, gold, lead, coal, molybdenum, gypsum, diamonds, diopside, silver and zinc, as well as extensive unexploited resources of oil and natural gas. Around 70% of Russia's developed oil fields are in the Khanty-Mansiysk region. Russia contains about 40% of the world's known resources of nickel at the Norilsk deposit in Siberia. Norilsk Nickel is the world's biggest nickel and palladium producer.
Siberian agriculture is severely restricted by the short growing season of most of the region. However, in the southwest where soils are exceedingly fertile black earths and the climate is a little more moderate, there is extensive cropping of wheat, barley, rye and potatoes, along with the grazing of large numbers of sheep and cattle. Elsewhere food production, owing to the poor fertility of the podzolic soils and the extremely short growing seasons, is restricted to the herding of reindeer in the tundra—which has been practiced by natives for over 10,000 years. Siberia has the world's largest forests. Timber remains an important source of revenue, even though many forests in the east have been logged much more rapidly than they are able to recover. The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the two or three richest fisheries in the world owing to its cold currents and very large tidal ranges, and thus Siberia produces over 10% of the world's annual fish catch, although fishing has declined somewhat since the collapse of the USSR.
While the development of renewable energy in Russia is held back by the lack of a conducive government policy framework, Siberia still offers special opportunities for off-grid renewable energy developments. Remote parts of Siberia are too costly to connect to central electricity and gas grids, and have therefore historically been supplied with costly diesel, sometimes flown in by helicopter. In such cases renewable energy is often cheaper.
Professional football teams include FC Tom Tomsk, FC Novosibirsk, and FK Yenisey Krasnoyarsk.
The Yenisey Krasnoyarsk basketball team has played in the VTB United League since 2011–12.
Russia's third most popular sport, bandy, is important in Siberia. In the 2015–16 Russian Bandy Super League season Yenisey from Krasnoyarsk became champions for the third year in a row by beating Baykal-Energiya from Irkutsk in the final. Two or three more teams (depending on the definition of Siberia) play in the Super League, the 2016–17 champions SKA-Neftyanik from Khabarovsk as well as Kuzbass from Kemerovo and Sibselmash from Novosibirsk. In 2007 Kemerovo got Russia's first indoor arena specifically built for bandy. Now Khabarovsk has the world's largest indoor arena specifically built for bandy, Arena Yerofey. It was venue for Division A of the 2018 World Championship. In time for the 2020 World Championship, an indoor arena will be ready for use in Irkutsk. That one will also have a speed skating oval.
The 2019 Winter Universiade was hosted by Krasnoyarsk.
According to the Russian Census of 2010, the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts, located entirely east of the Ural Mountains, together have a population of about 25.6 million. Tyumen and Kurgan Oblasts, which are geographically in Siberia but administratively part of the Urals Federal District, together have a population of about 4.3 million. Thus, the whole region of Asian Russia (or Siberia in the broadest usage of the term) is home to approximately 30 million people. It has a population density of about three people per square kilometre.
All Siberians are Russian citizens, and of these Russian citizens of Siberia, most are Slavic-origin Russians and russified Ukrainians. The remaining Russian citizens of Siberia consists of other groups of non-indigenous ethnic origins and those of indigenous Siberian origin.
Among the largest non-Slavic group of Russian citizens of Siberia are the approximately 400,000 ethnic Volga Germans, Russified Romanians with ancestral origins from Bessarabia (present-day Moldova) also live in Siberia. The original indigenous groups of Siberia, including Mongol and Turkic groups such as Buryats, Tuvinians, Yakuts, and Siberian Tatars still mostly reside in Siberia, though they are minorities outnumbered by all other non-indigenous Siberians. Indeed, Slavic-origin Russians by themselves outnumber all of the indigenous peoples combined, both in Siberia as a whole and its cities, except in the Republic of Tuva.
Slavic-origin Russians make up the majority in the Buryat, Sakha, and Altai Republics, outnumbering the indigenous Buryats, Sakha, and Altai. The Buryat make up only 25% of their own republic, and the Sakha and Altai each are only one-third, and the Chukchi, Evenk, Khanti, Mansi, and Nenets are outnumbered by non-indigenous peoples by 90% of the population.
According to the 2002 census there are 500,000 Tatars in Siberia, but of these, 300,000 are Volga Tatars who also settled in Siberia during periods of colonization and are thus also non-indigenous Siberians, in contrast to the 200,000 Siberian Tatars which are indigenous to Siberia.
Of the indigenous Siberians, the Mongol-speaking Buryats, numbering approximately 500,000, are the most numerous group in Siberia, and they are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic. According to the 2002 census there were 443,852 indigenous Turkic-speaking Yakuts. Other ethnic groups indigenous to Siberia include Kets, Evenks, Chukchis, Koryaks, Yupiks, and Yukaghirs.
About seventy percent of Siberia's people live in cities, mainly in apartments. Many people also live in rural areas, in simple, spacious, log houses. Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia, with a population of about 1.5 million. Tobolsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, and Omsk are the older, historical centers.
There are a variety of beliefs throughout Siberia, including Orthodox Christianity, other denominations of Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism and Islam. The Siberian Federal District alone has an estimation of 250,000 Muslims.
An estimated 70,000 Jews live in Siberia, some in the Jewish Autonomous Region. The predominant religious group is the Russian Orthodox Church.
Tradition regards Siberia the archetypal home of shamanism, and polytheism is popular. These native sacred practices are considered by the tribes to be very ancient. There are records of Siberian tribal healing practices dating back to the 13th century. The vast territory of Siberia has many different local traditions of gods. These include: Ak Ana, Anapel, Bugady Musun, Kara Khan, Khaltesh-Anki, Kini'je, Ku'urkil, Nga, Nu'tenut, Num-Torum, Pon, Pugu, Todote, Toko'yoto, Tomam, Xaya Iccita and Zonget. Places with sacred areas include Olkhon, an island in Lake Baikal.
Many cities in northern Siberia, such as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, cannot be reached by road, as there are virtually none connecting from other major cities in Russia or Asia. Siberia can be reached through the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Trans-Siberian Railway operates from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the east. Cities that are located far from the railway are reached by air or by the separate Baikal–Amur Railway (BAM).
Stroganina is a raw fish dish of the indigenous people of northern Arctic Siberia made from raw, thin, long-sliced frozen fish. It is a popular dish with native Siberians.
Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System
The Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System, commonly referred to by its acronym SATTS, is a system for writing and transmitting Arabic language text using the one-for-one substitution of ASCII-range characters for the letters of the Arabic alphabet. Unlike more common systems for transliterating Arabic, SATTS does not provide the reader with any more phonetic information than standard Arabic orthography does; that is, it provides the bare Arabic alphabetic spelling with no notation of short vowels, doubled consonants, etc. In other words, it is intended as a transliteration tool for Arabic linguists, and is of limited use to those who do not know Arabic.
SATTS, a legacy of Morse and teleprinter systems (see "Background," below), has historically been employed by military and communications elements of Western countries for handling Arabic text without the need for native fonts or special software. Although its use has decreased in recent years with the demise of Morse code and the obsolescence of the teleprinter, and with the increased availability of native-font software, it is still used for the quick and handy platform-independent recording and transmission of Arabic terms and text.
SATTS employs all the Latin alphabetic letters except P, plus four punctuation marks, for a total of 29 symbols (all the letters of the Arabic alphabet, plus the glottal-stop symbol hamzah).
In some words, lām 'alif was sent as a single character •—••••— or LA as a single character. The symbol for the glottal stop hamzah (ء) is written following its seat, if it has one. It is omitted when it occurs with an initial 'alif.
RIEIS رئيس MAEDB? مأدبة
MSWEWL مسؤول BDE بدء
AHMD أحمد ASLAM إسلام
The chief deficiencies of SATTS are that it does not distinguish between hā' (ه) and tā' marbūţah (ة), or between final yā' (ي) and 'alif maksūrah (ى), and it cannot depict an 'alif maddah ( آ ). Satts can also not distinguish between a final seated hamza and a final independent hamza, if the word ends in "AE", "IE", or "WE".
The Latin alphabetic letter employed for each Arabic letter in the SATTS system is its Morse-code equivalent. For example, Morse code for the Arabic letter ţā' (ط) is • • — (dit-dit-dah). That same Morse code sequence represents the letter U in the Latin alphabet. Hence the SATTS equivalent for ţā' is U.
In the Morse-code era, when Arabic language Morse signals were copied down by non-Arab code clerks, the text came out in SATTS. Text in SATTS was also automatically produced when teleprinters reproduced Arabic text, if the technician had failed to replace the printer's Latin-character pallet with an Arabic-character one.
Sound change
Research on sound change is usually conducted on the working assumption that it is "regular", which means that it is expected to apply mechanically whenever its structural conditions are met, irrespective of any non-phonological factors (such as the meaning of the words affected). However, apparent exceptions to regular change can occur—due to dialect borrowing, grammatical analogy, or other causes known and unknown—and some changes are described as "sporadic", meaning that they affect only one particular word or a few words, without any apparent regularity.
The Neogrammarian linguists of the 19th century introduced the term "sound law" to refer to rules of regular change, perhaps in imitation of the laws of physics, and the term "law" is still used in referring to specific sound rules named after their authors, such as Grimm's Law, Grassmann's Law, . Real-world sound changes often admit exceptions; nevertheless, the expectation of their regularity or absence of exceptions is of great heuristic value, since it allows historical linguists to define the notion of "regular correspondence" (see: comparative method).
Each sound change is limited in space and time. This means it functions within a limited area (within certain dialects) and during a limited period of time. For these (and other) reasons, the term "sound law" has been criticized for implying a universality that is unrealistic with regard to sound change.
Sound change that affects the phonological system, in the number or distribution of its phonemes, is covered more fully at phonological change.
A statement of the form
is to be read, "sound A changes into (or is replaced by, is reflected as, etc) sound B". Therefore, A belongs to an older stage of the language in question, whereas B belongs to a more recent stage. The symbol ">" can be reversed, B < A, still meaning that the (more recent) B derives from the (older) A".
For example,
The two sides of such a statement indicate start and end points only, and do not imply that there are no additional intermediate stages. The example above is actually a compressed account of a "sequence" of changes; *t changed first into a voiceless dental fricative (like the initial consonant of English "thin"), which has yielded present-day [f]. This can be represented more fully as:
Unless a change operates unconditionally (in all environments), the context in which it applies must be specified:
For example:
A second example:
The symbol "#" stands for a word boundary (initial or final). Thus the notation "/__#" means "word-finally", and "/#__" means "word-initially". For example:
This can be simplified to
where capital P stands for any plosive.
The following statements are used as heuristics in formulating sound changes as understood within the Neogrammarian model. However, for modern linguistics, they are not taken as inviolable rules; rather, they are seen as guidelines.
Sound change has no memory: Sound change does not discriminate between the sources of a sound. If a previous sound change causes X,Y > Y (features X and Y merge as Y), a new one cannot affect only an original X.
Sound change ignores grammar: A sound change can only have phonological constraints, like X > Z in unstressed syllables. For example, it cannot only affect adjectives. The only exception to this is that a sound change may or may not recognise word boundaries, even when they are not indicated by prosodic clues. Also, sound changes may be regularized in inflectional paradigms (such as verbal inflection), in which case the change is no longer phonological but morphological in nature.
Sound change is exceptionless: if a sound change can happen at a place, it will. It affects all sounds that meet the criteria for change. Apparent exceptions are possible, due to analogy and other regularization processes, or another sound change, or an unrecognized conditioning factor. This is the traditional view, expressed by the Neogrammarians. In past decades it has been shown that sound change does not necessarily affect all the words that in principle it could. However, when a sound change is initiated, it often expands to the whole lexicon given enough time, though not always. For example, in Spanish the fronting of the Vulgar Latin [g] (voiced velar stop) before [i e ɛ] seems to have reached every possible word it could. By contrast, the voicing of word-initial Latin [k] to [g] occurred in "colaphus" > "golpe" and "cattus" > "gato", but not in "canna" > "caña". See also lexical diffusion.
Sound change is inevitable: "All" languages vary from place to place and time to time, and neither writing nor media prevent this change.
In historical linguistics, a number of traditional terms designate types of phonetic change, either by nature or result. A number of such types are often (or usually) sporadic, that is, more or less accidents that happen to a specific form. Others affect a whole phonological system. Sound changes that affect a whole phonological system are also classified according to how they affect the overall shape of the system; see "phonological change".
Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus (; c. 363 – c. 425) was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania in modern-day France. He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours.
Almost all that we know of Severus' life comes from a few allusions in his own writings, some passages in the letters of his friend Paulinus, bishop of Nola, and a short biography by the historian Gennadius of Massilia.
Born of noble parents in Aquitaine, Severus enjoyed excellent educational advantages. He was imbued with the culture of his time and of his country, a center of Latin letters and learning. He studied jurisprudence and was renowned as an eloquent lawyer; his knowledge of Roman law is reflected in parts of his writings. He married the daughter of a wealthy consular family, who died young, leaving him no children.
At this time Severus came under the powerful influence of Saint Martin, bishop of Tours, by whom he was led to devote his wealth to the Christian poor, and his own powers to a life of good works and the contemplative vision of God. This choice incurred his father's displeasure, but was encouraged in his determination by his mother-in-law. To use the words of his friend Paulinus, he broke with his father, followed Christ, and set the teachings of the "fishermen" far above all his "Tullian learning." He rose to no higher rank in the church than that of presbyter. His ordination is vouched for by Gennadius, but no details of his priestly activity have reached us. He is said to have been led away in his old age by Pelagianism, but to have repented and inflicted long-enduring penance on himself. His time was passed chiefly in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, and such literary efforts as he permitted to himself were made in the interests of Christianity.
In many respects no two men could be more unlike than Severus, the scholar and orator, well versed in the ways of the world, and Martin, the rough Pannonian bishop, champion of the monastic life, seer and worker of miracles. Yet the spirit of the rugged saint subdued that of the polished scholar, and the works of Severus are important because they reflect the ideas, influence and aspirations of Martin, the foremost ecclesiastic of Gaul.
The chief work of Severus is the "Chronicle" ("Chronica", "Chronicorum Libri duo" or "Historia sacra", c. 403), a summary of sacred history from the beginning of the world to his own times, with the omission of the events recorded in the Gospels and the Acts, "lest the form of his brief work should detract from the honour due to those events". It is a source of primary importance for the history of Priscillianism and contains considerable information respecting the Arian controversy. The book was a textbook, and was used as such in the schools of Europe for about a century and a half after the "editio princeps" was published by Flacius Illyricus in 1556.
Severus nowhere clearly points to the class of readers for whom his book is designed. He disclaims the intention of making his work a substitute for the actual narrative contained in the Bible. "Worldly historians" had been used by him, he says, to make clear the dates and the connexion of events and for supplementing the sacred sources, and with the intent at once to instruct the unlearned and to "convince" the learned. Probably the "unlearned" are the mass of Christians and the learned are the cultivated Christians and pagans alike, to whom the rude language of the sacred texts, whether in Greek or Latin, would be distasteful. The literary structure of the narrative shows that Severus had in his mind principally readers on the same level of culture with himself. He was anxious to show that sacred history might be presented in a form which lovers of Sallust and Tacitus could appreciate and enjoy. The style is lucid and almost classical. Though phrases and even sentences from many classical authors are inwoven here and there, the narrative flows easily, with no trace of the jolts and jerks which offend us in almost every line of an imitator of the classics like Sidonius. It is free from useless digressions. In order that his work might fairly stand beside that of the old Latin writers, Severus ignored the allegorical methods of interpreting sacred history to which the heretics and the orthodox of his age were wedded.
As an authority for times antecedent to his own, Severus is of little moment. At only a few points does he enable us to correct or supplement other records. Jakob Bernays suggested that he based his narrative of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus on the account given by Tacitus in his "Histories", a portion of which has been lost. In his allusions to the Gentile rulers with whom the Jews came into contact from the time of the Maccabees onwards, Severus discloses some points which are not without importance.
The real interest of his work lies, first, in the incidental glimpses it affords all through of the history of his own time; next and more particularly, in the information he has preserved concerning the struggle over the Priscillianist heresy, which disorganized and degraded the churches of Spain and Gaul, and particularly affected Aquitaine. The sympathies here betrayed by Severus are wholly those of St. Martin. The bishop had withstood Maximus, who ruled for some years a large part of the western portion of the empire, though he never conquered Italy. He had reproached him with attacking and overthrowing his predecessors on the throne, and for his dealings with the church. Severus loses no opportunity for laying stress on the crimes and follies of rulers, and on their cruelty, though he once declares that, cruel as rulers could be, priests could be crueller still. This last statement has reference to the bishops who had left Maximus no peace till he had stained his hands with the blood of Priscillian and his followers. Martin, too, had denounced the worldliness and greed of the Gaulish bishops and clergy. Accordingly we find that Severus, in narrating the division of Canaan among the tribes, calls the special attention of ecclesiastics to the fact that no portion of the land was assigned to the tribe of Levi, lest they should be hindered in their service of God. "Our clergy seem", he says, "not merely forgetful of the lesson but ignorant of it, such a passion for possessions has in our days fastened like a pestilence on their souls." We here catch a glimpse of the circumstances which were winning over good men to monasticism in the West, though the evidence of an enthusiastic votary of the solitary life, such as Severus was, is probably not free from exaggeration. Severus also fully sympathized with the action of St. Martin touching Priscillianism. This mysterious Western offshoot of Gnosticism had no single feature about it which could soften the hostility of a character such as Martin's, but he resisted the introduction of secular punishment for evil doctrine, and withdrew from communion with those bishops in Gaul, a large majority, who invoked the aid of Maximus against their erring brethren. In this connection, the account given by Severus of the Council of Rimini in 359, where the question arose whether the bishops attending the assembly might lawfully receive money from the imperial treasury to recoup their travelling and other expenses, is notable. Severus evidently approved the action of the British and Gaulish bishops, who deemed it unbecoming that they should lie under pecuniary obligation to the emperor. His ideal of the church required that it should stand clear and above the state.
More popular during the Middle Ages was Severus' "Life of St. Martin", as were also the dialogues and letters which relate to the same subject. These works did much to establish the great reputation which that wonder-working saint maintained throughout the Middle Ages. The book is not properly a biography, but a catalogue of miracles, told in all the simplicity of absolute belief. The power to work miraculous signs is assumed to be in direct proportion to holiness, and is by Severus valued merely as an evidence of holiness, which he is persuaded can only be attained through a life of isolation from the world. In the first of his Dialogues (fair models of Cicero), Severus puts into the mouth of an interlocutor (Posthumianus) a pleasing description of the life of coenobites and solitaries in the deserts bordering on Egypt. The main evidence of the virtue attained by them lies in the voluntary subjection to them of the savage beasts among which they lived. But Severus was no indiscriminating adherent of monasticism. The same dialogue shows him to be alive to its dangers and defects. The second dialogue is a large appendix to the Life of Martin, and really supplies more information of his life as bishop and of his views than the work which bears the title Vita S. Martini. The two dialogues occasionally make interesting references to personages of the epoch. In Dial. 1, cc. 6, 7, we have a vivid picture of the controversies which raged at Alexandria over the works of Origen. The judgment of Severus himself is no doubt that which he puts in the mouth of his interlocutor Posthumianus: "I am astonished that one and the same man could have so far differed from himself that in the approved portion of his works he has no equal since the apostles, while in that portion for which he is justly blamed it is proved that no man has committed more unseemly errors." Three Epistles on the death of Martin (ad Eusebium, ad Aurelium diaconum, ad Bassulam) complete the list of Severus' genuine works. Other letters (to his sister), on the love of God and the renunciation of the world, have not survived.
Beside the above-mentioned three letters, seven others have been attributed to Severus. These are rejected as spurious by some critics, whilst the genuineness of the first two is admitted, rightly it would seem, by others. The "World Chronicle" of the so-called Sulpicius Severus has nothing to do with the subject of this biography; it was written in Spain in the sixth century.
The text of the "Chronicle" rests on a single 11th century MS., one of the Palatine collection now in the Vatican; of the other works MSS. are abundant, the best being one of the 6th century at Verona. Some spurious letters bear the name of Severus; also in a MS. at Madrid is a work falsely professing to be an epitome of the "Chronicle" of Severus, and going down to 511. The chief editions of the complete works of Severus are those by De Prato (Verona, 1741) and by Halm (forming volume i. of the "Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum", Vienna, 1866). There is a most admirable monograph on the "Chronicle" by J. Bernays (Berlin, 1861). See also Goelzer, Grammaticae in Sulp. Severum observationes (1884) (thesis).
Severus' works are to be found in P.L. 20, 95-248; later edition by Karl Halm, "Opera", CSEL 1 (Vienna, 1866) (on Google Books)
Scared to Death
Scared to Death is a 1947 thriller Gothic film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Bela Lugosi. The picture was filmed in Cinecolor. The film is historically important as the only color film in which Bela Lugosi has a starring role.
The film opens with the disclosure by morgue examiners that a beautiful woman has literally died of fright. The plot reveals how she reached the fatal stage of terror.
The woman is married to the son of a doctor, the proprietor of a private sanatorium, where she is under unwilling treatment. Both the son and the doctor indicate they want the marriage dissolved. Arriving at the scene is a mysterious personage (Bela Lugosi) identified as the doctor's cousin who had been a stage magician in Europe. He is accompanied by a threatening dwarf (Angelo Rossitto).
After it is apparent that the wife is terrified of the foreigners, it is disclosed that she is the former wife and stage partner of a Paris magician known as René, who was believed to have been shot by the Nazis. Attempts to draw a confession that she had betrayed her magician husband and had collaborated with the Nazis led to the use of a device employing a death mask of the supposedly dead patriot, which literally frightens her to death.
Although the young newspaperman hero and his sweetheart guess the answer to the story, they allow the diagnosis "scared to death" to stand.
The film was based on a one-act play which in turn was based on a 1933 murder case involving Dr. Alice Wynekoop.
The film was announced in March 1946 as "Accent on Horror".
The film was featured in an episode of "Deadly Cinema".
Stefan Banach
Stefan Banach ( ; 30 March 1892 – 31 August 1945) was a Polish mathematician who is generally considered one of the world's most important and influential 20th-century mathematicians. He was the founder of modern functional analysis, and an original member of the Lwów School of Mathematics. His major work was the 1932 book, "Théorie des opérations linéaires" (Theory of Linear Operations), the first monograph on the general theory of functional analysis.
Born in Kraków, Banach attended IV Gymnasium, a secondary school, and worked on mathematics problems with his friend Witold Wilkosz. After graduating in 1910, Banach moved to Lwów. However, during World War I Banach returned to Kraków, where he befriended Hugo Steinhaus. After Banach solved some mathematics problems which Steinhaus considered difficult, they published their first joint work. In 1919, with several other mathematicians, Banach formed a mathematical society. In 1920 he received an assistantship at the Lwów Polytechnic. He soon became a professor at the Polytechnic, and a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. He organized the "Lwów School of Mathematics". Around 1929 he began writing his "Théorie des opérations linéaires".
After the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Lwów was taken over by the Soviet Union. Banach became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and was dean of Lwów University's Department of Mathematics and Physics. In 1941, when the Germans took over Lwów, all institutions of higher education were closed to Poles. As a result, Banach was forced to earn a living as a feeder of lice at Rudolf Weigl's Institute for Study of Typhus and Virology. While the job carried the risk of infection with typhus, it protected him from being sent to slave labor in Germany and from other forms of repression. When the Soviets recaptured Lwów in 1944, Banach reestablished the University. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from Soviet-annexed formerly-Polish territories, Banach prepared to return to Kraków. Before he could do so, he died in August 1945, having been diagnosed seven months earlier with lung cancer.
Some of the notable mathematical concepts that bear Banach's name include Banach spaces, Banach algebras, Banach measures, the Banach–Tarski paradox, the Hahn–Banach theorem, the Banach–Steinhaus theorem, the Banach–Mazur game, the Banach–Alaoglu theorem, and the Banach fixed-point theorem.
Stefan Banach was born on 30 March 1892 at St. Lazarus General Hospital in Kraków, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, into a Góral Roman Catholic family and was subsequently baptised by his father, while his mother abandoned him upon this event and her identity is ambiguous. Banach's parents were Stefan Greczek and Katarzyna Banach, both natives of the Podhale region. Greczek was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army stationed in Kraków. Little is known about Banach's mother. According to his baptismal certificate, she was born in Borówna and worked as a domestic help.
Unusually, Stefan's surname was his mother's instead of his father's, though he received his father's given name, Stefan. Since Stefan Greczek was a private and was prevented by military regulations from marrying, and the mother was too poor to support the child, the couple decided that he should be reared by family and friends. Stefan spent the first few years of his life with his grandmother, but when she took ill Greczek arranged for his son to be raised by Franciszka Płowa and her niece Maria Puchalska in Kraków. Young Stefan would regard Franciszka as his foster mother and Maria as his older sister. In his early years Banach was tutored by Juliusz Mien, a French intellectual and friend of the Płowa family, who had emigrated to Poland and supported himself with photography and translations of Polish literature into French. Mien taught Banach French and most likely encouraged him in his early mathematical pursuits.
In 1902 Banach, aged 10, enrolled in Kraków's "IV Gymnasium" (also known as the "Goetz Gymnasium"). While the school specialized in the humanities, Banach and his best friend Witold Wiłkosz (also a future mathematician) spent most of their time working on mathematics problems during breaks and after school. Later in life Banach would credit Dr. Kamil Kraft, the mathematics and physics teacher at the gymnasium with kindling his interests in mathematics. While generally Banach was a diligent student he did on occasion receive low grades (he failed Greek during his first semester at the gymnasium) and would later speak critically of the school's math teachers.
After obtaining his "matura" (high school degree) at age 18 in 1910, Banach moved to Lwów with the intention of studying at the Lwów Polytechnic. He initially chose engineering as his field of study since at the time he was convinced that there was nothing new to discover in mathematics. At some point he also attended Jagiellonian University in Kraków on a part-time basis. As Banach had to earn money to support his studies it was not until 1914 that he finally, at age 22, passed his high school graduation exams.
When World War I broke out, Banach was excused from military service due to his left-handedness and poor vision. When the Russian Army opened its offensive toward Lwów, Banach left for Kraków, where he spent the rest of the war. He made his living as a tutor at the local gymnasiums, worked in a bookstore and as a foreman of road building crew. He attended some lectures at the Jagiellonian University at that time, including those of the famous Polish mathematicians Stanisław Zaremba and Kazimierz Żorawski, but little is known of that period of his life.
In 1916, in Kraków's "Planty" gardens, Banach encountered Professor Hugo Steinhaus, one of the renowned mathematicians of the time. According to Steinhaus, while he was strolling through the gardens he was surprised to overhear the term ""Lebesgue integral"" (Lebesgue integration was at the time still a fairly new idea in mathematics) and walked over to investigate. As a result, he met Banach, as well as Otto Nikodym. Steinhaus became fascinated with the self-taught young mathematician. The encounter resulted in a long-lasting collaboration and friendship. In fact, soon after the encounter Steinhaus invited Banach to solve some problems he had been working on but which had proven difficult. Banach solved them within a week and the two soon published their first joint work ("On the Mean Convergence of Fourier Series"). Steinhaus, Banach and Nikodym, along with several other Kraków mathematicians (Władysław Ślebodziński, Leon Chwistek, Alfred Rosenblatt and Włodzimierz Stożek) also established a mathematical society, which eventually became the Polish Mathematical Society. The society was officially founded on 2 April 1919. It was also through Steinhaus that Banach met his future wife, Łucja Braus.
Steinhaus introduced Banach to academic circles and substantially accelerated his career. After Poland regained independence in 1918, Banach was given an assistantship at the Lwów Polytechnic. Steinhaus' backing also allowed him to receive a doctorate without actually graduating from a university. The doctoral thesis, accepted by King John II Casimir University of Lwów in 1920 and published in 1922, included the basic ideas of functional analysis, which was soon to become an entirely new branch of mathematics. The thesis was widely discussed in academic circles and allowed him in 1922 to become a professor at the Lwów Polytechnic. Initially an assistant to Professor Antoni Łomnicki, in 1927 Banach received his own chair. In 1924 he was also accepted as a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. At the same time, from 1922, Banach also headed the second Chair of Mathematics at University of Lwów.
Young and talented, Banach gathered around him a large group of mathematicians. The group, meeting in the Scottish Café, soon gave birth to the "Lwów School of Mathematics". In 1929 the group began publishing its own journal, "Studia Mathematica", devoted primarily to Banach's field of study—functional analysis. Around that time, Banach also began working on his best-known work, the first monograph on the general theory of linear-metric space. First published in Polish in 1931, the following year it was also translated into French and gained wider recognition in European academic circles. The book was also the first in a long series of mathematics monographs edited by Banach and his circle. In 17 June 1924 Banach become a correspondence member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts in Kraków.
Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Lwów came under the control of the Soviet Union for almost two years. Banach, from 1939 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and on good terms with Soviet mathematicians, had to promise to learn Ukrainian to be allowed to keep his chair and continue his academic activities. Following the German takeover of Lwów in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, all universities were closed and Banach, along with many colleagues and his son, was employed as lice feeder at Professor Rudolf Weigl's Typhus Research Institute. Employment in Weigl's Institute provided many unemployed university professors and their associates protection from random arrest and deportation to Nazi concentration camps.
After the Red Army recaptured Lviv in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive of 1944, Banach returned to the University and helped re-establish it after the war years. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from annexed formerly Polish territories, Banach began preparing to leave the city and settle in Kraków, Poland, where he had been promised a chair at the Jagiellonian University. He was also considered a candidate for Minister of Education of Poland. In January 1945, however, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was allowed to stay in Lwów. He died on 31 August 1945, aged 53. His funeral at the Lychakiv Cemetery was attended by hundreds of people.
Banach's dissertation, completed in 1920 and published in 1922, formally axiomatized the concept of a complete normed vector space and laid the foundations for the area of functional analysis. In this work Banach called such spaces ""class E-spaces"", but in his 1932 book, "Théorie des opérations linéaires", he changed terminology and referred to them as ""spaces of type B"", which most likely contributed to the subsequent eponymous naming of these spaces after him. The theory of what came to be known as Banach spaces had antecedents in the work of the Hungarian mathematician Frigyes Riesz (published in 1916) and contemporaneous contributions from Hans Hahn and Norbert Wiener. For a brief period in fact, complete normed linear spaces were referred to as "Banach–Wiener" spaces in mathematical literature, based on terminology introduced by Wiener himself. However, because Wiener's work on the topic was limited, the established name became just "Banach spaces".
Likewise, Banach's fixed point theorem, based on earlier methods developed by Charles Émile Picard, was included in his dissertation, and was later extended by his students (for example in the Banach–Schauder theorem) and other mathematicians (in particular Brouwer and Poincaré and Birkhoff). The theorem did not require linearity of the space, and applied to any complete Cauchy space (in particular to any complete metric space).
The Hahn–Banach theorem, is one of the fundamental theorems of functional analysis.
Stanislaw Ulam, another mathematician of the Lwów School of Mathematics, in his autobiography, quotes Banach as saying:
Hugo Steinhaus said of Banach:
Single-lens reflex camera
A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex" from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin lens reflex and rangefinder cameras, the viewed image could be significantly different from the final image. When the shutter button is pressed on most SLRs, the mirror flips out of the light path, allowing light to pass through to the light receptor and the image to be captured.
Prior to the development of SLR, all cameras with viewfinders had two optical light paths: one path through the lens to the film, and another path positioned above (TLR or "twin-lens reflex") or to the side (rangefinder). Because the viewfinder and the film lens cannot share the same optical path, the viewing lens is aimed to intersect with the film lens at a fixed point somewhere in front of the camera. This is not problematic for pictures taken at a middle or longer distance, but parallax causes framing errors in close-up shots. Moreover, focusing the lens of a fast reflex camera when it is opened to wider apertures (such as in low light or while using low-speed film) is not easy.
Most SLR cameras permit upright and laterally correct viewing through use of a roof pentaprism situated in the optical path between the reflex mirror and viewfinder. Light, which comes both horizontally and vertically inverted after passing through the lens, is reflected upwards by the reflex mirror, into the pentaprism where it is reflected several times to correct the inversions caused by the lens, and align the image with the viewfinder. When the shutter is released, the mirror moves out of the light path, and the light shines directly onto the film (or in the case of a DSLR, the CCD or CMOS imaging sensor). The Canon Pellix, along with several special purpose high speed cameras(such as the Canon EOS-1N RS), were an exception to the moving mirror system, wherein the mirror was a fixed beamsplitting pellicle.
Focus can be adjusted manually by the photographer or automatically by an autofocus system. The viewfinder can include a matte focusing screen located just above the mirror system to diffuse the light. This permits accurate viewing, composing and focusing, especially useful with interchangeable lenses.
Up until the 1990s, SLR was the most advanced photographic preview system available, but the recent development and refinement of digital imaging technology with an on-camera live LCD preview screen has overshadowed SLR's popularity. Nearly all inexpensive compact digital cameras now include an LCD preview screen allowing the photographer to see what the CCD is capturing. However, SLR is still popular in high-end and professional cameras because they are system cameras with interchangeable parts, allowing customization. They also have far less shutter lag, allowing photographs to be timed more precisely. Also the pixel resolution, contrast ratio, refresh rate, and color gamut of an LCD preview screen cannot compete with the clarity and shadow detail of a direct-viewed optical SLR viewfinder.
Large format SLR cameras were probably first marketed with the introduction of C.R. Smith's "Monocular Duplex" (U.S., 1884). SLRs for smaller exposure formats were launched in the 1920s by several camera makers. The first 35 mm SLR available to the mass market, Leica's PLOOT reflex housing along with a 200 mm f4.5 lens paired to a 35 mm rangefinder camera body, debuted in 1935. The Soviet "Спорт" (“Sport”), also a 24 mm by 36 mm image size, was prototyped in 1934 and went to market in 1937. K. Nüchterlein's Kine Exakta (Germany, 1936) was the first integrated 35 mm SLR to enter the market. Additional Exakta models, all with waist-level finders, were produced up to and during World War II. Another ancestor of the modern SLR camera was the Swiss-made Alpa, which was innovative, and influenced the later Japanese cameras. The first eye-level SLR viewfinder was patented in Hungary on August 23, 1943 by Jenő Dulovits, who then designed the first 35 mm camera with one, the Duflex, which used a system of mirrors to provide a laterally correct, upright image in the eye-level viewfinder. The Duflex, which went into serial production in 1948, was also the world's first SLR with an instant-return (a.k.a. autoreturn) mirror.
The first commercially produced SLR that employed a roof pentaprism was the Italian Rectaflex A.1000, shown in full working condition on Milan fair April 1948 and produced from September the same year, thus being on the market one year before the east German Zeiss Ikon VEB Contax S, announced on May 20, 1949, produced from September.
The Japanese adopted and further developed the SLR. In 1952, Asahi developed the Asahiflex and in 1954, the Asahiflex IIB. In 1957, the Asahi Pentax combined the fixed pentaprism and the right-hand thumb wind lever. Nikon, Canon and Yashica introduced their first SLRs in 1959 (the F, Canonflex, and Pentamatic, respectively).
As a small matter of history, the first 35 mm camera (non-SLR) to feature through the lens light metering may have been Nikon, with a prototype rangefinder camera, the SPX. According to the website below, the camera used Nikon 'S' type rangefinder lenses.
Through-the-lens light metering is also known as "behind-the-lens metering". In the SLR design scheme, there were various placements made for the metering cells, all of which used CdS (Cadmium sulfide) photocells. The cells were either located in the pentaprism housing, where they metered light transmitted through the focusing screen; underneath the reflex mirror glass itself, which was Topcon's design; or in front of the shutter mechanism, which was the design used by Canon with their Canon Pellix.
Pentax was the first manufacturer to show an early prototype 35 mm behind-the-lens metering SLR camera, which was named the "Pentax Spotmatic". The camera was shown at the 1960 photokina show. However, the first Through-the-lens (TTL) light metering SLR on the market was the 1963 Topcon RE Super, which had the CdS metering cell placed behind the reflex mirror. The mirror had narrow slits cut into the surface to let the light reach the cell providing average metering. Late in the following year, a production model of the Pentax Spotmatic was shown whose CdS light meter cells were on the pentaprism, reading the light off the focusing screen providing average reading, yet keeping the Spotmatic name, but now written in one word. Another clever design appeared in 1965, the Canon Pellix employing a pellicle mirror that is semi-transparent, placing the meter cell on an arm swinging into the lightpass behind the mirror for meter reading.
Mamiya Sekor came out with cameras such as the Mamiya Sekor TL and various other versions. Yashica introduced the TL Super. Both of these cameras used M42 screw thread lenses as did the Pentax Spotmatic. Later on Fujica introduced their ST-701, then ST-801 and ST-901 cameras. The ST-701 was the first SLR to use a silicon cell photodiode, which was more sensitive than CdS and was immune to the memory effect that the CdS cell suffered from in bright sunlight. Gradually, other 35 mm SLR camera manufacturers changed their behind-the-lens meters from CdS cells to Silicon Diode photocells.
Other manufacturers responded and introduced their own behind-the-lens metering cameras. Nikon and Miranda, at first, simply upgraded their interchangeable pentaprisms to include behind-the-lens metering (for Nikon F, and Miranda D, F, Fv and G models) and these manufacturers also bought out other camera models with built-in behind-the-lens metering capability, such as the Nikkormat FT and the Miranda Sensorex (which used an external coupling diaphragm). Minolta introduced the SRT-101, which used Minolta's proprietary system they referred to as "CLC", which was an acronym for "contrast light compensation", which metered differently from an average metering behind-the-lens camera.
Some German manufacturers also introduced cameras such as the Zeiss Ikon Contarex family, which was one of very few 35 mm SLR to use interchangeable film backs.
Inexpensive leaf-shutter cameras also benefited from behind-the-lens metering as, Topcon introduced the Auto 100 with front-mount interchangeable lenses designed only for that camera, and one of the Zeiss Ikon Contaflex leaf shutter cameras. Kowa manufactured their SET-R, which had similar specifications.
Within months, manufacturers decided to bring out models that provided limited area metering, such as Nikon's Photomic Tn finder, which concentrated 60% of the CdS cells sensitivity on the inner circle of the focusing screen and 30% on the surrounding area. Canon used spot metering in the unusual Canon Pellix camera, which also had a stationary mirror system that allowed approximately 70% of the light to travel to the film plane and 30% to the photographer's eye. This system, unfortunately, degraded the native resolution of the attached lens and provided less illumination to the eyepiece. It did have the advantage of having less vibration than other SLR cameras but this was not sufficient to attract professionals to the camera in numbers.
While auto-exposure was commonly used in the early 1960s with various 35 mm fixed lens rangefinder cameras such as the Konica Auto 'S', and other cameras such as the Polaroid Land cameras whose early models used selenium cell meters, auto-exposure for interchangeable lens SLRs was a feature that was largely absent, except for a few early leaf-shutter SLRs such as the Kowa SE-R and Topcon Auto 100.
The types of automation found in some of these cameras consisted of the simple programmed shutter, whereby the camera's metering system would select a mechanically set series of apertures with shutter speeds, one setting of which would be sufficient for the correct exposure. In the case of the above-mentioned Kowa and Topcon, automation was semi-automatic, where the camera's CDs meter would select the correct aperture only.
Autoexposure, technically known as semi-automatic exposure, where the camera's metering system chooses either the shutter speed or the aperture, was finally introduced by the Savoyflex and popularized by Konishiroku in the 1965 Konica Auto-Reflex. This camera was of the 'shutter-priority' type automation, which meant that the camera selected the correct aperture automatically. This model also had the interesting ability to photograph in 35 mm full-frames or half-frames, all selected by a lever.
Other SLRs soon followed, but because of limitations with their lens mounts, the manufacturers of these cameras had to choose 'aperture-priority' automation, where the camera's metering system selects the correct shutter speed. As one example, Pentax introduced the Electro Spotmatic, which was able to use the then considerable bulk of 42 mm screw-mount lenses produced by various manufacturers. Yashica, another screw-mount camera manufacturer, soon followed.
Canon, which produced the FD lens mount (known as the breech-mount; a unique lens mounting system that combines the advantages of screw-mount and bayonet-mount) introduced their shutter priority 35 mm SLR, the Canon EF in 1976 or so. This camera's build quality was almost the equal of their flagship camera, the Canon F1, and featured a copal-square vertically travelling focal plane shutter that could synchronize electronic flash at shutter speeds up to and including 1/125 of a second, thus making this a good second-body camera for the professional photographer.
Nikon at first produced an aperture-priority camera, but later made subtle changes on the inside of their bayonet mount, which allowed for shutter-priority automation without obsoleting the photographers lenses.
Full-program auto-exposure soon followed with the advent of the Canon A-1 in 1978. This SLR had a 'P' mode on the shutter speed dial, and a lock on the aperture ring to allow the lens to be put on 'Auto' mode. Other manufacturers soon followed with Nikon introducing the FA, Minolta introducing the X-700 in 1981, and Pentax introducing the Super Program. Olympus, however, continued with 'aperture-priority' automation in their OM system line.
The 1970s and 1980s saw steadily increasing use of electronics, automation, and miniaturization, including integrated motor driven film advance with the Konica FS-1 in 1979, and motor rewind functions.
The first autofocus 35 mm SLR was the Pentax ME-F released in 1981.
The Minolta Maxxum 7000, released in 1985, was the first 35 mm SLR with integrated autofocus and motorized film-advance winder, which became the standard configuration for SLR cameras from then on. This development had significant impact on the photographic industry.
Some manufacturers discarded their existing lens systems to compete with other manufacturer's autofocus capability in their new cameras. This was the case for Canon, with its new EOS lens line. Other manufacturers chose to adapt their existing lens systems for autofocus capability, as was the case with Nikon and Pentax. This allowed photographers to continue using their existing lenses, which greatly reduced the cost of upgrading. For example, almost all Nikon lenses from the 1960s and later still function on the current Nikon bodies, only lacking autofocus. Still some manufacturers, notably Leica with its R-system lenses, and Contax with its Zeiss lenses, decided to keep their lens mounts non-autofocus.
From the late 1980s competition and technical innovations made 35 mm camera systems more versatile and sophisticated by adding more advanced light metering capabilities such as spot-metering; limited area metering such as used by Canon with the F1 series; matrix metering as used by Nikon, exposure communication with dedicated electronic flash units. The user interface also changed on many cameras, replacing meter needle displays that were galvanometer-based and thereby fragile, with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and then with more comprehensive liquid crystal displays (LCDs) both in the SLR viewfinder and externally on the cameras' top plate using an LCD screen. Wheels and buttons replaced the shutter dial on the camera and the aperture ring on the lens on many models, although some photographers still prefer shutter dials and aperture rings. Some manufacturers introduced image stabilization on certain lenses to combat camera shake and to allow longer hand-held exposures without using a tripod. This feature is especially useful with long telephoto lenses.
Canon, Nikon and Pentax have all developed digital SLR cameras (DSLRs) using the same lens mounts as on their respective film SLR cameras. Konica Minolta did the same, and after having bought Konica Minolta's camera division in 2006 Sony continue using the Minolta AF lens mount in their DSLRs, including cameras built around a semi-transparent fixed mirror. Samsung builds DSLRs based on the Pentax lens mount. Olympus, on the other hand, chose to create a new digital-only Four Thirds System SLR standard, adopted later by Panasonic and Leica.
Contax came out with a DSLR model, the Contax N-Digital. This model was too late and too expensive to be competitive with other camera manufacturers. The Contax N-digital was the last Contax to use that maker's lens system, and the camera, while having impressive features such as a full-frame sensor, was expensive and lacked sufficient write-speed to the memory card for it to be seriously considered by some professional photographers.
The digital single-lens reflex camera have largely replaced film SLR's design in convenience, sales and popularity at the start of 21st century.
A cross-section ("or" 'side-view') of the optical components of a typical SLR camera shows how the light passes through the lens assembly (1), is reflected by the mirror (2) placed at a 45-degree angle, and is projected on the matte focusing screen (5). Via a condensing lens (6) and internal reflections in the roof pentaprism (7) the image appears in the eyepiece (8). When an image is taken, the mirror moves upwards from its resting position in the direction of the arrow, the focal plane shutter (3) opens, and the image is projected onto the film or sensor (4) in exactly the same manner as on the focusing screen.
This feature distinguishes SLRs from other cameras as the photographer sees the image composed exactly as it will be captured on the film or sensor (see Advantages below).
Most 35 mm SLRs use a roof pentaprism or penta-mirror to direct the light to the eyepiece, first used on the 1948 Duflex constructed by Jenő Dulovits and patented August 1943 (Hungary). With this camera also appeared the first Instant-return mirror.
The first Japanese pentaprism SLR was the 1955 Miranda T, followed by the Asahi Pentax, Minolta SR-2, Zunow, Nikon F and the Yashica Pentamatic. Some SLRs offered removable pentaprisms with optional viewfinder capabilities, such as the waist-level finder, the interchangeable sports finders used on the Canon F1 and F1n; the Nikon F, F2, F3, F4 and F5; and the Pentax LX.
Another prism design was the porro prism system used in the Olympus Pen F, the Pen FT, the Pen FV half-frame 35 mm SLR cameras. This was later used on the Olympus EVOLT E-3x0 series, the Leica Digilux 3 and the Panasonic DMC-L1.
A right-angle finder is available that slips onto the eyepiece of most SLRs and D-SLRs and allows viewing through a waist-level viewfinder. There is also a finder that provides EVF remote capability.
Almost all contemporary SLRs use a focal-plane shutter located in front of the film plane, which prevents the light from reaching the film even if the lens is removed, except when the shutter is actually released during the exposure. There are various designs for focal plane shutters. Early focal-plane shutters designed from the 1930s onwards usually consisted of two curtains that travelled horizontally across the film gate: an opening shutter curtain followed by a closing shutter curtain. During fast shutter speeds, the focal-plane shutter would form a 'slit' whereby the second shutter curtain was closely following the first opening shutter curtain to produce a narrow, vertical opening, with the shutter slit moving horizontally. The slit would get narrower as shutter speeds were increased. Initially these shutters were made from a cloth material (which was in later years often rubberised), but some manufacturers used other materials instead. Nippon Kōgaku (now Nikon Corporation), for example, used titanium foil shutters for several of their flagship SLR cameras, including the Nikon F, F2, and F3.
Other focal-plane shutter designs, such as the Copal Square, travelled vertically — the shorter travelling distance of 24 millimetres (as opposed to 36 mm horizontally) meant that minimum exposure and flash synchronisation times could be reduced. These shutters are usually manufactured from metal, and use the same moving-slit principle as horizontally travelling shutters. They differ, though, in usually being formed of several slats or blades, rather than single curtains as with horizontal designs, as there is rarely enough room above and below the frame for a one-piece shutter. Vertical shutters became very common in the 1980s (though Konica, Mamiya, and Copal first pioneered their use in the 1950s and 1960s, and are almost exclusively used for new cameras. Nikon used Copal-made vertical plane shutters in their Nikomat/Nikkormat -range, enabling x-sync speeds from to while the only choice for focal plane shutters at that time was . Later, Nikon again pioneered the use of titanium for vertical shutters, using a special honeycomb pattern on the blades to reduce their weight and achieve world-record speeds in 1982 of second for non-sync shooting, and with x-sync. Nowadays most such shutters are manufactured from cheaper aluminium (though some high-end cameras use materials such as carbon-fibre and Kevlar).
One unusual design, the Olympus Pen half-frame 35 mm SLR system, manufactured by Olympus in Japan, used a rotary focal-plane shutter mechanism that was extremely simple and elegant in design. This shutter used titanium foil but consisted of one piece of metal with a fixed opening, which allowed electronic flash synchronisation up to and including its maximum speed of 1/500 of a second – rivalling the capabilities of leaf-shutter systems
Another 35 mm camera system that used a rotary shutter, was the Robot Royal cameras, most of which were rangefinder 35 mm cameras. Some of these cameras were full-frame; some were half-frame, and at least one Robot camera produced an unusual square-sized image on the 35 mm frame.
The Mercury II, produced in 1946, also used a rotary shutter. This was a half-frame 35 mm camera.
Another shutter system is the leaf shutter, whereby the shutter is constructed of diaphragm-like blades and can be situated either between the lens or behind the lens. If the shutter is part of a lens assembly some other mechanism is required to ensure that no light reaches the film between exposures.
An example of a behind-the-lens leaf shutter is found in the 35 mm SLRs produced by Kodak, with their Retina Reflex camera line; Topcon, with their Auto 100; and Kowa with their SE-R and SET-R reflexes.
A primary example of a medium-format SLR with a between-the-lens leaf shutter system would be Hasselblad, with their 500C, 500 cm, 500 EL-M (a motorized Hasselblad) and other models (producing a 6 cm square negative). Hasselblads use an auxiliary shutter blind situated behind the lens mount and the mirror system to prevent the fogging of film.
Other medium-format SLRs also using leaf shutters include the now discontinued Zenza-Bronica camera system lines such as the Bronica ETRs, the ETRs'i (both producing a 6 × 4.5 cm. image), the SQ and the SQ-AI (producing a 6 × 6 cm image like the Hasselblad), and the Zenza-Bronica G system (6 × 7 cm). Certain Mamiya medium-format SLRs, discontinued camera systems such as the Kowa 6 and a few other camera models also used between-the-lens leaf shutters in their lens systems.
Thus, any time a photographer purchased one of these lenses, that lens included a leaf shutter in its lens mount.
Because leaf shutters synchronized electronic flash at all shutter speeds especially at fast shutter speeds of of a second or faster, cameras using leaf shutters were more desirable to studio photographers who used sophisticated studio electronic flash systems.
Some manufacturers of medium-format 120 film SLR cameras also made leaf-shutter lenses for their focal-plane-shutter models. Rollei made at least two such lenses for their Rolleiflex SL-66 medium format which was a focal-plane shutter SLR. Rollei later switched to a camera system of leaf-shutter design (e.g., the 6006 and 6008 reflexes) and their current medium-format SLRs are now all of the between-the-lens shutter design.
Since the technology became widespread in the 1970s, SLRs have become the main photographic instrument used by dedicated amateur photographers and professionals. Some photographers of static subjects (such as architecture, landscape, and some commercial subjects), however, prefer view cameras because of the capability to control perspective. With a triple-extension bellows 4" × 5" camera such as the Linhof SuperTechnika V, the photographer can correct certain distortions such as "keystoning", where the image 'lines' converge (i.e., photographing a building by pointing a typical camera upward to include the top of the building). Perspective correction lenses are available in the 35 mm and medium formats to correct this distortion with film cameras, and it can also be corrected after the fact with photo software when using digital cameras. The photographer can also extend the bellows to its full length, tilt the front standard and perform photomacrography (commonly known as 'macro photography'), producing a sharp image with depth-of-field without stopping down the lens diaphram.
Early SLRs were built for large format photography, but this film format has largely lost favor among professional photographers. SLR film-based cameras have been produced for most film formats as well as for digital formats. These film-based SLRs use the 35 mm format as, this film format offers a variety of emulsions and film sensitivity speeds, usable image quality and a good market cost. 35 mm film comes in a variety of exposure lengths: 20 exposure, 24 exposure and 36 exposure rolls. Medium format SLRs provide a higher-quality image with a negative that can be more easily retouched than the smaller 35 mm negative, when this capability is required.
A small number of SLRs were built for APS such as the Canon IX series and the Nikon Pronea cameras. SLRs were also introduced for film formats as small as Kodak's 110, such as the Pentax Auto 110, which had interchangeable lenses.
The Narciss camera is an all-metal 16 mm subminiature single lens reflex camera made by Russian optic firm Krasnogorsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (KMZ) Narciss (Soviet Union; Нарцисс) between 1961 and 1965.
Other features found on many SLR cameras include through-the-lens (TTL) metering and sophisticated flash control referred to as "dedicated electronic flash". In a dedicated system, once the dedicated electronic flash is inserted into the camera's hot shoe and turned on, there is then communication between camera and flash. The camera's synchronization speed is set, along with the aperture. Many camera models measure the light that reflects off of the film plane, which controls the flash duration of the electronic flash. This is denoted TTL flash metering.
Some electronic flash units can send out several short bursts of light to aid the autofocus system or for wireless communication with off-camera flash units. A pre-flash is often used to determine the amount of light that is reflected from the subject, which sets the duration of the main flash at time of exposure. Some cameras also employ automatic fill-flash, where the flash light and the available light are balanced. While these capabilities are not unique to the SLR, manufacturers included them early on in the top models, whereas the best rangefinder cameras adopted such features later.
Many of the advantages of SLR cameras derive from viewing and focusing the image through the attached lens. Most other types of cameras do not have this function; subjects are seen through a viewfinder that is near the lens, making the photographer's view different from that of the lens. SLR cameras provide photographers with precision; they provide a viewing image that will be exposed onto the negative exactly as it is seen through the lens. There is no parallax error, and exact focus can be confirmed by eye—especially in macro photography and when photographing using long focus lenses. The depth of field may be seen by stopping down to the attached lens aperture, which is possible on most SLR cameras except for the least expensive models. Because of the SLR's versatility, most manufacturers have a vast range of lenses and accessories available for them.
Compared to most fixed-lens compact cameras, the most commonly used and inexpensive SLR lenses offer a wider aperture range and larger maximum aperture (typically to for a 50 mm lens). This allows photographs to be taken in lower light conditions without flash, and allows a narrower depth of field, which is useful for blurring the background behind the subject, making the subject more prominent. "Fast" lenses are commonly used in theater photography, portrait photography, surveillance photography, and all other photography requiring a large maximum aperture.
The variety of lenses also allows for the camera to be used and adapted in many different situations. This provides the photographer with considerably more control (i.e., how the image is viewed and framed) than would be the case with a view camera. In addition, some SLR lenses are manufactured with extremely long focal lengths, allowing a photographer to be a considerable distance away from the subject and yet still expose a sharp, focused image. This is particularly useful if the subject includes dangerous animals (e.g., wildlife); the subject prefers anonymity to being photographed; or else, the photographer's presence is unwanted (e.g., celebrity photography or surveillance photography). Practically all SLR and DSLR camera bodies can also be attached to telescopes and microscopes via an adapter tube to further enhance their imaging capabilities.
In most cases, single-lens reflex cameras cannot be made as small or as light as other camera designs—such as rangefinder cameras, autofocus compact cameras and digital cameras with electronic viewfinders (EVF)—owing to the mirror box and pentaprism/pentamirror. The mirror box also prevents lenses with deeply recessed rear elements from being mounted close to the film or sensor unless the camera has a mirror lockup feature; this means that simple designs for wide angle lenses cannot be used. Instead, larger and more complex retrofocus designs are required.
The SLR mirror 'blacks-out' the viewfinder image during the exposure. In addition, the movement of the reflex mirror takes time, limiting the maximum shooting speed. The mirror system can also cause noise and vibration. Partially reflective (pellicle) fixed mirrors avoid these problems and have been used in a very few designs including the Canon Pellix and the Canon EOS-1N RS, but these designs introduce their own problems. These pellicle mirrors reduce the amount of light travelling to the film plane or sensor and also can distort the light passing through them, resulting in a less-sharp image. To avoid the noise and vibration, many professional cameras offer a mirror lock-up feature, however, this feature totally disables the SLR's automatic focusing ability. Electronic viewfinders have the potential to give the 'viewing-experience' of a DSLR (through-the-lens viewing) without many of the disadvantages. More recently, Sony have resurrected the pellicle mirror concept in their "single-lens translucent" (SLT) range of cameras.
SLRs vary widely in their construction and typically have bodies made of plastic or magnesium. Most manufacturers do not cite durability specifications, but some report shutter life expectancies for professional models. For instance, the Canon EOS 1Ds MkII is rated for 200,000 shutter cycles and the newer Nikon D3 is rated for 300,000 with its exotic carbon fiber/kevlar shutter. Because many SLRs have interchangeable lenses, there is a tendency for dust, sand and dirt to get into the main body of the camera through the mirror box when the lens is removed, thus dirtying or even jamming the mirror movement mechanism or the shutter curtain mechanism itself. In addition, these particles can also jam or otherwise hinder the focusing feature of a lens if they enter into the focusing helicoid. The problem of sensor cleaning has been somewhat reduced in DSLRs as some cameras have a built-in sensor cleaning unit.
The price of SLRs in general also tends to be somewhat higher than that of other types of cameras, owing to their internal complexity. This is compounded by the expense of additional components, such as flashes or lenses. The initial investment in equipment can be prohibitive enough to keep some casual photographers away from SLRs, although the market for used SLRs has become larger particularly as photographers migrate to digital systems.
The digital single-lens reflex camera has largely replaced the film SLR for its convenience, sales, and popularity at the start of 21st century. These cameras are currently the marketing favorite among advanced amateur and professional photographers. Film-based SLRs are still used by a niche market of enthusiasts and format lovers.
Senary
The senary numeral system (also known as base-6, heximal, or seximal) has six as its base. It has been adopted independently by a small number of cultures. Like decimal, it is a semiprime, though being the product of the only two consecutive numbers that are both prime (2 and 3) it has a high degree of mathematical properties for its size. As six is a superior highly composite number, many of the arguments made in favor of the duodecimal system also apply to base-6. In turn, the senary logic refers to an extension of Jan Łukasiewicz's and Stephen Cole Kleene's ternary logic systems adjusted to explain the logic of statistical tests and missing data patterns in sciences using empirical methods.
The standard set of digits in senary is given by formula_1, with a linear order formula_2. Let formula_3 be the Kleene closure of formula_4, where formula_5 is the operation of string concatenation for formula_6. The senary number system for natural numbers formula_7 is the quotient set formula_8 equipped with a shortlex order, where the equivalence class formula_9 is formula_10. As formula_7 has a shortlex order, it is isomorphic to the natural numbers formula_12.
When expressed in senary, all prime numbers other than 2 and 3 have 1 or 5 as the final digit. In senary the prime numbers are written
That is, for every prime number "p" greater than 3, one has the modular arithmetic relations that either "p" ≡ 1 or 5 (mod 6) (that is, 6 divides either "p" − 1 or "p" − 5); the final digit is a 1 or a 5. This is proved by contradiction.
For any integer "n":
Additionally, since the smallest four primes (2, 3, 5, 7) are either divisors or neighbors of 6, senary has simple divisibility tests for many numbers.
Furthermore, all even perfect numbers besides 6 have 44 as the final two digits when expressed in senary, which is proven by the fact that every even perfect number is of the form 2"p"−1(2"p"−1), where 2"p"−1 is prime.
Senary is also the largest number base "r" that has no totatives other than 1 and "r" − 1, making its multiplication table highly regular for its size, minimizing the amount of effort required to memorize its table. This property maximizes the probability that the result of an integer multiplication will end in zero, given that neither of its factors do.
Because six is the product of the first two prime numbers and is adjacent to the next two prime numbers, many senary fractions have simple representations:
Each regular human hand may be said to have six unambiguous positions; a fist, one finger (or thumb) extended, two, three, four and then all five extended.
If the right hand is used to represent a unit, and the left to represent the 'sixes', it becomes possible for one person to represent the values from zero to 55senary (35decimal) with their fingers, rather than the usual ten obtained in standard finger counting. e.g. if three fingers are extended on the left hand and four on the right, 34senary is represented. This is equivalent to 3 × 6 + 4 which is 22decimal.
Additionally, this method is the least abstract way to count using two hands that reflects the concept of positional notation, as the movement from one position to the next is done by switching from one hand to another. While most developed cultures count by fingers up to 5 in very similar ways, beyond 5 non-Western cultures deviate from Western methods, such as with Chinese number gestures. As senary finger counting also deviates only beyond 5, this counting method rivals the simplicity of traditional counting methods, a fact which may have implications for the teaching of positional notation to young students.
Which hand is used for the 'sixes' and which the units is down to preference on the part of the counter, however when viewed from the counter's perspective, using the left hand as the most significant digit correlates with the written representation of the same senary number. Flipping the 'sixes' hand around to its backside may help to further disambiguate which hand represents the 'sixes' and which represents the units. The downside to senary counting, however, is that without prior agreement two parties would be unable to utilize this system, being unsure which hand represents sixes and which hand represents ones, whereas decimal-based counting (with numbers beyond 5 being expressed by an open palm and additional fingers) being essentially a unary system only requires the other party to count the number of extended fingers.
In NCAA basketball, the players' uniform numbers are restricted to be senary numbers of at most two digits, so that the referees can signal which player committed an infraction by using this finger-counting system.
More abstract finger counting systems, such as chisanbop or finger binary, allow counting to 99, 1,023, or even higher depending on the method (though not necessarily senary in nature). The English monk and historian Bede, described in the first chapter of his work De temporum ratione, (725), titled "Tractatus de computo, vel loquela per gestum digitorum," a system which allowed counting up to 9,999 on two hands.
Despite the rarity of cultures that group large quantities by 6, a review of the development of numeral systems suggests a threshold of numerosity at 6 (possibly being conceptualized as "whole", "fist", or "beyond five fingers"), with 1–6 often being pure forms, and numerals thereafter being constructed or borrowed.
The Ndom language of Papua New Guinea is reported to have senary numerals. "Mer" means 6, "mer an thef" means 6 × 2 = 12, "nif" means 36, and "nif thef" means 36 × 2 = 72.
Another example from Papua New Guinea are the Yam languages. In these languages, counting is connected to ritualized yam-counting. These languages count from a base six, employing words for the powers of six; running up to 66 for some of the languages. One example is Komnzo with the following numerals: "nibo" (61), "fta" (62), "taruba" (63), "damno" (64), "wärämäkä" (65), "wi" (66).
Some Niger-Congo languages have been reported to use a senary number system, usually in addition to another, such as decimal or vigesimal.
Proto-Uralic has also been suspected to have had senary numerals, with a numeral for 7 being borrowed later, though evidence for constructing larger numerals (8 and 9) subtractively from ten suggests that this may not be so.
For some purposes, base 6 might be too small a base for convenience. This can be worked around by using its square, base 36 (hexatrigesimal), as then conversion is facilitated by simply making the following replacements:
Thus, the base-36 number WIKIPEDIA36 is equal to the senary number 5230323041222130146. In decimal, it is 91,730,738,691,298.
The choice of 36 as a radix is convenient in that the digits can be represented using the Arabic numerals 0–9 and the Latin letters A–Z: this choice is the basis of the base36 encoding scheme. The compression effect of 36 being the square of 6 causes a lot of patterns and representations to be shorter in base 36:
1/910 = 0.046 = 0.436
1/1610 = 0.02136 = 0.2936
1/510 = 0.6 = 0.36
1/710 = 0.6 = 0.36 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29589 |
Stellarator
A stellarator is a plasma device that relies primarily on external magnets to confine a plasma. In the future, scientists researching magnetic confinement fusion aim to use stellarator devices as a vessel for nuclear fusion reactions. The name refers to the possibility of harnessing the power source of the stars, including the sun. It is one of the earliest fusion power devices, along with the z-pinch and magnetic mirror.
The stellarator was invented by American scientist Lyman Spitzer of Princeton University in 1951, and much of its early development was carried out by his team at what became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Lyman's Model A began operation in 1953 and demonstrated plasma confinement. Larger models followed, but these demonstrated poor performance, suffering from a problem known as pump-out that caused them to lose plasma at rates far worse than theoretical predictions. By the early 1960s, any hope of quickly producing a commercial machine faded, and attention turned to studying the fundamental theory of high-energy plasmas. By the mid-1960s, Spitzer was convinced that the stellarator was matching the Bohm diffusion rate, which suggested it would never be a practical fusion device.
The release of information on the USSR's tokamak design in 1968 indicated a leap in performance. After great debate within the US industry, PPPL converted the Model C stellarator to the Symmetrical Tokamak (ST) as a way to confirm or deny these results. ST confirmed them, and large-scale work on the stellarator concept ended as the tokamak got most of the attention for the next two decades. The tokamak ultimately proved to have similar problems to the stellarators, but for different reasons.
Since the 1990s, the stellarator design has seen renewed interest. New methods of construction have increased the quality and power of the magnetic fields, improving performance. A number of new devices have been built to test these concepts. Major examples include Wendelstein 7-X in Germany, the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) in the US, and the Large Helical Device in Japan.
In 1934, Mark Oliphant, Paul Harteck and Ernest Rutherford were the first to achieve fusion on Earth, using a particle accelerator to shoot deuterium nuclei into a metal foil containing deuterium, lithium or other elements. These experiments allowed them to measure the nuclear cross section of various reactions of fusion between nuclei, and determined that the tritium-deuterium reaction occurred at a lower energy than any other fuel, peaking at about 100,000 electronvolts (100 keV).
100 keV corresponds to a temperature of about a billion kelvins. Due to the Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics, a bulk gas at a much lower temperature will still contain some particles at these much higher energies. Because the fusion reactions release so much energy, even a small number of these reactions can release enough energy to keep the gas at the required temperature. In 1944, Enrico Fermi demonstrated that this would occur at a bulk temperature of about 50 million Celsius, still very hot but within the range of existing experimental systems. The key problem was "confining" such a plasma; no material container could withstand those temperatures. But because plasmas are electrically conductive, they are subject to electric and magnetic fields which provide a number of solutions.
In a magnetic field, the electrons and nuclei of the plasma circle the magnetic lines of force. One way to provide some confinement would be to place a tube of fuel inside the open core of a solenoid. A solenoid creates magnetic lines running down its center, and fuel would be held away from the walls by orbiting these lines of force. But such an arrangement does not confine the plasma along the length of the tube. The obvious solution is to bend the tube around into a torus (donut) shape, so that any one line forms a circle, and the particles can circle forever.
However, this solution does not actually work. For purely geometric reasons, the magnets ringing the torus are closer together on the inside curve, inside the "donut hole". Fermi noted this would cause the electrons to drift away from the nuclei, eventually causing them to separate and cause large voltages to develop. The resulting electric field would cause the plasma ring inside the torus to expand until it hit the walls of the reactor.
In the post-war era, a number of researchers began considering different ways to confine a plasma. George Paget Thomson of Imperial College London proposed a system now known as z-pinch, which runs a current through the plasma. Due to the Lorentz force, this current creates a magnetic field that pulls the plasma in on itself, keeping it away from the walls of the reactor. This eliminates the need for magnets on the outside, avoiding the problem Fermi noted. Various teams in the UK had built a number of small experimental devices using this technique by the late 1940s.
Another person working on controlled fusion reactors was Ronald Richter, a former German scientist who moved to Argentina after the war. His "thermotron" used a system of electrical arcs and mechanical compression (sound waves) for heating and confinement. He convinced Juan Perón to fund development of an experimental reactor on an isolated island near the Chilean border. Known as the Huemul Project, this was completed in 1951. Richter soon convinced himself fusion had been achieved in spite of other people working on the project disagreeing. The "success" was announced by Perón on 24 March 1951, becoming the topic of newspaper stories around the world.
While preparing for a ski trip to Aspen, Lyman Spitzer received a telephone call from his father, who mentioned an article on Huemul in "The New York Times". Looking over the description in the article, Spitzer concluded it could not possibly work; the system simply could not provide enough energy to heat the fuel to fusion temperatures. But the idea stuck with him, and he began considering systems that would work. While riding the ski lift, he hit upon the stellarator concept.
The basic concept was a way to modify the torus layout so that it addressed Fermi's concerns though the device's geometry. By twisting one end of the torus compared to the other, forming a figure-8 layout instead of a circle, the magnetic lines no longer travelled around the tube at a constant radius, instead they moved closer and further from the torus' center. A particle orbiting these lines would find itself constantly moving in and out across the minor axis of the torus. The drift upward while it travelled through one section of the reactor would be reversed after half an orbit and it would drift downward again. The cancellation was not perfect, but it appeared this would so greatly reduce the net drift rates that the fuel would remain trapped long enough to heat it to the required temperatures.
His 1958 description was simple and direct:
While working at Los Alamos in 1950, John Wheeler suggested setting up a secret research lab at Princeton University that would carry on theoretical work on H-bombs after he returned to the university in 1951. Spitzer was invited to join this program, given his previous research in interstellar plasmas.
But by the time of his trip to Aspen, Spitzer had lost interest in bomb design and he turned his attention full-time to fusion as a power source. Over the next few months, Spitzer produced a series of reports outlining the conceptual basis for the stellarator, as well as potential problems. The series is notable for its depth; it not only included a detailed analysis of the mathematics of the plasma and stability but also outlined a number of additional problems like heating the plasma and dealing with impurities.
With this work in hand, Spitzer began to lobby the Department of Energy (DOE) for funding to develop the system. He outlined a plan involving three stages. The first would see the construction of a Model A, whose purpose was to demonstrate that a plasma could be created and that its confinement time was better than a torus. If the A model was successful, the B model would attempt to heat the plasma to fusion temperatures. This would be followed by a C model, which would attempt to actually create fusion reactions at a large scale. This entire series was expected to take about a decade.
Around the same time, Jim Tuck had been introduced to the pinch concept while working at Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University. He was offered a job in the US and eventually ended up at Los Alamos, where he acquainted the other researchers with the concept. When he heard Spitzer was promoting the stellarator, he also travelled to Washington to propose building a pinch device. He considered Spitzer's plans "incredibly ambitious." Nevertheless, Spitzer was successful in gaining $50,000 in funding from the DOE, while Tuck received nothing.
The Princeton program was officially created on 1 July 1951. Spitzer, an avid mountain climber, proposed the name "Project Matterhorn" because he felt "the work at hand seemed difficult, like the ascent of a mountain." Two sections were initially set up, S Section working on the stellarator under Spitzer, and B Section working on bomb design under Wheeler. Matterhorn was set up at Princeton's new Forrestal Campus, a plot of land the University purchased from the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research when Rockefeller relocated to Manhattan. The land was located about from the main Princeton campus and already had sixteen laboratory buildings. Spitzer set up the top-secret S Section in a former rabbit hutch.
It was not long before the other labs began agitating for their own funding. Tuck had managed to arrange some funding for his Perhapsatron through some discretionary budgets at LANL, but other teams at LANL, Berkeley and Oak Ridge (ORNL) also presented their ideas. The DOE eventually organized a new department for all of these projects, becoming "Project Sherwood".
With the funding from the DOE, Spitzer began work by inviting James Van Allen to join the group and set up an experimental program. Allen suggested starting with a small "tabletop" device. This led to the Model A design, which began construction in 1952. It was made from pyrex tubes about in total length, and magnets capable of about 1,000 gauss. The machine began operations in early 1953 and clearly demonstrated improved confinement over the simple torus.
This led to the construction of the Model B, which had the problem that the magnets were not well mounted and tended to move around when they were powered to their maximum capacity of 50,000 gauss. A second design also failed for the same reason, but this machine demonstrated several-hundred-kilovolt X-rays that suggested good confinement. The lessons from these two designs led to the B-1, which used ohmic heating (see below) to reach plasma temperatures around 100,000 degrees. This machine demonstrated that impurities in the plasma caused large x-ray emissions that rapidly cooled the plasma. In 1956, B-1 was rebuilt with an ultra-high vacuum system to reduce the impurities but found that even at smaller quantities they were still a serious problem. Another effect noticed in the B-1 was that during the heating process, the particles would remain confined for only a few tenths of a millisecond, while once the field was turned off, any remaining particles were confined for as long as 10 milliseconds. This appeared to be due to "cooperative effects" within the plasma.
Meanwhile, a second machine known as B-2 was being built. This was similar to the B-1 machine but used pulsed power to allow it to reach higher magnetic energy and included a second heating system known as magnetic pumping. This machine was also modified to add an ultra-high vacuum system. Unfortunately, B-2 demonstrated little heating from the magnetic pumping, which was not entirely unexpected because this mechanism required longer confinement times, and this was not being achieved. As it appeared that little could be learned from this system in its current form, in 1958 it was sent to the Atoms for Peace show in Geneva. However, when the heating system was modified, the coupling increased dramatically, demonstrating temperatures within the heating section as high as .
Two additional machines were built to study pulsed operation. B-64 was completed in 1955, essentially a larger version of the B-1 machine but powered by pulses of current that produced up to 15,000 gauss. This machine included a "diverter", which removed impurities from the plasma, greatly reducing the x-ray cooling effect seen on earlier machines. B-64 included straight sections in the curved ends which gave it a squared-off appearance. This appearance led to its name, it was a "figure-8, squared", or 8 squared, or 64. This led to experiments in 1956 where the machine was re-assembled without the twist in the tubes, allowing the particles to travel without rotation.
B-65, completed in 1957, was built using the new "racetrack" layout. This was the result of the observation that adding helical coils to the curved portions of the device produced a field that introduced the rotation purely through the resulting magnetic fields. This had the added advantage that the magnetic field included "shear", which was known to improve stability. B-3, also completed in 1957, was a greatly enlarged B-2 machine with ultra-high vacuum and pulsed confinement up to 50,000 gauss and projected confinement times as long as 0.01 second. The last of the B-series machines was the B-66, completed in 1958, which was essentially a combination of the racetrack layout from B-65 with the larger size and energy of the B-3.
Unfortunately, all of these larger machines demonstrated a problem that came to be known as "pump out". This effect was causing plasma drift rates that were not only higher than classical theory suggested but also much higher than the Bohm rates. B-3's drift rate was a full three times that of the worst-case Bohm predictions, and failed to maintain confinement for more than a few tens of microseconds.
As early as 1954, as research continued on the B-series machines, the design of the Model C device was becoming more defined. It emerged as a large racetrack-layout machine with multiple heating sources and a diverter, essentially an even larger B-66. Construction began in 1958 and was completed in 1961. It could be adjusted to allow a plasma minor axis between and was in length. The toroidal field coils normally operated at 35,000 gauss.
By the time Model C began operations, information collected from previous machines was making it clear that it would not be able to produce large-scale fusion. Ion transport across the magnetic field lines was much higher than classical theory suggested. Greatly increased magnetic fields of the later machines did little to address this, and confinement times simply were not improving. Attention began to turn to a much greater emphasis on the theoretical understanding of the plasma. In 1961, Melvin B. Gottlieb took over the Matterhorn Project from Spitzer, and on 1 February the project was renamed as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).
Continual modification and experimentation on the Model C slowly improved its operation, and the confinement times eventually increased to match that of Bohm predictions. New versions of the heating systems were used that slowly increased the temperatures. Notable among these was the 1964 addition of a small particle accelerator to accelerate fuel ions to high enough energy to cross the magnetic fields, depositing energy within the reactor when they collided with other ions already inside. This method of heating, now known as neutral beam injection, has since become almost universal on magnetic confinement fusion machines.
Model C spent most of its history involved in studies of ion transport. Through continual tuning of the magnetic system and the addition of the new heating methods, in 1969, Model C eventually reached electron temperatures of 400 eV.
Through this period, a number of new potential stellarator designs emerged, which featured a simplified magnetic layout. The Model C used separate confinement and helical coils, as this was an evolutionary process from the original design which had only the confinement coils. Other researchers, notably in Germany, noted that the same overall magnetic field configuration could be achieved with a much simpler arrangement. This led to the torastron or heliotron layout.
In these designs, the primary field is produced by a single helical magnet, similar to one of the helical windings of the "classical" stellarator. In contrast to those systems, only a single magnet is needed, and it is much larger than those in the stellarators. To produce the net field, a second set of coils running poloidally around the outside of the helical magnet produces a second vertical field that mixes with the helical one. The result in a much simpler layout, as the poloidal magnets are generally much smaller and there is ample room between them to reach the interior, whereas in the original layout the toroidal confinement magnets are relatively large and leave little room between them.
A further update emerged from the realization that the total field could be produced through a series of independent magnets shaped like the local field. This results in a series of complex magnets that are arranged like the toroidal coils of the original layout. The advantage of this design is that the magnets are entirely independent; if one is damaged it can be individually replaced without affecting the rest of the system. Additionally, one can re-arrange the overall field layout by replacing the elements. These "modular coils" are now a major part of ongoing research.
In 1968, scientists in the Soviet Union released the results of their tokamak machines, notably their newest example, T-3. The results were so startling that there was widespread scepticism. To address this, the Soviets invited a team of experts from the United Kingdom to test the machines for themselves. Their tests, made using a laser-based system developed for the ZETA reactor in England, verified the Soviet claims of electron temperatures of 1,000 eV. What followed was a "veritable stampede" of tokamak construction worldwide.
At first the US labs ignored the tokamak; Spitzer himself dismissed it out of hand as experimental error. However, as new results came in, especially the UK reports, Princeton found itself in the position of trying to defend the stellarator as a useful experimental machine while other groups from around the US were clamoring for funds to build tokamaks. In July 1969 Gottlieb had a change of heart, offering to convert the Model C to a tokamak layout. In December it was shut down and reopened in May as the Symmetric Tokamak (ST).
The ST immediately matched the performance being seen in the Soviet machines, besting the Model C's results by over ten times. From that point, PPPL was the primary developer of the tokamak approach in the US, introducing a series of machines to test various designs and modifications. The Princeton Large Torus of 1975 quickly hit several performance numbers that were required for a commercial machine, and it was widely believed the critical threshold of breakeven would be reached in the early 1980s. What was needed was larger machines and more powerful systems to heat the plasma to fusion temperatures.
Tokamaks are a type of pinch machine, differing from earlier designs primarily in the amount of current in the plasma: above a certain threshold known as the "safety factor", or "q", the plasma is much more stable. ZETA ran at a "q" around , while experiments on tokamaks demonstrated it needs to be at least 1. Machines following this rule showed dramatically improved performance. However, by the mid-1980s the easy path to fusion disappeared; as the amount of current in the new machines began to increase, a new set of instabilities in the plasma appeared. These could be addressed, but only by greatly increasing the power of the magnetic fields, requiring superconducting magnets and huge confinement volumes. The cost of such a machine was such that the involved parties banded together to begin the ITER project.
As the problems with the tokamak approach grew, interest in the stellarator approach reemerged. This coincided with the development of advanced computer aided planning tools that allowed the construction of complex magnets that were previously known but considered too difficult to design and build.
New materials and construction methods have increased the quality and power of the magnetic fields, improving performance. New devices have been built to test these concepts. Major examples include Wendelstein 7-X in Germany, the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) in the US, and the Large Helical Device in Japan. W7X and LHD use superconducting magnetic coils.
The lack of an internal current eliminates some of the instabilities of the tokamak, meaning the stellarator should be more stable at similar operating conditions. On the downside, since it lacks the confinement provided by the current found in a tokamak, the stellarator requires more powerful magnets to reach any given confinement. The stellarator is an inherently steady-state machine, which has several advantages from an engineering standpoint.
In 2019 a Hessian matrix was applied to simplify the math required to assess the error fields associated with important coil imperfections. Magnetic island size and quasi-symmetry are analytically differentiated over coil parameters. The eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix identify sensitive coil deviations. Each coil requires separate tolerance and some certain perturbation combinations, permitting greater coil tolerances, which could reduce time and cost.
Heating a gas increases the energy of the particles within it, so by heating a gas into the hundreds of millions of degrees, the majority of the particles within it would reach the energy required to fuse. According to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, some of the particles will reach the required energies at much lower average temperatures. Because the energy released by the reaction is much greater than what it takes to start it, even a small number of reactions can heat surrounding fuel until it fuses as well. In 1944, Enrico Fermi calculated the D-T reaction would be self-sustaining at about .
Materials heated beyond a few tens of thousand degrees ionize into their electrons and nuclei, producing a gas-like state of matter known as plasma. According to the ideal gas law, like any hot gas, plasma has an internal pressure and thus wants to expand. For a fusion reactor, the challenge is to keep the plasma contained; any known substance would melt or sublime at these temperatures. But because a plasma is electrically conductive, it is subject to electric and magnetic fields. In a magnetic field, the electrons and nuclei orbit around the magnetic field lines, confining them to the area defined by the field.
A simple confinement system can be made by placing a tube inside the open core of a solenoid. The tube can be evacuated and then filled with the requisite gas and heated until it becomes a plasma. The plasma naturally wants to expand outwards to the walls of the tube, as well as move along it, towards the ends. The solenoid creates magnetic field lines running down the center of the tube, and the plasma particles orbit these lines, preventing their motion towards the sides. Unfortunately, this arrangement would not confine the plasma along the "length" of the tube, and the plasma would be free to flow out the ends.
The obvious solution to this problem is to bend the tube around into a torus (a ring or donut) shape. Motion towards the sides remains constrained as before, and while the particles remain free to move along the lines, in this case, they will simply circulate around the long axis of the tube. But, as Fermi pointed out, when the solenoid is bent into a ring, the electrical windings would be closer together on the inside than the outside. This would lead to an uneven field across the tube, and the fuel will slowly drift out of the center. Since the electrons and ions would drift in opposite directions, this would lead to a charge separation and electrostatic forces that would eventually overwhelm the magnetic force. Some additional force needs to counteract this drift, providing long-term "confinement".
Spitzer's key concept in the stellarator design is that the drift that Fermi noted could be canceled out through the physical arrangement of the vacuum tube. In a simple torus, particles on the inside edge of the tube, where the field was stronger, would drift up, while those on the outside would drift down (or vice versa). However, if the particle were made to alternate between the inside and outside of the tube, the drifts would cancel out. The cancellation is not perfect, leaving some net drift, but basic calculations suggested drift would be lowered enough to confine plasma long enough to heat it sufficiently.
Spitzer's suggestion for doing this was simple. Instead of a normal torus, the device would essentially be cut in half to produce two half-tori. They would then be joined with two straight sections between the open ends. The key was that they were connected to alternate ends so that the right half of one of the tori was connected to the left of the other. The resulting design resembled a figure-8 when viewed from above. Because the straight tubes could not pass through each other, the design did not lie flat, the tori at either end had to be tilted. This meant the drift cancellation was further reduced, but again, calculations suggested the system would work.
To understand how the system works to counteract drift, consider the path of a single particle in the system starting in one of the straight sections. If that particle is perfectly centered in the tube, it will travel down the center into one of the half-tori, exit into the center of the next tube, and so on. This particle will complete a loop around the entire reactor without leaving the center. Now consider another particle traveling parallel to the first, but initially located near the inside wall of the tube. In this case, it will enter the "outside" edge of the half-torus and begin to drift down. It exits that section and enters the second straight section, still on the outside edge of that tube. However, because the tubes are crossed, when it reaches the second half-torus it enters it on the "inside" edge. As it travels through this section it drifts back up.
This effect would reduce one of the primary causes of drift in the machine, but there were others to consider as well. Although the ions and electrons in the plasma would both circle the magnetic lines, they would do so in opposite directions, and at very high rotational speeds. This leads to the possibility of collisions between particles circling different lines of force as they circulate through the reactor, which due to purely geometric reasons, causes the fuel to slowly drift outward. This process eventually causes the fuel to either collide with the structure or cause a large charge separation between the ions and electrons. Spitzer introduced the concept of a "divertor", a magnet placed around the tube that pulled off the very outer layer of the plasma. This would remove the ions before they drifted too far and hit the walls. It would also remove any heavier elements in the plasma.
Using classical calculations the rate of diffusion through collisions was low enough that it would be much lower than the drift due to uneven fields in a normal toroid. But earlier studies of magnetically confined plasmas in 1949 demonstrated much higher losses and became known as Bohm diffusion. Spitzer spent considerable effort considering this issue and concluded that the anomalous rate being seen by Bohm was due to instability in the plasma, which he believed could be addressed.
Practical complications make the original figure-8 device less than ideal. This led to alternative designs and additions.
One of the major concerns is that the magnetic fields in the system will only properly confine a particle of a given mass traveling at a given speed. Particles traveling faster or slower will not circulate in the desired fashion. Particles with very low speeds (corresponding to low temperatures) are not confined and can drift out to the tube walls. Those with too much energy may hit the outside walls of the curved sections. To address these concerns, Spitzer introduced the concept of a "divertor" that would connect to one of the straight sections. This was essentially a mass spectrometer that would remove particles that were moving too fast or too slow for proper confinement.
The physical limitation that the two straight sections cannot intersect means that the rotational transform within the loop is not a perfect 180 degrees, but typically closer to 135 degrees. This led to alternate designs in an effort to get the angle closer to 180. An early attempt was built into the Stellarator B-2, which placed both curved sections flat in relation to the ground, but at different heights. The formerly straight sections had additional curves inserted, two sections of about 45 degrees, so they now formed extended S-shapes. This allowed them to route around each other while being perfectly symmetrical in terms of angles.
A better solution to the need to rotate the particles was introduced in the Stellarator B-64 and B-65. These eliminated the cross-over and flattened the device into an oval, or as they referred to it, a racetrack. The rotation of the particles was introduced by placing a new set of magnetic coils on the half-torus on either end, the "corkscrew windings". The field from these coils mixes with the original confinement fields to produce a mixed field that rotates the lines of force through 180 degrees. This made the mechanical design of the reactor much simpler, but in practice, it was found that the mixed field was very difficult to produce in a perfectly symmetrical fashion.
Unlike the z-pinch designs being explored in the UK and other US labs, the stellarator has no induced electrical current within the plasma – at a macroscopic level, the plasma is neutral and unmoving, in spite of the individual particles within it rapidly circulating. In pinch machines, and the later tokamaks, the current itself is one of the primary methods of heating the plasma. In the stellarator, no such natural heating source is present.
Early stellarator designs used a system similar to those in the pinch devices to provide the initial heating to bring the gas to plasma temperatures. This consisted of a single set of windings from a transformer, with the plasma itself forming the secondary set. When energized with a pulse of current, the particles in the region are rapidly energized and begin to move. This brings additional gas into the region, quickly ionizing the entire mass of gas. This concept was referred to as "ohmic heating" because it relied on the resistance of the gas to create heat, in a fashion not unlike a conventional resistance heater. As the temperature of the gas increases, the conductivity of the plasma improves. This makes the ohmic heating process less and less effective, and this system is limited to temperatures of about 1 million kelvins.
To heat the plasma to higher temperatures, a second heat source was added, the "magnetic pumping" system. This consisted of radio-frequency source fed through a coil spread along the vacuum chamber. The frequency is chosen to be similar to the natural frequency of the particles around the magnetic lines of force, the "cyclotron frequency". This causes the particles in the area to gain energy, which causes them to orbit in a wider radius. Since other particles are orbiting their own lines nearby, at a macroscopic level, this change in energy appears as an increase in pressure. According to the ideal gas law, this results in an increase in temperature. Like the ohmic heating, this process also becomes less efficient as the temperature increases, but is still capable of creating very high temperatures. When the frequency is deliberately set close to that of the ion circulation, this is known as "ion-cyclotron resonance heating", although this name is not widely used.
There are several ways to heat the plasma (which must be done before ignition can occur).
Several different configurations of stellarator exist, including:
The goal of magnetic confinement devices is to minimise energy transport across a magnetic field. Toroidal devices are relatively successful because the magnetic properties seen by the particles are averaged as they travel around the torus. The strength of the field seen by a particle, however, generally varies, so that some particles will be trapped by the mirror effect. These particles will not be able to average the magnetic properties so effectively, which will result in increased energy transport. In most stellarators, these changes in field strength are greater than in tokamaks, which is a major reason that transport in stellarators tends to be higher than in tokamaks.
University of Wisconsin electrical engineering Professor David Anderson and research assistant John Canik proved in 2007 that the Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX) can overcome this major barrier in plasma research. The HSX is the first stellarator to use a quasisymmetric magnetic field. The team designed and built the HSX with the prediction that quasisymmetry would reduce energy transport. As the team's latest research showed, that is exactly what it does. "This is the first demonstration that quasisymmetry works, and you can actually measure the reduction in transport that you get," says Canik.
The newer Wendelstein 7-X in Germany was designed to be close to omnigeneity (a property of the magnetic field such that the mean radial drift is zero), which is a necessary but not sufficient condition for quasisymmetry; that is, all quasisymmetric magnetic fields are omnigenous, but not all omnigenous magnetic fields are quasisymmetric. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29591 |
SYSTRAN
SYSTRAN, founded by Dr. Peter Toma in 1968, is one of the oldest machine translation companies. SYSTRAN has done extensive work for the United States Department of Defense and the European Commission.
SYSTRAN provided the technology for Yahoo! Babel Fish until May 30, 2012, among others. It was used by Google's language tools until 2007. SYSTRAN is used by the Dashboard Translation widget in macOS.
Commercial versions of SYSTRAN can run on Microsoft Windows (including Windows Mobile), Linux, and Solaris. Historically, SYSTRAN systems used rule-based machine translation (RbMT) technology. With the release of SYSTRAN Server 7 in 2010, SYSTRAN implemented a hybrid rule-based/statistical machine translation (SMT) technology which was the first of its kind in the marketplace.
, the company had 59 employees of whom 26 are computational experts and 15 computational linguists. The number of employees decreased from 70 in 2006 to 59 in 2008.
With its origin in the Georgetown machine translation effort, SYSTRAN was one of the few machine translation systems to survive the major decrease of funding after the ALPAC Report of the mid-1960s. The company was established in La Jolla in California to work on translation of Russian to English text for the United States Air Force during the Cold War. Large numbers of Russian scientific and technical documents were translated using SYSTRAN under the auspices of the USAF Foreign Technology Division (later the National Air and Space Intelligence Center) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The quality of the translations, although only approximate, was usually adequate for understanding content.
The company was sold in 1986 to the Gachot family, based in Paris, and is now traded publicly on the French stock exchange. Its company headquarters is in Paris, while its U.S. headquarters is still in La Jolla.
During the dot-com boom, the international language industry started a new era, and SYSTRAN entered into agreements with a number of translation integrators, the most successful of these being WorldLingo.
In 2014, the company was acquired by CSLi (Korea).
Most of SYSTRAN's revenue comes from a few customers. 57.1% comes from the 10 main customers and the three largest customers account for 10.9%, 8.9%, and 8.9% of its revenues, respectively. Revenues had been declining in the early 2000s: 10.2 million euros in 2004, 10.1 million euros in 2005, 9.3 million euros in 2006, 8.8 million euros in 2007, and 7.6 million euros in 2008, before seeing a rebound in 2009 with 8.6 million euros.
The following is a list of the source and target languages with which SYSTRAN works. Many of the pairs are to or from English or French. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29593 |
Stephen I of Hungary
Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( ; ; ; 975 – 15 August 1038 AD), was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first King of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his birth is uncertain, but many details of his life suggest that he was born in or after 975 in Esztergom. At his birth, he was given the pagan name Vajk. The date of his baptism is unknown. He was the only son of Grand Prince Géza and his wife, Sarolt, who was descended from the prominent family of the "gyulas". Although both of his parents were baptized, Stephen was the first member of his family to become a devout Christian. He married Gisela of Bavaria, a scion of the imperial Ottonian dynasty.
After succeeding his father in 997, Stephen had to fight for the throne against his relative, Koppány, who was supported by large numbers of pagan warriors. He defeated Koppány mainly with the assistance of foreign knights, including Vecelin, Hont and Pázmány, but also with help from native lords. He was crowned on 25 December 1000 or 1 January 1001 with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II. In a series of wars against semi-independent tribes and chieftainsincluding the Black Hungarians and his uncle, Gyula the Youngerhe unified the Carpathian Basin. He protected the independence of his kingdom by forcing the invading troops of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, to withdraw from Hungary in 1030.
Stephen established at least one archbishopric, six bishoprics and three Benedictine monasteries; thus the Church in Hungary developed independently of the archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire. He encouraged the spread of Christianity with severe punishments for ignoring Christian customs. His system of local administration was based on counties organized around fortresses and administered by royal officials. Hungary, which enjoyed a lasting period of peace during his reign, became a preferred route for pilgrims and merchants traveling between Western Europe and the Holy Land or Constantinople.
He survived all of his children. He died on 15 August 1038 and was buried in his new basilica, built in Székesfehérvár and dedicated to the Holy Virgin. His death caused civil wars which lasted for decades. He was canonized by Pope Gregory VII, together with his son, Emeric, and Bishop Gerard of Csanád, in 1083. Stephen is a popular saint in Hungary and the neighboring territories. In Hungary, his feast day (celebrated on 20 August) is also a public holiday commemorating the foundation of the state, known as State Foundation Day.
Stephen's birth date is uncertain as it was not recorded in contemporaneous documents. Hungarian and Polish chronicles written centuries later give three different years: 967, 969 and 975. The unanimous testimony of his three late 11th-century or early 12th-century hagiographies and other Hungarian sources, which state that Stephen was "still an adolescent" in 997, substantiate the reliability of the later year (975). Stephen's "Lesser Legend" adds that he was born in Esztergom, which implies that he was born after 972 because his father, Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, chose Esztergom as royal residence around that year. Géza promoted the spread of Christianity among his subjects by force, but never ceased worshipping pagan gods. Both his son's "Greater Legend" and the nearly contemporaneous Thietmar of Merseburg described Géza as a cruel monarch, suggesting that he was a despot who mercilessly consolidated his authority over the rebellious Hungarian lords.
Hungarian chronicles agree that Stephen's mother was Sarolt, daughter of Gyula, a Hungarian chieftain with jurisdiction either in Transylvania or in the wider region of the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Maros. Many historiansincluding Pál Engel and Gyula Kristópropose that her father was identical with "Gylas", who had been baptized in Constantinople around 952 and "remained faithful to Christianity", according to Byzantine chronicler John Skylitzes. However, this identification is not unanimously accepted; historian György Györffy states that it was not Sarolt's father, but his younger brother, who was baptized in the Byzantine capital. In contrast with all Hungarian sources, the "Polish-Hungarian Chronicle" and later Polish sources state that Stephen's mother was Adelhaid, an otherwise unknown sister of Duke Mieszko I of Poland, but the reliability of this report is not accepted by modern historians.
Stephen was born as Vajk, a name derived from the Turkic word "baj", meaning "hero", "master", "prince" or "rich". Stephen's "Greater Legend" narrates that he was baptized by the saintly Bishop Adalbert of Prague, who stayed in Géza's court several times between 983 and 994. However, Saint Adalbert's nearly contemporaneous "Legend", written by Bruno of Querfurt, does not mention this event. Accordingly, the date of Stephen's baptism is unknown: Györffy argues that he was baptized soon after birth, while Kristó proposes that he only received baptism just before his father's death in 997.
Stephen's official hagiography, written by Bishop Hartvic and sanctioned by Pope Innocent III, narrates that he "was fully instructed in the knowledge of the grammatical art" in his childhood. This implies that he studied Latin, though some scepticism is warranted as few kings of this era were able to write. His two other late 11th-century hagiographies do not mention any grammatical studies, stating only that he "was brought up by receiving an education appropriate for a little prince". Kristó says that the latter remark only refers to Stephen's physical training, including his participation in hunts and military actions. According to the "Illuminated Chronicle", one of his tutors was a Count Deodatus from Italy, who later founded a monastery in Tata.
According to Stephen's legends, Grand Prince Géza convoked an assembly of the Hungarian chieftains and warriors when Stephen "ascended to the first stage of adolescence", at the age of 14 or 15. Géza nominated Stephen as his successor and all those present took an oath of loyalty to the young prince. Györffy also writes, without identifying his source, that Géza appointed his son to rule the "Nyitra ducate" around that time. Slovak historians, including Ján Steinhübel and Ján Lukačka, accept Györffy's view and propose that Stephen administered Nyitra (now Nitra, Slovakia) from around 995.
Géza arranged Stephen's marriage, to Gisela, daughter of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, in or after 995. This marriage established the first family link between a Hungarian ruler and a Western European ruling house, as Gisela was closely related to the Ottonian dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. According to popular tradition preserved in the Scheyern Abbey in Bavaria, the ceremony took place at the Scheyern castle and was celebrated by Saint Adalbert. Gisela was accompanied to her new home by Bavarian knights, many of whom received land grants from her husband and settled in Hungary, helping to strengthen Stephen's military position. Györffy writes that Stephen and his wife "presumably" settled in Nyitra after their marriage.
Grand Prince Géza died in 997. Stephen convoked an assembly at Esztergom where his supporters declared him grand prince. Initially, he only controlled the northwestern regions of the Carpathian Basin; the rest of the territory was still dominated by tribal chieftains. Stephen's ascension to the throne was in line with the principle of primogeniture, which prescribed that a father was succeeded by his son. On the other hand, it contradicted the traditional idea of seniority, according to which Géza should have been succeeded by the most senior member of the Árpád dynasty, which was Koppány at that time. Koppány, who held the title Duke of Somogy, had for many years administered the regions of Transdanubia south of Lake Balaton.
Koppány proposed to Géza's widow, Sarolt, in accordance with the pagan custom of levirate marriage. He also announced his claim to the throne. Although it is not impossible that Koppány had already been baptized, in 972, most of his supporters were pagans, opponents of the Christianity represented by Stephen and his predominantly German retinue. A charter of 1002 for the Pannonhalma Archabbey writes of a war between "the Germans and the Hungarians" when referring to the armed conflicts between Stephen and Koppány. Even so, Györffy says that "Oszlar" ("Alan"), "Besenyő" ("Pecheneg"), "Kér" and other place names, referring to ethnic groups or Hungarian tribes in Transdanubia around the supposed borders of Koppány's duchy, suggest that significant auxiliary units and groups of Hungarian warriorswho had been settled there by Grand Prince Gézafought in Stephen's army.
Kristó states that the entire conflict between Stephen and Koppány was only a feud between two members of the Árpád dynasty, with no effect on other Hungarian tribal leaders. Koppány and his troops invaded the northern regions of Transdanubia, took many of Stephen's forts and plundered his lands. Stephen, who according to the "Illuminated Chronicle" "was for the first time girded with his sword", placed the brothers Hont and Pázmány at the head of his own guard and nominated Vecelin to lead the royal army. The latter was a German knight who had come to Hungary in the reign of Géza. Hont and Pázmány were, according to Simon of Kéza's "Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum" and the "Illuminated Chronicle", "knights of Swabian origin" who settled in Hungary either under Géza or in the first years of Stephen's reign. On the other hand, Lukačka and other Slovak historians say that Hont and Pázmány were "Slovak" noblemen who had joined Stephen during his rule in Nyitra.
Koppány was besieging Veszprém when he was informed of the arrival of Stephen's army. In the ensuing battle, Stephen won a decisive victory over his enemies. Koppány was killed on the battlefield. His body was quartered and its parts were displayed at the gates of the forts of Esztergom, Győr, Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, Romania) and Veszprém in order to threaten all of those who were conspiring against the young monarch.
Stephen occupied Koppány's duchy and granted large estates to his own partisans. He also prescribed that Koppány's former subjects were to pay tithes to the Pannonhalma Archabbey, according to the deed of the foundation of this monastery which has been preserved in a manuscript containing interpolations. The same document declares that "there were no other bishoprics and monasteries in Hungary" at that time. On the other hand, the nearly contemporary Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg stated that Stephen "established bishoprics in his kingdom" before being crowned king. If the latter report is valid, the dioceses of Veszprém and Győr are the most probable candidates, according to historian Gábor Thoroczkay.
By ordering the display of one part of Koppány's quartered corpse in Gyulafehérvár, the seat of his maternal uncle, Gyula the Younger, Stephen asserted his claim to reign all lands dominated by Hungarian lords. He also decided to strengthen his international status by adopting the title of king. However, the exact circumstances of his coronation and its political consequences are subject to scholarly debate.
Thietmar of Merseburg writes that Stephen received the crown "with the favour and urging" of Emperor Otto III (r. 996–1002), implying that Stephen accepted the Emperor's suzerainty before his coronation. On the other hand, all of Stephen's legends emphasize that he received his crown from Pope Sylvester II (r. 999–1003). Kristó and other historians point out that Pope Sylvester and Emperor Otto were close allies, which implies that both reports are valid: Stephen "received the crown and consecration" from the Pope, but not without the Emperor's consent. Around 75 years after the coronation, Pope Gregory VII (r. 1075–1085), who claimed suzerainty over Hungary, declared that Stephen had "offered and devotedly surrendered" Hungary "to Saint Peter" (that is to the Holy See). In a contrasting report, Stephen's "Greater Legend" states that the King offered Hungary to the Virgin Mary. Modern historiansincluding Pál Engel, and Miklós Molnárwrite that Stephen always asserted his sovereignty and never accepted papal or imperial suzerainty. For instance, none of his charters were dated according to the years of the reign of the contemporary emperors, which would have been the case if he had been their vassal. Furthermore, Stephen declared in the preamble to his "First Book of Laws" that he governed his realm "by the will of God".
The exact date of Stephen's coronation is unknown. According to later Hungarian tradition, he was crowned on the first day of the second millennium, which may refer either to 25 December 1000 or to 1 January 1001. Details of Stephen's coronation preserved in his "Greater Legend" suggest that the ceremony, which took place in Esztergom or Székesfehérvár followed the rite of the coronation of the German kings. Accordingly, Stephen was anointed with consecrated oil during the ceremony. Stephen's portrait, preserved on his royal cloak from 1031, shows that his crown, like the Holy Roman Emperor's diadem, was a hoop crown decorated with gemstones.
Besides his crown, Stephen regarded a spear with a flag as an important symbol of his sovereignty. For instance, his first coins bear the inscription LANCEA REGIS ("the king's spear") and depict an arm holding a spear with flag. According to the contemporaneous Adémar de Chabannes, a spear had been given to Stephen's father by Emperor Otto III as a token of Géza's right to "enjoy the most freedom in the possession of his country". Stephen is styled in various ways"Ungarorum rex" ("king of the Hungarians"), "Pannoniorum rex" ("king of the Pannonians") or "Hungarie rex" ("king of Hungary")in his charters.
Although Stephen's power did not rely on his coronation, the ceremony granted him the internationally accepted legitimacy of a Christian monarch who ruled his realm "by the Grace of God". All his legends testify that he established an archbishopric with its see in Esztergom shortly after his coronation. This act ensured that the Church in Hungary became independent of the prelates of the Holy Roman Empire. The earliest reference to an archbishop of Esztergom, named Domokos, has been preserved in the deed of foundation of the Pannonhalma Archabbey from 1002. According to historian Gábor Thoroczkay, Stephen also established the Diocese of Kalocsa in 1001. Stephen invited foreign priests to Hungary to evangelize his kingdom. Associates of the late Adalbert of Prague, including Radla and Astrik, arrived in Hungary in the first years of his reign. The presence of an unnamed "Archbishop of the Hungarians" at the synod of 1007 of Frankfurt and the consecration of an altar in Bamberg in 1012 by Archbishop Astrik show that Stephen's prelates maintained a good relationship with the clergy of the Holy Roman Empire.
The transformation of Hungary into a Christian state was one of Stephen's principal concerns throughout his reign. Although the Hungarians' conversion had already begun in his father's reign, it was only Stephen who systematically forced his subjects to give up their pagan rituals. His legislative activity was closely connected with Christianity. For example, his "First Book of Laws" from the first years of his reign includes several provisions prescribing the observance of feast days and the confession before death. His other laws protected property rights and the interests of widows and orphans, or regulated the status of serfs.
Many Hungarian lords refused to accept Stephen's suzerainty even after his coronation. The new King first turned against his own uncle, Gyula the Younger, whose realm "was most wide and rich", according to the "Illuminated Chronicle". Stephen invaded Transylvania and seized Gyula and his family around 1002 or in 1003. The contemporary "Annals of Hildesheim" adds that Stephen converted his uncle's "country to the Christian faith by force" after its conquest. Accordingly, historians date the establishment of the Diocese of Transylvania to this period. If the identification, proposed by Kristó, Györffy and other Hungarian historians, of Gyula with one Prokuiwho was Stephen's uncle according to Thietmar of Merseburgis valid, Gyula later escaped from captivity and fled to Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland (r. 992–1025).
About a hundred years later, the chronicler Gallus Anonymus also made mention of armed conflicts between Stephen and Boleslav, stating that the latter "defeated the Hungarians in battle and made himself master of all their lands as far as the Danube". Györffy says that the chronicler's report refers to the occupation of the valley of the river Moravaa tributary of the Danubeby the Poles in the 1010s. On the other hand, the "Polish-Hungarian Chronicle" states that the Polish duke occupied large territories north of the Danube and east of the Morava as far as Esztergom in the early 11th century. According to Steinhübel, the latter source proves that a significant part of the lands that now form Slovakia were under Polish rule between 1002 and 1030. In contrast with the Slovak historian, Györffy writes that this late chronicle "in which one absurdity follows another" contradicts all facts known from 11th-century sources.
The "Illuminated Chronicle" narrates that Stephen "led his army against Kean, Duke of the Bulgarians and Slavs whose lands are by their natural position most strongly fortified" following the occupation of Gyula's country. According to a number of historians, including Zoltán Lenkey and Gábor Thoroczkay, Kean was the head of a small state located in the southern parts of Transylvania and Stephen occupied his country around 1003. Other historians, including Györffy, say that the chronicle's report preserved the memory of Stephen's campaign against Bulgaria in the late 1010s.
Likewise, the identification of the "Black Hungarians"who were mentioned by Bruno of Querfurt and Adémar de Chabannes among the opponents of Stephen's proselytizing policyis uncertain. Györffy locates their lands to the east of the river Tisza; while Thoroczkay says they live in the southern parts of Transdanubia. Bruno of Querfurt's report of the Black Hungarians' conversion by force suggests that Stephen conquered their lands at the latest in 1009 when "the first mission of Saint Peter"a papal legate, Cardinal Azoarrived in Hungary. The latter attended the meeting in Győr where the royal charter determining the borders of the newly established Bishopric of Pécs was issued on 23 August 1009.
The Diocese of Eger was also set up around 1009. According to Thoroczkay, "it is very probable" that the bishopric's establishment was connected with the conversion of the Kabarsan ethnic group of Khazar origin and their chieftain. The head of the Kabarswho was either Samuel Aba or his father married Stephen's unnamed younger sister on this occasion. The Aba clan was the most powerful among the native families who joined Stephen and supported him in his efforts to establish a Christian monarchy. The reports by Anonymus, Simon of Kéza and other Hungarian chroniclers of the Bár-Kalán, Csák and other 13th-century noble families descending from Hungarian chieftains suggest that other native families were also involved in the process.
Stephen set up a territory-based administrative system, establishing counties. Each county, headed by a royal official known as a count or "ispán", was an administrative unit organized around a royal fortress. Most fortresses were earthworks in this period, but the castles at Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Veszprém were built of stone. Forts serving as county seats also became the nuclei of Church organization. The settlements developing around them, where markets were held on each Sunday, were important local economic centers.
Stephen's brother-in-law, Henry II, became King of Germany in 1002 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1013. Their friendly relationship ensured that the western borders of Hungary experienced a period of peace in the first decades of the 11th century. Even when Henry II's discontented brother, Bruno, sought refuge in Hungary in 1004, Stephen preserved the peace with Germany and negotiated a settlement between his two brothers-in-law. Around 1009, he gave his younger sister in marriage to Otto Orseolo, Doge of Venice (r. 1008–1026), a close ally of the Byzantine Emperor, Basil II (r. 976–1025), which suggests that Hungary's relationship with the Byzantine Empire was also peaceful. On the other hand, the alliance between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire brought her into a war with Poland lasting from around 1014 until 1018. The Poles occupied the Hungarian posts along the river Morava. Györffy and Kristó write that a Pecheneg incursion into Transylvania, the memory of which has been preserved in Stephen's legends, also took place in this period, because the Pechenegs were close allies of the Polish duke's brother-in-law, Grand Prince Sviatopolk I of Kiev (r. 1015–1019).
Poland and the Holy Roman Empire concluded the Peace of Bautzen in January 1018. Later in the same year, 500 Hungarian horsemen accompanied Boleslav of Poland to Kiev, suggesting that Hungary had been included in the peace treaty. The historian Ferenc Makk says that the Peace of Bautzen obliged Boleslav to hand over all the territories he had occupied in the Morava valley to Stephen. According to Leodvin, the first known Bishop of Bihar (r. 1050 – 1060), Stephen allied with the Byzantines and led a military expedition to assist them against "barbarians" in the Balkan Peninsula. The Byzantine and Hungarian troops jointly took "Cesaries" which Györffy identifies as the present-day town of Ohrid. Leodvin's report suggests that Stephen joined the Byzantines in the war ending with their conquest of Bulgaria in 1018. However, the exact date of his expedition is uncertain. Györffy argues that it was only in the last year of the war that Stephen led his troops against the Bulgarians.
Bishop Leodvin wrote that Stephen collected relics of a number of saints in "Cesaries" during his campaign in the Balkans, including Saint George and Saint Nicholas. He donated them to his new triple-naved basilica dedicated to the Holy Virgin in Székesfehérvár, where he also set up a cathedral chapter and his new capital. His decision was influenced by the opening, in 1018 or 1019, of a new pilgrimage route that bypassed his old capital, Esztergom. The new route connected Western Europe and the Holy Land through Hungary. Stephen often met the pilgrims, contributing to the spread of his fame throughout Europe. Abbot Odilo of Cluny, for example, wrote in a letter to Stephen that "those who have returned from the shrine of our Lord" testify to the king's passion "towards the honour of our divine religion". Stephen also established four hostels for pilgrims in Constantinople, Jerusalem, Ravenna and Rome.
In addition to pilgrims, merchants often used the safe route across Hungary when travelling between Constantinople and Western Europe. Stephen's legends refer to 60 wealthy Pechenegs who travelled to Hungary, but were attacked by Hungarian border guards. The king sentenced his soldiers to death in order to demonstrate his determination to preserve internal peace. Regular minting of coinage began in Hungary in the 1020s. Stephen's silver dinars bearing the inscriptions STEPHANUS REX ("King Stephen") and REGIA CIVITAS ("royal city") were popular in contemporary Europe, as demonstrated by counterfeited copies unearthed in Sweden.
Stephen convinced some pilgrims and merchants to settle in Hungary. Gerard, a Benedictine monk who arrived in Hungary from the Republic of Venice between 1020 and 1026, initially planned to continue his journey to the Holy Land, but decided to stay in the country after his meeting with the king. Stephen also established a number of Benedictine monasteriesincluding the abbeys at Pécsvárad, Zalavár and Bakonybélin this period.
The "Long Life of Saint Gerard" mentions Stephen's conflict with Ajtony, a chieftain in the region of the river Maros. Many historians date their clash to the end of the 1020s, although Györffy and other scholars put it at least a decade earlier. The conflict arose when Ajtony, who "had taken his power from the Greeks", according to Saint Gerard's legend, levied tax on the salt transported to Stephen on the river. The king sent a large army led by Csanád against Ajtony, who was killed in battle. His lands were transformed into a Hungarian county and the king set up a new bishopric at Csanád (Cenad, Romania), Ajtony's former capital, which was renamed after the commander of the royal army. According to the "Annales Posonienses", the Venetian Gerard was consecrated as the first bishop of the new diocese in 1030.
Stephen's brother-in-law, Emperor Henry, died on 13 July 1024. He was succeeded by a distant relative, Conrad II (r. 1024–1039), who adopted an offensive foreign policy. Conrad II expelled Doge Otto Orseolothe husband of Stephen's sisterfrom Venice in 1026. He also persuaded the Bavarians to proclaim his own son, Henry, as their duke in 1027, although Stephen's son, Emeric had a strong claim to the Duchy of Bavaria through his mother. Emperor Conrad planned a marriage alliance with the Byzantine Empire and dispatched one of his advisors, Bishop Werner of Strasbourg, to Constantinople. In the autumn of 1027, the bishop seemingly travelled as a pilgrim, but Stephen, who had been informed of his actual purpose, refused to let him enter into his country. Conrad II's biographer Wipo of Burgundy narrated that the Bavarians incited skirmishes along the common borders of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire in 1029, causing a rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries.
Emperor Conrad personally led his armies to Hungary in June 1030 and plundered the lands west of the River Rába. However, according to the "Annals of Niederalteich", the emperor, suffering from consequences of the scorched earth tactics used by the Hungarian army, returned to Germany "without an army and without achieving anything, because the army was threatened by starvation and was captured by the Hungarians at Vienna". Peace was restored after Conrad had ceded the lands between the rivers Lajta and Fischa to Hungary in the summer of 1031.
Stephen's biographer, Hartvic, narrates that the King, whose children died one by one in infancy, "restrained the grief over their death by the solace on account of the love of his surviving son", Emeric. However, Emeric was wounded in a hunting accident and died in 1031. After the death of his son, the elderly King could never "fully regain his former health", according to the "Illuminated Chronicle". Kristó writes that the picture, which has been preserved in Stephen's legends, of the king keeping the vigils and washing the feet of paupers, is connected with Stephen's last years, following the death of his son.
Emeric's death jeopardized his father's achievements in establishing a Christian state, because Stephen's cousin, Vazulwho had the strongest claim to succeed himwas suspected of an inclination towards paganism. According to the "Annals of Altaich" Stephen disregarded his cousin's claim and nominated his sister's son, the Venetian Peter Orseolo, as his heir. The same source adds that Vazul was captured and blinded, and his three sons, Levente, Andrew and Béla, were expelled from Hungary. Stephen's legends refer to an unsuccessful attempt upon the elderly king's life by members of his court. According to Kristó, the legends refer to a plot in which Vazul participated and his mutilation was a punishment for this act. That Vazul's ears were filled with molten lead was only recorded in later sources, including the "Illuminated Chronicle".
In the view of some historians, provisions in Stephen's "Second Book of Laws" on the "conspiracy against the king and the kingdom" imply that the book was promulgated after Vazul's unsuccessful plot against Stephen. However, this view has not been universally accepted. Györffy states that the law book was issued, not after 1031, but around 1009. Likewise, the authenticity of the decree on tithes is debated: according to Györffy, it was issued during Stephen's reign, but Berend, Laszlovszky and Szakács argue that it "might be a later addition".
Stephen died on 15 August 1038. He was buried in the basilica of Székesfehérvár. His reign was followed by a long period of civil wars, pagan uprisings and foreign invasions. The instability ended in 1077 when Ladislaus, a grandson of Vazul, ascended the throne.
Stephen married Gisela, a daughter of Duke Henry the Wrangler of Bavaria, who was a nephew of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Gisela's mother was Gisela of Burgundy, a member of the Welf dynasty. Born around 985, Gisela was younger than her husband, whom she survived. She left Hungary in 1045 and died as Abbess of the Niedernburg Abbey in Passau in Bavaria around 1060.
Although the "Illuminated Chronicle" states that Stephen "begot many sons", only two of them, Otto and Emeric, are known by name. Otto, who was named after Otto III, seems to have been born before 1002. He died as a child.
Emeric, who received the name of his maternal uncle, Emperor Henry II, was born around 1007. His "Legend" from the early 12th century describes him as a saintly prince who preserved his chastity even during his marriage. According to Györffy, Emeric's wife was a kinswoman of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. His premature death led to the series of conflicts leading to Vazul's blinding and civil wars.
The following family tree presents Stephen's ancestors and his relatives who are mentioned in the article.
"*A Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian lady.""**Györffy writes that she may have been a member of the Bulgarian Cometopuli dynasty.""***Samuel Aba might have been the son of Stephen's sister instead of her husband."
Stephen has always been considered one of the most important statesmen in the history of Hungary. His main achievement was the establishment of a Christian state that ensured that the Hungarians survived in the Carpathian Basin, in contrast to the Huns, Avars and other peoples who had previously controlled the same territory. As Bryan Cartledge emphasizes, Stephen also gave his kingdom "forty years of relative peace and sound but unspectacular rule".
His successors, including those descended from Vazul, were eager to emphasize their devotion to Stephen's achievements. Although Vazul's son, Andrew I of Hungary, secured the throne due to a pagan uprising, he prohibited pagan rites and declared that his subjects should "live in all things according to the law which King St. Stephen had taught them", according to the 14th-century "Illuminated Chronicle". In medieval Hungary, communities that claimed a privileged status or attempted to preserve their own "liberties" often declared that the origin of their special status was to be attributed to King Saint Stephen. An example is a 1347 letter from the people of Táp telling the king about their grievances against the Pannonhalma Archabbey and stating that the taxes levied upon them by the abbot contradicted "the liberty granted to them in the time of King Saint Stephen".
Stephen's cult emerged after the long period of anarchy characterizing the rule of his immediate successors. However, there is no evidence that Stephen became an object of veneration before his canonization. For instance, the first member of the royal family to be named after him, Stephen II, was born in the early 12th century.
Stephen's canonization was initiated by Vazul's grandson, King Ladislaus I of Hungary, who had consolidated his authority by capturing and imprisoning his cousin, Solomon. According to Bishop Hartvic, the canonization was "decreed by apostolic letter, by order of the Roman see", suggesting that the ceremony was permitted by Pope Gregory VII. The ceremony started at Stephen's tomb, where on 15 August 1083 masses of believers began three days of fasting and praying. Legend tells that Stephen's coffin could not be opened until King Ladislaus held Solomon in captivity at Visegrád. The opening of Stephen's tomb was followed by the occurrence of healing miracles, according to Stephen's legends. Historian Kristó attributes the healings either to mass psychosis or deception. Stephen's legends also say that his "balsam-scented" remains were elevated from the coffin, which was filled with "rose-colored water", on 20 August. On the same day, Stephen's son, Emeric, and the bishop of Csanád, Gerard, were also canonized.
Stephen's first legend, the so-called "Greater Legend", was written between 1077 and 1083. It provided an idealized portrait of the king, one who dedicated himself and his kingdom to the Virgin Mary. However, Stephen's "Lesser Legend"composed around 1100, under King Colomanemphasized Stephen's severity. A third legend, also composed during King Coloman's reign by Bishop Hartvic, was based on the two existing legends. Sanctioned in 1201 by Pope Innocent III, Hartvic's work served as Stephen's official legend. Gábor Klaniczay wrote that Stephen's legends "opened a new chapter in the legends of holy rulers as a genre", suggesting that a monarch can achieve sainthood through actively using his royal powers. Stephen was the first triumphant "miles Christi" ("Christ's soldier") among the canonized monarchs. He was also a "confessor king", one who had not suffered martyrdom, whose cult was sanctioned, in contrast with earlier holy monarchs.
Stephen's cult spread beyond the borders of Hungary. Initially, he was primarily venerated in Scheyern and Bamberg, in Bavaria, but his relics were also taken to Aachen, Cologne, Montecassino and Namur. Upon the liberation of Buda from the Ottoman Turks, Pope Innocent XI expanded King Saint Stephen's cult to the entire Roman Catholic Church in 1686, and declared 2 September his feast day. As the feast of Saint Joachim was moved, in 1969, from 16 August, the day immediately following the day of Stephen's death, Stephen's feast was moved to that date. Stephen is venerated as the patron saint of Hungary, and regarded as the protector of kings, masons, stonecutters, stonemasons and bricklayers, and also of children suffering from severe illnesses. His canonization was recognized by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in 2000. In the calendar of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Stephen's feast is observed on 20 August, the day on which his relics were translated. In addition, a separate feast day (30 May) is dedicated to his "Holy Dexter".
Stephen's intact dexter, or right hand (), became the subject of a cult. A cleric named Mercurius stole it, but it was discovered on 30 May 1084 in Bihar County. The theft of sacred relics, or "furta sacra", had by that time become a popular topic of saints' biographies. Bishop Hartvic described the discovery of Stephen's right hand in accordance with this tradition, referring to adventures and visions. An abbey erected in Bihar County (now Sâniob, Romania) was named after and dedicated to the veneration of the Holy Dexter.
The Holy Dexter was kept for centuries in the Szentjobb Abbey, except during the Mongol invasion of 1241 and 1242, when it was transferred to Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia). The relic was then taken to Székesfehérvár around 1420. Following the Ottoman occupation of the central territories of the Kingdom of Hungary in the mid-16th century, it was guarded in many places, including Bosnia, Ragusa and Vienna. It was returned to Hungary in 1771, when Queen Maria Theresa donated it to the cloister of the Sisters of Loreto in Buda. It was kept in Buda Castle's St. Sigismund Chapel between around 1900 and 1944, in a cave near Salzburg in 1944 and 1945, and again by the Sisters of Loreto in Buda, between 1945 and 1950. Finally, since 1950, the Holy Dexter has been in St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. An annual procession celebrating the relic was instituted in 1938, and continued until 1950, when the procession was forbidden by the Communist government. It was resumed in 1988.
According to Stephen's "Greater Legend", the king "himself compiled a book for his son on moral education". This work, now known as "Admonitions" or "De institutione morum", was preserved in manuscripts written in the Late Middle Ages. Although scholars debate whether it can actually be attributed to the king or a cleric, most of them agree that it was composed in the first decades of the 11th century.
The "Admonitions" argues that kingship is inseparably connected with the Catholic faith. Its author emphasized that a monarch is required to make donations to the Church and regularly consult his prelates, but is entitled to punish clergymen who do wrong. One of its basic ideas was that a sovereign has to cooperate with the "pillars of his rule", meaning the prelates, aristocrats, "ispáns" and warriors.
King St Stephen has been a popular theme in Hungarian poetry since the end of the 13th century. The earliest poems were religious hymns which portrayed the holy king as the apostle of the Hungarians. Secular poetry, especially poems written for his feast day, followed a similar pattern, emphasizing Stephen's role as the first king of Hungary. Poets described Stephen as the symbol of national identity and independence and of the ability of the Hungarian nation to survive historical cataclysms during the Communist regime between 1949 and 1989.
A popular hymn, still sung in the churches, was first recorded in the late . It hails King St. Stephen as "radiant star of Hungarians". Ludwig van Beethoven composed his "King Stephen Overture" for the inauguration of the Hungarian theatre in Pest in 1812. According to musician James M. Keller, "[t]he descending unisons that open the "King Stephen Overture" would seem to prefigure the opening of the "Ninth Symphony" [a]nd then a later theme, introduced by flutes and clarinets, seems almost to be a of the famous "Ode 'To Joy"' melody of the Ninth Symphony's finale". Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel named his last complete opera from 1885, "István király" ("King Stephen"), after him. In 1938, Zoltán Kodály wrote a choral piece titled "Ének Szent István Királyhoz" ("Hymn to King Stephen"). In 1983, Levente Szörényi and János Bródy composed a rock opera—"István, a király" ("Stephen, the King")—about the early years of his reign. Seventeen years later, in 2000, Szörényi composed a sequel called "Veled, Uram!" ("You, Sir"). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29594 |
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin (c. 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote over 100 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag.
Joplin grew up in a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Arkansas, and developed his own musical knowledge with the help of local teachers. While in Texarkana, Texas, he formed a vocal quartet and taught mandolin and guitar. During the late 1880s, he left his job as a railroad laborer and traveled the American South as an itinerant musician. He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which played a major part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897.
Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and earned a living as a piano teacher. There he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden and Brun Campbell. He began publishing music in 1895, and publication of his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame. This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime. It also brought Joplin a steady income for life, though he did not reach this level of success again and frequently had financial problems. In 1901, Joplin moved to St. Louis, where he continued to compose and publish, and regularly performed in the community. The score to his first opera, "A Guest of Honor", was confiscated in 1903 with his belongings for non-payment of bills, and is now considered lost.
In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera. He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the musical form that had made him famous, but without much monetary success. His second opera, "Treemonisha", was never fully staged during his life.
In 1916, Joplin descended into dementia as a result of syphilis. He was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital in January 1917, and died there three months later at the age of 48. Joplin's death is widely considered to mark the end of ragtime as a mainstream music format; over the next several years, it evolved with other styles into stride, jazz and eventually big band swing.
Joplin's music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of a million-selling album recorded by Joshua Rifkin. This was followed by the Academy Award-winning 1973 film "The Sting", which featured several of Joplin's compositions, most notably "The Entertainer", a piece performed by pianist Marvin Hamlisch that received wide airplay. "Treemonisha" was finally produced in full, to wide acclaim, in 1972. In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
Joplin was the second of six children born to Giles Joplin, an ex-slave from North Carolina, and Florence Givens, a freeborn African-American woman from Kentucky.. His birth date was accepted by early biographers Blesh and Haskins as November 24, 1868 , although later biographer Berlin showed this was "almost certainly incorrect". There is disagreement over his exact place of birth in Texas, with Blesh identifying Texarkana, Texas, and Berlin showing the earliest record of Joplin being the June 1870 census which locates him in Linden, Texas as a two-year old.
By 1880 the Joplins moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, where Giles worked as a railroad laborer and Florence as a cleaner. As Joplin's father had played the violin for plantation parties in North Carolina, and his mother sang and played the banjo, he was given a rudimentary musical education by his family, and from the age of seven, he was allowed to play the piano while his mother cleaned.
At some point in the early 1880s, Giles Joplin left the family for another woman, and Florence struggled to support her children through domestic work. Biographer Susan Curtis speculates that Florence's support of her son's musical education was a critical factor behind her separation from Giles, who wanted the boy to pursue practical employment that would supplement the family income.
According to a family friend, the young Joplin was serious and ambitious, studying music and playing the piano after school. While a few local teachers aided him, he received most of his musical education from Julius Weiss, a German-born American Jewish music professor who had immigrated to Texas in the late 1860s and was employed as music tutor by a prominent local business family. Weiss, as described by "San Diego Jewish World" writer Eric George Tauber, "was no stranger to [receiving] race hatred... As a German Jew, he was often slapped and called a “Christ-killer." Weiss had studied music at a German university and was listed in town records as a professor of music. Impressed by Joplin's talent, and realizing the Joplin family's dire straits, Weiss taught him free of charge. While tutoring the 11-year-old Joplin until age 16, Weiss introduced him to folk and classical music, including opera. Weiss helped Joplin appreciate music as an "art as well as an entertainment," and helped Florence acquire a used piano. According to Weiss' wife Lottie, Joplin never forgot Weiss. In his later years, after achieving fame as a composer, Joplin sent his former teacher "...gifts of money when he was old and ill" until Weiss died. At the age of 16, Joplin performed in a vocal quartet with three other boys in and around Texarkana, also playing piano. He also taught guitar and mandolin.
In the late 1880s, having performed at various local events as a teenager, Joplin gave up his job as a railroad laborer and left Texarkana to become a traveling musician. Little is known about his movements at this time, although he is recorded in Texarkana in July 1891 as a member of the Texarkana Minstrels, who were raising money for a monument to Jefferson Davis, president of the former Confederate States of America. However, Joplin soon learned that there were few opportunities for black pianists. Churches and brothels were among the few options for steady work. Joplin played pre-ragtime"jig-piano" in various red-light districts throughout the mid-South, and some claim he was in Sedalia and St. Louis, Missouri, during this time.
In 1893, while in Chicago for the World's Fair, Joplin formed his first band, in which he played cornet and also arranged the band's music. Although the World's Fair minimized the involvement of African-Americans, black performers still came to the saloons, cafés and brothels that lined the fair. The exposition was attended by 27 million visitors and had a profound effect on many areas of American cultural life, including ragtime. Although specific information is sparse, numerous sources have credited the Chicago World's Fair with spreading the popularity of ragtime. Joplin found that his music, as well as that of other black performers, was popular with visitors. By 1897, ragtime had become a national craze in U.S. cities, and was described by the "St. Louis Dispatch" as "a veritable call of the wild, which mightily stirred the pulses of city bred people."
In 1894 Joplin arrived in Sedalia, Missouri. At first, Joplin stayed with the family of Arthur Marshall, at the time a 13-year-old boy but later one of Joplin's students and a ragtime composer in his own right. There is no record of Joplin having a permanent residence in the town until 1904, as Joplin was making a living as a touring musician.
There is little precise evidence known about Joplin's activities at this time, although he performed as a solo musician at dances and at the major black clubs in Sedalia, the Black 400 Club and the Maple Leaf Club. He performed in the Queen City Cornet Band and his own six-piece dance orchestra. A tour with his own singing group, the Texas Medley Quartet, gave him his first opportunity to publish his own compositions, and it is known that he went to Syracuse, New York and Texas. Two businessmen from New York published Joplin's first two works, the songs "Please Say You Will" and "A Picture of Her Face", in 1895. Joplin's visit to Temple, Texas enabled him to have three pieces published there in 1896, including the "Great Crush Collision March", which commemorated a planned train crash on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad on September 15 that he may have witnessed. The march was described by one of Joplin's biographers as a "special... early essay in ragtime." While in Sedalia, Joplin taught piano to students who included future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Brun Campbell and Scott Hayden. Joplin enrolled at the George R. Smith College, where he apparently studied "...advanced harmony and composition." The college's records were destroyed in a fire in 1925, and biographer Edward A. Berlin notes that it was unlikely that a small college for African-Americans would be able to provide such a course.
In 1899, Joplin married Belle, the sister-in-law of collaborator Scott Hayden. Although there were hundreds of rags in print by the time the "Maple Leaf Rag" was published, Joplin was not far behind. His first published rag, "Original Rags", had been completed in 1897, the same year that the first ragtime work appeared in print, the "Mississippi Rag" by William Krell. The "Maple Leaf Rag" was likely to have been known in Sedalia before its publication in 1899; Brun Campbell claimed to have seen the manuscript of the work in around 1898. The exact circumstances that led to the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag" are unknown, and a number of versions of the event contradict each other. After several unsuccessful approaches to publishers, Joplin signed a contract on August 10, 1899 with John Stillwell Stark, a retailer of musical instruments who later became his most important publisher. The contract stipulated that Joplin would receive a 1% royalty on all sales of the rag, with a minimum sales price of 25 cents. With the inscription "To the Maple Leaf Club" prominently visible along the top of at least some editions, it is likely that the rag was named after the Maple Leaf Club, although there is no direct evidence to prove the link, and there were many other possible sources for the name in and around Sedalia at the time.
There have been many claims about the sales of the "Maple Leaf Rag", for example that Joplin was the first musician to sell 1 million copies of a piece of instrumental music. Joplin's first biographer, Rudi Blesh wrote that during its first six months the piece sold 75,000 copies, and became "...the first great instrumental sheet music hit in America." However, research by Joplin's later biographer Edward A. Berlin demonstrated that this was not the case; the initial print-run of 400 took one year to sell, and under the terms of Joplin's contract with a 1% royalty would have given Joplin an income of $4 (or approximately $ at current prices). Later sales were steady, and would have given Joplin an income that would have covered his expenses. In 1909, estimated sales would have given him an income of $600 annually (approximately $16,968 in current prices).
The "Maple Leaf Rag" did serve as a model for the hundreds of rags to come from future composers, especially in the development of classic ragtime. After the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin was soon being described as "King of rag time writers", not least by himself on the covers of his own work, such as "The Easy Winners" and "Elite Syncopations".
After the Joplins moved to St. Louis in early 1900, they had a baby daughter who died only a few months after birth. Joplin's relationship with his wife was difficult, as she had no interest in music. They eventually separated and then divorced. About this time, Joplin collaborated with Scott Hayden in the composition of four rags. It was in St. Louis that Joplin produced some of his best-known works, including "The Entertainer", "March Majestic", and the short theatrical work "The Ragtime Dance". By 1903 the Joplins had moved to a 13-room house, renting some of the rooms to lodgers which included pianist-composers Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. Joplin did not work as a pianist in the saloons in St Louis, which was usually a major source of income for musicians, as he was "probably outclassed by the competition" and was, according to Stark's son, "a mediocre pianist". Biographer Berlin speculated that by 1903 Joplin was already showing early signs of syphilis which negatively affected his coordination and "pianistic skills" .
In June 1904, Joplin married Freddie Alexander of Little Rock, Arkansas, the young woman to whom he had dedicated "The Chrysanthemum". She died on September 10, 1904, of complications resulting from a cold, ten weeks after their wedding. Joplin's first work copyrighted after Freddie's death, "Bethena", was described by one biographer as "...an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of ragtime waltzes."
During this time, Joplin created an opera company of 30 people and produced his first opera "A Guest of Honor" for a national tour. It is not certain how many productions were staged, or even if this was an all-black show or a racially mixed production. During the tour, either in Springfield, Illinois, or Pittsburg, Kansas, someone associated with the company stole the box office receipts. Joplin could not meet the company's payroll or pay for its lodgings at a theatrical boarding house. It is believed that the score for "A Guest of Honor" was lost and perhaps destroyed because of non-payment of the company's boarding house bill.
In 1907, Joplin moved to New York City, which he believed was the best place to find a producer for a new opera. After his move to New York, Joplin met Lottie Stokes, whom he married in 1909. In 1911, unable to find a publisher, Joplin undertook the financial burden of publishing "Treemonisha" himself in piano-vocal format. In 1915, as a last-ditch effort to see it performed, he invited a small audience to hear it at a rehearsal hall in Harlem. Poorly staged and with only Joplin on piano accompaniment, it was "a miserable failure" to a public not ready for "crude" black musical forms—so different from the European grand opera of that time. The audience, including potential backers, was indifferent and walked out. Scott writes that "after a disastrous single performance ... Joplin suffered a breakdown. He was bankrupt, discouraged, and worn out." He concludes that few American artists of his generation faced such obstacles: ""Treemonisha" went unnoticed and unreviewed, largely because Joplin had abandoned commercial music in favor of art music, a field closed to African Americans." In fact, it was not until the 1970s that the opera received a full theatrical staging.
In 1914, Joplin and Lottie self-published his "Magnetic Rag" as the Scott Joplin Music Company, which he had formed the previous December. Biographer Vera Brodsky Lawrence speculates that Joplin was aware of his advancing deterioration due to syphilis and was "...consciously racing against time." In her sleeve notes on the 1992 Deutsche Grammophon release of "Treemonisha" she notes that he "...plunged feverishly into the task of orchestrating his opera, day and night, with his friend Sam Patterson standing by to copy out the parts, page by page, as each page of the full score was completed."
By 1916, Joplin was suffering from tertiary syphilis but more specifically it likely was neurosyphilis. In January 1917, he was admitted to Manhattan State Hospital, a mental institution. He died there on April 1 of syphilitic dementia at the age of 48 and was buried in a pauper's grave that remained unmarked for 57 years. His grave at Saint Michaels Cemetery in East Elmhurst was finally given a marker in 1974, the year "The Sting", which showcased his music, won for Best Picture at the Oscars.
The combination of classical music, the musical atmosphere present around Texarkana (including work songs, gospel hymns, spirituals and dance music) and Joplin's natural ability have been cited as contributing significantly to the invention of a new style that blended African-American musical styles with European forms and melodies, and first became celebrated in the 1890s: ragtime.
When Joplin was learning the piano, serious musical circles condemned ragtime because of its association with the vulgar and inane songs "...cranked out by the tune-smiths of Tin Pan Alley." As a composer Joplin refined ragtime, elevating it above the low and unrefined form played by the "...wandering honky-tonk pianists... playing mere dance music" of popular imagination. This new art form, the classic rag, combined Afro-American folk music's syncopation and 19th-century European romanticism, with its harmonic schemes and its march-like tempos. In the words of one critic, "Ragtime was basically... an Afro-American version of the polka, or its analog, the Sousa-style march." With this as a foundation, Joplin intended his compositions to be played exactly as he wrote them – without improvisation. Joplin wrote his rags as "classical" music in miniature form in order to raise ragtime above its "cheap bordello" origins and produced work that opera historian Elise Kirk described as, "... more tuneful, contrapuntal, infectious, and harmonically colorful than any others of his era."
Some speculate that Joplin's achievements were influenced by his classically trained German music teacher Julius Weiss, who may have brought a polka rhythmic sensibility from the old country to the 11-year old Joplin. As Curtis put it, "The educated German could open up the door to a world of learning and music of which young Joplin was largely unaware."
Joplin's first and most significant hit, the "Maple Leaf Rag", was described as the archetype of the classic rag, and influenced subsequent rag composers for at least 12 years after its initial publication thanks to its rhythmic patterns, melody lines, and harmony, though with the exception of Joseph Lamb, they generally failed to enlarge upon it. Joplin used the "Maple Leaf Rag" as inspiration for subsequent works such as "The Cascades" in 1903, "Leola" in 1905, "Gladiolus Rag" in 1907, and "Sugar Cane Rag" in 1908. While he used similar harmonic and melodic patterns the later compositions were not simple copies, but were distinctly new works, which used dissonance, chromatic sections and the blues third.
The opera's setting is a former slave community in an isolated forest near Joplin's childhood town Texarkana in September 1884. The plot centers on an 18-year-old woman Treemonisha who is taught to read by a white woman, and then leads her community against the influence of conjurers who prey on ignorance and superstition. Treemonisha is abducted and is about to be thrown into a wasps' nest when her friend Remus rescues her. The community realizes the value of education and the liability of their ignorance before choosing her as their teacher and leader.
Joplin wrote both the score and the libretto for the opera, which largely follows the form of European opera with many conventional arias, ensembles and choruses. In addition the themes of superstition and mysticism evident in "Treemonisha" are common in the operatic tradition, and certain aspects of the plot echo devices in the work of the German composer Richard Wagner (of which Joplin was aware). A sacred tree Treemonisha sits beneath recalls the tree that Siegmund takes his enchanted sword from in "Die Walküre", and the retelling of the heroine's origins echos aspects of the opera "Siegfried". In addition, African-American folk tales also influence the story—the wasp nest incident is similar to the story of Br'er Rabbit and the briar patch.
"Treemonisha" is not a ragtime opera—because Joplin employed the styles of ragtime and other black music sparingly, using them to convey "racial character," and to celebrate the music of his childhood at the end of the 19th century. The opera has been seen as a valuable record of rural black music from late 19th century re-created by a "skilled and sensitive participant."
Berlin speculates about parallels between the plot and Joplin's own life. He notes that Lottie Joplin (the composer's third wife) saw a connection between the character Treemonisha's wish to lead her people out of ignorance, and a similar desire in the composer. In addition, it has been speculated that Treemonisha represents Freddie, Joplin's second wife, because the date of the opera's setting was likely to have been the month of her birth.
At the time of the opera's publication in 1911, the "American Musician and Art Journal" praised it as, "...an entirely new form of operatic art." Later critics have also praised the opera as occupying a special place in American history, with its heroine, "...a startlingly early voice for modern civil rights causes, notably the importance of education and knowledge to African American advancement." Curtis's conclusion is similar: "In the end, "Treemonisha" offered a celebration of literacy, learning, hard work, and community solidarity as the best formula for advancing the race." Berlin describes it as a "...fine opera, certainly more interesting than most operas then being written in the United States," but later states that Joplin's own libretto showed the composer, "...was not a competent dramatist," with the book not up to the quality of the music.
As Rick Benjamin, the founder and director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, found out, Joplin succeeded in performing "Treemonisha" for paying audiences in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1913. On 6 December 2011, the centenary of the Joplin piano score's publication, New World Records released an entirely new recording of "Treemonisha". August 1984 saw the German premiere of "Treemonisha" at the Stadttheater Gießen. In October 2013, Nicolás Isasi directed the premiere of "Treemonisha" in Argentina with a team of 60 young artists at the in Buenos Aires. Another performance in Germany, falsely labelling itself as the German premiere, occurred on 25 April 2015 at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden under direction and choreography of .
Joplin's skills as a pianist were described in glowing terms by a Sedalia newspaper in 1898, and fellow ragtime composers Arthur Marshall and Joe Jordan both said that he played the instrument well. However, the son of publisher John Stark stated that Joplin was a rather mediocre pianist and that he composed on paper, rather than at the piano. Artie Matthews recalled the "delight" the St. Louis players took in outplaying Joplin.
While Joplin never made an audio recording, his playing is preserved on seven piano rolls for use in mechanical player pianos. All seven were made in 1916. Of these, the six released under the Connorized label show evidence of significant editing to correct the performance to strict rhythm and add embellishments, probably by the staff musicians at Connorized. Berlin theorizes that by the time Joplin reached St. Louis, he may have experienced discoordination of the fingers, tremors, and an inability to speak clearly—all symptoms of the syphilis that killed him in 1917. Biographer Blesh described the second roll recording of "Maple Leaf Rag" on the UniRecord label from June 1916 as "...shocking... disorganized and completely distressing to hear." While there is disagreement among piano-roll experts as to how much of this is due to the relatively primitive recording and production techniques of the time, Berlin notes that the "Maple Leaf Rag" roll was likely to be the truest record of Joplin's playing at the time. The roll, however, may not reflect his abilities earlier in life.
Joplin and his fellow ragtime composers rejuvenated American popular music, fostering an appreciation for African-American music among European-Americans by creating exhilarating and liberating dance tunes. "Its syncopation and rhythmic drive gave it a vitality and freshness attractive to young urban audiences indifferent to Victorian proprieties ... Joplin's ragtime expressed the intensity and energy of a modern urban America."
Joshua Rifkin, a leading Joplin recording artist, wrote, "A pervasive sense of lyricism infuses his work, and even at his most high-spirited, he cannot repress a hint of melancholy or adversity ... He had little in common with the fast and flashy school of ragtime that grew up after him." Joplin historian Bill Ryerson adds that, "In the hands of authentic practitioners like Joplin, ragtime was a disciplined form capable of astonishing variety and subtlety ... Joplin did for the rag what Chopin did for the mazurka. His style ranged from tones of torment to stunning serenades that incorporated the bolero and the tango." Biographer Susan Curtis wrote that Joplin's music had helped to "revolutionise American music and culture" by removing Victorian restraint.
Composer and actor Max Morath found it striking that the vast majority of Joplin's work did not enjoy the popularity of the "Maple Leaf Rag", because while the compositions were of increasing lyrical beauty and delicate syncopation they remained obscure and unheralded during his life. Joplin apparently realized that his music was ahead of its time: As music historian Ian Whitcomb mentions that Joplin, "...opined that "Maple Leaf Rag" would make him 'King of Ragtime Composers' but he also knew that he would not be a pop hero in his own lifetime. 'When I'm dead twenty-five years, people are going to recognize me,' he told a friend." Just over thirty years later he was recognized, and later historian Rudi Blesh wrote a large book about ragtime, which he dedicated to the memory of Joplin.
Although he was penniless and disappointed at the end of his life, Joplin set the standard for ragtime compositions and played a key role in the development of ragtime music. And as a pioneer composer and performer, he helped pave the way for young black artists to reach American audiences of all races. After his death, jazz historian Floyd Levin noted: "Those few who realized his greatness bowed their heads in sorrow. This was the passing of the king of all ragtime writers, the man who gave America a genuine native music."
The home Joplin rented in St. Louis from 1900 to 1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community. In 1983, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources made it the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to African American heritage. At first it focused entirely on Joplin and ragtime music, ignoring the urban milieu which shaped his musical compositions. A newer heritage project has expanded coverage to include the more complex social history of black urban migration and the transformation of a multi-ethnic neighborhood to the contemporary community. Part of this diverse narrative now includes coverage of uncomfortable topics of racial oppression, poverty, sanitation, prostitution, and sexually transmitted diseases.
After his death in 1917, Joplin's music and ragtime in general waned in popularity as new forms of musical styles, such as jazz and novelty piano, emerged. Even so, jazz bands and recording artists such as Tommy Dorsey in 1936, Jelly Roll Morton in 1939 and J. Russel Robinson in 1947 released recordings of Joplin compositions. "Maple Leaf Rag" was the Joplin piece found most often on 78 rpm records.
In the 1960s, a small-scale reawakening of interest in classical ragtime was underway among some American music scholars such as Trebor Tichenor, William Bolcom, William Albright and Rudi Blesh. Audiophile Records released a two-record set, "The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin, The Greatest of Ragtime Composers", performed by Knocky Parker, in 1970.
In 1968, Bolcom and Albright interested Joshua Rifkin, a young musicologist, in the body of Joplin's work. Together, they hosted an occasional ragtime-and-early-jazz evening on WBAI radio. In November 1970, Rifkin released a recording called "" on the classical label Nonesuch. It sold 100,000 copies in its first year and eventually became Nonesuch's first million-selling record. The "Billboard" Best-Selling Classical LPs chart for September 28, 1974 has the record at number 5, with the follow-up "Volume 2" at number 4, and a combined set of both volumes at number 3. Separately both volumes had been on the chart for 64 weeks. In the top seven spots on that chart, six of the entries were recordings of Joplin's work, three of which were Rifkin's. Record stores found themselves for the first time putting ragtime in the classical music section. The album was nominated in 1971 for two Grammy Award categories: Best Album Notes and Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra). Rifkin was also under consideration for a third Grammy for a recording not related to Joplin, but at the ceremony on March 14, 1972, Rifkin did not win in any category. He did a tour in 1974, which included appearances on BBC Television and a sell-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall. In 1979, Alan Rich wrote in the magazine "New York" that by giving artists like Rifkin the opportunity to put Joplin's music on disc, Nonesuch Records "...created, almost alone, the Scott Joplin revival."
In January 1971, Harold C. Schonberg, music critic at "The New York Times", having just heard the Rifkin album, wrote a featured Sunday edition article entitled "Scholars, Get Busy on Scott Joplin!" Schonberg's call to action has been described as the catalyst for classical music scholars, the sort of people Joplin had battled all his life, to conclude that Joplin was a genius. Vera Brodsky Lawrence of the New York Public Library published a two-volume set of Joplin works in June 1971, entitled "The Collected Works of Scott Joplin", stimulating a wider interest in the performance of Joplin's music.
In mid-February 1973 under the direction of Gunther Schuller, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble recorded an album of Joplin's rags taken from the period collection "Standard High-Class Rags" called "Joplin: The Red Back Book". The album won a Grammy Award as Best Chamber Music Performance in that year, and went on to become "Billboard" magazine's Top Classical Album of 1974. The group subsequently recorded two more albums for Golden Crest Records: "More Scott Joplin Rags" in 1974 and "The Road From Rags To Jazz" in 1975.
In 1973, film producer George Roy Hill contacted Schuller and Rifkin separately, asking each man to write the score for a film project he was working on: "The Sting". Both men turned down the request because of previous commitments. Instead Hill found Marvin Hamlisch available, and brought him into the project as composer. Hamlisch lightly adapted Joplin's music for "The Sting", for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Adaptation on April 2, 1974. His version of "The Entertainer" reached number 3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the American Top 40 music chart on May 18, 1974, prompting "The New York Times" to write, "The whole nation has begun to take notice." Thanks to the film and its score, Joplin's work became appreciated in both the popular and classical music world, becoming (in the words of music magazine "Record World"), the "classical phenomenon of the decade." Rifkin later said of the film soundtrack that Hamlisch lifted his piano adaptations directly from Rifkin's style and his band adaptations from Schuller's style. Schuller said Hamlisch, "...got the Oscar for music he didn't write (since it is by Joplin) and arrangements he didn't write, and 'editions' he didn't make. A lot of people were upset by that, but that's show biz!"
On October 22, 1971, excerpts from "Treemonisha" were presented in concert form at Lincoln Center with musical performances by Bolcom, Rifkin and Mary Lou Williams supporting a group of singers. Finally, on January 28, 1972, T.J. Anderson's orchestration of "Treemonisha" was staged for two consecutive nights, sponsored by the Afro-American Music Workshop of Morehouse College in Atlanta, with singers accompanied by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Shaw, and choreography by Katherine Dunham. Schonberg remarked in February 1972 that the "Scott Joplin Renaissance" was in full swing and still growing. In May 1975, "Treemonisha" was staged in a full opera production by the Houston Grand Opera. The company toured briefly, then settled into an eight-week run in New York on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in October and November. This appearance was directed by Gunther Schuller, and soprano Carmen Balthrop alternated with Kathleen Battle as the title character. An "original Broadway cast" recording was produced. Because of the lack of national exposure given to the brief Morehouse College staging of the opera in 1972, many Joplin scholars wrote that the Houston Grand Opera's 1975 show was the first full production.
1974 saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet under director Kenneth MacMillan create "Elite Syncopations", a ballet based on tunes by Joplin and other composers of the era. That year also brought the premiere by the Los Angeles Ballet of "Red Back Book", choreographed by John Clifford to Joplin rags from the collection of the same name, including both solo piano performances and arrangements for full orchestra. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29603 |
Syncopation
In music, syncopation involves a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur". It is the correlation of at least two sets of time intervals.
Syncopation is used in many musical styles, especially dance music: "All dance music makes use of syncopation, and it's often a vital element that helps tie the whole track together". In the form of a back beat, syncopation is used in virtually all contemporary popular music.
Syncopation can also occur when a strong harmony is placed on a weak beat, for instance, when a 7th-chord is placed on the second beat of measure or a dominant chord is placed at the fourth beat of a measure. The latter frequently occurs in tonal cadences in 18th- and early-19th-century music and is the usual conclusion of any section.
A hemiola can also be seen as one straight measure in three with one long chord and one short chord and a syncope in the measure thereafter, with one short chord and one long chord. Usually, the last chord in a hemiola is a (bi-)dominant, and as such a strong harmony on a weak beat, hence a syncope.
Technically, "syncopation occurs when a temporary displacement of the regular metrical accent occurs, causing the emphasis to shift from a strong accent to a weak accent". "Syncopation is", however, "very simply, a deliberate disruption of the two- or three-beat stress pattern, most often by stressing an off-beat, or a note that is not on the beat."
In the following example, there are two points of syncopation where the third beats are carried over (sustained) from the second beats. In the same way, the first beat of the second bar is carried over from the fourth beat of the first bar.
Though syncopation may be highly complex, dense or complex-looking rhythms often contain no syncopation. The following rhythm, though dense, stresses the regular downbeats, 1 and 4 (in ):
However, whether it's a placed rest or an accented note, any point in a piece of music that moves the listener's sense of the downbeat is a point of syncopation because it's shifting where the strong and weak accents are built.
The stress can shift by less than a whole beat, so it falls on an offbeat, as in the following example, where the stress in the first bar is shifted back by an eighth note (or quaver):
Whereas the notes are expected to fall "on" the beat:
Playing a note ever so slightly before, or after, a beat is another form of syncopation because this produces an unexpected accent:
It can be helpful to think of a rhythm in eighth notes and count it as "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and". In general, emphasizing the "and" would be considered the off-beat.
Anticipated bass is a bass tone that comes syncopated shortly before the downbeat, which is used in Son montuno Cuban dance music. Timing can vary, but it usually falls on the 2+ and the 4 of the time, thus anticipating the third and first beats. This pattern is commonly known as the Afro-Cuban bass tumbao.
Richard Middleton suggests adding the concept of transformation to Narmour's prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions in order to explain or generate syncopations. "The syncopated pattern is heard 'with reference to', 'in light of', as a remapping of, its partner." He gives examples of various types of syncopation: Latin, backbeat, and before-the-beat. First however, one may listen to the audio example of stress on the "strong" beats, where expected:
In the example below, the first two measures has an unsyncopated rhythm is shown in the first measure The third measure has a syncopated rhythm in which the first and fourth beat are provided as expected, but the accent unexpectedly lands in between the second and third beats, creating a familiar "Latin rhythm" known as tresillo.
The accent may be shifted from the first to the second beat in duple meter (and the third to fourth in quadruple), creating the backbeat rhythm:
Different crowds will "clap along" at concerts either on 1 and 3 or on 2 and 4, as above.
The phrasing of "Satisfaction" is a good example of syncopation. It is derived here from its theoretic unsyncopated form, a repeated trochee (¯ ˘ ¯ ˘). A backbeat transformation is applied to "I" and "can't", and then a before-the-beat transformation is applied to "can't" and "no".
This demonstrates how each syncopated pattern may be heard as a remapping, "with reference to" or "in light of", an unsyncopated pattern.
Syncopation has been an important element of European musical composition since at least the Middle Ages. Many Italian and French compositions of the music of the 14th-century Trecento make use of syncopation, as in of the following madrigal by Giovanni da Firenze. (See also hocket.)
The refrain "Deo Gratias" from the 15th-century anonymous English "Agincourt Carol" is also characterised by lively syncopation:
“The 15th-century carol repertory is one of the most substantial monuments of English medieval music... The early carols are rhythmically straightforward, in modern 6/8 time; later the basic rhythm is in 3/4, with many cross-rhythms... as in the famous Agincourt carol 'Deo gratias Anglia'. As in other music of the period, the emphasis is not on harmony, but on melody and rhythm.”
Composers of the musical High Renaissance Venetian School, such as Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1612), exploited syncopation in both their secular madrigals and instrumental pieces and also in their choral sacred works, such as the motet "Domine, Dominus noster":
Denis Arnold (1979, p. 93) says: "the syncopations of this passage are of a kind which is almost a Gabrieli fingerprint, and they are typical of a general liveliness of rhythm common to Venetian music". The composer Igor Stravinsky (1959, p. 91), no stranger to syncopation himself, spoke of "those marvellous rhythmic inventions" that feature in Gabrieli's music.
J. S. Bach and Handel used syncopated rhythms as an inherent part of their compositions. One of the best-known examples of syncopation in music from the Baroque era was the "Hornpipe" from Handel’s "Water Music" (1733).
Christopher Hogwood (2005, p. 37) describes the Hornpipe as “possibly the most memorable movement in the collection, combining instrumental brilliance and rhythmic vitality… Woven amongst the running quavers are the insistent off-beat syncopations that symbolise confidence for Handel.” Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 features striking deviations from the established rhythmic norm in its first and third movements. According to Malcolm Boyd (1993, p. 53), each ritornello section of the first movement, "is clinched with an "Epilog" of syncopated antiphony":
Boyd (1993, p. 85) also hears the coda to the third movement as "remarkable… for the way the rhythm of the initial phrase of the fugue subject is expressed… with the accent thrown on to the second of the two minims (now staccato)":
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert used syncopation to create variety especially in their symphonies. The opening movement of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony No. 3 exemplifies powerfully the uses of syncopation in a piece in triple time. After setting up a clear pattern of three beats to a bar at the outset, Beethoven disrupts it through syncopation in a number of ways:
(1) By displacing the rhythmic emphasis to a weak part of the beat, as in the first violin part in bars 7–9:
Taruskin (2010, p. 658) describes here how "the first violins, entering immediately after the C sharp, are made palpably to totter for two bars".
(2) By placing accents on normally weak beats, as in bars 25–26 and 28–35:
This "long sequence of syncopated sforzandi" recurs later during the development section of this movement, in a passage that Antony Hopkins (1981, p. 75) describes as "a rhythmic pattern that rides roughshod over the properties of a normal three-in-a bar".
(3) By inserting silences (rests) at points where a listener might expect strong beats, in the words of George Grove (1896, p. 61), "nine bars of discords given fortissimo on the weak beats of the bar": | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29605 |
Strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία "stratēgia", "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art of the general", which included several subsets of skills including tactics, siegecraft, logistics etc., the term came into use in the 6th century C.E. in East Roman terminology, and was translated into Western vernacular languages only in the 18th century. From then until the 20th century, the word "strategy" came to denote "a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills" in a military conflict, in which both adversaries interact.
Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). Strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes. It involves activities such as strategic planning and strategic thinking.
Henry Mintzberg from McGill University defined strategy as a pattern in a stream of decisions to contrast with a view of strategy as planning, while Henrik von Scheel defines the essence of strategy as the activities to deliver a unique mix of value – choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals. while Max McKeown (2011) argues that "strategy is about shaping the future" and is the human attempt to get to "desirable ends with available means". Dr. Vladimir Kvint defines strategy as "a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully." Complexity theorists define strategy as the unfolding of the internal and external aspects of the organization that results in actions in a socio-economic context.
Professor Richard P. Rumelt described strategy as a type of problem solving in 2011. He wrote that good strategy has an underlying structure he called a "kernel". The kernel has three parts: 1) A "diagnosis" that defines or explains the nature of the challenge; 2) A "guiding policy" for dealing with the challenge; and 3) Coherent "actions" designed to carry out the guiding policy.
President Kennedy illustrated these three elements of strategy in his Cuban Missile Crisis Address to the Nation of 22 October 1962:
Rumelt wrote in 2011 that three important aspects of strategy include "premeditation, the anticipation of others' behavior, and the purposeful design of coordinated actions." He described strategy as solving a design problem, with trade-offs among various elements that must be arranged, adjusted and coordinated, rather than a plan or choice.
Strategy typically involves two major processes: "formulation" and "implementation". "Formulation" involves analyzing the environment or situation, making a diagnosis, and developing guiding policies. It includes such activities as strategic planning and strategic thinking. "Implementation" refers to the action plans taken to achieve the goals established by the guiding policy.
Bruce Henderson wrote in 1981 that: "Strategy depends upon the ability to foresee future consequences of present initiatives." He wrote that the basic requirements for strategy development include, among other factors: 1) extensive knowledge about the environment, market and competitors;
2) ability to examine this knowledge as an interactive dynamic system; and
3) the imagination and logic to choose between specific alternatives. Henderson wrote that strategy was valuable because of: "finite resources, uncertainty about an adversary's capability and intentions; the irreversible commitment of resources; necessity of coordinating action over time and distance; uncertainty about control of the initiative; and the nature of adversaries' mutual perceptions of each other."
In military theory, strategy is "the utilization during both peace and war, of all of the nation's forces, through large scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security and victory" ("Random House Dictionary").
The father of Western modern strategic study, Carl von Clausewitz, defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end of war." B. H. Liddell Hart's definition put less emphasis on battles, defining strategy as "the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy". Hence, both gave the pre-eminence to political aims over military goals. U.S. Naval War College instructor Andrew Wilson defined strategy as the "process by which political purpose is translated into military action." Lawrence Freedman defined strategy as the "art of creating power."
Eastern military philosophy dates back much further, with examples such as "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu dated around 500 B.C.
Modern business strategy emerged as a field of study and practice in the 1960s; prior to that time, the words "strategy" and "competition" rarely appeared in the most prominent management literature.
Alfred Chandler wrote in 1962 that: "Strategy is the determination of the basic long-term goals of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals." Michael Porter defined strategy in 1980 as the "...broad formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what policies will be needed to carry out those goals" and the "...combination of the "ends" (goals) for which the firm is striving and the "means" (policies) by which it is seeking to get there."
Henry Mintzberg described five definitions of strategy in 1998:
In game theory, a "strategy" refers to the rules that a player uses to choose between the available actionable options. Every player in a non-trivial game has a set of possible strategies to use when choosing what moves to make.
A strategy may recursively look ahead and consider what actions can happen in each contingent state of the game—e.g. if the player takes action 1, then that presents the opponent with a certain situation, which might be good or bad, whereas if the player takes action 2 then the opponents will be presented with a different situation, and in each case the choices they make will determine their own future situation.
Strategies in game theory may be random (mixed) or deterministic (pure). Pure strategies can be thought of as a special case of mixed strategies, in which only probabilities 0 or 1 are assigned to actions.
Strategy based games generally require a player to think through a sequence of solutions to determine the best way to defeat the opponent.
Because counterterrorism involves the synchronized efforts of numerous competing bureaucratic entities, national governments frequently create overarching counterterrorism strategies at the national level. A national counterterrorism strategy is a government’s plan to use the instruments of national power to neutralize terrorists, their organizations, and their networks in order to render them incapable of using violence to instill fear and to coerce the government or its citizens to react in accordance with the terrorists’ goals. The United States has had several such strategies in the past, including the "United States National Strategy for Counterterrorism" (2018); the Obama-era "National Strategy for Counterterrorism" (2011); and the "National Strategy for Combatting Terrorism" (2003). There have also been a number of ancillary or supporting plans, such as the 2014 "Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant", and the 2016 "Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States". Similarly, the United Kingdom's counterterrorism strategy, CONTEST, seeks "to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29607 |
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi (, ) (November 21, 1979 – September 11, 2001) was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.
Born in Saudi Arabia, Ghamdi left his home to fight in Chechnya after dropping out of college, but was reported to have diverted to Afghanistan to train in an al-Qaeda camp. It was reported he was chosen by Osama bin Laden to participate in terrorist attacks in the United States and arrived in the U.S. in June 2001. During his stay in the U.S., he quietly settled in Florida, planning out how the attacks would commence and training on flight simulators.
On September 11, 2001, he boarded United 93 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane, which was crashed into a field in the control of hijacker-pilot Ziad Jarrah in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the passengers attempted to retake control of the plane in an uprising.
Ghamdi was from the al Bahah province of Saudi Arabia, and shared the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Haznawi, although he was not related to either Ghamdi. He may have been in contact with the two Ghamdis and Haznawi as early as 1999. This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers. Ghamdi spent time in al Qasim province, Saudi Arabia where he transferred to college but soon dropped out and ceased contact with his family. While there he probably associated with the radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al-Alwan as several other future hijackers had.
Saeed later headed to Chechnya to participate in the conflict against the Russians. At this time, Chechen fighters were turning away additional foreigners, many of whom ended up in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan to train and await entry to Chechnya. Saeed ended up at the Al Farouq training camp, where he met Ahmed al-Nami, and the brothers Wail and Waleed al-Shehri. The four reportedly pledge themselves to Jihad in the Spring of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail—who had dubbed himself "Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi" after one of Muhammad's companions.
Saeed was known to Tawfiq bin Attash who is thought to have convinced him to become a martyr. Saeed was at that time working as a security guard at Kandahar airport along with Waleed al-Shehri.
Some time late in 2000, Saeed traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he purchased traveler's cheques presumed to have been paid for by Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques, including Majed Moqed, Wail al-Shehri, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Haznawi and Ahmed al-Nami.
On November 13, 2000, another Saeed al-Ghamdi tried to obtain a visa to enter the United States, but was declined. Although the 9/11 Commission makes mention of him, there is no evidence he was associated with the hijackers.
In March 2001, Saeed was filmed in a farewell video that was later aired on al-Jazeera. In the video, many future 9/11 hijackers swear to become martyrs, although no details of the plot are revealed. Saeed referred to America as "the enemy", and is seen studying maps and flight manuals.
On June 12, 2001, Saeed al-Ghamdi applied for and received a second two-year US B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His application was submitted by a local travel agency and processed through Visa Express, a controversial US visa program in Saudi Arabia which was discontinued the following year.
Arriving in the U.S. on June 27, 2001, with Fayez Banihammad, Saeed shared an apartment with Ahmed al-Nami in Delray Beach, Florida. Oddly, he listed the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, as his permanent address on his driver's license. He was one of 9 hijackers to open a SunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001.
According to al-Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda's documentary "Top Secret: The Road to September 11", three weeks prior to the attacks Saeed is believed to have used the name 'Abdul Rahman' to send a message to Ramzi bin al-Shibh (who was posing as a girlfriend) online, in which he wrote
On September 7, all four of Flight 93 hijackers flew from Fort Lauderdale to Newark International Airport aboard Spirit Airlines.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Ghamdi boarded United Airlines Flight 93 without incident. Due to the flight's delay, the pilot and crew were notified of the previous hijackings that day, and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.
At least two of the cell phone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandanas. The calls also indicated that one of the men had tied a box around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside; it is not known which hijacker this was.
The flight transcript suggests that at least two hijackers were in the cockpit. Ziad Jarrah was identified as the pilot and is heard calling another hijacker "Saeed", indicating that Ghamdi, who also trained in flight simulators, was helping Jarrah with the controls.
Passengers on the plane heard through phone calls the fates of the other hijacked planes. A passenger uprising resulted in the plane crashing into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.
On September 23, 2001, before the FBI had released the pictures of the hijackers, the BBC and "The Daily Telegraph" reported that a Saudi Airlines pilot named Saeed al-Ghamdi was furious that a name on the hijacker's list released by the FBI matched his own. CNN also showed a picture of the "living" Ghamdi as the hijacker. The man claimed CNN likely got his picture from a Flight Safety flying school in Florida he attended. "Der Spiegel" later investigated the claims of "living" hijackers by the BBC and discovered them to be cases of mistaken identity.
In June 2005 the Saudi government released a list (see al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) of 36 wanted (and alive) terrorists, one of whom was Salih Sa'id Al Batih al-Ghamdi. 9/11 conspiracy theorists quickly confused him with the hijacker Saeed al-Ghamdi.
He has been portrayed by Iraqi actor Lewis Alsamari in "United 93" and Shawn Ahmed in "Flight 93". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29608 |
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, while blending practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture (known as eclecticism) as well as politics (syncretic politics).
The English word is first attested in the early 17th century, from Modern Latin "syncretismus", drawing on Greek συγκρητισμός ("synkretismos"), supposedly meaning "Cretan federation", but this is a spurious etymology from the naive idea in Plutarch's 1st-century AD essay on "Fraternal Love (Peri Philadelphias)" in his collection "Moralia" (2.490b). He cites the example of the Cretans, who compromised and reconciled their differences and came together in alliance when faced with external dangers. "And that is their so-called "Syncretism" [Union of Cretans]". More likely as an etymology is sun- ("with") plus kerannumi ("mix") and its related noun, "krasis," "mixture."
Erasmus probably coined the modern usage of the Latin word in his "Adagia" ("Adages"), published in the winter of 1517–1518, to designate the coherence of dissenters in spite of their differences in theological opinions. In a letter to Melanchthon of April 22, 1519, Erasmus specifically adduced the Cretans of Plutarch as an example of his adage "Concord is a mighty rampart".
Overt syncretism in folk belief may show cultural acceptance of an alien or previous tradition, but the "other" cult may survive or infiltrate without authorized "syncresis". For example, some conversos developed a sort of cult for martyr-victims of the Spanish Inquisition, thus incorporating elements of Catholicism while resisting it.
The Kushite kings who ruled Upper Egypt for approximately a century and the whole of Egypt for approximately 57 years, from 721 to 664 BC, constituting the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in Manetho's "Aegyptiaca", developed a syncretic worship identifying their own god Dedun with the Egyptian Osiris. They maintained that worship even after they had been driven out of Egypt. A temple dedicated to this syncretic god, built by the Kushite ruler Atlanersa, was unearthed at Jebel Barkal.
Syncretism was common during the Hellenistic period, with rulers regularly identifying local deities in various parts of their domains with the relevant god or goddess of the Greek Pantheon as a means of increasing the cohesion of their kingdom. This practice was accepted in most locations but vehemently rejected by the Jews, who considered the identification of Yahweh with the Greek Zeus as the worst of blasphemy. The Roman Empire continued the practice, first by the identification of traditional Roman deities with Greek ones, producing a single Graeco-Roman pantheon, and then identifying members of that pantheon with the local deities of various Roman provinces. Allegedly, an undeclared form of syncretism was the transfer of many attributes of the goddess Isis, whose worship was widespread in the Later Roman Empire, to the Christian Virgin Mary. Some religious movements have embraced overt syncretism, such as the case of melding Shintō beliefs into Buddhism or the supposed amalgamation of Germanic and Celtic pagan views into Christianity during its spread into Gaul, the British Isles, Germany and Scandinavia. In later times, Christian missionaries in North America identified Manitou, the spiritual and fundamental life force in the traditional beliefs of the Algonquian groups, with the God of Christianity. Similar identifications were made by missionaries at other locations in the Americas and Africa whenever they encountered a local belief in a Supreme God or Supreme Spirit of some kind.
Indian influences are seen in the practice of Shi'i Islam in Trinidad. Others have strongly rejected it as devaluing and compromising precious and genuine distinctions; examples include post-Exile Second Temple Judaism, Islam, and most of Protestant Christianity.
Syncretism tends to facilitate co-existence and unity between otherwise l-different cultures and world views (intercultural competence), a factor that has recommended it to rulers of multiethnic realms. Conversely, the rejection of syncretism, usually in the name of "piety" and "orthodoxy", may help to generate, bolster or authenticate a sense of uncompromised cultural unity in a well-defined minority or majority.
Religious syncretism is the blending of two or more religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation into a religious tradition of beliefs from unrelated traditions. This can occur for many reasons, and the latter scenario happens quite commonly in areas where multiple religious traditions exist in proximity and function actively in a culture, or when a culture is conquered, and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in entirely eradicating the old beliefs or (especially) practices.
Religions may have syncretic elements to their beliefs or history, but adherents of so-labeled systems often frown on applying the label, especially adherents who belong to "revealed" religious systems, such as the Abrahamic religions, or any system that exhibits an exclusivist approach. Such adherents sometimes see syncretism as a betrayal of their pure truth. By this reasoning, adding an incompatible belief corrupts the original religion, rendering it no longer true. Indeed, critics of a syncretistic trend may use the word or its variants as a disparaging epithet, as a charge implying that those who seek to incorporate a new view, belief, or practice into a religious system pervert the original faith. Non-exclusivist systems of belief, on the other hand, may feel quite free to incorporate other traditions into their own. Keith Ferdinando notes that the term "syncretism" is an elusive one, and can apply to refer to substitution or modification of the central elements of a religion by beliefs or practices introduced from elsewhere. The consequence under such a definition, according to Ferdinando, can lead to a fatal "compromise" of the original religion's "integrity".
In modern secular society, religious innovators sometimes construct new faiths or key tenets syncretically, with the added benefit or aim of reducing inter-religious discord. Such chapters often have a side-effect of arousing jealousy and suspicion among authorities and ardent adherents of the pre-existing religion. Such religions tend to inherently appeal to an inclusive, diverse audience. Sometimes the state itself sponsored such new movements, such as the Living Church founded in Soviet Russia and the German Evangelical Church in Nazi Germany, chiefly to stem all outside influences.
According to some authors, "Syncretism is often used to describe the product of the large-scale imposition of one alien culture, religion, or body of practices over another that is already present." Others such as Jerry H. Bentley, however, have argued that syncretism has also helped to create cultural compromise. It provides an opportunity to bring beliefs, values, and customs from one cultural tradition into contact with, and to engage different cultural traditions. Such a migration of ideas is generally successful only when there is a resonance between both traditions. While, as Bentley has argued, there are numerous cases where expansive traditions have won popular support in foreign lands, this is not always so.
In the 16th century a new religion called the Din-i Ilahi (literally, "Religion of God") was propounded by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1582 CE, intending to merge some of the elements of the religions of his empire, and thereby reconcile the differences that divided his subjects. The elements were primarily drawn from Islam and Hinduism, but some others were also taken from Christianity, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism.
The modern, rational non-pejorative connotations of syncretism arguably date from Denis Diderot's "Encyclopédie" articles: "Eclecticisme" and "Syncrétistes, Hénotiques, ou Conciliateurs." Diderot portrayed syncretism as the concordance of eclectic sources. Scientific or legalistic approaches of subjecting all claims to critical thinking prompted at this time much literature in Europe and the Americas studying non-European religions such as Edward Moor's "The Hindu Pantheon" of 1810, much of which was almost evangelistically appreciative, embracing spirituality and creating the space and tolerance in particular disestablishment of religion (or its stronger form, official secularisation as in France) whereby believers of spiritualism, agnosticism, atheists and in many cases more innovative or pre-Abrahimic based religions could promote and spread their belief system, whether in the family or beyond. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29612 |
S7G reactor
The S7G reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S7G designation stands for:
This prototype design was a land-based nuclear reactor that did not use control rods. It was tested in the late 1970s and early 1980s at the Modifications and Additions to a Reactor Facility (MARF) plant located at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory's Kesselring Site in Ballston Spa, New York. It consisted of an experimental reactor core installed in a modified S5W reactor plant.
Instead of the movable hafnium-based control rods used in all of the other United States Naval reactors, reactivity in the S7G core was controlled by stationary gadolinium-clad tubes partially filled with water. Water could be pumped from the portion of the tube inside the core up to a reservoir above the core, or allowed to flow back down into the tube. A higher water level in the tube slowed more neutrons in the core, causing more neutron capture by the gadolinium tube cladding rather than by the uranium fuel, thus lowering the power level.
The system was configured with the pump running continually to keep the water level low; on loss of electrical power, all of the water would flow back into the tube, shutting down the reactor. As with all small pressurized water reactors, the design also had the advantage of negative feedback: an increase in reactor power caused the water to expand, leading to reduced thermalization of neutrons and lowering absorption by the fuel, therefore lowering the power. Thus, changes in the average coolant temperature, notably from the steam demand of engine throttles, naturally maintains reactor power without intervention from a reactor operator.
The S7G reactor was never used on a ship. In the late 1980s the S7G core was replaced with the experimental DMC (Developmental Materials Core) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29614 |
Subject–verb–object
In linguistic typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third. Languages may be classified according to the dominant sequence of these elements in unmarked sentences (i.e., sentences in which an unusual word order is not used for emphasis). The label is often used for ergative languages that do not have subjects, but have an agent–verb–object (AVO) order.
SVO is the second-most common order by number of known languages, after SOV. Together, SVO and SOV account for more than 75% of the world's languages. It is also the most common order developed in Creole languages, suggesting that it may be somehow more initially "obvious" to human psychology.
Languages regarded as SVO include: Albanian, Arabic dialects, Assyrian, Bosnian, Chinese, English, Estonian, Finnish (but see below), French, Kiswahili, Luganda, Greek, Hausa, Icelandic (with the V2 restriction), Igbo, Italian, Javanese, Khmer, Latvian, Macedonian, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Quiche, Reo Rapa, Romanian, Russian (but see below), Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish (with the V2 restriction), Thai and Lao, Ukrainian (but see below), Vietnamese, Yoruba and Zulu.
Ancient Greek has free syntactic order, though Classical Greeks tended to favor SOV. Many famous phrases are SVO, however.
Subject–verb–object languages almost always place relative clauses after the nouns which they modify and adverbial subordinators before the clause modified, with varieties of Chinese being notable exceptions.
Although some subject–verb–object languages in West Africa, the best known being Ewe, use postpositions in noun phrases, the vast majority of them, such as English, have prepositions. Most subject–verb–object languages place genitives after the noun, but a significant minority, including the postpositional SVO languages of West Africa, the Hmong–Mien languages, some Sino-Tibetan languages, and European languages like Swedish, Danish, Lithuanian and Latvian have "prenominal" genitives (as would be expected in an SOV language).
Non-European languages, usually subject–verb–object languages, have a strong tendency to place adjectives, demonstratives and numerals after nouns that they modify, but Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian place numerals before nouns, as in English. Some linguists have come to view the numeral as the head in the
E relationship to fit the rigid right-branching of these languages.
There is a strong tendency, as in English, for main verbs to be preceded by auxiliaries: "I am thinking. He should reconsider."
An example of SVO order in English is:
In analytic languages such as English, subject–verb–object order is relatively inflexible because it identifies which part of the sentence is the subject and which one is the object. ("The dog bit Andy" and "Andy bit the dog" mean two completely different things, while, in case of "Bit Andy the dog", it may be difficult to determine whether it's a complete sentence or a fragment, with "Andy the dog" the object and an omitted/implied subject.) The situation is more complex in languages that have no word order imposed by their grammar; example: Russian, Finnish, Ukrainian, and Hungarian have both the VO and OV constructs in their common word order uses.
In some languages, some word orders are considered more "natural" than others. In some, the order is the matter of emphasis. For example, Russian allows the use of subject–verb–object in any order and "shuffles" parts to bring up a slightly different contextual meaning each time. E.g. "любит она его" (loves she him) may be used to point out "she acts this way because she LOVES him", or "его она любит" (him she loves) is used in the context "if you pay attention, you'll see that HE is the one she truly loves", or "его любит она" (him loves she) may appear along the lines "I agree that cat is a disaster, but since my wife adores it and I adore her...". Regardless of order, it is clear that "его" is the object because it is in the accusative case. In Polish, SVO order is basic in an affirmative sentence, and a different order is used to either emphasize some part of it or to adapt it to a broader context logic. For example, ""Roweru" ci nie kupię" (I won't buy you "a bicycle"), ""Od piątej" czekam" (I've been waiting "since five").
In Turkish, it is normal to use SOV, but SVO may be used sometimes to emphasize the verb. For example, "John terketti Mary'yi" (Lit. "John/left/Mary": John left Mary) is the answer to the question "What did John do with Mary?" instead of the regular [SOV] sentence "John Mary'yi terketti" (Lit. "John/Mary/left").
In German, Dutch, and Kashmiri, SOV with V2 word order in main clauses coexists with SOV in subordinate clauses, as given in Example 1 below; and a change in syntax, such as by bringing an adpositional phrase to the front of the sentence for emphasis, may also dictate the use of VSO, as in Example 2. In Kashmiri, the word order in embedded clauses is conditioned by the category of the subordinating conjunction, as in Example 3.
English developed from such a reordering language and still bears traces of this word order, for example in locative inversion ("In the garden sat a cat.") and some clauses beginning with negative expressions: "only" ("Only then do we find X."), "not only" ("Not only did he storm away but also slammed the door."), "under no circumstances" ("under no circumstances are the students allowed to use a mobile phone"), "never" ("Never have I done that."), "on no account" and the like. In such cases, "do"-support is sometimes required, depending on the construction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29617 |
Skopje
Skopje (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992.
From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called it "Üsküb", with this name also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture. In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars. During the First World War the city was seized by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and, after the war, it became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the capital of Vardarska Banovina. In the Second World War the city was again captured by Bulgaria and in 1944 became the capital of SR Macedonia, a federated state within the Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake.
Skopje is located on the upper course of the Vardar River, and is located on a major north-south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a centre for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje had a population of 506,926 inhabitants; according to official estimates, the city had a population of 544,086 inhabitants, as of 30 June 2015, meaning slightly more than a quarter of all North Macedonia's population lives in the city and its immediate surrounding area.
Skopje is located in the north of the country, in the centre of the Balkan peninsula, and halfway between Belgrade and Athens. The city was built in the Skopje valley, oriented on a west-east axis, along the course of the Vardar river, which flows into the Aegean Sea in Greece. The valley is approximately wide and it is limited by several mountain ranges to the North and South. These ranges limit the urban expansion of Skopje, which spreads along the Vardar and the Serava, a small river which comes from the North. In its administrative boundaries, the City of Skopje stretches for more than , but it is only wide.
Skopje is approximately 245 m above sea level and covers 571.46 km2. The urbanized area only covers 337 km2, with a density of 65 inhabitants per hectare. Skopje, in its administrative limits, encompasses many villages and other settlements, including Dračevo, Gorno Nerezi and Bardovci. According to the 2002 census, the City of Skopje comprised 506,926 inhabitants.
The City of Skopje reaches the Kosovo border to the North-East. Clockwise, it is also bordered by the municipalities of Čučer-Sandevo, Lipkovo, Aračinovo, Ilinden, Studeničani, Sopište, Želino and Jegunovce.
The Vardar river, which flows through Skopje, is at approximately from its source near Gostivar. In Skopje, its average discharge is 51 m3/s, with a wide amplitude depending on seasons, between 99.6 m3/s in May and 18.7 m3/s in July. The water temperature is comprised between 4.6 °C in January and 18.1 °C in July.
Several rivers meet the Vardar within the city boundaries. The largest is the Treska, which is long. It crosses the Matka Canyon before reaching the Vardar on the western extremity of the City of Skopje. The Lepenec, coming from Kosovo, flows into the Vardar on the northwestern end of the urban area. The Serava, also coming from the North, had flowed through the Old Bazaar until the 1960s, when it was diverted towards the West because its waters were very polluted. Originally, it met the Vardar close to the seat of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Nowadays, it flows into the Vardar near the ruins of Scupi. Finally, the Markova Reka, the source of which is on Mount Vodno, meets the Vardar at the eastern extremity of the city. These three rivers are less than long.
The city of Skopje comprises two artificial lakes, located on the Treska. The lake Matka is the result of the construction of a dam in the Matka Canyon in the 1930s, and the Treska lake was dug for leisure purpose in 1978. Three small natural lakes can be found near Smiljkovci, on the northeastern edge of the urban area.
The river Vardar historically caused many floods, such as in 1962, when its outflow reached 1110 m3/s−1. Several works have been carried since Byzantine times to limit the risks, and since the construction of the Kozjak dam on the Treska in 1994, the flood risk is close to zero.
The subsoil contains a large water table which is alimented by the Vardar river and functions as an underground river. Under the table lies an aquifer contained in marl. The water table is 4 to 12 m under the ground and 4 to 144 m deep. Several wells collect its waters but most of the drinking water used in Skopje comes from a karstic spring in Rašče, located west of the city.
The Skopje valley is bordered on the West by the Šar Mountains, on the South by the Jakupica range, on the East by hills belonging to the Osogovo range, and on the North by the Skopska Crna Gora. Mount Vodno, the highest point inside the city limits, is 1066 m high and is part of the Jakupica range.
Although Skopje is built on the foot of Mount Vodno, the urban area is mostly flat. It comprises several minor hills, generally covered with woods and parks, such as Gazi Baba hill (325 m), Zajčev Rid (327 m), the foothills of Mount Vodno (the smallest are between 350 and 400 m high) and the promontory on which Skopje Fortress is built.
The Skopje valley is located near a seismic fault between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates and experiences regular seismic activity. This activity in enhanced by the porous structure of the subsoil. Large earthquakes occurred in Skopje in 518, 1505 and 1963.
The Skopje valley belongs to the Vardar geotectonic region, the subsoil of which is formed of Neogene and Quaternary deposits. The substratum is made of Pliocene deposits including sandstone, marl and various conglomerates. It is covered by a first layer of Quaternary sands and silt, which is between 70 and 90 m deep. The layer is topped by a much smaller layer of clay, sand, silt and gravel, carried by the Vardar river. It is between 1.5 and 5.2 m deep.
In some areas, the subsoil is karstic. It led to the formation of canyons, such as the Matka Canyon, which is surrounded by ten caves. They are between 20 and 176 m deep.
Skopje has a borderline Humid Subtropical Climate (Cfa) and Cold Semi-Arid Climate (BSk) with a mean annual temperature of . Precipitation is relatively low due to the pronounced rain shadow of the Prokletije mountains to the northwest, being significantly less than what is received on the Adriatic Sea coast at the same latitude. The summers are long, hot and relatively dry with low humidity. Skopje's average July high is . On average Skopje sees 88 days above each year, and 10.2 days above every year. Winters are short, relatively cold and wet. Snowfalls are common in the winter period, but heavy snow accumulation is rare and the snowcover lasts only for a few hours or a few days if heavy. In summer, temperatures are usually above and sometimes above . In spring and autumn, the temperatures range from . In winter, the day temperatures are roughly in the range from , but at nights they often fall below and sometimes below . Typically, temperatures throughout one year range from −13 °C to 39 °C. Occurrences of precipitation are evenly distributed throughout the year, being heaviest from October to December, and from April to June.
The city of Skopje encompasses various natural environments and its fauna and flora are rich. However, it is threatened by the intensification of agriculture and the urban extension. The largest protected area within the city limits is Mount Vodno, which is a popular leisure destination. A cable car connects its peak to the downtown, and many pedestrian paths run through its woods. Other large natural spots include the Matka Canyon.
The city itself comprises several parks and gardens amounting to 4,361 hectares. Among these are the City Park (Gradski Park), built by the Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century; Žena Borec Park, located in front of the Parliament; the University arboretum; and Gazi Baba forest. Many streets and boulevards are planted with trees.
Skopje experiences many environmental issues which are often overshadowed by the economic poverty of the country. However, alignment of North Macedonian law on European law has brought progress in some fields, such as water and waste treatment, and industrial emissions. Skopje remains one of the most polluted cities in the world, topping the ranks in December 2017.
Steel processing, which a crucial activity for the local economy, is responsible for soil pollution with heavy metals such as lead, zinc and cadmium, and air pollution with nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. Vehicle traffic and district heating plants are also responsible for air pollution. The highest pollution levels usually occur in autumn and winter.
Water treatment plants are being built, but much polluted water is still discharged untreated into the Vardar. Waste is disposed of in the open-air municipal landfill site, located north of the city. Every day, it receives 1,500 m3 of domestic waste and 400 m3 of industrial waste. Health levels are better in Skopje than in the rest of North Macedonia, and no link has been found between the low environmental quality and the health of the residents.
Air pollution is a serious problem in Skopje, especially in winter. Concentrations of certain types of particulate matter (PM2 and PM10) are regularly over twelve times the WHO recommended maximum levels. In winter, smoke regularly obscures vision and can lead to problems for drivers. Together with India and Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia is one of the most polluted places in the world.
Skopje's high levels of pollution are caused by a combination of smoke from houses, emissions from buses and other forms of public transport, as well as from cars, and a lack of interest in caring for the environment. Central heating is often not affordable, and so households often burn firewood, as well as used car tyres, various plastic garbage, petroleum and other possible flammable waste, which emits toxic chemicals harmful to the population, especially to children and the elderly.
The city's smog has reduced its air quality and affected the health of many of its citizens, many of which have died from pollution-related illnesses.
An application called "MojVozduh" ('My Air') has been launched to help citizens track pollution levels. It uses a traffic light system, with red for heavily polluted air, amber for high levels detected, and green for when the air is safe to inhale. However, this application relies on frequently inoperable and malfunctioning sensors which monitor pollution levels in the city. Faults are especially frequent when the pollution is measured is extremely high, according to the AQILHC (Air Quality Index Levels of Health Concern).
On 29 November 2019, a march, organized by the Skopje Smog Alarm activist community, attracted thousands of people who opposed the government's lack of action in dealing with the city's pollution, which has worsened since 2017, contributing to around 1300 deaths annually.
There is little evidence that the actions and measures for minimizing pollution in Skopje have started to have an effect, and the city's goal of a better and healthier future for its residents has not yet occurred.
The urban morphology of Skopje was deeply impacted by the 26 July 1963 earthquake, which destroyed 80% of the city, and by the reconstruction that followed. For instance, neighbourhoods were rebuilt in such a way that the demographic density remains low to limit the impact of potential future earthquakes.
Reconstruction following the 1963 earthquake was mainly conducted by the Polish architect Adolf Ciborowski, who had already planned the reconstruction of Warsaw after World War II. Ciborowski divided the city in blocks dedicated to specific activities. The banks of the Vardar river became natural areas and parks, areas located between the main boulevards were built with highrise housing and shopping centres, and the suburbs were left to individual housing and industry. Reconstruction had to be quick in order to relocate families and to relaunch the local economy. To stimulate economic development, the number of thoroughfares was increased and future urban extension was anticipated.
The south bank of the Vardar river generally comprises highrise tower blocks, including the vast Karpoš neighbourhood which was built in the 1970s west of the centre. Towards the East, the new municipality of Aerodrom was planned in the 1980s to house 80,000 inhabitants on the site of the old airport. Between Karpoš and Aerodrom lies the city centre, rebuilt according to plans by Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. The centre is surrounded by a row of long buildings suggesting a wall ("Gradski Zid").
On the north bank, where the most ancient parts of the city lie, the Old Bazaar was restored and its surroundings were rebuilt with low-rise buildings, so as not to spoil views of the Skopje Fortress. Several institutions, including the university and the Macedonian academy, were also relocated on the north bank in order to reduce borders between the ethnic communities. Indeed, the north bank is mostly inhabited by Muslim Albanians, Turks and Roma, whereas Christian ethnic Macedonians predominantly reside on the south bank.
The earthquake left the city with few historical monuments, apart from the Ottoman Old Bazaar, and the reconstruction, conducted between the 1960s and 1980s, turned Skopje into a modernist but grey city. At the end of the 2000s, the city centre experienced profound changes. A highly controversial urban project, "Skopje 2014", was adopted by the municipal authorities in order to give the city a more monumental and historical aspect, and thus to transform it into a proper national capital. Several neoclassical buildings destroyed in the 1963 earthquake were rebuilt, including the national theatre, and streets and squares were refurbished. Many other elements were also built, including fountains, statues, hotels, government buildings and bridges. The project has been criticized because of its cost and its historicist aesthetics. The large Albanian minority felt it was not represented in the new monuments, and launched side projects, including a new square over the boulevard that separate the city centre from the Old Bazaar.
Some areas of Skopje suffer from a certain anarchy because many houses and buildings were built without consent from the local authorities.
Outside of the urban area, the City of Skopje encompasses many small settlements. Some of them are becoming outer suburbs, such as Čento, located on the road to Belgrade, which has more than 23,000 inhabitants, and Dračevo, which has almost 20,000 inhabitants. Other large settlements are located north of the city, such as Radišani, with 9,000 inhabitants, whereas smaller villages can be found on Mount Vodno or in Saraj municipality, which is the most rural of the ten municipalities that form the City of Skopje.
Some localities located outside the city limits are also becoming outer suburbs, particularly in Ilinden and Petrovec municipality. They benefit from the presence of major roads, railways and the airport, located in Petrovec.
Skopje is an ethnically diverse city, and its urban sociology primarily depends on ethnic and religious belonging. Macedonians form 66% of the city population, while Albanians and Roma account respectively for 20% and 6%. Each ethnic group generally restrict itself to certain areas of the city. Macedonians live south of the Vardar, in areas massively rebuilt after 1963, and Muslims live on the northern side, in the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. These neighbourhoods are considered more traditional, whereas the south side evokes to Macedonians modernity and rupture from rural life.
The northern areas are the poorest. This is especially true for Topaana, in Čair municipality, and for Šuto Orizari municipality, which are the two main Roma neighbourhoods. They are made of many illegal constructions not connected to electricity and water supply, which are passed from a generation to the other. Topaana, located close to the Old Bazaar, is a very old area: it was first mentioned as a Roma neighbourhood in the beginning of the 14th century. It has between 3,000 and 5,000 inhabitants. Šuto Orizari, located on the northern edge of the city, is a municipality of its own, with Romani as its local official language. It was developed after the 1963 earthquake to accommodate Roma who had lost their house.
The population density varies greatly from an area to the other. So does the size of the living area per person. The city average was at per person , but at in Centar on the south bank, and only in Čair on the north bank. In Šuto Orizari, the average was at .
The current name of the city comes from Scupi, which was the name of early Paeonian settlement (later capital of Dardania and subsequently Roman colony) located nearby. The meaning of that name is not known for sure, but there is a hypothesis, it derives from the Greek , (lit. "watcher, observer"), referring to its position on a high place, from which the whole place could be observed.
After Antiquity, Scupi was occupied by various people and consequently its name was translated several times in several languages. Thus Scupi became "Skopie" () for Bulgarians, and later "Üsküb" () for the Turks. This name was adapted in Western languages in "Uskub" or "Uskup", and these two appellations were used in the Western world until 1912. Some Western sources also cite "Scopia" and "Skopia".
When Vardar Macedonia was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, the city officially became "Skoplje" and this name was adopted by many languages. To reflect local pronunciation, the city's name was eventually spelled as "Skopje" () after the Second World War, when standard Macedonian became the official language of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. The local Albanians call the city "Shkup" and "Shkupi", the latter being the definite form.
The rocky promontory on which stands the Fortress was the first site settled by man in Skopje. The earliest vestiges of human occupation found on this site date from the Chalcolithic (4th millennium BC).
Although the Chalcolithic settlement must have been of some significance, it declined during the Bronze Age. Archeological research suggest that the settlement always belonged to a same culture, which progressively evolved thanks to contacts with Balkan and Danube cultures, and later with the Aegean. The locality eventually disappeared during the Iron Age when Scupi emerged. It was located on Zajčev Rid hill, some west of the fortress promontory. Located at the centre of the Balkan peninsula and on the road between Danube and Aegean Sea, it was a prosperous locality, although its history is not well known.
The earliest people in Skopje Valley were probably the Triballi. Later the area was populated by the Paionians. Scupi was originally a Paionian settlement, but it became afterwards Dardanian town. Dardanians, who lived in present-day Kosovo, invaded the region around Skopje during the 3rd century BC. "Scupi", the ancient name for Skopje, became the capital of Dardania, which extended from Naissus to Bylazora in the second century BC. The Dardanians had remained independent after the Roman conquest of Macedon, and it seems most likely that Dardania lost independence in 28 BC.
Roman expansion east brought Scupi under Roman rule as a colony of legionnaires, mainly veterans of the Legio VII Claudia in the time of Domitian (81–96 AD). However, several legions from the Roman province of Macedonia of Crassus' army may already have been stationed in there around 29–28 BC, before the official imperial command was instituted. The first mention of the city was made at that period by Livy, who died in 17 AD. Scupi first served as a military base to maintain peace in the region and was officially named "Colonia Flavia Scupinorum", "Flavia" being the name of the emperor's dynasty. Shortly afterwards it became part of the province of Moesia during Augustus's rule. After the division of the province by Domitian in 86 AD, Scupi was elevated to colonial status, and became a seat of government within the new province of Moesia Superior. The district called Dardania (within Moesia Superior) was formed into a special province by Diocletian, with the capital at Naissus. In Roman times the eastern part of Dardania, from Scupi to Naissus, remained inhabited mostly by a local population, mainly from Thracian origin.
The city population was very diverse. Engravings on tombstones suggest that only a minority of the population came from Italy, while many veterans were from Dalmatia, South Gaul and Syria. Because of the ethnic diversity of the population, Latin maintained itself as the main language in the city at the expense of Greek, which was spoken in most of the Moesian and Macedonian cities. During the following centuries, Scupi experienced prosperity. The period from the end of the 3rd century to the end of the 4th century was particularly flourishing. A first church was founded under the reign of Constantine the Great and Scupi became the seat of a diocese. In 395, following the division of the Roman Empire in two, Scupi became part of the Eastern Roman Empire.
In its heyday, Scupi covered 40 hectares and was closed by a wide wall. It had many monuments, including four necropoles, a theatre, thermae, and a large Christian basilica.
In 518, Scupi was destroyed by a violent earthquake, possibly the most devastating the town experienced. At that time, the region was threatened by the Barbarian invasions, and the city inhabitants had already fled in forests and mountains before the disaster occurred. The city was eventually rebuilt by Justinian I. During his reign, many Byzantine towns were relocated on hills and other easily defendable places to face invasions. It was thus transferred on another site: the promontory on which stands the fortress. However, Scupi was sacked by Slavs at the end of the 6th century and the city seems to have fallen under Slavic rule in 595. The Slavic tribe which sacked Scupi were probably the Berziti, who had invaded the entire Vardar valley. However the Slavs did not settle permanently in the region that had been already plundered and depopulated, but continued south to the Mediterranean coast. After the Slavic invasion it was deserted for some time and is not mentioned during the following centuries. Perhaps in the late 7th or the early 8th century the Byzantines have again settled at this strategic location. Along with the rest of Upper Vardar valley it became part of the expanding First Bulgarian Empire in the 830s.
Starting from the end of the 10th century Skopje experienced a period of wars and political troubles. It served as Bulgarian capital from 972 to 992, and Samuil ruled it from 976 until 1004 when its governor Roman surrendered it to Byzantine Emperor Basil the Bulgar Slayer in 1004 in exchange for the titles of patrician and strategos. It became a centre of a new Byzantine province called Bulgaria. Later Skopje was briefly seized twice by Slavic insurgents who wanted to restore the Bulgarian state. At first in 1040 under Peter Delyan's command, and in 1072 under the orders of Georgi Voyteh. In 1081, Skopje was captured by Norman troops led by Robert Guiscard and the city remained in their hands until 1088. Skopje was subsequently conquered by the Serbian Grand Prince Vukan in 1093, and again by the Normans four years later. However, because of epidemics and food shortage, Normans quickly surrendered to the Byzantines.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, Bulgarians and Serbs took advantage of Byzantine decline to create large kingdoms stretching from Danube to the Aegean Sea. Kaloyan brought Skopje back into reestablished Bulgaria in 1203 until his nephew Strez declared autonomy along the Upper Vardar with Serbian help only five years later. In 1209 Strez switched allegiances and recognized Boril of Bulgaria with whom he led a successful joint campaign against Serbia's first internationally recognized king Stefan Nemanjić. From 1214 to 1230 Skopje was a part of Byzantine successor state Epirus before recaptured by Ivan Asen II and held by Bulgaria until 1246 when the Upper Vardar valley was incorporated once more into a Byzantine state – the Empire of Nicaea. Byzantine conquest was briefly reversed in 1255 by the regents of the young Michael Asen I of Bulgaria. Meanwhile, in the parallel civil war for the Crown in Tarnovo Skopje bolyar and grandson to Stefan Nemanja Constantine Tikh gained the upper hand and ruled until Europe's only successful peasant revolt the Uprising of Ivaylo deposed him.
In 1282 Skopje was captured by Serbian king Stefan Milutin. Under the political stability of the Nemanjić rule, settlement has spread outside the walls of the fortress, towards Gazi Baba hill. Churches, monasteries and markets were built and tradesmen from Venice and Dubrovnik opened shops. The town greatly benefited from its location near European, Middle Eastern, and African market. In the 14th century, Skopje became such an important city that king Stefan Dušan made it the capital of the Serbian Empire. In 1346, he was crowned "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks" in Skopje. After his death the Serbian Empire collapsed into several principalities which were unable to defend themselves against the Turks. Skopje was first inherited by the Lordship of Prilep and finally taken by Vuk Branković in the wake of the Battle of Maritsa (1371) before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1392.
Skopje economic life greatly benefited from its position in the middle of Ottoman Europe. Until the 17th century, Skopje experienced a long golden age. Around 1650, the number of inhabitants in Skopje was between 30,000 and 60,000, and the city contained more than 10,000 houses. It was then one of the only big cities on the territory of future Yugoslavia, together with Belgrade and Sarajevo. At that time, Dubrovnik, which was a busy harbour, had not even 7,000 inhabitants. Following the Ottoman conquest, the city population changed. Christians were forcibly converted to Islam or were replaced by Turks and Jews. At that time, Christians of Skopje were mostly non-converted Slavs and Albanians, but also Ragusan and Armenian tradesmen. The Ottomans drastically changed the appearance of the city. They organized the Bazaar with its caravanserais, mosques and baths.
The city severely suffered from the Great Turkish War at the end of the 17th century and consequently experienced recession until the 19th century. In 1689, Austrians seized Skopje which was already weakened by a cholera epidemic. The same day, general Silvio Piccolomini set fire to the city to end the epidemic. It is however possible that he wanted to avenge damages that Ottomans caused in Vienna in 1683. Skopje burned during two days. The Austrian presence in Macedonia motivated Slav uprisings. Nevertheless, Austrians left the country within the year and Hajduks, leaders of the uprisings, had to follow them in their retreat north of the Balkans. Some were arrested by the Ottomans, such as Petar Karposh, who was impaled on Skopje Stone Bridge.
After the war, Skopje was in ruins. Most of the official buildings were restored or rebuilt, but the city experienced new plague and cholera epidemics and many inhabitants emigrated. The Ottoman Turkish Empire as a whole entered in recession and political decline. Many rebellions and pillages occurred in Macedonia during the 18th century, either led by Turkish outlaws, Janissaries or Hajduks. An estimation conducted by French officers around 1836 revealed that at that time Skopje only had around 10,000 inhabitants. It was surpassed by two other towns of present-day North Macedonia: Bitola (40,000) and Štip (15–20,000).
Skopje began to recover from decades of decline after 1850. At that time, the city experienced a slow but steady demographic growth, mainly due to the rural exodus of Slav Macedonians. It was also fuelled by the exodus of Muslims from Serbia and Bulgaria, which were gaining autonomy and independence from the Empire at that time. During the Tanzimat reforms, nationalism arose in the Empire and in 1870 a new Bulgarian Church was established and its separate diocese was created, based on ethnic identity, rather than religious principles. The Slavic population of the bishopric of Skopje voted in 1874 overwhelmingly, by 91% in favour of joining the Exarchate and became part of the Bulgarian Millet. Economic growth was permitted by the construction of the Skopje-Salonica railway in 1873. The train station was built south of the Vardar and this contributed to the relocation of economic activities on this side of the river, which had never been urbanized before. Because of the rural exodus, the share of Christians in the city population arose. Some of the newcomers became part of the local elite and helped to spread nationalist ideas Skopje was one of the five main centres of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization when it organized the 1903 Ilinden uprising. Its revolutionary network in Skopje region was not well-developed and the lack of weapons was a serious problem. At the outbreak of the uprising the rebel forces derailed a military train. On 3 and 5 August respectively, they attacked a Ottoman unit guarding the bridge on the Vardar river and gave a battle in the "St. Jovan" monastery. In the next few days the band was pursued by numerous Bashibozuks and moved to Bulgaria.
In 1877, Skopje was chosen as the capital city of the new Kosovo Vilayet, which encompassed present-day Kosovo, northwestern Macedonia and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. In 1905, the city had 32,000 inhabitants, making it the largest of the vilayet, although closely followed by Prizren with its 30,000 inhabitants. German linguist Gustav Weigand described that the Skopje Muslim population of "Turks" or Ottomans (Osmanli) during the late Ottoman period were mainly Albanians that spoke Turkish in public and Albanian at home. At the beginning of the 20th century, local economy was focused on dyeing, weaving, tanning, ironworks and wine and flour processing.
Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Ottoman Empire experienced democracy and several political parties were created. However, some of the policies implemented by the Young Turks, such as a tax rise and the interdiction of ethnic-based political parties, discontented minorities. Albanians opposed the nationalist character of the movement and led local uprisings in 1910 and 1912. During the latter they managed to seize most of Kosovo and took Skopje on 11 August. On 18 August, the insurgents signed the Üsküb agreement which provided for the creation of an autonomous Albanian province and they were amnestied the day later.
Following an alliance contracted in 1912, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Their goal was to definitely expel the Ottomans from Europe. The First Balkan War started on 8 October 1912 and lasted six weeks. Serbians reached Skopje on 26 October. Ottoman forces had left the city the day before. During the conflict, Chetniks, a Serb irregular force razed the Albanian quarter of Skopje and killed numerous Albanian inhabitants from the city. The Serbian annexation led to the exodus of 725 Muslim families which left the city on 27 January 1913. The same year, the city population was evaluated at 37,000 by the Serbian authorities.
In 1915, during the First World War, Serbian Macedonia was invaded by Bulgaria, which captured Skopje on 22 October 1915. Serbia, allied to the Triple Entente, was helped by France, Britain, Greece, and Italy, which formed the Macedonian front. Following a great Allied offensive in 1918, the Armée française d'Orient reached Skopje 29 September and took the city by surprise. After the end of the World War, Macedonia became part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which became "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" in 1929. A mostly foreign ethnic Serb ruling class gained control, imposing a large-scale repression. The policies of de-Bulgarization and assimilation were pursued. At that time part of the young locals, repressed by the Serbs, tried to find a separate way of ethnic Macedonian development. In 1931, in a move to formally decentralize the country, Skopje was named the capital of the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Until the Second World War, Skopje experienced strong economic growth, and its population increased. The city had 41,066 inhabitants in 1921, 64,807 in 1931, and 80,000 in 1941. Although located in an underdeveloped region, it attracted wealthy Serbs who opened businesses and contributed to the modernization of the city. In 1941, Skopje had 45 factories, half of the industry in the whole of Socialist Macedonia.
In 1941, during the Second World War, Yugoslavia was invaded by Nazi Germany. Germans seized Skopje 8 April and left it to their Bulgarian allies on 22 April 1941. To ensure bulgarization of the society, authorities closed Serbian schools and churches and opened new schools and a higher education institute, the King Boris University. The 4,000 Jews of Skopje were all deported in 1943 to Treblinka where almost all of them died. Local Partisan detachments started a widespread guerrilla after the proclamation of the "Popular Republic of Macedonia" by the ASNOM on 2 August 1944.
Skopje was liberated on 13 November 1944 by Yugoslav Partisan units of the Macedonian National Liberation Army, together with units of the newly allied Bulgarian People's Army (Bulgaria having switched sides in the war in September).
After World War II, Skopje greatly benefited from Socialist Yugoslav policies which encouraged industry and the development of Macedonian cultural institutions. Consequently, Skopje became home to a national library, a national philharmonic orchestra, a university and the Macedonian Academy. However, its post-war development was altered by the 1963 earthquake which occurred 26 July. Although relatively weak in magnitude, it caused enormous damage in the city and can be compared to the 1960 Agadir earthquake. The disaster killed 1,070 people, injuring 3,300 others. 16,000 people were buried alive in ruins and 70% of the population lost their home. Many educational facilities, factories and historical buildings were destroyed.
After the earthquake, reconstruction was quick. It had a deep psychological impact on the population because neighbourhoods were split and people were relocated to new houses and buildings they were not familiar with. Many Albanians, some from Kosovo participated in the reconstruction effort. Reconstruction was finished by 1980, even if many elements were never built because funds were exhausted. Skopje cityscape was drastically changed and the city became a true example of modernist architecture. Demographic growth was very important after 1963, and Skopje had 408,100 inhabitants in 1981. After 1963, rural youth migrated to Skopje and were involved in the reconstruction process resulting in a large growth of the urban Macedonian population. The Albanian population of Skopje also increased as people from the northern villages migrated to the city and others came from Kosovo either to provide manpower for reconstruction or fled the deteriorating political situation, especially during the 1990s. However, during the 1980s and the 1990s, the country experienced inflation and recession and the local economy heavily suffered. The situation became better during the 2000s thanks to new investments. Many landmarks were restored and the "Skopje 2014" project renewed the appearance of the city centre.
The Flag of Skopje is a red banner in proportions 1:2 with a gold-coloured coat of arms of the city positioned in the upper-left corner. It is either vertical or horizontal, but the vertical version was the first to be used.
The coat of arms of the city was adopted in the 1950s. It depicts the Stone Bridge with the Vardar river, the Kale Fortress and the snow-capped peaks of the Šar mountains.
Being the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, Skopje enjoys a particular status granted by law. The last revision of its status was made in 2004. Since then, the City of Skopje has been divided into 10 municipalities which all have a council and a mayor, like all of the country's municipalities. Municipalities only deal with matters specific of their territory, and the City of Skopje deals with matters that concern all of them, or that cannot be divided between two or more municipalities.
The City of Skopje is part of Skopje Statistical Region, which has no political or administrative power.
The City Council consists of 45 members who serve a four-year term. It primarily deals with budget, global orientations and relations between the City and the government. Several commissions exist to treat more specific topics, such as urbanism, finances, environment of local development. The President of the Council is elected by the Council Members. Since 2017 the president has been Ljubica Jancheva, member of SDSM.
Following the 2017 local elections, the City Council is constituted as follows:
The Mayor of Skopje is elected every four years.
The mayor represents the City of Skopje and he can submit ideas to the Council. He manages the administrative bodies and their officials.
Skopje was first divided into administrative units in 1945, but the first municipalities were created in 1976. They were five: Centar, Čair, Karpoš, Gazi Baba and Kisela Voda. After the independence of the Republic of Macedonia, power was centralized and municipalities lost much of their competences. A 1996 law restored them and created two new municipalities: Gjorče Petrov and Šuto Orizari. After the insurgency between Albanian rebels and Macedonian forces in 2001, a new law was enacted in 2004 to incorporate Saraj municipality into the City of Skopje. Saraj is mostly populated by Albanians and, since then, Albanians represent more than 20% of the city population. Thus Albanian became the second official language of the city administration, something which was one of the claims of the Albanian rebels. The same year, Aerodrom Municipality separated itself from Kisela Voda, and Butel municipality from Čair.
Municipalities are administered by a council of 23 members elected every four years. They also have a mayor and several departments (education, culture, finances...). The mayor primarily deals with these departments.
Skopje is a medium city at European level. Being the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, Skopje concentrates a large share of the national economy. The Skopje Statistical Region, which encompasses the City of Skopje and some neighbouring municipalities, produces 45,5% of the North Macedonian GDP. In 2009, the regional GDP per capita amounted to US$6,565, or 155% of the North Macedonian GDP per capita. This figure is, however, smaller than the one of Sofia (US$10,106), Sarajevo (US$10,048) or Belgrade (US$7,983), but higher than the one of Tirana (US$4,126).
Because there are no other large cities in the country, and because of political and economical centralization, a large number of Macedonians living outside of Skopje work in the capital city. The dynamism of the city also encourages rural exodus, not only from North Macedonia, but also from Kosovo, Albania and Southern Serbia.
In 2009, Skopje had 26,056 firms but only 145 of them had a large size. The large majority of them are either small (12,017) or very small (13,625). A large share of the firms deal with trade of goods (9,758), 3,839 are specialized in business and real estate, and 2,849 are manufacturers. Although few in number, large firms account for 51% of the local production outside finance.
The city industry is dominated by food processing, textile, printing and metal processing. In 2012, it accounted for 30% of the city GDP. Most of the industrial areas are located in Gazi Baba municipality, on the major routes and rail lines to Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Notably, the ArcelorMittal and Makstil steel plants are located there, and also the Skopje Brewery. Other zones are located between Aerodrom and Kisela Voda, along the railway to Greece. These zones comprise Alkaloid Skopje (pharmaceuticals), Rade Končar (electrical supplies), Imperial Tobacco, and Ohis (fertilizers). Two special economic zones also exist, around the airport and the Okta refinery. They have attracted several foreign companies, such as Johnson Controls, Johnson Matthey and Van Hool.
As the country's financial capital, Skopje is the seat of the Macedonian Stock Exchange, of the National Bank and of most of the North Macedonian banking, insurance and telecommunication companies, such as Makedonski Telekom, Komercijalna banka Skopje and Stopanska Banka. The services sector produces 60% of the city GDP.
Besides many small traditional shops, Skopje has two large markets, the "Zelen Pazar" (green market) and the "Bit Pazar" (flea market). They are both considered as local institutions. However, since the 1970s, retailing has largely been modernized and Skopje now has many supermarkets and shopping centres. The largest, Skopje City Mall, opened in 2012. It comprises a Carrefour hypermarket, 130 shops and a cinema, and employs 2,000 people.
51% of the Skopje active population is employed in small firms. 52% of the population work in the services sector, 34% in industry, and the remaining is mainly employed in administration.
The unemployment rate for the Skopje Statistical Region was at 27% in 2009, three points under the national rate (30%). The neighbouring Polog Region had a similar rate, but the less affected region was the South-West, with 22%. Unemployment in Skopje mainly affects men, who represent 56% of job-seekers, people between 25 and 44 years old (45% of job-seekers), and non-qualified people (43%). Unemployment also concerns Roma people, who represent 4.63% of the city population but affects 70% of the active population in the community.
The average net monthly wage in Skopje was at €400 in October 2010, which represented 120% of the national figure. The average wage in Skopje was then lower than in Sarajevo (€522), Sofia (€436), and in Belgrade (€440).
The City of Skopje had 506,926 inhabitants within its administrative limits in 2002. Skopje's employment area covers a large part of the country, including Veles, Kumanovo and Tetovo, and totaling more than one million inhabitants.
Skopje concentrates a third of North Macedonia's population and other North Macedonian towns are much smaller. The second most populous municipality, Kumanovo, had 107,632 inhabitants in 2011, and an urban unit of 76,272 inhabitants in 2002.
Before the Austro-Turkish war and the 1698 Great Fire, Skopje was one of the biggest cities in the Balkans, with a population estimated between 30,000 and 60,000 inhabitants. After the fire, it experienced a long period of decline and only had 10,000 inhabitants in 1836. However, the population started to rise again after 1850 and reached 32,000 inhabitants in 1905. In the 20th century, Skopje was one of the fastest growing cities in Yugoslavia and it had 448,200 inhabitants in 1971. Since then, the demographic growth has continued at a steady pace.
Skopje, just like North Macedonia as a whole, is characterized by a large ethnic diversity. The city is located in a region where Macedonians and ethnic Albanians meet, and it welcomed Romani, Turks, Jews and Serbs throughout its history. Skopje was mainly a Muslim city until the 19th century, when large numbers of Christians started to settle there. According to the 2002 census, Macedonians were the largest ethnic group in Skopje, with 338,358 inhabitants, or 66.75% of the population. Then came Albanians with 103,891 inhabitants (20.49%), Roma people with 23,475 (4.63%), Serbs (14,298 inhabitants), Turks (8,595), Bosniaks (7,585) and Vlachs (2,557). 8,167 people did not belong to any of these groups.
Ethnic Macedonians form an overwhelming majority of the population in the municipalities of Aerodrom, Centar, Gjorče Petrov, Karpoš and Kisela Voda, which are all located south of the Vardar. They also form a majority in Butel and Gazi Baba which are north of the river. Albanians form a majority in Čair which roughly corresponds to the Old Bazaar, and in Saraj. They form a large minority in Butel and Gazi Baba. Šuto Orizari, located on the northern edge of the city, is predominantly Roma. When an ethnic minority forms at least 20% of the population in a municipality, its language can become official on the local level. Thus, in Čair and Saraj schools and administration use Albanian, and Romani in Šuto Orizari. The latter is the only municipality in the world where Romani is an official language.
Relations between the two largest groups, Macedonians and Albanians, are sometimes difficult, as in the rest of the country. Each group tolerate the other but they tend to avoid each other and live in what can appear as two parallel worlds. Both Macedonians and Albanians view themselves each as the original population of Skopje and the other as newcomers. The Roma minority is on its side very deprived. Its exact size is not known because many Macedonian Roma declare themselves as belonging to other ethnic groups or simply avoid censuses. However, even if official figures are underestimated, Skopje is the city in the world with the largest Roma population.
Religious affiliation is diverse: Macedonians, Serbs, and Vlachs are mainly Orthodox, with the majority affiliated to the Macedonian Orthodox Church; Turks are almost entirely Muslim; those of Albanian ethnicity are largely Muslim, although Skopje also has a sizeable Roman Catholic Albanian minority, into which Mother Teresa was born; the Roma (Gypsies) represent a mixture (in almost equal numbers) of Muslim and Orthodox religious heritage.
According to the 2002 census, 68.5% of the population of Skopje belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church, while 28.6% of it belonged to Islam. The city also had Catholic (0.5%) and Protestant (0.04%) minorities. The Catholics are served by the Latin bishopric of Skopje, in which is also vested the Byzantine Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Macedonia.
Until World War II, Skopje had a significant Jewish minority which mainly descended from Spanish Sephardis who had escaped the Inquisition. The community comprised 2,424 members in 1939 (representing about 3% of the city population), but most of them were deported and killed by Nazis. After the war, most of the survivors settled in Israel. Today the city has around 200 Jewish inhabitants (about 0.04% of the population).
Because of its Ottoman past, Skopje has more mosques than churches. Religious communities often complain about the lack of infrastructure and new places of worship are often built. Skopje is the seat of many Macedonian religious organizations, such as the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Religious Union of Macedonia. It has an Orthodox cathedral and seminary, several madrasahs, a Roman Catholic cathedral and a synagogue.
Skopje has several public and private hospitals and specialized medical institutions, such as the Filip II Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, two obstetric hospitals, a gerontology hospital and institutes for respiratory and ocular diseases. In 2012, Skopje had a ratio of one physician per 251.6 inhabitants, a figure higher than the national ratio (one per 370.9). The ratio of medical specialists was also higher than in the rest of the country. However, the ratio of hospital beds, pharmacists and dentists was lower in Skopje. The population in Skopje enjoys better health standards than other Macedonians. In 2010, the mortality rate was at 8.6‰ in Skopje and 9.3‰ on the national level. The infant mortality rate was at 6.8‰ in Skopje and 7.6‰ in North Macedonia.
Skopje's citizenry is generally more educated than the rest of the country. For one, 16% of Skopjans have graduated from university in contrast to 10% for the rest of the country. The number of people with a complete lack of education or ones who received a partial education is lower in Skopje at 9% compared to the provincial average of 17%. 80% of Macedonian citizens who hold a PhD take up residence in Skopje.
Skopje has 21 secondary schools; 5 of which serve as general high-school gymnasiums and 16 vocational schools. The city is also host to several higher education institutions, the most notable of which is Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, founded in 1949. The university has 23 departments, 10 research institutes and is attended by an average of 50,000 students. After the country's declaration of independence in 1991, several private universities were brought to existence. The largest private universities in Skopje are currently European University with 7 departments and FON University with 9 departments respectively.
Skopje is the largest media centre in North Macedonia. Of the 818 newspapers surveyed in 2000 by the Ministry of Information, over 600 had their headquarters in Skopje. The daily Dnevnik, founded in 1996, with 60 000 runs per day is the most printed in the country. Also based in Skopje, Večer is pulled 50,000 copies and the state owns one third of its capital, as well as Nova Makedonija, reprinted 20,000 copies. Other major newspapers in Skopje, totally private, are Utrinski Vesnik (30,000 copies), Vest (25,000 copies) and Vreme (15,000 copies). Magazines Fokus (12,000 copies), Start (10,000 copies), and Denes (7,500 copies) also have their headquarters in Skopje.
The city is home of the studios of Macedonian Radio-Television (MRT), the country's public radio and television. Founded in 1966, it operates with three national broadcast channels, twenty-four hours at day. The most popular private television stations are Sitel, Kanal 5, Telma, Alfa TV and AlsatM are another major private television companies. MRT also operates radio stations with national coverage, the private station Skopje's Kanal 77 is the only one to have such a span. Radio Antenna 5 and Metropolis are two other major private stations that have their headquarters in Skopje.
Also, the city boasts big news agencies in the country, both public, as the North Macedonian Information Agency, and private, such as the Makfax.
As the capital and largest city of North Macedonia, Skopje has many major sporting facilities. The city has three large swimming pools, two of which feature Olympic pools. These pools are particularly relevant to coaching water polo teams. Skopje also boasts many football stadiums, like Ilinden in Čair and Železarnica, which can accommodate between 4,000 and 4,500 spectators. The basketball court Kale can accommodate 5 000 people and the court of Jane Sandanski, 4000 people.
The largest stadium remains Toše Proeski Arena. The stadium, built in 1947 and named until 2008, City Stadium Skopje experienced a total renovation, begun in 2009 to meet the standards of FIFA. Fully renovated the stadium contains 32,580 seats, and a health spa and fitness. The Boris Trajkovski Sports Center is the largest sports complex in the country. It was opened in 2008 and named after president Boris Trajkovski, who died in 2004. It includes room dedicated to handball, basketball and volleyball, a bowling alley, a fitness area and an ice hockey court. Its main hall, which regularly hosts concerts, holds around 10,000 people.
FK Vardar and FK Rabotnički are the two most popular football teams, playing in the first national league. Their workouts are held at Philip II Arena, like those of the national team. The city is also home to many smaller football clubs, such as: FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov, FK Gorno Lisiče, FK Lokomotiva Skopje, FK Metalurg Skopje, FK Madžari Solidarnost and FK Skopje, who play in first, second or third national league. Another popular sport in North Macedonia is basketball, represented in particular by the teams Rabotnički and MZT Skopje. Handball is illustrated by RK Vardar PRO and RK Metalurg Skopje, also the women's team ŽRK Metalurg and ŽRK Vardar. The city co-hosted the 2008 European Women's Handball Championship together with Ohrid, and hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, the match between the two giants of the European football Real Madrid and Manchester United
Skopje is located near three other capital cities, Prishtina ( away), Tirana (291 km) and Sofia (245 km). Thessaloniki is south and Belgrade is north. Skopje is also at the crossroad of two Pan-European corridors: Corridor X, which runs between Austria and Greece, and Corridor VIII, which runs from the Adriatic in Albania to the Black sea in Bulgaria. Corridor X links Skopje to Thessaloniki, Belgrade and Western Europe, while Corridor VIII links it with Tirana and Sofia.
Corridor X locally corresponds to the M-1 motorway (E75), which is the longest North Macedonian highway. It also corresponds to the Tabanovce-Gevgelija railway. Corridor VIII, less developed, corresponds to the M-4 motorway and the Kičevo-Beljakovce railway. Skopje is not quite on the Corridor X and the M-1 does not pass on the city territory. Thus the junction between the M-1 and M-4 is located some east, close to the airport. Although Skopje is geographically close to other major cities, movement of people and goods is not optimized, especially with Albania. This is mainly due to poor infrastructure. As a result, 61.8% of Skopjans have never been to Tirana, while only 6.7% have never been to Thessaloniki and 0% to Sofia. Furthermore, 26% of Thessalonians, 33% of Sofians and 37% of Tiranans have never been to Skopje.
The first highways were built during Yugoslav period, when Skopje was linked through the Brotherhood and Unity Highway to, what was then, Yugoslav capital Belgrade to North, and Greek border to South.
The main railway station in Skopje is serviced by the Belgrade-Thessaloniki and Skopje-Prishtina international lines. After the completion of the Corridor VIII railway scheduled for 2022, the city will also be linked to Tirana and Sofia. Daily trains also link Skopje with other North Macedonian towns, such as Kumanovo, Kičevo, Štip, Bitola or Veles.
Skopje has several minor railway stations but the city does not have its own railway network and they are only serviced by intercity or international lines. On the railway linking the main station to Belgrade and Thessaloniki are Dračevo and Dolno Lisiče stations, and on the railway to Kičevo are Skopje-North, Gjorče Petrov and Saraj stations. Several other stations are freight-only.
Skopje coach station opened in 2005 and is built right under the main railway station. It can host 450 coaches in a day. Coach connections to and from Skopje are much more efficient and diverse than train connections. Indeed, it is regularly linked to many North Macedonian localities and foreign cities including Istanbul, Sofia, Prague, Hamburg and Stockholm.
Skopje has a bus network managed by the city and operated by three companies. The oldest and largest is JSP Skopje, a public company founded in 1948. JSP lost its monopoly on public transport in 1990 and two new companies, Sloboda Prevoz and Mak Ekspres, obtained several lines. However, most of the network is still in the hands of JSP which operates 67 lines out of 80. Only 24 lines are urban, the others serving localities around the city. Many of the JSP vehicles are red double-decker buses built by Chinese bus manufacturer Yutong and designed to resemble the classic British AEC Routemaster.
A tram network has long been planned in Skopje and the idea was first proposed in the 1980s. The project became real in 2006 when the mayor Trifun Kostovski asked for feasibility studies. His successor Koce Trajanovski launched a call for tenders in 2010 and the first line is scheduled for 2019.
A new network for small buses started to operate in June 2014, not to replace but to decrease the number of big buses in the city centre.
The airport was built in 1928. The first commercial flights in Skopje were introduced in 1929 when the Yugoslav carrier Aeroput introduced a route linking the city with the capital, Belgrade. A year later the route was extended to Thessaloniki in Greece, and further extended to Greek capital Athens in 1933. In 1935 Aeroput linked Skopje with Bitola and Niš, and also operated a longer international route linking Vienna and Thessaloniki through Zagreb, Belgrade and Skopje. After the Second World War, Aeroput was replaced by JAT Yugoslav Airlines, which linked Skopje to a number of domestic and international destinations until the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Nowadays, International Airport Skopje is located in Petrovec, some east of the city. Since 2008, it has been managed by the Turkish TAV Airports Holding and it can accommodate up to four million passengers per year. The annual traffic has constantly risen since 2008, reaching one million passengers in 2014.
Skopje's airport has connections to several European cities, including Athens, Vienna, Zürich, Brussels, Istanbul, London and Rome. It also maintains a direct connection with Dubai and Doha, Qatar.
Skopje is home to the largest cultural institutions of the country, such as the National and University Library "St. Kliment of Ohrid", the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the National Theatre, the National Philarmonic Orchestra and the Macedonian Opera and Ballet. Among the local institutions are the Brothers Miladinov Library which has more than a million documents, the Cultural Information Centre which manages festivals, exhibitions and concerts, and the House of Culture Kočo Racin which is dedicated to contemporary art and young talents.
Skopje has also several foreign cultural centres, such as a Goethe-Institut, a British Council, an Alliance française, an American Corner.
The city has several theatres and concert halls. The Univerzalna Sala, seating 1,570, was built in 1966 and is used for concerts, fashion shows and congresses. The Metropolis Arena, designed for large concerts, has 3,546 seats. Other large halls include the Macedonian Opera and Ballet (800 seats), the National Theatre (724), and the Drama Theatre (333). Other smaller venues exist, such as the Albanian Theatre and the Youth Theatre. A Turkish Theatre and a Philharmonic hall are under construction.
The largest museum in Skopje is the Museum of Macedonia which details the history of the country. Its icons and lapidary collections are particularly rich. The Macedonian Archeological Museum, opened in 2014, keeps some of the best archeological finds in North Macedonia, dating from Prehistory to the Ottoman period. The National Gallery of Macedonia exhibits paintings dating from the 14th to the 20th century in two former Turkish baths of the Old Bazaar. The Contemporary Art Museum of Macedonia was built after the 1963 earthquake thanks to international assistance. Its collections include Macedonian and foreign art, with works by Fernand Léger, André Masson, Pablo Picasso, Hans Hartung, Victor Vasarely, Alexander Calder, Pierre Soulages, Alberto Burri and Christo.
The Skopje City Museum is located inside the remains of the old railway station, destroyed by the 1963 earthquake. It is dedicated to local history and it has four departments: archeology, ethnology, history, and art history. The Memorial House of Mother Teresa was built in 2009 on the original site of the church in which the saint had been baptized. The Museum of the Macedonian Struggle is dedicated to the modern national history and the struggle of Macedonians for their independence. Nearby is the Holocaust Memorial Center for the Jews of Macedonia. The Macedonian Museum of Natural History showcases some 4,000 items while the 12-ha Skopje Zoo is home to 300 animals.
Although Skopje has been destroyed many times through its history, it still has many historical landmarks which reflect the successive occupations of the city. Skopje has one of the biggest Ottoman urban complexes in Europe, with many Ottoman monuments still serving their original purpose. It was also a ground for modernist experiments in the 20th century, following the 1963 earthquake. In the beginning of the 21st century, it is again the subject of massive building campaigns, thanks to the "Skopje 2014" project. Skopje is thus an environment where old, new, progressist, reactionary, eastern and western perspectives coexist.
Skopje has some remains of Prehistorical architecture which can be seen on the Tumba Madžari Neolithic site. On the other side of the city lie the remains of the ancient Scupi, with ruins of a theatre, thermae and a basilica. The Skopje Aqueduct, located between Scupi and the city centre, is rather mysterious because its date of construction is unknown. It seems to have been built by the Byzantines or the Turks, but it was already out of use in the 16th century. It consists of 50 arches, worked in cloisonné masonry.
Skopje Fortress was rebuilt several times before it was destroyed by the 1963 earthquake. Since then, it has been restored to its medieval appearance. It is the only medieval monument in Skopje, but several churches located around the city illustrate the Vardar architectural school which flourished around 1300. Among these churches are the ones around Matka Canyon (St Nicholas, St Andrew and Matka churches). The church of St. Panteleimon in Gorno Nerezi dates from the 12th century. Its expressive frescoes anticipate the Italian primitives.
Examples of Ottoman Turkish architecture are located in the Old Bazaar. Mosques in Skopje are usually simple in design, with a square base and a single dome and minaret. There entrance is usually emphasized by a portico, as on Mustafa Pasha Mosque, dating from the 15th century. Some mosques show some originality in their appearance: Sultan Murad and Yahya Pasha mosques have lost their dome and have a pyramidal roof, while Isa Bey mosque has a rectangular base, two domes and two side wings. The Aladža Mosque was originally covered with blue faience, but it disappeared in the 1689 Great Fire. However, some tiles are still visible on the adjoining türbe. Other Turkish public monuments include the 16th-century clock tower, a bedesten, three caravanserais, two Turkish baths and the Stone Bridge, first mentioned in 1469.
The oldest churches in the city centre, the Ascension and St Dimitri churches, were built in the 18th century, after the 1689 Great Fire. They were both renovated in the 19th century. The Church of the Ascension is particularly small it is half-buried in order not to overlook neighbouring mosques. In the 19th century, several new churches were built, including the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which is a large three-nave building designed by Andrey Damyanov.
After 1912, when Skopje was annexed by Serbia, the city was drastically westernized. Wealthy Serbs built mansions and town houses such as the 1926 Ristiḱ Palace. Architecture of that time is very similar to the one of Central Europe, but some buildings are more creative, such as the Neo-Moorish Arab House and the Neo-Byzantine train station, both built in 1938. Modernism appeared as early as 1933 with the former Ethnographic Museum (today the City Gallery), designed by Milan Zloković. However, modernist architecture only fully developed in Skopje after the 1963 earthquake. The reconstruction of city centre was partially planned by Japanese Kenzo Tange who designed the new train station. Macedonian architects also took part to the reconstruction: Georgi Konstantinovski designed the City Archives building in 1968 and the Hall of residence Goce Delčev in 1975, while Janko Konstantinov designed the Telecommunication Centre and the main post office (1974–1989). Slavko Brezovski designed the Church of St. Clement of Ohrid. These two buildings are noted for their originality although they are directly inspired by brutalism.
The reconstruction turned Skopje into a proper modernist city, with large blocks of flats, austere concrete buildings and scattered green spaces. The city centre was considered as a grey and unattractive place when local authorities unveiled the "Skopje 2014" project in 2010. It made plans to erect a large number of statues, fountains, bridges, and museums at a cost of about €500 million.
The project has generated controversy: critics have described the new landmark buildings as signs of reactionary historicist aesthetics. Also, the government has been criticized for its cost and for the original lack of representation of national minorities in the coverage of its set of statues and memorials. However, representations of minorities have since been included among the monuments. The scheme is accused of turning Skopje to a theme park, which is viewed as nationalistic kitsch, and has made Skopje an example to see how national identities are constructed and how this construction is mirrored in the urban space.
The Skopje Jazz Festival has been held annually in October since 1981. It is part of the European Jazz Network and the European Forum of World Wide Festivals. The artists' profiles include fusion, acid jazz, Latin jazz, smooth jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Ray Charles, Tito Puente, Gotan Project, Al Di Meola, Youssou N'Dour, among others, have performed at the festival. Another music festival in Skopje is the Blues and Soul Festival. It is a relatively new event in the Macedonian cultural scene that occurs every summer in early July. Past guests include Larry Coryell, Mick Taylor & the All-Stars Blues Band, Candy Dulfer & Funky Stuff, João Bosco, The Temptations, Tolo Marton Trio, Blues Wire, and Phil Guy.
The Skopje Cultural Summer Festival is a renowned cultural event that takes place in Skopje each year during the summer. The festival is a member of the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) and it includes musical concerts, operas, ballets, plays, art and photograph exhibitions, movies, and multimedia projects that gather 2,000 participants from around the world each year including the St Petersburg Theatre, the Chamber Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Irina Arkhipova, Viktor Tretiakov, The Theatre of Shadows, Michel Dalberto, and David Burgess.
May Opera Evenings is a festival that has occurred annually in Skopje since 1972 and is dedicated to promoting opera among the general public. Over the years, it has evolved into a stage on which artists from some 50 countries have performed. There is one other major international theatre festival that takes place each year at the end of month September, the Young Open Theater Festival (MOT), which was organized for the first time in May 1976 by the Youth Cultural Center – Skopje. More than 700 theatrical performances have been presented at this festival so far, most of them being alternative, experimental theatre groups engaging young writers and actors. The MOT International theatre festival is also a member of the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts or IETM. Within the framework of the MOT Festival, the Macedonian National Center of the International Theater Institute (ITI) was established, and at the 25th ITI World Congress in Munich in 1993, it became a regular member of this theatre association. The festival has an international character, always representing theatres from all over the world that present and enhance exchange and circulation of young-fresh-experimental-avant guard theatrical energy and experience between its participants on one side and the audience on the other.
The Skopje Film Festival is an annual event held in the city every March. Over 50 films are shown at this five-day festival, mostly from Macedonia and Europe, but also including some non-commercial film productions from all over the world.
Skopje has a diverse nightlife. There is a large emphasis on casinos, many of which are associated with hotels, such as that of the Holiday Inn. Other casinos include Helios Metropol, Olympic, Bon Venon, and Sherry. Among young people the most popular destinations are bars, discos, and nightclubs which can be found in the centre and the City Park. Among the most popular nightclubs are The Loft, Club Epicentar, Stanica 26, Midnight, Maracana, Havana Summer Club, XL Summer Club (former Colosseum Summer Club) where world-famous disc jockeys and idiosyncratic local performances are frequent. In 2010, the Colosseum club was named fifth on a list of the best clubs in Southeastern Europe. Armin van Buuren, Above and Beyond, The Shapeshifters are just some of the many musicians that have visited the club. Nighttime concerts in local, regional and global music are often held at the Philip II National Arena and Boris Trajkovski Sports Center. For middle-aged people, places for having fun are also the "kafeanas" where traditional Macedonian food is served and traditional Macedonian music ("Starogradska muzika") is played, but music from all the Balkans, particularly Serbian folk music is also popular. Apart from the traditional Macedonian restaurants, there are restaurants featuring international cuisines. Some of the most popular cafés in Skopje are Café Trend, Izlet, Ljubov, Vinyl, Public Room, Kino Karposh, Krug, Sindkat. The Old Bazaar was a popular nightlife destination in the past. The national government has created a project to revive nightlife in the Old Bazaar. The closing time in shops, cafés and restaurants was extended due to the high attendances recorded. In the bazaar's restaurants, along with the traditional Macedonian wine and food, dishes of the Ottoman cuisine are also served.
Skopje is twinned with: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29618 |
Sacramento, California
Sacramento ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat and largest city of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's estimated 2019 population of 513,625 makes it the sixth-largest city in California and the ninth-largest capital in the United States. Sacramento is the seat of the California Legislature and the Governor of California, making it the state's political center and a hub for lobbying and think tanks. Sacramento is also the cultural and economic core of the Sacramento metropolitan area, which at the 2010 census had a population of 2,414,783, making it the fifth-largest in California.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area was inhabited by the Nisenan, Maidu, and other indigenous peoples of California. Spanish cavalryman Gabriel Moraga surveyed and named the "Rio del Santísimo Sacramento" (Sacramento River) in 1808, after the Blessed Sacrament, referring to the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. In 1839, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Mexican governor of Alta California, granted the responsibility of colonizing the Sacramento Valley to Swiss-born Mexican citizen John Augustus Sutter, who subsequently established Sutter's Fort and the settlement at the "Rancho Nueva Helvetia." Following the American Conquest of California and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the waterfront developed by Sutter began to be developed, and incorporated in 1850 as the City of Sacramento. As a result of the California Gold Rush, Sacramento became a major commercial center and distribution point for Northern California, serving as the terminus for the Pony Express and the First Transcontinental Railroad.
Sacramento is the fastest-growing major city in California, owing to its status as a notable financial center on the West Coast and as a major educational hub, home of California State University, Sacramento and University of California, Davis. Similarly, Sacramento is a major center for the California healthcare industry, as the seat of Sutter Health, the world-renowned UC Davis Medical Center, and the UC Davis School of Medicine, and notable tourist destination in California, as the site of the California Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, the California State Railroad Museum, the California Hall of Fame, the California State Capitol Museum, and the Old Sacramento State Historic Park. Sacramento International Airport, located northwest of the city, is the city's major airport. Sacramento is known for its evolving contemporary culture, dubbed the most "hipster city" in California. In 2002, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project conducted for "Time" magazine named Sacramento "America's Most Diverse City".
Nisenan (Southern Maidu), Modoc, and Plains Miwok Native Americans had lived in the area for perhaps thousands of years. Unlike the settlers who would eventually make Sacramento their home, these Native Americans left little evidence of their existence. Traditionally, their diet was dominated by acorns taken from the plentiful oak trees in the region, and by fruits, bulbs, seeds, and roots gathered throughout the year.
In 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga encountered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River. A Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote: "Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths. The air was like champagne, and "(the Spaniards)" drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. "¡Es como el sagrado sacramento! (It's like the Blessed Sacrament.)" The valley and the river were then christened after the "Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ", referring to the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist.
John Sutter Sr. first arrived in the area on August 13, 1839, at the divergence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of 50,000 acres. The next year, his party and he established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls 18 feet high and three feet thick.
Representing Mexico, Sutter Sr. called his colony New Helvetia, a Swiss-inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west. Within just a few short years, Sutter Sr. had become a grand success, owning a 10-acre orchard and a herd of 13,000 cattle. Fort Sutter became a regular stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter Sr. received 2,000 fruit trees, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. Later that year, Sutter Sr. hired James Marshall to build a sawmill so he could continue to expand his empire, but unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on thin margins of credit.
In 1848, when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma (some northeast of the fort), a large number of gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. In August 1848, Sutter Sr.'s son, John Sutter Jr., arrived in the area to assist his father in relieving his indebtedness. Now compounding the problem of his father's indebtedness, was the additional strain placed on the Sutters by the ongoing arrival of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many quite content to squat on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands, or to abscond with various unattended Sutter properties or belongings if they could. In Sutter's case, rather than being a 'boon' for Sutter, his employee's discovery of gold in the area turned out to be more of a personal 'bane' for him.
By December 1848, John Sutter Jr., in association with Sam Brannan, began laying out the City of Sacramento, 2 miles south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr., but the father, being deeply in debt, was in no position to stop the venture. For commercial reasons, the new city was named "Sacramento City" after the Sacramento River. Sutter Jr. and Brannon hired topographical engineer William H. Warner to draft the official layout of the city, which included 26 lettered and 31 numbered streets (today's grid from C St. to Broadway and from Front St. to Alhambra Blvd.). Unfortunately, a certain bitterness grew between the elder Sutter and his son as Sacramento became an overnight commercial success (Sutter's Fort, Mill, and the town of Sutterville, all founded by John Sutter Sr., would eventually fail).
The citizens of Sacramento adopted a city charter in 1849, which was recognized by the state legislature in 1850. Sacramento is the oldest incorporated city in California, incorporated on February 27, 1850. During the early 1850s, the Sacramento valley was devastated by floods, fires and cholera epidemics. Despite this, because of its position just downstream from the Mother Lode in the Sierra Nevada, the new city grew, quickly reaching a population of 10,000.
The California State Legislature, with the support of Governor John Bigler, moved to Sacramento in 1854. The capital of California under Spanish (and, subsequently, Mexican) rule had been Monterey, where, in 1849, the first Constitutional Convention and state elections were held. The convention decided San Jose would be the new state's capital. After 1850, when California's statehood was ratified, the legislature met in San Jose until 1851, Vallejo in 1852, and Benicia in 1853, before moving to Sacramento. In the Sacramento Constitutional Convention of 1879, Sacramento was named to be the permanent state capital.
Begun in 1860 to be reminiscent of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Classical Revival style California State Capitol was completed in 1874. In 1861, the legislative session was moved to the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco for one session because of massive flooding in Sacramento. The legislative chambers were first occupied in 1869 while construction continued. From 1862 to 1868, part of the Leland Stanford Mansion was used for the governor's offices during Stanford's tenure as the Governor; and the legislature met in the Sacramento County Courthouse.
With its new status and strategic location, Sacramento quickly prospered and became the western end of the Pony Express. Later it became a terminus of the First Transcontinental Railroad, which began construction in Sacramento in 1863 and was financed by "The Big Four"—Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, and Leland Stanford. Both the American and especially Sacramento rivers would be key elements in the economic success of the city. In fact, Sacramento effectively controlled commerce on these rivers, and public works projects were funded through taxes levied on goods unloaded from boats and loaded onto rail cars in the historic Sacramento Rail Yards.
In 1850 and again in 1861, Sacramento citizens were faced with a completely flooded town. In 1861, Governor Leland Stanford, who was inaugurated in early January 1861, had to attend his inauguration in a rowboat, which was not too far from his house in town on N street. The flood waters were so bad, the legend says, that when he returned to his house, he had to enter into it through the second floor window. From 1862 until the mid-1870s Sacramento raised the level of its downtown by building reinforced brick walls on its downtown streets, and filling the resulting street walls with dirt. Thus the previous first floors of buildings became the basements, with open space between the street and the building, previously the sidewalk, now at the basement level. Over the years, many of these underground spaces have been filled or destroyed by subsequent development. However, it is still possible to view portions of the "Sacramento Underground".
The city's current charter was adopted by voters in 1920. As a charter city, Sacramento is exempt from many laws and regulations passed by the state legislature. The city has expanded continuously over the years. The 1964 merger of the City of North Sacramento with Sacramento substantially increased its population, and large annexations of the Natomas area eventually led to significant population growth throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Sacramento County (along with a portion of adjacent Placer County) is served by a customer-owned electric utility, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). Sacramento voters approved the creation of SMUD in 1923. In April 1946, after 12 years of litigation, a judge ordered Pacific Gas & Electric to transfer title of Sacramento's electric distribution system to SMUD. Today SMUD is the sixth-largest public electric utility in the U.S., and is a leader for innovative programs and services, including the development of clean fuel resources, such as solar power.
The year following the creation of SMUD, 1924, brought several events in Sacramento: Standard Oil executive Verne McGeorge established McGeorge School of Law, American department store Weinstock & Lubin opened a new store at 12th and K street, the US$2 million Senator Hotel was opened, Sacramento's drinking water became filtered and treated drinking water, and Sacramento boxer Georgie Lee fought Francisco Guilledo, a Filipino professional boxer known as Pancho Villa, at L Street Auditorium on March 21.
Early in World War II, the Sacramento Assembly Center (also known as the Walerga Assembly Center) was established to house Japanese Americans forcibly "evacuated" from the West Coast under Executive Order 9066. The camp was one of fifteen temporary detention facilities where over 110,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were held while construction on the more permanent War Relocation Authority camps was completed. The assembly center was built on the site of a former migrant labor camp, and inmates began arriving from Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties on May 6, 1942. It closed after only 52 days, on June 26, and the population of 4,739 was transferred to the Tule Lake concentration camp. The site was then turned over to the Army Signal Corps and dedicated as Camp Kohler.
After the war and the end of the incarceration program, returning Japanese Americans were often unable to find housing and so 234 families temporarily lived at the former assembly center. Camp Kohler was destroyed by a fire in December 1947, and the assembly center site is now part of the Foothill Farms-North Highlands subdivision.
The Sacramento-Yolo Port District was created in 1947, and ground was broken on the Port of Sacramento in 1949.
On June 29, 1963, with 5,000 spectators waiting to welcome her, the Motor Vessel "Taipei Victory" arrived. The Nationalist Chinese flagship docked at the Port of Sacramento, being first ocean-going vessel in Sacramento since the steamship "Harpoon" in 1934.
In 1967, Ronald Reagan became the last Governor of California to live permanently in the city. The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of several local military bases: McClellan Air Force Base, Mather Air Force Base, and Sacramento Army Depot. In 1980, there was another flood.
In spite of military base closures and the decline of agricultural food processing, Sacramento has continued to experience population growth in recent years. Primary sources of population growth are an influx of residents from the nearby San Francisco Bay Area, as well as immigration from Asia and Latin America. In 1985, Hugh Scrutton, a 38-year-old Sacramento, California, computer store owner, was killed by a nail-and-splinter-loaded bomb placed in the parking lot of his store. In 1996, his death was attributed to the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski.
After acquiring the majority stake in the Sacramento Kings, the team's new owner, Vivek Ranadivé with the help of the city, agreed to build a new Arena in the downtown area. With a final estimated cost of $558.2 million, Sacramento's Golden 1 Center opened on September 30, 2016.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers , 97.81% of it land, and 2.19% of it water.
Depth to groundwater is typically about . Much of the land to the west of the city (in Yolo County) is permanently reserved for a vast flood control basin (the Yolo Bypass), due to the city's historical vulnerability to floods. As a result, the contiguous urban area sprawls only four miles (6 km) west of downtown (as West Sacramento, California) but northeast and east, into the Sierra Nevada foothills, and to the south into valley farmland.
The city is at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River, and has a deep-water port connected to the San Francisco Bay by a channel through the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. It is the shipping and rail center for the Sacramento Valley.
The city groups most of its neighborhoods into four areas:
Additional prominent regions and neighborhoods in the city include American River Parkway, Arden-Arcade, Arden Fair, Cal Expo, Capital Avenue, Coffing, College Glen, College Greens, Cordova, Creekside, East Fruitridge, Elder Creek, Elkhorn, Elvas, Erikson Industrial Park, Excelsior Sunrise, Foothill Farms, Franklin, Frates Ranch, Gateway Center, Gateway West, Glenwood Meadows, Hansen Park, Heritage Park, Johnson Business Park, Johnson Heights, Mayhew, Metro Center, Mills, Natomas Corporate Center, Natomas Creek, Natomas Crossing, Natomas Park, Newton Booth, Noralto, Northpointe, Norwood, Oak Knoll, Old North Sacramento, Parker Homes, Point West, Raley Industrial Park, Regency Park, Richardson Village, Richmond Grove, Rosemont, Sierra Oaks, Sports Complex, Strawberry Manor, Sundance Lake, Swanston Palms, Town and Country Village, Upper Land Park, Village 5, Village 7, Village 12, Village 14, Village Green, Walerga, Walsh Station, West Del Paso Heights, Westlake, Willowcreek, Wills Acres, Winn Park, Woodside and Youngs Heights.
Sacramento has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csa"), characterized by very hot, dry summers and mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall. The wet season is generally October through April, though there may be a day or two of light rainfall in June or September. The normal annual mean temperature is , with the monthly daily average temperature ranging from in December to in July. Summer heat is sometimes moderated by a sea breeze known as the "delta breeze" which comes through the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta from the San Francisco Bay, and temperatures cool down sharply at night.
The foggiest months are December and January. Tule fog can be extremely dense, lowering visibility to less than and making driving conditions extremely hazardous. Chilling tule fog events have been known to last for several consecutive days or weeks. During Tule fog events, temperatures do not exceed .
Snowfall is rare in Sacramento, which is only above sea level. In the downtown area, only three significant snow accumulations have occurred since 1900, the last one being in 1976. During especially cold winter and spring storms, intense showers do occasionally produce a significant amount of hail, which can create hazardous driving conditions. Snowfall in the city often melts upon ground contact, with traceable amounts occurring in some years. Significant annual snow accumulations occur in the foothills east of the city, which had brief and traceable amounts of snowfall in January 2002, December 2009, and February 2011. The greatest snowfall ever recorded in Sacramento was on January 5, 1888.
On average, there are 73 days where the high exceeds , and 14 days where the high exceeds ; On the other extreme, there are 15 days where the temperature does not exceed , and 15 freezing nights per year. Official temperature extremes range from on December 22, 1990 to on June 15, 1961; a station around east-southeast of the city dipped to on December 11, 1932.
The average annual precipitation is . On average, precipitation falls on 60 days each year in Sacramento, and nearly all of this falls during the winter months. Average January rainfall is , and measurable precipitation is rare during the summer months. In February 1992, Sacramento had 16 consecutive days of rain, resulting in an accumulation of for the period. On rare occasions, monsoonal moisture surges from the Desert Southwest can bring upper-level moisture to the Sacramento region, leading to increased summer cloudiness, humidity, and even light showers and thunderstorms. Monsoon clouds do occur, usually during late July through early September. Sacramento is the second most flood susceptible city in the United States after New Orleans.
Sacramento has been noted as being the sunniest location on the planet for three months of the year, from July through September. It holds the distinction as the sunniest month, in terms of percent possible sunshine, of anywhere in the world; July in Sacramento averages 14 hours and 12 minutes of sunshine per day, amounting to approximately 100% of possible sunshine.
In 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University conducted for "Time" magazine named Sacramento "America's Most Diverse City". The U.S. Census Bureau also groups Sacramento with other U.S. cities having a "high diversity" rating of the diversity index. Moreover, Sacramento is one of the most well-integrated U.S. cities, having a relatively high level of ethnic and racial heterogeneity within its neighborhoods.
The 2010 United States Census reported Sacramento had a population of 466,488. The population density was 4,660.0 people per square mile (1,799.2/km2).
The racial makeup of Sacramento was:
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 125,276 persons (26.9%); 22.6% of Sacramento's population is of Mexican heritage, 0.7% Puerto Rican, 0.5% Salvadoran, 0.2% Guatemalan, and 0.2% Nicaraguan. Non-Hispanic Whites were 34.5% of the population in 2010, down from 71.4% in 1970.
The Census reported 458,174 people (98.2% of the population) lived in households, 4,268 (0.9%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 4,046 (0.9%) were institutionalized. The recent housing crash has not impacted these numbers.
There were 174,624 households, out of which 57,870 (33.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 65,556 (37.5%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 27,640 (15.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 10,534 (6.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 13,234 (7.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 2,498 (1.4%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 53,342 households (30.5%) were made up of individuals and 14,926 (8.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62. There were 103,730 families (59.4% of all households); the average family size was 3.37.
Sacramento has one of the highest LGBT populations per capita, ranking seventh among major American cities, and third in California behind San Francisco and slightly behind Oakland, with roughly 10% of the city's total population identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
The age distribution of the city was follows: 116,121 people (24.9%) were under the age of 18, 52,438 people (11.2%) aged 18 to 24, 139,093 people (29.8%) aged 25 to 44, 109,416 people (23.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 49,420 people (10.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.
There were 190,911 housing units at an average density of 1,907.1 per square mile (736.3/km2), of which 86,271 (49.4%) were owner-occupied, and 88,353 (50.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.3%. 231,593 people (49.6% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 226,581 people (48.6%) lived in rental housing units.
The Sacramento metropolitan area is the fifth largest in California after the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Inland Empire, and the San Diego metropolitan area, and is the 27th largest in the United States.
Sutter Health, Blue Diamond Growers, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Teichert, and The McClatchy Company are among the companies based in Sacramento.
The Port of Sacramento has been plagued with operating losses in recent years and faces bankruptcy. This severe loss in business is due to the heavy competition from the Port of Stockton, which has a larger facility and a deeper channel. As of 2006, the city of West Sacramento took responsibility for the Port of Sacramento. During the Vietnam War era, the Port of Sacramento was the major terminus in the supply route for all military parts, hardware and other cargo going to Southeast Asia.
As of 2012, the top employers in the County of Sacramento were:
The Sacramento Ballet, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sacramento Opera perform at the Community Center Theater.
There are several major theater venues in Sacramento. The Sacramento Convention Center Complex governs both the Community Center Theatre and Memorial Auditorium. The H Street Theatre Complex consists of the Wells Fargo Pavilion, built in 2003 atop the old Music Circus tent foundations, the McClatchy Mainstage and the Pollock Stage, originally built as a television studio and renovated at the same time the Pavilion was built. These smaller venues seat 300 and 90, offering a more intimate presentation than the 2300-seat Pavilion. The newest venue in the city, the Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, consists of the 365-seat Sutter Theatre for Children and the Mainstage, seating 250.
Professional theatre is represented in Sacramento by a number of companies. Broadway Sacramento and its locally produced Summer stock theatre, Broadway at Music Circus, lures many directors, performers, and artists from New York and Los Angeles to work alongside a large local staff at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. During the fall, winter and spring seasons Broadway Sacramento brings bus and truck tours to the Community Center Theater. Resident at the H Street Theatre Complex for the remainder of the year (from September to May), the Sacramento Theatre Company prepares to celebrate its 75th season, beginning in the Fall of 2019. In addition to a traditional regional theatre fare of classical plays and musicals, the Sacramento Theatre Company has a large School of the Arts with a variety of opportunities for arts education. The B Street Theatre, having completed its 2018 move into the new Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts, continues its pursuit of producing smaller and more intimate professional works for families and children. Rounding out the professional companies is Capital Stage, which performed aboard the Delta King until the end of the 2010–2011 season and soon took up residence at its own venue along the J-Street corridor.
The Sacramento area has one of the largest collection of community theatres in California. Some of these include the Thistle Dew Dessert Theatre and Playwrights Workshop, Davis Musical Theatre Co., El Dorado Musical Theatre, Runaway Stage Productions, River City Theatre Company, Flying Monkey Productions, The Actor's Theatre, KOLT Run Productions, Kookaburra Productions, Big Idea Theatre, Celebration Arts, Lambda Player, Light Opera Theatre of Sacramento, Synergy Stage and the historic Eagle Theatre. The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival provides entertainment under the stars every summer in William Land Park. Many of these theatres compete annually for the Elly Awards overseen by The Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance or SARTA.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission is an organization that was established as the Sacramento arts council in 1977 to provide several arts programs for the city. These include Art in Public Places, Arts Education, Grants and Cultural Programs, Poet Laureate Program, Arts Stabilization Programs and Other Resources and opportunities.
Sacramento Second Saturday Art Walk is a program of local art galleries that stay open into the late evenings every second Saturday of each month, providing a unique experience for the local population as well as tourists to view original art and meet the artists themselves.
Sacramento has several major museums. The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest public art museum west of the Mississippi River. On July 26, 2007, the museum broke ground for an expansion that more than tripled the museum's floor space. The modern architecture is very different from the museum's original Victorian style building. Construction was completed in 2010.
Also of interest is the Governor's Mansion State Historic Park, a large Victorian Mansion which was home to 13 of California's Governors, as well as the official residence for former governor Jerry Brown following renovations in 2015. The Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park, which was completely restored in 2006, serves as the State's official address for diplomatic and business receptions. Guided public tours are available. The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts, home of the California Hall of Fame, is a cultural destination dedicated to telling the rich history of California and its unique influence on the world of ideas, innovation, art and culture. The museum educates tens of thousands of school children through inspiring programs, sharing with world visitors California's rich art, history and cultural legacy through dynamic exhibits, and serving as a public forum and international meeting place.
The California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento has historical exhibits and live steam locomotives that patrons may ride. The California Automobile Museum, just south of Old Sacramento, is filled with automotive history and vehicles from 1880 to 2006 and is the oldest non-profit automotive museum in the West. The mission of it is to preserve, promote, and teach automotive culture and its influence on our lives—past, present and future. In addition, the Sacramento History Museum, in the heart of Old Sacramento, focuses on the history of Sacramento from the region's pre-Gold Rush history through the present day.
There is a Museum Day held in Sacramento every year, when 26 museums in the greater Sacramento area offer free admission. The 2009 Sacramento Museum Day brought out more than 80,000 people, the largest number the event has gathered. Sacramento Museum Day is held every year on the first Saturday of February.
Tower Records was started and based in Sacramento until its closing. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29631 |
Sierpinski carpet
The Sierpinski carpet is a plane fractal first described by Wacław Sierpiński in 1916. The carpet is one generalization of the Cantor set to two dimensions; another is the Cantor dust.
The technique of subdividing a shape into smaller copies of itself, removing one or more copies, and continuing recursively can be extended to other shapes. For instance, subdividing an equilateral triangle into four equilateral triangles, removing the middle triangle, and recursing leads to the Sierpinski triangle. In three dimensions, a similar construction based on cubes is known as the Menger sponge.
The construction of the Sierpinski carpet begins with a square. The square is cut into 9 congruent subsquares in a 3-by-3 grid, and the central subsquare is removed. The same procedure is then applied recursively to the remaining 8 subsquares, "ad infinitum". It can be realised as the set of points in the unit square whose coordinates written in base three do not both have a digit '1' in the same position.
The process of recursively removing squares is an example of a finite subdivision rule.
The area of the carpet is zero (in standard Lebesgue measure).
The interior of the carpet is empty.
The Hausdorff dimension of the carpet is .
Sierpiński demonstrated that his carpet is a universal plane curve. That is: the Sierpinski carpet is a compact subset of the plane with Lebesgue covering dimension 1, and every subset of the plane with these properties is homeomorphic to some subset of the Sierpinski carpet.
This 'universality' of the Sierpinski carpet is not a true universal property in the sense of category theory: it does not uniquely characterize this space up to homeomorphism. For example, the disjoint union of a Sierpinski carpet and a circle is also a universal plane curve. However, in 1958 Gordon Whyburn uniquely characterized the Sierpinski carpet as follows: any curve that is locally connected and has no 'local cut-points' is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet. Here a local cut-point is a point for which some connected neighborhood of has the property that is not connected. So, for example, any point of the circle is a local cut point.
In the same paper Whyburn gave another characterization of the Sierpinski carpet. Recall that a continuum is a nonempty connected compact metric space. Suppose is a continuum embedded in the plane. Suppose its complement in the plane has countably many connected components and suppose:
Then is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet.
The topic of Brownian motion on the Sierpinski carpet has attracted interest in recent years. Martin Barlow and Richard Bass have shown that a random walk on the Sierpinski carpet diffuses at a slower rate than an unrestricted random walk in the plane. The latter reaches a mean distance proportional to after steps, but the random walk on the discrete Sierpinski carpet reaches only a mean distance proportional to for some . They also showed that this random walk satisfies stronger large deviation inequalities (so called "sub-Gaussian inequalities") and that it satisfies the elliptic Harnack inequality without satisfying the parabolic one. The existence of such an example was an open problem for many years.
A variation of the Sierpinski carpet, called the Wallis sieve, starts in the same way, by subdividing the unit square into nine smaller squares and removing the middle of them. At the next level of subdivision, it subdivides each of the squares into 25 smaller squares and removes the middle one, and it continues at the th step by subdividing each square into (the odd squares) smaller squares and removing the middle one.
By the Wallis product, the area of the resulting set is , unlike the standard Sierpinski carpet which has zero limiting area.
However, by the results of Whyburn mentioned above, we can see that the Wallis sieve is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet. In particular, its interior is still empty.
Mobile phone and WiFi fractal antennas have been produced in the form of few iterations of the Sierpinski carpet. Due to their self-similarity and scale invariance, they easily accommodate multiple frequencies. They are also easy to fabricate and smaller than conventional antennas of similar performance, thus being optimal for pocket-sized mobile phones. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29635 |
Sierpiński triangle
The Sierpiński triangle (sometimes spelled "Sierpinski"), also called the Sierpiński gasket or Sierpiński sieve, is a fractal attractive fixed set with the overall shape of an equilateral triangle, subdivided recursively into smaller equilateral triangles. Originally constructed as a curve, this is one of the basic examples of self-similar sets—that is, it is a mathematically generated pattern that is reproducible at any magnification or reduction. It is named after the Polish mathematician Wacław Sierpiński, but appeared as a decorative pattern many centuries before the work of Sierpiński.
There are many different ways of constructing the Sierpinski triangle.
The Sierpinski triangle may be constructed from an equilateral triangle by repeated removal of triangular subsets:
Each removed triangle (a "trema") is topologically an open set.
This process of recursively removing triangles is an example of a finite subdivision rule.
The same sequence of shapes, converging to the Sierpinski triangle, can alternatively be generated by the following steps:
Note that this infinite process is not dependent upon the starting shape being a triangle—it is just clearer that way. The first few steps starting, for example, from a square also tend towards a Sierpinski triangle. Michael Barnsley used an image of a fish to illustrate this in his paper "V-variable fractals and superfractals."
The actual fractal is what would be obtained after an infinite number of iterations. More formally, one describes it in terms of functions on closed sets of points. If we let "d"A denote the dilation by a factor of about a point A, then the Sierpinski triangle with corners A, B, and C is the fixed set of the transformation "d"A ∪ "d"B ∪ "d"C.
This is an attractive fixed set, so that when the operation is applied to any other set repeatedly, the images converge on the Sierpinski triangle. This is what is happening with the triangle above, but any other set would suffice.
If one takes a point and applies each of the transformations "d"A, "d"B, and "d"C to it randomly, the resulting points will be dense in the Sierpinski triangle, so the following algorithm will again generate arbitrarily close approximations to it:
Start by labeling p1, p2 and p3 as the corners of the Sierpinski triangle, and a random point v1. Set , where "rn" is a random number 1, 2 or 3. Draw the points v1 to v∞. If the first point v1 was a point on the Sierpiński triangle, then all the points v"n" lie on the Sierpinski triangle. If the first point v1 to lie within the perimeter of the triangle is not a point on the Sierpinski triangle, none of the points v"n" will lie on the Sierpinski triangle, however they will converge on the triangle. If v1 is outside the triangle, the only way v"n" will land on the actual triangle, is if v"n" is on what would be part of the triangle, if the triangle was infinitely large.
Or more simply:
This method is also called the chaos game, and is an example of an iterated function system. You can start from any point outside or inside the triangle, and it would eventually form the Sierpinski Gasket with a few leftover points (if the starting point lies on the outline of the triangle, there are no leftover points). With pencil and paper, a brief outline is formed after placing approximately one hundred points, and detail begins to appear after a few hundred. An interactive version of the chaos game can be found here.
Another construction for the Sierpinski gasket shows that it can be constructed as a curve in the plane. It is formed by a process of repeated modification of simpler curves, analogous to the construction of the Koch snowflake:
At every iteration, this construction gives a continuous curve. In the limit, these approach a curve that traces out the Sierpenski triangle by a single continuous directed (infinitely wiggly) path, which is called the Sierpinski arrowhead. In fact, the aim of the original article by Sierpinski of 1915, was to show an example of a curve (a Cantorian curve), as the title of the article itself declares.
The Sierpinski triangle also appears in certain cellular automata (such as Rule 90), including those relating to Conway's Game of Life. For instance, the Life-like cellular automaton B1/S12 when applied to a single cell will generate four approximations of the Sierpinski triangle. A very long one cell thick line in standard life will create two mirrored Sierpinski triangles. The time-space diagram of a replicator pattern in a cellular automaton also often resembles a Sierpinski triangle, such as that of the common replicator in HighLife. The Sierpinski triangle can also be found in the Ulam-Warburton automaton and the Hex-Ulam-Warburton automaton.
If one takes Pascal's triangle with 2"n" rows and colors the even numbers white, and the odd numbers black, the result is an approximation to the Sierpinski triangle. More precisely, the limit as "n" approaches infinity of this parity-colored 2"n"-row Pascal triangle is the Sierpinski triangle.
The Towers of Hanoi puzzle involves moving disks of different sizes between three pegs, maintaining the property that no disk is ever placed on top of a smaller disk. The states of an "n"-disk puzzle, and the allowable moves from one state to another, form an undirected graph, the Hanoi graph, that can be represented geometrically as the intersection graph of the set of triangles remaining after the "n"th step in the construction of the Sierpinski triangle. Thus, in the limit as "n" goes to infinity, this sequence of graphs can be interpreted as a discrete analogue of the Sierpinski triangle.
For integer number of dimensions "d", when doubling a side of an object, 2"d" copies of it are created, i.e. 2 copies for 1-dimensional object, 4 copies for 2-dimensional object and 8 copies for 3-dimensional object. For the Sierpinski triangle, doubling its side creates 3 copies of itself. Thus the Sierpinski triangle has Hausdorff dimension = log2 3 ≈ 1.585, which follows from solving 2"d" = 3 for "d".
The area of a Sierpinski triangle is zero (in Lebesgue measure). The area remaining after each iteration is of the area from the previous iteration, and an infinite number of iterations results in an area approaching zero.
The points of a Sierpinski triangle have a simple characterization in barycentric coordinates. If a point has coordinates (0."u"1"u"2"u"3…, 0."v"1"v"2"v"3…, 0."w"1"w"2"w"3…), expressed as binary numerals, then the point is in Sierpinski's triangle if and only if for all "i".
A generalization of the Sierpinski triangle can also be generated using Pascal's triangle if a different Modulo is used. Iteration "n" can be generated by taking a Pascal's triangle with "P""n" rows and coloring numbers by their value for "x" mod "P". As "n" approaches infinity, a fractal is generated.
The same fractal can be achieved by dividing a triangle into a tessellation of "P"2 similar triangles and removing the triangles that are upside-down from the original, then iterating this step with each smaller triangle.
Conversely, the fractal can also be generated by beginning with a triangle and duplicating it and arranging of the new figures in the same orientation into a larger similar triangle with the vertices of the previous figures touching, then iterating that step.
The Sierpinski tetrahedron or tetrix is the three-dimensional analogue of the Sierpinski triangle, formed by repeatedly shrinking a regular tetrahedron to one half its original height, putting together four copies of this tetrahedron with corners touching, and then repeating the process.
A tetrix constructed from an initial tetrahedron of side-length "L" has the property that the total surface area remains constant with each iteration. The initial surface area of the (iteration-0) tetrahedron of side-length "L" is "L"2. The next iteration consists of four copies with side length , so the total area is 4()2 = 4"L"2· = "L"2 again. Meanwhile the volume of the construction is halved at every step and therefore approaches zero. The limit of this process has neither volume nor surface but, like the Sierpinski gasket, is an intricately connected curve. Its Hausdorff dimension is = 2. If all points are projected onto a plane that is parallel to two of the outer edges, they exactly fill a square of side length without overlap.
Wacław Sierpiński described the Sierpinski triangle in 1915. However, similar patterns appear already in the 13th-century Cosmati mosaics in the cathedral of Anagni, Italy, and other places of central Italy, for carpets in many places such as the nave of the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and for isolated triangles positioned in rotae in several churches and basilicas. In the case of the isolated triangle, the iteration is at least of three levels.
A medieval triangle, with historically certain dating has been studied recently. It is in porphiry and golden leaf, isolated, level 4 iteration
The Apollonian gasket was first described by Apollonius of Perga (3rd century BC) and further analyzed by Gottfried Leibniz (17th century), and is a curved precursor of the 20th-century Sierpiński triangle.
The usage of the word "gasket" to refer to the Sierpinski triangle refers to gaskets such as are found in motors, and which sometimes feature a series of holes of decreasing size, similar to the fractal; this usage was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot, who thought the fractal looked similar to "the part that prevents leaks in motors". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29638 |
Siberia
Siberia (; ) is an extensive geographical region spanning much of Eurasia and Northern Asia. Siberia has been part of modern Russia since the latter half of the 16th century.
The territory of Siberia extends eastwards from the Ural Mountains to the watershed
between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins. The river Yenisey conditionally divides Siberia into two parts, Western and Eastern. Siberia stretches southwards from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and to the national borders of Mongolia and China.
With an area of , Siberia accounts for 77% of Russia's land area, but it is home to approximately 33 million people—23% of the country's population. This is equivalent to an average population density of about (approximately equal to that of Australia), making Siberia one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth. If it were a country by itself, it would still be the largest country by area, but in population it would be the world's 35th-largest and Asia's 14th-largest.
Worldwide, Siberia is well-known primarily for its long, harsh winters, with a January average of −25 °C (−13 °F), as well as its extensive history of use by Russian and Soviet governments as a place for prisons, labor camps, and internal exile.
European influences, especially Russian, are strong in the southwestern and central part of the region, due to its high Russian population from Eastern Europe, which began to settle the area in the 18th-century CE.
The origin of the name is unknown. Some sources say that "Siberia" originates from the Siberian Tatar word for "sleeping land" (Sib Ir). Another account sees the name as the ancient tribal ethnonym of the (also "Syopyr" (sʲɵpᵻr)), an ethnic group which spoke a Paleosiberian language. The Sirtya people were later assimilated into the Siberian Tatars.
The modern usage of the name was recorded in the Russian language after the Empire's conquest of the Siberian Khanate. A further variant claims that the region was named after the Xibe people. The Polish historian Chyliczkowski has proposed that the name derives from the proto-Slavic word for "north" (север, "sever"), same as Severia.
Anatole Baikaloff has dismissed this explanation. He said that the neighbouring Chinese, Turks, and Mongolians, who have similar names for the region, would not have known Russian. He suggests that the name might be a combination of two words with Turkic origin, ""su"" (water) and ""bir"" (wild land).
The region has paleontological significance, as it contains bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch, preserved in ice or in permafrost. Specimens of Goldfuss cave lion cubs, Yuka the mammoth and another woolly mammoth from Oymyakon, a woolly rhinoceros from the Kolyma, and bison and horses from Yukagir have been found.
The Siberian Traps were formed by one of the largest-known volcanic events of the last 500 million years of Earth's geological history. Their activity continued for a million years and some scientists consider it a possible cause of the "Great Dying" about 250 million years ago, – estimated to have killed 90% of species existing at the time.
At least three species of human lived in Southern Siberia around 40,000 years ago: "H. sapiens", "H. neanderthalensis", and the Denisovans.
In 2010 DNA evidence identified the last as a separate species.
During past millennia different groups of nomads – such as the Enets, the Nenets, the Huns, the Xiongnu, the Scythians and the Uyghurs inhabited various parts of Siberia. The proto-Mongol Khitan people also occupied parts of the region. In 630 the Khan of Sibir in the vicinity of modern Tobolsk was known as a prominent figure who endorsed Kubrat as "Khagan" of Old Great Bulgaria. In the 13th century, during the period of the Mongol Empire, the Mongols conquered a large part of this area.
With the breakup of the Golden Horde, the autonomous Khanate of Sibir formed in the late-15th century. Turkic-speaking Yakut migrated north from the Lake Baikal region under pressure from the Mongol tribes during the 13th to 15th century. Siberia remained a sparsely populated area. Historian John F. Richards wrote: "... it is doubtful that the total early modern Siberian population exceeded 300,000 persons".
The growing power of Russia in the West began to undermine the Siberian Khanate in the 16th century. First, groups of traders and Cossacks began to enter the area. The Russian Army was directed to establish forts farther and farther east to protect new settlers who migrated from European Russia. Towns such as Mangazeya, Tara, Yeniseysk and Tobolsk developed, the last becoming the "de facto" capital of Siberia from 1590. At this time, "Sibir" was the name of a fortress at Qashlik, near Tobolsk. Gerardus Mercator, in a map published in 1595, marks "Sibier" both as the name of a settlement and of the surrounding territory along a left tributary of the Ob. Other sources contend that the Xibe, an indigenous Tungusic people, offered fierce resistance to Russian expansion beyond the Urals. Some suggest that the term "Siberia" is a russification of their ethnonym.
By the mid-17th century Russia had established areas of control that extended to the Pacific. Some 230,000 Russians had settled in Siberia by 1709. Siberia became one of the destinations for sending internal exiles.
The first great modern change in Siberia was the Trans-Siberian Railway, constructed during 1891–1916. It linked Siberia more closely to the rapidly industrialising Russia of Nicholas II (). Around seven million people moved to Siberia from European Russia between 1801 and 1914. Between 1859 and 1917 more than half a million people migrated to the Russian Far East. Siberia has extensive natural resources: during the 20th century, large-scale exploitation of these took place, and industrial towns cropped up throughout the region.
At 7:15 a.m. on 30 June 1908 the Tunguska Event felled millions of trees near the Podkamennaya Tunguska (Stony Tunguska) in central Siberia. Most scientists believe this resulted from the air burst of a meteor or a comet. Even though no crater has ever been found, the landscape in the (sparsely inhabited) area still bears the scars of this event.
In the early decades of the Soviet Union (especially in the 1930s and 1940s), the government used the Gulag state agency to administer a system of penal labour camps, replacing the previous katorga system. According to semi-official Soviet estimates, which did not become public until after the fall of the Soviet government in 1991, from 1929 to 1953 more than 14 million people passed through these camps and prisons, many of them in Siberia. Another seven to eight million people were internally deported to remote areas of the Soviet Union (including entire nationalities or ethnicities in several cases).
Half a million (516,841) prisoners died in camps from 1941 to 1943 due to food shortages caused by World War II. At other periods, mortality was comparatively lower. The size, scope, and scale of the Gulag slave-labour camps remain subjects of much research and debate. Many Gulag camps operated in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia. The best-known clusters included "Sevvostlag" ("the North-East Camps") along the Kolyma and "Norillag" near Norilsk, where 69,000 prisoners lived in 1952. Major industrial cities of Northern Siberia, such as Norilsk and Magadan, developed from camps built by prisoners and run by former prisoners.
From the era of Imperial Russia, to Soviet Russia, to modern Russia, all forms of extradition to Siberia have used a brutal system of prisoner transport called Road Prisons (étapes).
With an area of , Siberia makes up roughly 77% of Russia's total territory and almost 9% of Earth's land surface (). While Siberia falls entirely within Asia, many authorities such as the UN geoscheme will not subdivide countries and will place all of Russia as part of Europe and/or Eastern Europe. Major geographical zones include the West Siberian Plain and the Central Siberian Plateau.
Eastern and central Sakha comprises numerous north–south mountain ranges of various ages. These mountains extend up to almost , but above a few hundred metres they are almost completely devoid of vegetation. The Verkhoyansk Range was extensively glaciated in the Pleistocene, but the climate was too dry for glaciation to extend to low elevations. At these low elevations are numerous valleys, many of them deep and covered with larch forest, except in the extreme north where the tundra dominates. Soils are mainly turbels (a type of gelisol). The active layer tends to be less than one metre deep, except near rivers.
The highest point in Siberia is the active volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Its peak is at .
The West Siberian Plain consists mostly of Cenozoic alluvial deposits and is somewhat flat. Many deposits on this plain result from ice dams which produced a large glacial lake. This mid- to late-Pleistocene lake blocked the northward flow of the Ob and Yenisey rivers, resulting in a redirection southwest into the Caspian and Aral seas via the Turgai Valley. The area is very swampy, and soils are mostly peaty histosols and, in the treeless northern part, histels. In the south of the plain, where permafrost is largely absent, rich grasslands that are an extension of the Kazakh Steppe formed the original vegetation, most of which is no longer visible.
The Central Siberian Plateau is an ancient craton (sometimes named "Angaraland") that formed an independent continent before the Permian (see the Siberian continent). It is exceptionally rich in minerals, containing large deposits of gold, diamonds, and ores of manganese, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt and molybdenum. Much of the area includes the Siberian Traps—a large igneous province. This massive eruptive period was approximately coincident with the Permian–Triassic extinction event. The volcanic event is said to be the largest known volcanic eruption in Earth's history. Only the extreme northwest was glaciated during the Quaternary, but almost all is under exceptionally deep permafrost, and the only tree that can thrive, despite the warm summers, is the deciduous Siberian Larch ("Larix sibirica") with its very shallow roots. Outside the extreme northwest, the taiga is dominant, covering a significant fraction of the entirety of Siberia. Soils here are mainly turbels, giving way to spodosols where the active layer becomes thicker and the ice content lower.
The "Lena-Tunguska petroleum province" includes the Central Siberian platform (some authors refer to it as the Eastern Siberian platform), bounded on the northeast and east by the Late Carboniferous through Jurassic Verkhoyansk foldbelt, on the northwest by the Paleozoic Taymr foldbelt, and on the southeast, south and southwest by the Middle Silurian to Middle Devonian Baykalian foldbelt. A regional geologic reconnaissance study begun in 1932, followed by surface and subsurface mapping, revealed the Markova-Angara Arch (anticline). This led to the discovery of the Markovo Oil Field in 1962 with the Markovo 1 well, which produced from the Early Cambrian Osa Horizon bar-sandstone at a depth of . The "Sredne-Botuobin Gas Field" was discovered in 1970, producing from the Osa and the Proterozoic Parfenovo Horizon. The Yaraktin Oil Field was discovered in 1971, producing from the Vendian Yaraktin Horizon at depths of up to , which lies below Permian to Lower Jurassic basalt traps.
The climate of Siberia varies dramatically, but it typically has short summers and long, brutally cold winters. On the north coast, north of the Arctic Circle, there is a very short (about one month long) summer.
Almost all the population lives in the south, along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The climate in this southernmost part is Humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfb") with cold winters but fairly warm summers lasting at least four months. The annual average is about . January averages about and July about while daytime temperatures in summer typically are above . With a reliable growing season, an abundance of sunshine and exceedingly fertile chernozem soils, southern Siberia is good enough for profitable agriculture, as was proven in the early 20th century.
By far the most commonly occurring climate in Siberia is continental subarctic (Koppen "Dfc" or "Dwc"), with the annual average temperature about and an average for January of and an average for July of , although this varies considerably, with a July average about in the taiga–tundra ecotone. The Business oriented website and blog "Business Insider" lists Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon, in Siberia's Sakha Republic, as being in competition for the title of the Northern Hemisphere's "Pole of Cold". Oymyakon is a village which recorded a temperature of on 6 February 1933. Verkhoyansk, a town further north and further inland, recorded a temperature of for three consecutive nights: 5, 6 and 7 February 1933. Each town is alternately considered the Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold, meaning the coldest inhabited point in the Northern hemisphere. Each town also frequently reaches in the summer, giving them, and much of the rest of Russian Siberia, the world's greatest temperature variation between summer's highs and winter's lows, often being well over between the seasons.
Southwesterly winds bring warm air from Central Asia and the Middle East. The climate in West Siberia (Omsk, Novosibirsk) is several degrees warmer than in the East (Irkutsk, Chita) where in the north an extreme winter subarctic climate (Köppen "Dfd" or "Dwd") prevails. But summer temperatures in other regions can reach . In general, Sakha is the coldest Siberian region, and the basin of the Yana has the lowest temperatures of all, with permafrost reaching . Nevertheless, as far as Imperial Russian plans of settlement were concerned, cold was never viewed as an impediment. In the winter, southern Siberia sits near the center of the semi-permanent Siberian High, so winds are usually light in the winter.
Precipitation in Siberia is generally low, exceeding only in Kamchatka where moist winds flow from the Sea of Okhotsk onto high mountains – producing the region's only major glaciers, though volcanic eruptions and low summer temperatures allow limited forests to grow. Precipitation is high also in most of Primorye in the extreme south where monsoonal influences can produce quite heavy summer rainfall.
Researchers, including Sergei Kirpotin at Tomsk State University and Judith Marquand at Oxford University, warn that Western Siberia has begun to thaw as a result of global warming. The frozen peat bogs in this region may hold billions of tons of methane gas, which may be released into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas 22 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. In 2008, a research expedition for the American Geophysical Union detected levels of methane up to 100 times above normal in the atmosphere above the Siberian Arctic, likely the result of methane clathrates being released through holes in a frozen 'lid' of seabed permafrost, around the outfall of the Lena and the area between the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea.
Pleistocene Park has been created in Siberia in order to do research in relation Siberia and global warming, including working towards possible solutions to the problem.
]
The term "Siberia" has a long history. Its meaning has gradually changed during ages. Historically, Siberia was defined as the whole part of Russia to the east of Ural Mountains, including the Russian Far East. According to this definition, Siberia extended eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific coast, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the border of Russian Central Asia and the national borders of both Mongolia and China.
Soviet-era sources ("Great Soviet Encyclopedia" and others) and modern Russian ones usually define Siberia as a region extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between Pacific and Arctic drainage basins, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the national borders of both Mongolia and China. By this definition, Siberia includes the federal subjects of the Siberian Federal District, and some of the Ural Federal District, as well as Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, which is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Geographically, this definition includes subdivisions of several other subjects of Urals and Far Eastern federal districts, but they are not included administratively. This definition excludes Sverdlovsk Oblast and Chelyabinsk Oblast, both of which are included in some wider definitions of Siberia.
Other sources may use either a somewhat wider definition that states the Pacific coast, not the watershed, is the eastern boundary (thus including the whole Russian Far East) or a somewhat narrower one that limits Siberia to the Siberian Federal District (thus excluding all subjects of other districts). In Russian, the word for Siberia is used as a substitute for the name of the federal district by those who live in the district itself and less commonly used to denote the federal district by people residing outside of it.
The most populous city of Siberia, as well as the third most populous city of Russia, is the city of Novosibirsk. Other major cities include:
Wider definitions of Siberia also include:
Siberia is extraordinarily rich in minerals, containing ores of almost all economically valuable metals. It has some of the world's largest deposits of nickel, gold, lead, coal, molybdenum, gypsum, diamonds, diopside, silver and zinc, as well as extensive unexploited resources of oil and natural gas. Around 70% of Russia's developed oil fields are in the Khanty-Mansiysk region. Russia contains about 40% of the world's known resources of nickel at the Norilsk deposit in Siberia. Norilsk Nickel is the world's biggest nickel and palladium producer.
Siberian agriculture is severely restricted by the short growing season of most of the region. However, in the southwest where soils are exceedingly fertile black earths and the climate is a little more moderate, there is extensive cropping of wheat, barley, rye and potatoes, along with the grazing of large numbers of sheep and cattle. Elsewhere food production, owing to the poor fertility of the podzolic soils and the extremely short growing seasons, is restricted to the herding of reindeer in the tundra—which has been practiced by natives for over 10,000 years. Siberia has the world's largest forests. Timber remains an important source of revenue, even though many forests in the east have been logged much more rapidly than they are able to recover. The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the two or three richest fisheries in the world owing to its cold currents and very large tidal ranges, and thus Siberia produces over 10% of the world's annual fish catch, although fishing has declined somewhat since the collapse of the USSR.
While the development of renewable energy in Russia is held back by the lack of a conducive government policy framework, Siberia still offers special opportunities for off-grid renewable energy developments. Remote parts of Siberia are too costly to connect to central electricity and gas grids, and have therefore historically been supplied with costly diesel, sometimes flown in by helicopter. In such cases renewable energy is often cheaper.
Professional football teams include FC Tom Tomsk, FC Novosibirsk, and FK Yenisey Krasnoyarsk.
The Yenisey Krasnoyarsk basketball team has played in the VTB United League since 2011–12.
Russia's third most popular sport, bandy, is important in Siberia. In the 2015–16 Russian Bandy Super League season Yenisey from Krasnoyarsk became champions for the third year in a row by beating Baykal-Energiya from Irkutsk in the final. Two or three more teams (depending on the definition of Siberia) play in the Super League, the 2016–17 champions SKA-Neftyanik from Khabarovsk as well as Kuzbass from Kemerovo and Sibselmash from Novosibirsk. In 2007 Kemerovo got Russia's first indoor arena specifically built for bandy. Now Khabarovsk has the world's largest indoor arena specifically built for bandy, Arena Yerofey. It was venue for Division A of the 2018 World Championship. In time for the 2020 World Championship, an indoor arena will be ready for use in Irkutsk. That one will also have a speed skating oval.
The 2019 Winter Universiade was hosted by Krasnoyarsk.
According to the Russian Census of 2010, the Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts, located entirely east of the Ural Mountains, together have a population of about 25.6 million. Tyumen and Kurgan Oblasts, which are geographically in Siberia but administratively part of the Urals Federal District, together have a population of about 4.3 million. Thus, the whole region of Asian Russia (or Siberia in the broadest usage of the term) is home to approximately 30 million people. It has a population density of about three people per square kilometre.
All Siberians are Russian citizens, and of these Russian citizens of Siberia, most are Slavic-origin Russians and russified Ukrainians. The remaining Russian citizens of Siberia consists of other groups of non-indigenous ethnic origins and those of indigenous Siberian origin.
Among the largest non-Slavic group of Russian citizens of Siberia are the approximately 400,000 ethnic Volga Germans, Russified Romanians with ancestral origins from Bessarabia (present-day Moldova) also live in Siberia. The original indigenous groups of Siberia, including Mongol and Turkic groups such as Buryats, Tuvinians, Yakuts, and Siberian Tatars still mostly reside in Siberia, though they are minorities outnumbered by all other non-indigenous Siberians. Indeed, Slavic-origin Russians by themselves outnumber all of the indigenous peoples combined, both in Siberia as a whole and its cities, except in the Republic of Tuva.
Slavic-origin Russians make up the majority in the Buryat, Sakha, and Altai Republics, outnumbering the indigenous Buryats, Sakha, and Altai. The Buryat make up only 25% of their own republic, and the Sakha and Altai each are only one-third, and the Chukchi, Evenk, Khanti, Mansi, and Nenets are outnumbered by non-indigenous peoples by 90% of the population.
According to the 2002 census there are 500,000 Tatars in Siberia, but of these, 300,000 are Volga Tatars who also settled in Siberia during periods of colonization and are thus also non-indigenous Siberians, in contrast to the 200,000 Siberian Tatars which are indigenous to Siberia.
Of the indigenous Siberians, the Mongol-speaking Buryats, numbering approximately 500,000, are the most numerous group in Siberia, and they are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic. According to the 2002 census there were 443,852 indigenous Turkic-speaking Yakuts. Other ethnic groups indigenous to Siberia include Kets, Evenks, Chukchis, Koryaks, Yupiks, and Yukaghirs.
About seventy percent of Siberia's people live in cities, mainly in apartments. Many people also live in rural areas, in simple, spacious, log houses. Novosibirsk is the largest city in Siberia, with a population of about 1.5 million. Tobolsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, and Omsk are the older, historical centers.
There are a variety of beliefs throughout Siberia, including Orthodox Christianity, other denominations of Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism and Islam. The Siberian Federal District alone has an estimation of 250,000 Muslims.
An estimated 70,000 Jews live in Siberia, some in the Jewish Autonomous Region. The predominant religious group is the Russian Orthodox Church.
Tradition regards Siberia the archetypal home of shamanism, and polytheism is popular. These native sacred practices are considered by the tribes to be very ancient. There are records of Siberian tribal healing practices dating back to the 13th century. The vast territory of Siberia has many different local traditions of gods. These include: Ak Ana, Anapel, Bugady Musun, Kara Khan, Khaltesh-Anki, Kini'je, Ku'urkil, Nga, Nu'tenut, Num-Torum, Pon, Pugu, Todote, Toko'yoto, Tomam, Xaya Iccita and Zonget. Places with sacred areas include Olkhon, an island in Lake Baikal.
Many cities in northern Siberia, such as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, cannot be reached by road, as there are virtually none connecting from other major cities in Russia or Asia. Siberia can be reached through the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Trans-Siberian Railway operates from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the east. Cities that are located far from the railway are reached by air or by the separate Baikal–Amur Railway (BAM).
Stroganina is a raw fish dish of the indigenous people of northern Arctic Siberia made from raw, thin, long-sliced frozen fish. It is a popular dish with native Siberians. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29639 |
Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System
The Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System, commonly referred to by its acronym SATTS, is a system for writing and transmitting Arabic language text using the one-for-one substitution of ASCII-range characters for the letters of the Arabic alphabet. Unlike more common systems for transliterating Arabic, SATTS does not provide the reader with any more phonetic information than standard Arabic orthography does; that is, it provides the bare Arabic alphabetic spelling with no notation of short vowels, doubled consonants, etc. In other words, it is intended as a transliteration tool for Arabic linguists, and is of limited use to those who do not know Arabic.
SATTS, a legacy of Morse and teleprinter systems (see "Background," below), has historically been employed by military and communications elements of Western countries for handling Arabic text without the need for native fonts or special software. Although its use has decreased in recent years with the demise of Morse code and the obsolescence of the teleprinter, and with the increased availability of native-font software, it is still used for the quick and handy platform-independent recording and transmission of Arabic terms and text.
SATTS employs all the Latin alphabetic letters except P, plus four punctuation marks, for a total of 29 symbols (all the letters of the Arabic alphabet, plus the glottal-stop symbol hamzah).
In some words, lām 'alif was sent as a single character •—••••— or LA as a single character. The symbol for the glottal stop hamzah (ء) is written following its seat, if it has one. It is omitted when it occurs with an initial 'alif.
RIEIS رئيس MAEDB? مأدبة
MSWEWL مسؤول BDE بدء
AHMD أحمد ASLAM إسلام
The chief deficiencies of SATTS are that it does not distinguish between hā' (ه) and tā' marbūţah (ة), or between final yā' (ي) and 'alif maksūrah (ى), and it cannot depict an 'alif maddah ( آ ). Satts can also not distinguish between a final seated hamza and a final independent hamza, if the word ends in "AE", "IE", or "WE".
The Latin alphabetic letter employed for each Arabic letter in the SATTS system is its Morse-code equivalent. For example, Morse code for the Arabic letter ţā' (ط) is • • — (dit-dit-dah). That same Morse code sequence represents the letter U in the Latin alphabet. Hence the SATTS equivalent for ţā' is U.
In the Morse-code era, when Arabic language Morse signals were copied down by non-Arab code clerks, the text came out in SATTS. Text in SATTS was also automatically produced when teleprinters reproduced Arabic text, if the technician had failed to replace the printer's Latin-character pallet with an Arabic-character one. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29640 |
Sound change
Research on sound change is usually conducted on the working assumption that it is "regular", which means that it is expected to apply mechanically whenever its structural conditions are met, irrespective of any non-phonological factors (such as the meaning of the words affected). However, apparent exceptions to regular change can occur—due to dialect borrowing, grammatical analogy, or other causes known and unknown—and some changes are described as "sporadic", meaning that they affect only one particular word or a few words, without any apparent regularity.
The Neogrammarian linguists of the 19th century introduced the term "sound law" to refer to rules of regular change, perhaps in imitation of the laws of physics, and the term "law" is still used in referring to specific sound rules named after their authors, such as Grimm's Law, Grassmann's Law, . Real-world sound changes often admit exceptions; nevertheless, the expectation of their regularity or absence of exceptions is of great heuristic value, since it allows historical linguists to define the notion of "regular correspondence" (see: comparative method).
Each sound change is limited in space and time. This means it functions within a limited area (within certain dialects) and during a limited period of time. For these (and other) reasons, the term "sound law" has been criticized for implying a universality that is unrealistic with regard to sound change.
Sound change that affects the phonological system, in the number or distribution of its phonemes, is covered more fully at phonological change.
A statement of the form
is to be read, "sound A changes into (or is replaced by, is reflected as, etc) sound B". Therefore, A belongs to an older stage of the language in question, whereas B belongs to a more recent stage. The symbol ">" can be reversed, B < A, still meaning that the (more recent) B derives from the (older) A".
For example,
The two sides of such a statement indicate start and end points only, and do not imply that there are no additional intermediate stages. The example above is actually a compressed account of a "sequence" of changes; *t changed first into a voiceless dental fricative (like the initial consonant of English "thin"), which has yielded present-day [f]. This can be represented more fully as:
Unless a change operates unconditionally (in all environments), the context in which it applies must be specified:
For example:
A second example:
The symbol "#" stands for a word boundary (initial or final). Thus the notation "/__#" means "word-finally", and "/#__" means "word-initially". For example:
This can be simplified to
where capital P stands for any plosive.
The following statements are used as heuristics in formulating sound changes as understood within the Neogrammarian model. However, for modern linguistics, they are not taken as inviolable rules; rather, they are seen as guidelines.
Sound change has no memory: Sound change does not discriminate between the sources of a sound. If a previous sound change causes X,Y > Y (features X and Y merge as Y), a new one cannot affect only an original X.
Sound change ignores grammar: A sound change can only have phonological constraints, like X > Z in unstressed syllables. For example, it cannot only affect adjectives. The only exception to this is that a sound change may or may not recognise word boundaries, even when they are not indicated by prosodic clues. Also, sound changes may be regularized in inflectional paradigms (such as verbal inflection), in which case the change is no longer phonological but morphological in nature.
Sound change is exceptionless: if a sound change can happen at a place, it will. It affects all sounds that meet the criteria for change. Apparent exceptions are possible, due to analogy and other regularization processes, or another sound change, or an unrecognized conditioning factor. This is the traditional view, expressed by the Neogrammarians. In past decades it has been shown that sound change does not necessarily affect all the words that in principle it could. However, when a sound change is initiated, it often expands to the whole lexicon given enough time, though not always. For example, in Spanish the fronting of the Vulgar Latin [g] (voiced velar stop) before [i e ɛ] seems to have reached every possible word it could. By contrast, the voicing of word-initial Latin [k] to [g] occurred in "colaphus" > "golpe" and "cattus" > "gato", but not in "canna" > "caña". See also lexical diffusion.
Sound change is inevitable: "All" languages vary from place to place and time to time, and neither writing nor media prevent this change.
In historical linguistics, a number of traditional terms designate types of phonetic change, either by nature or result. A number of such types are often (or usually) sporadic, that is, more or less accidents that happen to a specific form. Others affect a whole phonological system. Sound changes that affect a whole phonological system are also classified according to how they affect the overall shape of the system; see "phonological change". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29641 |
Stefan Banach
Stefan Banach ( ; 30 March 1892 – 31 August 1945) was a Polish mathematician who is generally considered one of the world's most important and influential 20th-century mathematicians. He was the founder of modern functional analysis, and an original member of the Lwów School of Mathematics. His major work was the 1932 book, "Théorie des opérations linéaires" (Theory of Linear Operations), the first monograph on the general theory of functional analysis.
Born in Kraków, Banach attended IV Gymnasium, a secondary school, and worked on mathematics problems with his friend Witold Wilkosz. After graduating in 1910, Banach moved to Lwów. However, during World War I Banach returned to Kraków, where he befriended Hugo Steinhaus. After Banach solved some mathematics problems which Steinhaus considered difficult, they published their first joint work. In 1919, with several other mathematicians, Banach formed a mathematical society. In 1920 he received an assistantship at the Lwów Polytechnic. He soon became a professor at the Polytechnic, and a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. He organized the "Lwów School of Mathematics". Around 1929 he began writing his "Théorie des opérations linéaires".
After the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Lwów was taken over by the Soviet Union. Banach became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and was dean of Lwów University's Department of Mathematics and Physics. In 1941, when the Germans took over Lwów, all institutions of higher education were closed to Poles. As a result, Banach was forced to earn a living as a feeder of lice at Rudolf Weigl's Institute for Study of Typhus and Virology. While the job carried the risk of infection with typhus, it protected him from being sent to slave labor in Germany and from other forms of repression. When the Soviets recaptured Lwów in 1944, Banach reestablished the University. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from Soviet-annexed formerly-Polish territories, Banach prepared to return to Kraków. Before he could do so, he died in August 1945, having been diagnosed seven months earlier with lung cancer.
Some of the notable mathematical concepts that bear Banach's name include Banach spaces, Banach algebras, Banach measures, the Banach–Tarski paradox, the Hahn–Banach theorem, the Banach–Steinhaus theorem, the Banach–Mazur game, the Banach–Alaoglu theorem, and the Banach fixed-point theorem.
Stefan Banach was born on 30 March 1892 at St. Lazarus General Hospital in Kraków, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, into a Góral Roman Catholic family and was subsequently baptised by his father, while his mother abandoned him upon this event and her identity is ambiguous. Banach's parents were Stefan Greczek and Katarzyna Banach, both natives of the Podhale region. Greczek was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army stationed in Kraków. Little is known about Banach's mother. According to his baptismal certificate, she was born in Borówna and worked as a domestic help.
Unusually, Stefan's surname was his mother's instead of his father's, though he received his father's given name, Stefan. Since Stefan Greczek was a private and was prevented by military regulations from marrying, and the mother was too poor to support the child, the couple decided that he should be reared by family and friends. Stefan spent the first few years of his life with his grandmother, but when she took ill Greczek arranged for his son to be raised by Franciszka Płowa and her niece Maria Puchalska in Kraków. Young Stefan would regard Franciszka as his foster mother and Maria as his older sister. In his early years Banach was tutored by Juliusz Mien, a French intellectual and friend of the Płowa family, who had emigrated to Poland and supported himself with photography and translations of Polish literature into French. Mien taught Banach French and most likely encouraged him in his early mathematical pursuits.
In 1902 Banach, aged 10, enrolled in Kraków's "IV Gymnasium" (also known as the "Goetz Gymnasium"). While the school specialized in the humanities, Banach and his best friend Witold Wiłkosz (also a future mathematician) spent most of their time working on mathematics problems during breaks and after school. Later in life Banach would credit Dr. Kamil Kraft, the mathematics and physics teacher at the gymnasium with kindling his interests in mathematics. While generally Banach was a diligent student he did on occasion receive low grades (he failed Greek during his first semester at the gymnasium) and would later speak critically of the school's math teachers.
After obtaining his "matura" (high school degree) at age 18 in 1910, Banach moved to Lwów with the intention of studying at the Lwów Polytechnic. He initially chose engineering as his field of study since at the time he was convinced that there was nothing new to discover in mathematics. At some point he also attended Jagiellonian University in Kraków on a part-time basis. As Banach had to earn money to support his studies it was not until 1914 that he finally, at age 22, passed his high school graduation exams.
When World War I broke out, Banach was excused from military service due to his left-handedness and poor vision. When the Russian Army opened its offensive toward Lwów, Banach left for Kraków, where he spent the rest of the war. He made his living as a tutor at the local gymnasiums, worked in a bookstore and as a foreman of road building crew. He attended some lectures at the Jagiellonian University at that time, including those of the famous Polish mathematicians Stanisław Zaremba and Kazimierz Żorawski, but little is known of that period of his life.
In 1916, in Kraków's "Planty" gardens, Banach encountered Professor Hugo Steinhaus, one of the renowned mathematicians of the time. According to Steinhaus, while he was strolling through the gardens he was surprised to overhear the term ""Lebesgue integral"" (Lebesgue integration was at the time still a fairly new idea in mathematics) and walked over to investigate. As a result, he met Banach, as well as Otto Nikodym. Steinhaus became fascinated with the self-taught young mathematician. The encounter resulted in a long-lasting collaboration and friendship. In fact, soon after the encounter Steinhaus invited Banach to solve some problems he had been working on but which had proven difficult. Banach solved them within a week and the two soon published their first joint work ("On the Mean Convergence of Fourier Series"). Steinhaus, Banach and Nikodym, along with several other Kraków mathematicians (Władysław Ślebodziński, Leon Chwistek, Alfred Rosenblatt and Włodzimierz Stożek) also established a mathematical society, which eventually became the Polish Mathematical Society. The society was officially founded on 2 April 1919. It was also through Steinhaus that Banach met his future wife, Łucja Braus.
Steinhaus introduced Banach to academic circles and substantially accelerated his career. After Poland regained independence in 1918, Banach was given an assistantship at the Lwów Polytechnic. Steinhaus' backing also allowed him to receive a doctorate without actually graduating from a university. The doctoral thesis, accepted by King John II Casimir University of Lwów in 1920 and published in 1922, included the basic ideas of functional analysis, which was soon to become an entirely new branch of mathematics. The thesis was widely discussed in academic circles and allowed him in 1922 to become a professor at the Lwów Polytechnic. Initially an assistant to Professor Antoni Łomnicki, in 1927 Banach received his own chair. In 1924 he was also accepted as a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. At the same time, from 1922, Banach also headed the second Chair of Mathematics at University of Lwów.
Young and talented, Banach gathered around him a large group of mathematicians. The group, meeting in the Scottish Café, soon gave birth to the "Lwów School of Mathematics". In 1929 the group began publishing its own journal, "Studia Mathematica", devoted primarily to Banach's field of study—functional analysis. Around that time, Banach also began working on his best-known work, the first monograph on the general theory of linear-metric space. First published in Polish in 1931, the following year it was also translated into French and gained wider recognition in European academic circles. The book was also the first in a long series of mathematics monographs edited by Banach and his circle. In 17 June 1924 Banach become a correspondence member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts in Kraków.
Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Lwów came under the control of the Soviet Union for almost two years. Banach, from 1939 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and on good terms with Soviet mathematicians, had to promise to learn Ukrainian to be allowed to keep his chair and continue his academic activities. Following the German takeover of Lwów in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, all universities were closed and Banach, along with many colleagues and his son, was employed as lice feeder at Professor Rudolf Weigl's Typhus Research Institute. Employment in Weigl's Institute provided many unemployed university professors and their associates protection from random arrest and deportation to Nazi concentration camps.
After the Red Army recaptured Lviv in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive of 1944, Banach returned to the University and helped re-establish it after the war years. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from annexed formerly Polish territories, Banach began preparing to leave the city and settle in Kraków, Poland, where he had been promised a chair at the Jagiellonian University. He was also considered a candidate for Minister of Education of Poland. In January 1945, however, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was allowed to stay in Lwów. He died on 31 August 1945, aged 53. His funeral at the Lychakiv Cemetery was attended by hundreds of people.
Banach's dissertation, completed in 1920 and published in 1922, formally axiomatized the concept of a complete normed vector space and laid the foundations for the area of functional analysis. In this work Banach called such spaces ""class E-spaces"", but in his 1932 book, "Théorie des opérations linéaires", he changed terminology and referred to them as ""spaces of type B"", which most likely contributed to the subsequent eponymous naming of these spaces after him. The theory of what came to be known as Banach spaces had antecedents in the work of the Hungarian mathematician Frigyes Riesz (published in 1916) and contemporaneous contributions from Hans Hahn and Norbert Wiener. For a brief period in fact, complete normed linear spaces were referred to as "Banach–Wiener" spaces in mathematical literature, based on terminology introduced by Wiener himself. However, because Wiener's work on the topic was limited, the established name became just "Banach spaces".
Likewise, Banach's fixed point theorem, based on earlier methods developed by Charles Émile Picard, was included in his dissertation, and was later extended by his students (for example in the Banach–Schauder theorem) and other mathematicians (in particular Brouwer and Poincaré and Birkhoff). The theorem did not require linearity of the space, and applied to any complete Cauchy space (in particular to any complete metric space).
The Hahn–Banach theorem, is one of the fundamental theorems of functional analysis.
Stanislaw Ulam, another mathematician of the Lwów School of Mathematics, in his autobiography, quotes Banach as saying:
Hugo Steinhaus said of Banach: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29646 |
Single-lens reflex camera
A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex" from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin lens reflex and rangefinder cameras, the viewed image could be significantly different from the final image. When the shutter button is pressed on most SLRs, the mirror flips out of the light path, allowing light to pass through to the light receptor and the image to be captured.
Prior to the development of SLR, all cameras with viewfinders had two optical light paths: one path through the lens to the film, and another path positioned above (TLR or "twin-lens reflex") or to the side (rangefinder). Because the viewfinder and the film lens cannot share the same optical path, the viewing lens is aimed to intersect with the film lens at a fixed point somewhere in front of the camera. This is not problematic for pictures taken at a middle or longer distance, but parallax causes framing errors in close-up shots. Moreover, focusing the lens of a fast reflex camera when it is opened to wider apertures (such as in low light or while using low-speed film) is not easy.
Most SLR cameras permit upright and laterally correct viewing through use of a roof pentaprism situated in the optical path between the reflex mirror and viewfinder. Light, which comes both horizontally and vertically inverted after passing through the lens, is reflected upwards by the reflex mirror, into the pentaprism where it is reflected several times to correct the inversions caused by the lens, and align the image with the viewfinder. When the shutter is released, the mirror moves out of the light path, and the light shines directly onto the film (or in the case of a DSLR, the CCD or CMOS imaging sensor). The Canon Pellix, along with several special purpose high speed cameras(such as the Canon EOS-1N RS), were an exception to the moving mirror system, wherein the mirror was a fixed beamsplitting pellicle.
Focus can be adjusted manually by the photographer or automatically by an autofocus system. The viewfinder can include a matte focusing screen located just above the mirror system to diffuse the light. This permits accurate viewing, composing and focusing, especially useful with interchangeable lenses.
Up until the 1990s, SLR was the most advanced photographic preview system available, but the recent development and refinement of digital imaging technology with an on-camera live LCD preview screen has overshadowed SLR's popularity. Nearly all inexpensive compact digital cameras now include an LCD preview screen allowing the photographer to see what the CCD is capturing. However, SLR is still popular in high-end and professional cameras because they are system cameras with interchangeable parts, allowing customization. They also have far less shutter lag, allowing photographs to be timed more precisely. Also the pixel resolution, contrast ratio, refresh rate, and color gamut of an LCD preview screen cannot compete with the clarity and shadow detail of a direct-viewed optical SLR viewfinder.
Large format SLR cameras were probably first marketed with the introduction of C.R. Smith's "Monocular Duplex" (U.S., 1884). SLRs for smaller exposure formats were launched in the 1920s by several camera makers. The first 35 mm SLR available to the mass market, Leica's PLOOT reflex housing along with a 200 mm f4.5 lens paired to a 35 mm rangefinder camera body, debuted in 1935. The Soviet "Спорт" (“Sport”), also a 24 mm by 36 mm image size, was prototyped in 1934 and went to market in 1937. K. Nüchterlein's Kine Exakta (Germany, 1936) was the first integrated 35 mm SLR to enter the market. Additional Exakta models, all with waist-level finders, were produced up to and during World War II. Another ancestor of the modern SLR camera was the Swiss-made Alpa, which was innovative, and influenced the later Japanese cameras. The first eye-level SLR viewfinder was patented in Hungary on August 23, 1943 by Jenő Dulovits, who then designed the first 35 mm camera with one, the Duflex, which used a system of mirrors to provide a laterally correct, upright image in the eye-level viewfinder. The Duflex, which went into serial production in 1948, was also the world's first SLR with an instant-return (a.k.a. autoreturn) mirror.
The first commercially produced SLR that employed a roof pentaprism was the Italian Rectaflex A.1000, shown in full working condition on Milan fair April 1948 and produced from September the same year, thus being on the market one year before the east German Zeiss Ikon VEB Contax S, announced on May 20, 1949, produced from September.
The Japanese adopted and further developed the SLR. In 1952, Asahi developed the Asahiflex and in 1954, the Asahiflex IIB. In 1957, the Asahi Pentax combined the fixed pentaprism and the right-hand thumb wind lever. Nikon, Canon and Yashica introduced their first SLRs in 1959 (the F, Canonflex, and Pentamatic, respectively).
As a small matter of history, the first 35 mm camera (non-SLR) to feature through the lens light metering may have been Nikon, with a prototype rangefinder camera, the SPX. According to the website below, the camera used Nikon 'S' type rangefinder lenses.
Through-the-lens light metering is also known as "behind-the-lens metering". In the SLR design scheme, there were various placements made for the metering cells, all of which used CdS (Cadmium sulfide) photocells. The cells were either located in the pentaprism housing, where they metered light transmitted through the focusing screen; underneath the reflex mirror glass itself, which was Topcon's design; or in front of the shutter mechanism, which was the design used by Canon with their Canon Pellix.
Pentax was the first manufacturer to show an early prototype 35 mm behind-the-lens metering SLR camera, which was named the "Pentax Spotmatic". The camera was shown at the 1960 photokina show. However, the first Through-the-lens (TTL) light metering SLR on the market was the 1963 Topcon RE Super, which had the CdS metering cell placed behind the reflex mirror. The mirror had narrow slits cut into the surface to let the light reach the cell providing average metering. Late in the following year, a production model of the Pentax Spotmatic was shown whose CdS light meter cells were on the pentaprism, reading the light off the focusing screen providing average reading, yet keeping the Spotmatic name, but now written in one word. Another clever design appeared in 1965, the Canon Pellix employing a pellicle mirror that is semi-transparent, placing the meter cell on an arm swinging into the lightpass behind the mirror for meter reading.
Mamiya Sekor came out with cameras such as the Mamiya Sekor TL and various other versions. Yashica introduced the TL Super. Both of these cameras used M42 screw thread lenses as did the Pentax Spotmatic. Later on Fujica introduced their ST-701, then ST-801 and ST-901 cameras. The ST-701 was the first SLR to use a silicon cell photodiode, which was more sensitive than CdS and was immune to the memory effect that the CdS cell suffered from in bright sunlight. Gradually, other 35 mm SLR camera manufacturers changed their behind-the-lens meters from CdS cells to Silicon Diode photocells.
Other manufacturers responded and introduced their own behind-the-lens metering cameras. Nikon and Miranda, at first, simply upgraded their interchangeable pentaprisms to include behind-the-lens metering (for Nikon F, and Miranda D, F, Fv and G models) and these manufacturers also bought out other camera models with built-in behind-the-lens metering capability, such as the Nikkormat FT and the Miranda Sensorex (which used an external coupling diaphragm). Minolta introduced the SRT-101, which used Minolta's proprietary system they referred to as "CLC", which was an acronym for "contrast light compensation", which metered differently from an average metering behind-the-lens camera.
Some German manufacturers also introduced cameras such as the Zeiss Ikon Contarex family, which was one of very few 35 mm SLR to use interchangeable film backs.
Inexpensive leaf-shutter cameras also benefited from behind-the-lens metering as, Topcon introduced the Auto 100 with front-mount interchangeable lenses designed only for that camera, and one of the Zeiss Ikon Contaflex leaf shutter cameras. Kowa manufactured their SET-R, which had similar specifications.
Within months, manufacturers decided to bring out models that provided limited area metering, such as Nikon's Photomic Tn finder, which concentrated 60% of the CdS cells sensitivity on the inner circle of the focusing screen and 30% on the surrounding area. Canon used spot metering in the unusual Canon Pellix camera, which also had a stationary mirror system that allowed approximately 70% of the light to travel to the film plane and 30% to the photographer's eye. This system, unfortunately, degraded the native resolution of the attached lens and provided less illumination to the eyepiece. It did have the advantage of having less vibration than other SLR cameras but this was not sufficient to attract professionals to the camera in numbers.
While auto-exposure was commonly used in the early 1960s with various 35 mm fixed lens rangefinder cameras such as the Konica Auto 'S', and other cameras such as the Polaroid Land cameras whose early models used selenium cell meters, auto-exposure for interchangeable lens SLRs was a feature that was largely absent, except for a few early leaf-shutter SLRs such as the Kowa SE-R and Topcon Auto 100.
The types of automation found in some of these cameras consisted of the simple programmed shutter, whereby the camera's metering system would select a mechanically set series of apertures with shutter speeds, one setting of which would be sufficient for the correct exposure. In the case of the above-mentioned Kowa and Topcon, automation was semi-automatic, where the camera's CDs meter would select the correct aperture only.
Autoexposure, technically known as semi-automatic exposure, where the camera's metering system chooses either the shutter speed or the aperture, was finally introduced by the Savoyflex and popularized by Konishiroku in the 1965 Konica Auto-Reflex. This camera was of the 'shutter-priority' type automation, which meant that the camera selected the correct aperture automatically. This model also had the interesting ability to photograph in 35 mm full-frames or half-frames, all selected by a lever.
Other SLRs soon followed, but because of limitations with their lens mounts, the manufacturers of these cameras had to choose 'aperture-priority' automation, where the camera's metering system selects the correct shutter speed. As one example, Pentax introduced the Electro Spotmatic, which was able to use the then considerable bulk of 42 mm screw-mount lenses produced by various manufacturers. Yashica, another screw-mount camera manufacturer, soon followed.
Canon, which produced the FD lens mount (known as the breech-mount; a unique lens mounting system that combines the advantages of screw-mount and bayonet-mount) introduced their shutter priority 35 mm SLR, the Canon EF in 1976 or so. This camera's build quality was almost the equal of their flagship camera, the Canon F1, and featured a copal-square vertically travelling focal plane shutter that could synchronize electronic flash at shutter speeds up to and including 1/125 of a second, thus making this a good second-body camera for the professional photographer.
Nikon at first produced an aperture-priority camera, but later made subtle changes on the inside of their bayonet mount, which allowed for shutter-priority automation without obsoleting the photographers lenses.
Full-program auto-exposure soon followed with the advent of the Canon A-1 in 1978. This SLR had a 'P' mode on the shutter speed dial, and a lock on the aperture ring to allow the lens to be put on 'Auto' mode. Other manufacturers soon followed with Nikon introducing the FA, Minolta introducing the X-700 in 1981, and Pentax introducing the Super Program. Olympus, however, continued with 'aperture-priority' automation in their OM system line.
The 1970s and 1980s saw steadily increasing use of electronics, automation, and miniaturization, including integrated motor driven film advance with the Konica FS-1 in 1979, and motor rewind functions.
The first autofocus 35 mm SLR was the Pentax ME-F released in 1981.
The Minolta Maxxum 7000, released in 1985, was the first 35 mm SLR with integrated autofocus and motorized film-advance winder, which became the standard configuration for SLR cameras from then on. This development had significant impact on the photographic industry.
Some manufacturers discarded their existing lens systems to compete with other manufacturer's autofocus capability in their new cameras. This was the case for Canon, with its new EOS lens line. Other manufacturers chose to adapt their existing lens systems for autofocus capability, as was the case with Nikon and Pentax. This allowed photographers to continue using their existing lenses, which greatly reduced the cost of upgrading. For example, almost all Nikon lenses from the 1960s and later still function on the current Nikon bodies, only lacking autofocus. Still some manufacturers, notably Leica with its R-system lenses, and Contax with its Zeiss lenses, decided to keep their lens mounts non-autofocus.
From the late 1980s competition and technical innovations made 35 mm camera systems more versatile and sophisticated by adding more advanced light metering capabilities such as spot-metering; limited area metering such as used by Canon with the F1 series; matrix metering as used by Nikon, exposure communication with dedicated electronic flash units. The user interface also changed on many cameras, replacing meter needle displays that were galvanometer-based and thereby fragile, with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and then with more comprehensive liquid crystal displays (LCDs) both in the SLR viewfinder and externally on the cameras' top plate using an LCD screen. Wheels and buttons replaced the shutter dial on the camera and the aperture ring on the lens on many models, although some photographers still prefer shutter dials and aperture rings. Some manufacturers introduced image stabilization on certain lenses to combat camera shake and to allow longer hand-held exposures without using a tripod. This feature is especially useful with long telephoto lenses.
Canon, Nikon and Pentax have all developed digital SLR cameras (DSLRs) using the same lens mounts as on their respective film SLR cameras. Konica Minolta did the same, and after having bought Konica Minolta's camera division in 2006 Sony continue using the Minolta AF lens mount in their DSLRs, including cameras built around a semi-transparent fixed mirror. Samsung builds DSLRs based on the Pentax lens mount. Olympus, on the other hand, chose to create a new digital-only Four Thirds System SLR standard, adopted later by Panasonic and Leica.
Contax came out with a DSLR model, the Contax N-Digital. This model was too late and too expensive to be competitive with other camera manufacturers. The Contax N-digital was the last Contax to use that maker's lens system, and the camera, while having impressive features such as a full-frame sensor, was expensive and lacked sufficient write-speed to the memory card for it to be seriously considered by some professional photographers.
The digital single-lens reflex camera have largely replaced film SLR's design in convenience, sales and popularity at the start of 21st century.
A cross-section ("or" 'side-view') of the optical components of a typical SLR camera shows how the light passes through the lens assembly (1), is reflected by the mirror (2) placed at a 45-degree angle, and is projected on the matte focusing screen (5). Via a condensing lens (6) and internal reflections in the roof pentaprism (7) the image appears in the eyepiece (8). When an image is taken, the mirror moves upwards from its resting position in the direction of the arrow, the focal plane shutter (3) opens, and the image is projected onto the film or sensor (4) in exactly the same manner as on the focusing screen.
This feature distinguishes SLRs from other cameras as the photographer sees the image composed exactly as it will be captured on the film or sensor (see Advantages below).
Most 35 mm SLRs use a roof pentaprism or penta-mirror to direct the light to the eyepiece, first used on the 1948 Duflex constructed by Jenő Dulovits and patented August 1943 (Hungary). With this camera also appeared the first Instant-return mirror.
The first Japanese pentaprism SLR was the 1955 Miranda T, followed by the Asahi Pentax, Minolta SR-2, Zunow, Nikon F and the Yashica Pentamatic. Some SLRs offered removable pentaprisms with optional viewfinder capabilities, such as the waist-level finder, the interchangeable sports finders used on the Canon F1 and F1n; the Nikon F, F2, F3, F4 and F5; and the Pentax LX.
Another prism design was the porro prism system used in the Olympus Pen F, the Pen FT, the Pen FV half-frame 35 mm SLR cameras. This was later used on the Olympus EVOLT E-3x0 series, the Leica Digilux 3 and the Panasonic DMC-L1.
A right-angle finder is available that slips onto the eyepiece of most SLRs and D-SLRs and allows viewing through a waist-level viewfinder. There is also a finder that provides EVF remote capability.
Almost all contemporary SLRs use a focal-plane shutter located in front of the film plane, which prevents the light from reaching the film even if the lens is removed, except when the shutter is actually released during the exposure. There are various designs for focal plane shutters. Early focal-plane shutters designed from the 1930s onwards usually consisted of two curtains that travelled horizontally across the film gate: an opening shutter curtain followed by a closing shutter curtain. During fast shutter speeds, the focal-plane shutter would form a 'slit' whereby the second shutter curtain was closely following the first opening shutter curtain to produce a narrow, vertical opening, with the shutter slit moving horizontally. The slit would get narrower as shutter speeds were increased. Initially these shutters were made from a cloth material (which was in later years often rubberised), but some manufacturers used other materials instead. Nippon Kōgaku (now Nikon Corporation), for example, used titanium foil shutters for several of their flagship SLR cameras, including the Nikon F, F2, and F3.
Other focal-plane shutter designs, such as the Copal Square, travelled vertically — the shorter travelling distance of 24 millimetres (as opposed to 36 mm horizontally) meant that minimum exposure and flash synchronisation times could be reduced. These shutters are usually manufactured from metal, and use the same moving-slit principle as horizontally travelling shutters. They differ, though, in usually being formed of several slats or blades, rather than single curtains as with horizontal designs, as there is rarely enough room above and below the frame for a one-piece shutter. Vertical shutters became very common in the 1980s (though Konica, Mamiya, and Copal first pioneered their use in the 1950s and 1960s, and are almost exclusively used for new cameras. Nikon used Copal-made vertical plane shutters in their Nikomat/Nikkormat -range, enabling x-sync speeds from to while the only choice for focal plane shutters at that time was . Later, Nikon again pioneered the use of titanium for vertical shutters, using a special honeycomb pattern on the blades to reduce their weight and achieve world-record speeds in 1982 of second for non-sync shooting, and with x-sync. Nowadays most such shutters are manufactured from cheaper aluminium (though some high-end cameras use materials such as carbon-fibre and Kevlar).
One unusual design, the Olympus Pen half-frame 35 mm SLR system, manufactured by Olympus in Japan, used a rotary focal-plane shutter mechanism that was extremely simple and elegant in design. This shutter used titanium foil but consisted of one piece of metal with a fixed opening, which allowed electronic flash synchronisation up to and including its maximum speed of 1/500 of a second – rivalling the capabilities of leaf-shutter systems
Another 35 mm camera system that used a rotary shutter, was the Robot Royal cameras, most of which were rangefinder 35 mm cameras. Some of these cameras were full-frame; some were half-frame, and at least one Robot camera produced an unusual square-sized image on the 35 mm frame.
The Mercury II, produced in 1946, also used a rotary shutter. This was a half-frame 35 mm camera.
Another shutter system is the leaf shutter, whereby the shutter is constructed of diaphragm-like blades and can be situated either between the lens or behind the lens. If the shutter is part of a lens assembly some other mechanism is required to ensure that no light reaches the film between exposures.
An example of a behind-the-lens leaf shutter is found in the 35 mm SLRs produced by Kodak, with their Retina Reflex camera line; Topcon, with their Auto 100; and Kowa with their SE-R and SET-R reflexes.
A primary example of a medium-format SLR with a between-the-lens leaf shutter system would be Hasselblad, with their 500C, 500 cm, 500 EL-M (a motorized Hasselblad) and other models (producing a 6 cm square negative). Hasselblads use an auxiliary shutter blind situated behind the lens mount and the mirror system to prevent the fogging of film.
Other medium-format SLRs also using leaf shutters include the now discontinued Zenza-Bronica camera system lines such as the Bronica ETRs, the ETRs'i (both producing a 6 × 4.5 cm. image), the SQ and the SQ-AI (producing a 6 × 6 cm image like the Hasselblad), and the Zenza-Bronica G system (6 × 7 cm). Certain Mamiya medium-format SLRs, discontinued camera systems such as the Kowa 6 and a few other camera models also used between-the-lens leaf shutters in their lens systems.
Thus, any time a photographer purchased one of these lenses, that lens included a leaf shutter in its lens mount.
Because leaf shutters synchronized electronic flash at all shutter speeds especially at fast shutter speeds of of a second or faster, cameras using leaf shutters were more desirable to studio photographers who used sophisticated studio electronic flash systems.
Some manufacturers of medium-format 120 film SLR cameras also made leaf-shutter lenses for their focal-plane-shutter models. Rollei made at least two such lenses for their Rolleiflex SL-66 medium format which was a focal-plane shutter SLR. Rollei later switched to a camera system of leaf-shutter design (e.g., the 6006 and 6008 reflexes) and their current medium-format SLRs are now all of the between-the-lens shutter design.
Since the technology became widespread in the 1970s, SLRs have become the main photographic instrument used by dedicated amateur photographers and professionals. Some photographers of static subjects (such as architecture, landscape, and some commercial subjects), however, prefer view cameras because of the capability to control perspective. With a triple-extension bellows 4" × 5" camera such as the Linhof SuperTechnika V, the photographer can correct certain distortions such as "keystoning", where the image 'lines' converge (i.e., photographing a building by pointing a typical camera upward to include the top of the building). Perspective correction lenses are available in the 35 mm and medium formats to correct this distortion with film cameras, and it can also be corrected after the fact with photo software when using digital cameras. The photographer can also extend the bellows to its full length, tilt the front standard and perform photomacrography (commonly known as 'macro photography'), producing a sharp image with depth-of-field without stopping down the lens diaphram.
Early SLRs were built for large format photography, but this film format has largely lost favor among professional photographers. SLR film-based cameras have been produced for most film formats as well as for digital formats. These film-based SLRs use the 35 mm format as, this film format offers a variety of emulsions and film sensitivity speeds, usable image quality and a good market cost. 35 mm film comes in a variety of exposure lengths: 20 exposure, 24 exposure and 36 exposure rolls. Medium format SLRs provide a higher-quality image with a negative that can be more easily retouched than the smaller 35 mm negative, when this capability is required.
A small number of SLRs were built for APS such as the Canon IX series and the Nikon Pronea cameras. SLRs were also introduced for film formats as small as Kodak's 110, such as the Pentax Auto 110, which had interchangeable lenses.
The Narciss camera is an all-metal 16 mm subminiature single lens reflex camera made by Russian optic firm Krasnogorsky Mekhanichesky Zavod (KMZ) Narciss (Soviet Union; Нарцисс) between 1961 and 1965.
Other features found on many SLR cameras include through-the-lens (TTL) metering and sophisticated flash control referred to as "dedicated electronic flash". In a dedicated system, once the dedicated electronic flash is inserted into the camera's hot shoe and turned on, there is then communication between camera and flash. The camera's synchronization speed is set, along with the aperture. Many camera models measure the light that reflects off of the film plane, which controls the flash duration of the electronic flash. This is denoted TTL flash metering.
Some electronic flash units can send out several short bursts of light to aid the autofocus system or for wireless communication with off-camera flash units. A pre-flash is often used to determine the amount of light that is reflected from the subject, which sets the duration of the main flash at time of exposure. Some cameras also employ automatic fill-flash, where the flash light and the available light are balanced. While these capabilities are not unique to the SLR, manufacturers included them early on in the top models, whereas the best rangefinder cameras adopted such features later.
Many of the advantages of SLR cameras derive from viewing and focusing the image through the attached lens. Most other types of cameras do not have this function; subjects are seen through a viewfinder that is near the lens, making the photographer's view different from that of the lens. SLR cameras provide photographers with precision; they provide a viewing image that will be exposed onto the negative exactly as it is seen through the lens. There is no parallax error, and exact focus can be confirmed by eye—especially in macro photography and when photographing using long focus lenses. The depth of field may be seen by stopping down to the attached lens aperture, which is possible on most SLR cameras except for the least expensive models. Because of the SLR's versatility, most manufacturers have a vast range of lenses and accessories available for them.
Compared to most fixed-lens compact cameras, the most commonly used and inexpensive SLR lenses offer a wider aperture range and larger maximum aperture (typically to for a 50 mm lens). This allows photographs to be taken in lower light conditions without flash, and allows a narrower depth of field, which is useful for blurring the background behind the subject, making the subject more prominent. "Fast" lenses are commonly used in theater photography, portrait photography, surveillance photography, and all other photography requiring a large maximum aperture.
The variety of lenses also allows for the camera to be used and adapted in many different situations. This provides the photographer with considerably more control (i.e., how the image is viewed and framed) than would be the case with a view camera. In addition, some SLR lenses are manufactured with extremely long focal lengths, allowing a photographer to be a considerable distance away from the subject and yet still expose a sharp, focused image. This is particularly useful if the subject includes dangerous animals (e.g., wildlife); the subject prefers anonymity to being photographed; or else, the photographer's presence is unwanted (e.g., celebrity photography or surveillance photography). Practically all SLR and DSLR camera bodies can also be attached to telescopes and microscopes via an adapter tube to further enhance their imaging capabilities.
In most cases, single-lens reflex cameras cannot be made as small or as light as other camera designs—such as rangefinder cameras, autofocus compact cameras and digital cameras with electronic viewfinders (EVF)—owing to the mirror box and pentaprism/pentamirror. The mirror box also prevents lenses with deeply recessed rear elements from being mounted close to the film or sensor unless the camera has a mirror lockup feature; this means that simple designs for wide angle lenses cannot be used. Instead, larger and more complex retrofocus designs are required.
The SLR mirror 'blacks-out' the viewfinder image during the exposure. In addition, the movement of the reflex mirror takes time, limiting the maximum shooting speed. The mirror system can also cause noise and vibration. Partially reflective (pellicle) fixed mirrors avoid these problems and have been used in a very few designs including the Canon Pellix and the Canon EOS-1N RS, but these designs introduce their own problems. These pellicle mirrors reduce the amount of light travelling to the film plane or sensor and also can distort the light passing through them, resulting in a less-sharp image. To avoid the noise and vibration, many professional cameras offer a mirror lock-up feature, however, this feature totally disables the SLR's automatic focusing ability. Electronic viewfinders have the potential to give the 'viewing-experience' of a DSLR (through-the-lens viewing) without many of the disadvantages. More recently, Sony have resurrected the pellicle mirror concept in their "single-lens translucent" (SLT) range of cameras.
SLRs vary widely in their construction and typically have bodies made of plastic or magnesium. Most manufacturers do not cite durability specifications, but some report shutter life expectancies for professional models. For instance, the Canon EOS 1Ds MkII is rated for 200,000 shutter cycles and the newer Nikon D3 is rated for 300,000 with its exotic carbon fiber/kevlar shutter. Because many SLRs have interchangeable lenses, there is a tendency for dust, sand and dirt to get into the main body of the camera through the mirror box when the lens is removed, thus dirtying or even jamming the mirror movement mechanism or the shutter curtain mechanism itself. In addition, these particles can also jam or otherwise hinder the focusing feature of a lens if they enter into the focusing helicoid. The problem of sensor cleaning has been somewhat reduced in DSLRs as some cameras have a built-in sensor cleaning unit.
The price of SLRs in general also tends to be somewhat higher than that of other types of cameras, owing to their internal complexity. This is compounded by the expense of additional components, such as flashes or lenses. The initial investment in equipment can be prohibitive enough to keep some casual photographers away from SLRs, although the market for used SLRs has become larger particularly as photographers migrate to digital systems.
The digital single-lens reflex camera has largely replaced the film SLR for its convenience, sales, and popularity at the start of 21st century. These cameras are currently the marketing favorite among advanced amateur and professional photographers. Film-based SLRs are still used by a niche market of enthusiasts and format lovers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29648 |
Senary
The senary numeral system (also known as base-6, heximal, or seximal) has six as its base. It has been adopted independently by a small number of cultures. Like decimal, it is a semiprime, though being the product of the only two consecutive numbers that are both prime (2 and 3) it has a high degree of mathematical properties for its size. As six is a superior highly composite number, many of the arguments made in favor of the duodecimal system also apply to base-6. In turn, the senary logic refers to an extension of Jan Łukasiewicz's and Stephen Cole Kleene's ternary logic systems adjusted to explain the logic of statistical tests and missing data patterns in sciences using empirical methods.
The standard set of digits in senary is given by formula_1, with a linear order formula_2. Let formula_3 be the Kleene closure of formula_4, where formula_5 is the operation of string concatenation for formula_6. The senary number system for natural numbers formula_7 is the quotient set formula_8 equipped with a shortlex order, where the equivalence class formula_9 is formula_10. As formula_7 has a shortlex order, it is isomorphic to the natural numbers formula_12.
When expressed in senary, all prime numbers other than 2 and 3 have 1 or 5 as the final digit. In senary the prime numbers are written
That is, for every prime number "p" greater than 3, one has the modular arithmetic relations that either "p" ≡ 1 or 5 (mod 6) (that is, 6 divides either "p" − 1 or "p" − 5); the final digit is a 1 or a 5. This is proved by contradiction.
For any integer "n":
Additionally, since the smallest four primes (2, 3, 5, 7) are either divisors or neighbors of 6, senary has simple divisibility tests for many numbers.
Furthermore, all even perfect numbers besides 6 have 44 as the final two digits when expressed in senary, which is proven by the fact that every even perfect number is of the form 2"p"−1(2"p"−1), where 2"p"−1 is prime.
Senary is also the largest number base "r" that has no totatives other than 1 and "r" − 1, making its multiplication table highly regular for its size, minimizing the amount of effort required to memorize its table. This property maximizes the probability that the result of an integer multiplication will end in zero, given that neither of its factors do.
Because six is the product of the first two prime numbers and is adjacent to the next two prime numbers, many senary fractions have simple representations:
Each regular human hand may be said to have six unambiguous positions; a fist, one finger (or thumb) extended, two, three, four and then all five extended.
If the right hand is used to represent a unit, and the left to represent the 'sixes', it becomes possible for one person to represent the values from zero to 55senary (35decimal) with their fingers, rather than the usual ten obtained in standard finger counting. e.g. if three fingers are extended on the left hand and four on the right, 34senary is represented. This is equivalent to 3 × 6 + 4 which is 22decimal.
Additionally, this method is the least abstract way to count using two hands that reflects the concept of positional notation, as the movement from one position to the next is done by switching from one hand to another. While most developed cultures count by fingers up to 5 in very similar ways, beyond 5 non-Western cultures deviate from Western methods, such as with Chinese number gestures. As senary finger counting also deviates only beyond 5, this counting method rivals the simplicity of traditional counting methods, a fact which may have implications for the teaching of positional notation to young students.
Which hand is used for the 'sixes' and which the units is down to preference on the part of the counter, however when viewed from the counter's perspective, using the left hand as the most significant digit correlates with the written representation of the same senary number. Flipping the 'sixes' hand around to its backside may help to further disambiguate which hand represents the 'sixes' and which represents the units. The downside to senary counting, however, is that without prior agreement two parties would be unable to utilize this system, being unsure which hand represents sixes and which hand represents ones, whereas decimal-based counting (with numbers beyond 5 being expressed by an open palm and additional fingers) being essentially a unary system only requires the other party to count the number of extended fingers.
In NCAA basketball, the players' uniform numbers are restricted to be senary numbers of at most two digits, so that the referees can signal which player committed an infraction by using this finger-counting system.
More abstract finger counting systems, such as chisanbop or finger binary, allow counting to 99, 1,023, or even higher depending on the method (though not necessarily senary in nature). The English monk and historian Bede, described in the first chapter of his work De temporum ratione, (725), titled "Tractatus de computo, vel loquela per gestum digitorum," a system which allowed counting up to 9,999 on two hands.
Despite the rarity of cultures that group large quantities by 6, a review of the development of numeral systems suggests a threshold of numerosity at 6 (possibly being conceptualized as "whole", "fist", or "beyond five fingers"), with 1–6 often being pure forms, and numerals thereafter being constructed or borrowed.
The Ndom language of Papua New Guinea is reported to have senary numerals. "Mer" means 6, "mer an thef" means 6 × 2 = 12, "nif" means 36, and "nif thef" means 36 × 2 = 72.
Another example from Papua New Guinea are the Yam languages. In these languages, counting is connected to ritualized yam-counting. These languages count from a base six, employing words for the powers of six; running up to 66 for some of the languages. One example is Komnzo with the following numerals: "nibo" (61), "fta" (62), "taruba" (63), "damno" (64), "wärämäkä" (65), "wi" (66).
Some Niger-Congo languages have been reported to use a senary number system, usually in addition to another, such as decimal or vigesimal.
Proto-Uralic has also been suspected to have had senary numerals, with a numeral for 7 being borrowed later, though evidence for constructing larger numerals (8 and 9) subtractively from ten suggests that this may not be so.
For some purposes, base 6 might be too small a base for convenience. This can be worked around by using its square, base 36 (hexatrigesimal), as then conversion is facilitated by simply making the following replacements:
Thus, the base-36 number WIKIPEDIA36 is equal to the senary number 5230323041222130146. In decimal, it is 91,730,738,691,298.
The choice of 36 as a radix is convenient in that the digits can be represented using the Arabic numerals 0–9 and the Latin letters A–Z: this choice is the basis of the base36 encoding scheme. The compression effect of 36 being the square of 6 causes a lot of patterns and representations to be shorter in base 36:
1/910 = 0.046 = 0.436
1/1610 = 0.02136 = 0.2936
1/510 = 0.6 = 0.36
1/710 = 0.6 = 0.36 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29652 |
Super Bowl XI
Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for its 1976 season. The Raiders defeated the Vikings by the score of 32–14 to win their first Super Bowl. The game was played on January 9, 1977, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. This remains the Super Bowl scheduled earliest during the calendar year.
This was the Raiders’ second Super Bowl appearance after losing Super Bowl II. They posted a 13–1 regular season record before defeating the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. The Vikings were making their fourth Super Bowl appearance after posting an 11–2–1 regular season record and playoff victories over the Washington Redskins and the Los Angeles Rams. The Vikings became the first team to appear in four Super Bowls, a record they held until the Dallas Cowboys advanced to a Super Bowl for the fifth time in Super Bowl XIII. They had not won in their previous three attempts, losing Super Bowl IV to the Kansas City Chiefs in the final Super Bowl before the AFL–NFL merger and following that up with losses in Super Bowls VIII and IX. The Raiders were the first original AFL team to appear and win a Super Bowl in the post-merger era.
Oakland gained a Super Bowl record 429 yards, including a Super Bowl record 288 yards in the first half, en route to winning Super Bowl XI. After a scoreless first quarter, Oakland scored on three consecutive possessions to take a 16–0 lead at halftime. The Raiders also had two fourth quarter interceptions, including cornerback Willie Brown’s 75-yard return for a touchdown. Oakland wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, who had 4 catches for 79 yards that set up three Raider touchdowns, was named the game’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). Among the wide receivers who have won the Super Bowl MVP, Biletnikoff is the only one to not have gained 100 yards in his performance.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XI to Pasadena, California on March 19, 1975 at the owners' meetings held in Honolulu.
This game marked the second Super Bowl appearance for the Oakland Raiders, who lost Super Bowl II. Two years after their Super Bowl loss, the Raiders hired John Madden as their head coach. Under Madden, the Raiders had posted in his 8 seasons an 83–22–7 record (counting ties, this was a .772 winning percentage, second for any NFL team behind only the Vikings’ .781). Nevertheless, Super Bowl XI was the first time Madden led his team to a league championship game. They had been eliminated in all six of their previous playoff appearances, including five losses in the AFC Championship Game.
The Raiders offense was led by quarterback Ken Stabler, who finished as the top rated passer in the AFC, passing for 2,737 yards and 27 touchdowns. His 66.7 completion percentage (194 completions out of 291 attempts) was the second highest in the league. Stabler's main passing weapon was wide receiver Cliff Branch, who caught 46 passes for 1,111 yards (24.2 yards per catch average) and 12 touchdowns. Fred Biletnikoff was also a reliable deep threat, with 43 receptions for 551 yards and 7 touchdowns, while tight end Dave Casper recorded 53 receptions for 691 yards and 10 touchdowns.
In addition to their great passing attack the Raiders also had a powerful running game, led by fullback Mark van Eeghen (1,012 rushing yards, 17 receptions) and halfback Clarence Davis (516 rushing yards, 27 receptions). Another reason for the Raiders' success on offense was their offensive line, led by left tackle Art Shell and left guard Gene Upshaw, as well as perennial All-Pro center Dave Dalby.
Injuries early in the season forced the Raiders to switch from a 4–3 to a 3–4 defense. The switch benefited the team, as they won their last 10 games and finished the regular season with the best record in the league, 13–1. The Raiders' defense was anchored by great linebackers, such as Phil Villapiano and Ted Hendricks, while defensive end Otis Sistrunk anchored the defensive line. Their defensive secondary was extremely hard-hitting and talented, led by safeties Jack Tatum and George Atkinson, and cornerbacks Skip Thomas and Willie Brown.
Brown, Upshaw, Biletnikoff and running back Pete Banaszak were the only holdovers from the Oakland team that was defeated nine years earlier in Super Bowl II.
Many accused the Raiders defense of being overly aggressive, especially Atkinson, who inflicted a severe concussion on Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann in the previous season's AFC Championship Game. Atkinson added to that reputation as the Raiders advanced through the playoffs to Super Bowl XI, as Atkinson inflicted another concussion to Swann in the Raiders' 1976 season opener. In the Raiders' 24–21 playoff win over the New England Patriots, Atkinson broke the nose of Patriots tight end Russ Francis. In reaction, Pittsburgh head coach Chuck Noll complained of a “criminal element” in Atkinson's play. Atkinson himself denied deliberately trying to injure anyone and pointed out that at 6′0″ and 185 pounds, he was one of the smallest players on the field. The Raiders and their fans were often known to counter these accusations against Atkinson and Jack Tatum by pointing out the physical way that Pittsburgh cornerback Mel Blount covered Oakland's speedy split end Cliff Branch.
An interesting fact about the team was that two players (whose names were not revealed) bought marijuana from Red Hot Chili Peppers' singer Anthony Kiedis’ father, Blackie Dammett, and smoked it before the game, and played the game under the effects of the drug. This was revealed on Kiedis’ biography from 2004, "Scar Tissue".
The Vikings, coached by Bud Grant, won the NFC Central for the eighth time in the last nine seasons with an 11–2–1 record, and advanced to their fourth Super Bowl in eight years. They were the only team who had lost three Super Bowls (they had previously lost Super Bowls IV, VIII and IX), and did not want to be the first one to lose four. They were the first team to appear in a fourth Super Bowl.
Once again, the Vikings had a powerful offense led by 36-year-old quarterback Fran Tarkenton and running back Chuck Foreman. In his sixteenth NFL season, Tarkenton was already the league's all-time leader in pass completions (3,186), passing yards (41,802), and touchdown passes (308). He had another fine season in 1976, completing 61.9 percent of his passes for 2,961 yards, 17 touchdowns, and only 8 interceptions. Foreman had the best season of his career, rushing for 1,155 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also catching 55 passes for 567 yards and another touchdown. Fullback Brent McClanahan also contributed 634 combined rushing and receiving yards. The Vikings also added two new weapons to their offense: veteran wide receiver Ahmad Rashad and rookie wide receiver Sammy White combined for 104 receptions, 1,577 receiving yards, and 13 touchdowns, while tackle Ron Yary once again anchored the offensive line.
The Vikings' “Purple People Eaters” defense, anchored by Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Alan Page, were also dominating teams again. During this regular season, they led the NFC in fewest points allowed (176). Also, defensive back Nate Wright led the team with 7 interceptions for 47 yards, while safety Paul Krause had 2 interceptions for 21 yards. Pro Bowl linebacker Matt Blair intercepted two passes and recovered five fumbles.
Tarkenton became the second quarterback to start three Super Bowls, following his Super Bowl VIII counterpart Bob Griese.
The Vikings went on to dominate the Washington Redskins, 35–20, and then defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 24–13, in the playoffs. Ten of the Vikings’ points in the NFC Championship Game came from blocked kicks.
The Raiders overcame an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the New England Patriots, 24–21, with the aid of a penalty call against the Patriots. New England's Ray Hamilton was tagged for roughing the passer in the fourth quarter, turning an incomplete pass on 3rd and 18 into a first down, and the Raiders went on to score on Stabler's 1-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left in the contest.
In the AFC Championship Game Oakland then faced the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that had won the two previous Super Bowls and defeated the Raiders in the playoffs in three out of the last four seasons. However, coming into this game without injured starting running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier, the Steelers were soundly thrashed this time around, losing to Oakland, 24–7.
This was the first Super Bowl game to match both conferences’ No. 1 seeds, the first one held in the Rose Bowl, the last Super Bowl to finish under daylight and the last where both teams’ placekickers (Minnesota's Fred Cox and Oakland's Errol Mann) used the straight-on style. Scheduled on the 9th day of January, the game marks the earliest Super Bowl played during the calendar year. The regular season started one week earlier than usual in order to avoid having playoff games on Christmas Day, which fell on a Saturday in 1976. By moving the season up, the divisional playoffs were held December 18 and 19, and the conference championship games Sunday, December 26. The local starting time for this Super Bowl, 12:47 pm Pacific Time, also was the earliest in history, two minutes earlier than Super Bowl VII at the nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1973.
The game was televised in the United States by NBC, with play-by-play announcer Curt Gowdy and color commentator Don Meredith. This was Meredith's last broadcast with NBC, as he returned to ABC to rejoin the "Monday Night Football" crew for the season, where he had been a commentator from through . Bryant Gumbel, Lee Leonard, and analyst John Brodie anchored NBC's pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage. With kickoff at 12:30 p.m. PST, this remains the most recent Super Bowl completed in daylight.
The pregame festivities featured the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) All-City Band and frisbee dog Ashley Whippet. Later, singer Vikki Carr sang “America the Beautiful”. To date, this is the only game in Super Bowl history that the national anthem was not sung. This was only the second time in the game's history that "America the Beautiful" was sung before a game, as Charley Pride sang the song at Super Bowl VIII three years prior.
This was the first Super Bowl where the official coin toss was held at midfield three minutes prior to kickoff. Prior to 1976, the official toss was held 30 minutes prior to kickoff, with captains called to midfield three minutes prior to kickoff so the referee could inform fans and media of the results of the toss.
The halftime show was produced by Disney and was based on "It's a Small World", an attraction at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. The show featured the cast members of The New Mickey Mouse Club. It was the first Super Bowl halftime show to include crowd participation as people in the stadium performed a mass card stunt on cue. The LAUSD All-City Band also played during the show.
The Raiders took the opening kickoff and advanced all the way to the Vikings’ 12-yard line, but came up empty after kicker Errol Mann hit the left upright on his 29-yard field goal attempt. Later in the quarter, after the teams exchanged punts, the Vikings had a great opportunity to score, when linebacker Fred McNeill blocked a punt from Ray Guy and recovered the ball on the Raiders' 3-yard line. The Vikings' special teams unit was known for blocking kicks, but this was the first time it had happened to Guy. (He had only three of his punts blocked in his 14-year Pro Football Hall of Fame career.) However, two plays later, Minnesota running back Brent McClanahan fumbled the ball while being tackled by Raiders linebacker Phil Villapiano, and linebacker Willie Hall recovered the ball for Oakland. The Raiders then marched 90 yards to the Vikings' 7-yard line, with a 35-yard run by Clarence Davis around left end from the Oakland 6-yard line breaking through Minnesota's front. On the drive's sixth play, quarterback Ken Stabler completed a 25-yard pass to tight end Dave Casper, with Casper breaking through what Stabler called “10 tackles.”
Oakland, however, had to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Mann, giving them a 3–0 lead 48 seconds into the second quarter.
After forcing Minnesota to punt following a three-and-out, Oakland did even better the next time it got the ball. Stabler completed a 19-yard pass to Casper to reach the Vikings' 26. Running back Carl Garrett carried on three consecutive plays and gained 20 yards, then Stabler hit receiver Fred Biletnikoff along the right sideline for five yards to the 1-yard line. The 64-yard drive in 10 plays then concluded on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Stabler to Casper, increasing the Raiders' lead to 10–0. On the Vikings' next possession, running back Chuck Foreman gained seven yards on first down and six yards on second down, but a holding penalty on Ron Yary made it second-down-and-13. Quarterback Fran Tarkenton threw an incomplete pass to rookie receiver Sammy White, then a long pass to Ahmad Rashad was broken up by defensive back Willie Brown, resulting in another three-and-out. Oakland got the ball back in excellent field position, after returner Neal Colzie returned Minnesota's punt 25 yards to the Vikings' 35-yard line. After three running plays, Stabler completed a 17-yard pass to Biletnikoff at the 1-yard line, and running back Pete Banaszak scored a touchdown on the next play, increasing Oakland's lead to 16–0 with 3:33 left in the second quarter, after Mann missed the extra point attempt. To this point, Minnesota had picked up only one first down. They added one more, on a meaningless 26-yard completion from Tarkenton to Foreman on the last play of the half, which ended up being their longest gain of the entire game. The score at halftime marked the fourth time in as many Super Bowl games that the Vikings failed to score in the first half.
The second half began with three consecutive punts, but then Colzie returned the Vikings' second punt of the quarter 12 yards to the Oakland 46-yard line. From there, the Raiders advanced to the Minnesota 23-yard line, aided by an 18-yard run by Davis and a 10-yard reception by wide receiver Cliff Branch, to set up Mann's 40-yard field goal to increase their lead to 19–0.
Tarkenton then threw 3 consecutive incomplete passes on their ensuing drive, forcing the Vikings to punt again. However, Oakland linebacker Ted Hendricks was penalized for running into the punter on the play, giving Minnesota a first down. Taking advantage of their second chance, the Vikings ended up with a 12-play, 68-yard drive as Tarkenton completed passes to Stu Voigt, Ahmad Rashad and Chuck Foreman for gains of 15, 21, and 10 yards. On the last play, Tarkenton threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Sammy White, making the score 19–7.
The Raiders were forced to punt on their next drive, after they were unable to recover from Alan Page’s 11-yard sack on first down. Then aided by Tarkenton's completions to White for gains of 14 and 18 yards, respectively, the Vikings advanced to the Oakland 37-yard line. However, on third down and 3, Hall intercepted a pass from Tarkenton and returned it 16 yards to the 46-yard line. Three plays later, Biletnikoff's 48-yard reception moved the ball to the Vikings' 2-yard line, setting up Banaszak's second rushing touchdown to increase Oakland's lead to 26–7. All three Raiders offensive touchdowns had been preceded on the previous play by key Biletnikoff receptions.
White returned the ensuing kickoff 19 yards to the Minnesota 32-yard line, and four plays later, Tarkenton completed a 25-yard pass to receiver Rashad to reach the Oakland 28-yard line. However, on the next play, defensive back Willie Brown intercepted a pass intended for White and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. Although Mann missed the extra point attempt, the Raiders put the game out of reach, 32–7.
After both teams turned the ball over on downs, Minnesota drove 86 yards in 9 plays to score on a 14-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Bob Lee to Voigt. The touchdown cut Minnesota's deficit to 32–14, but by then there were only 25 seconds remaining in the game.
Stabler finished the game with 12 out of 19 pass completions for 180 yards and 1 touchdown. Davis, who was the top rusher in the game, gained 137 yards on just 16 rushing attempts, an average of 8.5 yards per carry. Of Davis' 16 carries, 11 were runs to the left side, which is where the blocking of guard Gene Upshaw, tackle Art Shell and Casper dominated defensive end Jim Marshall and linebacker Wally Hilgenberg. Marshall made no tackles in the game and Hilgenberg made only two. Casper finished the game with 4 receptions for 70 yards and 1 touchdown. Colzie returned 4 punts for a Super Bowl record 43 yards. Foreman had a solid performance for Minnesota, contributing 44 rushing yards and 62 receiving yards. Tarkenton completed 17 out of 35 pass attempts for 205 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. White recorded 163 total yards, catching 5 passes for 77 yards and 1 touchdown, rushing once for 7 yards, and returning 4 kickoffs for 79 yards. The Raiders won their first Super Bowl and according to Brown, winning Super Bowl XI “made up for the other Raiders who came before and didn’t have a chance to participate on a winning Super Bowl team. This victory meant not only a lot to me, it meant a lot to the entire Raider organization.” The win was particularly satisfying for Brown, who scored a Super Bowl touchdown and earned his first championship ring after 14 years of professional football.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XI, Super Bowl XI Play Finder Oak, Super Bowl XI Play Finder Min
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XI, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
"Note: A seven-official system was not used until 1978"
In their four Super Bowls, the Vikings never led once, so onlookers never saw what the Vikings might do with a lead in a Super Bowl game. Minnesota also never scored any points in the first half. Turnovers robbed the club from a score on three occasions; two of the opportunities were to take a lead (one in this game). The Vikings committed a total of 15 turnovers and forced only three. In their four Super Bowl appearances the Vikings averaged only 56.75 yards rushing (a total of 227 yards on 90 carries for just 2.52 yards per carry), while the “Purple People Eaters” yielded a huge 215.5 yards average. After Kansas City rushed 42 times in Super Bowl IV, Oakland became the third consecutive opponent to rush more than 50 times against the Vikings. Minnesota also had just a 49.3 team passer rating to opponents’ 105.2. Tarkenton in three appearances completed 46 of 89 passes for a mere 489 yards, one touchdown, six interceptions and a 43.7 rating. Opponents completed 68.4 percent of their passes. Previously against the Vikings, Kansas City’s Len Dawson completed 12 of 17 pass attempts for 142 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception for a 90.8 rating in Super Bowl IV; Miami’s Bob Griese completed 6 of 7 for 73 yards and a 110.1 rating in Super Bowl VIII; and Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw completed 9 of 14 for 96 yards and a touchdown for a 108.0 rating in Super Bowl IX. In this game Stabler completed 12 of 19 for 180 yards and a touchdown, and had a 111.7 passer rating. The Purple People Eaters were dominated in their final Super Bowl appearance as Oakland set Super Bowl records of 266 yards rushing and 429 yards total offense. "Slate" writer Justin Peters, after viewing every Super Bowl over a two-month period before Super Bowl 50, considered Minnesota the worst franchise in Super Bowl history. He remarked that “the Vikings in the 1970s really pissed me off... Minnesota went to the Super Bowl four separate times from 1970 to 1977 and didn’t score a single first-half point in any of those games. The Vikings had a really, really good defense, and their offense just kept on letting the defense down, game after game after game.”
NFL Media analyst Elliot Harrison published an article for the league's website, which ranks all the Super Bowls, with analysis by former Dallas personnel man Gil Brandt. The four games that the Vikings played in are among the seven lowest ranked, along with Super Bowls XXIV, XLVIII and XXIX. That means that the Vikings' four appearances were judged to be the four worst Super Bowls of the first 23 played, as well as the four worst of the first 11, when Minnesota made its last appearance.
The Vikings’ loss in Super Bowl XI meant the franchise finished with a dismal 0–4 Super Bowl record under head coach Bud Grant, even though in the same eight-season span their regular season record was 87–24–1, which was the best in the NFL.
Grant coached Minnesota eight more seasons, but never managed to guide the team back to a Super Bowl. In fact, as of the 2019 season this remains the Vikings’ last ever appearance in a Super Bowl, although they have qualified for the postseason a further 22 times and have reached the NFC Championship six times in 1977, 1987, 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2017.
Despite a few mediocre seasons, the Raiders would remain an NFL power until 1985 and win two more Super Bowls in their 1980 and 1983 seasons – the second after moving to Los Angeles in 1982. In contrast to their 13–1 1976 regular season, both of these would be won in major upsets. The Raiders would fall to mediocrity in the latter part of the 1980s and most of the 1990s when they were affected by stadium problems that saw them again playing in Oakland in 1995 – although they did reach the AFC Championship in 1991 and be demolished 51-3 by the Bills – before a 33–15 three-season record between 2000 and 2002 saw them return to the Super Bowl for the first time in nineteen seasons. Since then the Raiders have been mainly NFL cellar-dwellers, with only one postseason appearance in 2016 and a record of seven straight seasons with no more than five victories between 2003 and 2009. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29137 |
Super Bowl XII
Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1977 season. The Cowboys defeated the Broncos 27–10 to win their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 15, 1978, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. This was the first Super Bowl in a domed stadium, and the first time that the game was played in prime time in the Eastern United States.
The game pitted Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach against their former quarterback, Craig Morton. Led by Staubach and the Doomsday Defense, Dallas advanced to its fourth Super Bowl after posting a 12–2 record in the regular season and home playoff victories over the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings. The Broncos, led by Morton and the Orange Crush Defense, made their first-ever postseason appearance after a franchise-best 12–2 regular season record. Also with home-field advantage, Denver posted playoff wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders.
The Cowboys defense dominated most of Super Bowl XII, forcing eight turnovers and allowing only eight pass completions by the Broncos for just 61 yards. Two interceptions led to 10 first-quarter points. Denver's longest play of the game was just 21 yards, which occurred on their opening drive. Dallas extended its lead to 20–3 in the third quarter after wide receiver Butch Johnson made a diving catch in the end zone for a 45-yard touchdown reception. An ineffective Morton was replaced by Norris Weese late in the third quarter. He promptly drove the Broncos downfield to score a touchdown to cut the lead to 20–10, capped by a Rob Lytle one-yard touchdown run. But the Cowboys put the game out of reach in the fourth when fullback Robert Newhouse threw a 29-yard touchdown pass on a halfback option play to receiver Golden Richards.
For the first and only time, two players won Super Bowl MVP honors: defensive tackle Randy White and defensive end Harvey Martin. This was also the first time that a defensive lineman was named Super Bowl MVP.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XII to New Orleans on March 16, 1976, at the NFL owners meetings held in San Diego. It was the first of seven Super Bowls (as of 2017) played in the Superdome, though it was not the first one scheduled in the Superdome; Super Bowl IX was scheduled to be played there, but construction delays forced it to be played at Tulane Stadium.
The main storyline surrounding Super Bowl XII was Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach versus Broncos quarterback Craig Morton. Morton began his career playing for Dallas in 1965. Staubach joined the Cowboys in 1969 after four years of service in the U.S. Navy, and soon both quarterbacks competed for the starting job. During the 1970 season, both Morton and Staubach started for about half of the regular season games. Morton was ultimately selected to lead the team through the playoffs and eventually to their Super Bowl V loss to the Baltimore Colts, 16–13. The next year, Staubach won the starting job and eventually led Dallas to defeat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, 24–3. Staubach was also named Super Bowl MVP during that game. In 1972, Morton started most of the Cowboys' games as Staubach was out with a separated shoulder. However, in the division playoffs against San Francisco, Staubach relieved Morton and rallied the team to victory, which assured Staubach of the starting job going forward. Morton was relegated to backup status until he left the team in 1974 to join the New York Giants.
After spending three years with the Giants, Morton became the starting quarterback for the Broncos, a franchise with a dismal history. It had taken them 14 years (1960–1973) to record their first winning season and they had never once made the playoffs. But under the leadership of the newly arrived Morton and their new coach Red Miller, Denver finished 1977 with a 12–2 record and earned the #1 seed in the AFC.
Morton did not put up a large number of passing yards (1,929) during the regular season, but he threw 14 touchdown passes and only 8 interceptions, while also rushing for 125 yards and 4 touchdowns, earning him the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Denver tight end Riley Odoms was his main target, with 37 receptions for 429 yards. Wide receiver Haven Moses was also a major deep threat, catching 27 passes for 539 yards, an average of 20 yards per catch. However, the Broncos main offensive strength was their rushing game. Denver had 3 running backs, Otis Armstrong, Lonnie Perrin, and Rob Lytle, who carried the ball equally, combining for 1,353 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. On special teams, multi-talented wide receiver Rick Upchurch led the NFL with 653 punt return yards, while also catching 12 passes for 245 yards and recording 456 yards returning kickoffs.
The backbone of the Broncos was their defense, a unit known as the "Orange Crush", which used a 3–4 formation anchored by four superb linebackers, including Randy Gradishar (3 interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries) and Tom Jackson (4 interceptions, 93 return yards, 1 touchdown). Defensive End Lyle Alzado anchored the line, while their secondary was led by defensive backs Bill Thompson (who recorded 5 interceptions) and Louis Wright (who had 3 interceptions). The Broncos defense had given up just 148 points during the season, an average of just 10.6 per game and the 3rd-fewest in the NFL.
With Staubach and his team's Doomsday Defense, the Cowboys won the NFC East with a 12–2 regular season record.
Staubach threw for 2,620 yards and 18 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions, while also gaining 171 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Wide receiver Drew Pearson was the leading receiver on the team with 48 receptions for 870 yards, while Pro Bowl tight end Billy Joe DuPree recorded 28 receptions for 347 yards and provided blocking support on running plays.
The Cowboys also had a new weapon on offense: rookie running back Tony Dorsett, the previous year's Heisman Trophy winner. Despite not becoming a full-time starter until the tenth game of the regular season, Dorsett led the team in rushing with 1,007 yards, scored 13 total touchdowns, and was the team's third leading receiver with 29 receptions for another 273 yards. Veteran fullback Robert Newhouse provided Dorsett with blocking, and was the team's second leading rusher with 721 yards, while also catching 16 passes for another 106 yards. Running back Preston Pearson contributed 341 yards rushing, caught 46 passes for 535 yards, and scored 5 touchdowns. The Cowboys' offensive line was led by All-Pro tackle Rayfield Wright.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys' Doomsday Defense remained in the superb form that helped lead the Cowboys' Super Bowl X appearance. Their defensive line consisted of Harvey Martin (who recorded 23 sacks), Jethro Pugh, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Randy White. Behind them, the Cowboys had a trio of linebackers, Thomas Henderson (3 interceptions), D.D. Lewis, and Bob Breunig, who provided pass coverage and run stoppage. Dallas also had a secondary led by future Hall of Famers corneback Mel Renfro and safety Cliff Harris and Pro Bowl safety Charlie Waters.
The Cowboys earned their second trip to the Super Bowl in three years by defeating the Chicago Bears, 37–7, and the Minnesota Vikings, 23–6, in the playoffs. Their "Doomsday Defense" proved as dominant as ever in those two games, forcing 7 turnovers against Chicago and 4 against the Vikings.
Meanwhile, the Broncos earned their first ever trip to the Super Bowl in team history by defeating the two previous league champions: the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34–21, and the Oakland Raiders, 20–17, in the playoffs. This made Morton the first quarterback to start a Super Bowl game for two different franchises (Kurt Warner was the second with St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals, and Peyton Manning was the third with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos). Morton is also the only quarterback to have started two different franchises' "first" Super Bowl appearances.
This was the final Super Bowl in the 14-game schedule era. The following season, the NFL went to a 16-game schedule, where it has remained since.
Super Bowl XII provided an opportunity for Morton to not only beat his former team, but also to redeem himself for his Super Bowl V loss and the loss of his starting job to Staubach. For Staubach, he had a chance to win his second Super Bowl and defeat his old rival, showing that he truly was the better quarterback of the two.
Tony Dorsett became the first football player in history to win an NCAA National Championship one year (with the University of Pittsburgh Panthers) and a Super Bowl the next. Dorsett won both championships in the same building; Pitt clinched the 1976 national championship by defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 1977.
Dallas was the only NFC team to win the Super Bowl in the 1970s (although both Baltimore and Pittsburgh were pre-merger NFL teams). Both Cowboy victories in the decade came in New Orleans against teams making their first Super Bowl appearance.
This was the first Super Bowl between two teams who had met in regular season play. The Cowboys defeated the Broncos 14–6 on the final Sunday of the regular season at Texas Stadium. Both teams' starters saw limited action in that contest, since both squads had already clinched their respective division championships and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Denver was 12–1 and Dallas 11–2 prior to the Dec 18 matchup. It was the first of only two times that two teams have played each other in the Super Bowl after playing on the final weekend of the regular season (the New York Giants and New England Patriots played in the final week of the 2007 regular season and met again in Super Bowl XLII). Under NFL scheduling rules put in place by Commissioner Roger Goodell prior to the 2010 season, the Super Bowl participants will no longer be able to play each other on the final weekend of the regular season, since all games on the final weekend now match division opponents.
This was the first Super Bowl to feature arrow markers every ten yards, beginning at the 10 yard line, to indicate the direction of the nearest goal line, which were first used at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium in 1973. They became mandatory league-wide the following season in 1978.
The game, the first Super Bowl to be played in prime time, was broadcast in the United States by CBS with play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator Tom Brookshier. The game kicked off at 5:17 p.m. Central Standard Time. Hosting the coverage was "The NFL Today" hosts Brent Musburger; Irv Cross; Phyllis George (in the last game of her first stint on "The NFL Today" before leaving to host the short-lived "People" the following season). Also contributing were Hank Stram (who had recently been fired by the New Orleans Saints); Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder; Sonny Jurgensen (working on CBS Radio coverage); Gary Bender; Paul Hornung; Nick Buoniconti and Jack Whitaker. Buoniconti and Hornung served as sideline reporters; with Hornung doing postgame interviews in the Broncos' locker room; while Bender covered the trophy presentation in the Cowboy locker room.
An interesting aspect was the use of what was called an Electronic Palette graphics system (created by CBS and Ampex) for a painting-like aspect to several visual graphics; such as the game intro, starting lineups and bumpers going into or coming out of a commercial break. CBS would also unveil what was known as the "Action Track"; showing the trail of a football that had been kicked during replays. Also, when the planned lead-in (the Phoenix Open golf tournament) was halted due to poor weather, CBS Sports president Robert Wussler (in New York) and producer Barry Frank (at the Superdome) ended up filling the time period with an impromptu look at how the game would be produced.
As in their previous Super Bowl; CBS used the Frank Sinatra song "Winners" to play over the closing montage.
This game was featured in the "All in the Family" episode "Superbowl Sunday". Archie Bunker rented a big screen TV at his bar "Archie's Place" and sold ham sandwiches for $1.50. Later, two crooks (who were incognito throughout the episode) steal from and humiliate the patrons, following the end of the game. Also, clips of some of the Cowboys' scoring plays were used to accompany the opening credits of the 1979 TV movie "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders". Additional clips of this game also appeared in the "NFL's Greatest Games" episode "Doomsday at the Dome".
The pregame festivities featured the Southern University Band along with the cheerleaders of both teams. Later, Phyllis Kelly of Northeast Louisiana University sang the national anthem.
Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Red Grange participated in the coin toss ceremony. Prior to 1976, the official coin toss was held 30 minutes prior to kickoff and was re-enacted three minutes prior to kickoff to inform the television audience and spectators in the stadium of the outcome.
The halftime show was "From Paris to Paris of America" featuring performances by the Apache Band and Apache Belles Drill team from Tyler Junior College, clarinetist Pete Fountain, and trumpeter Al Hirt.
The opening stages of Super Bowl XII were nearly disastrous for the Cowboys, who fumbled three times on their first two possessions. On their very first play from scrimmage, the Cowboys attempted a double reverse, but receiver Butch Johnson fumbled the handoff. Johnson recovered his own fumble but the Cowboys sustained a significant loss on the play and punted two plays later. The Broncos then advanced to the Cowboys' 33-yard line on their first drive of the game. However, Broncos quarterback Craig Morton was sacked for an 11-yard loss on third down by Randy White, which pushed the Broncos out of field goal range. On the ensuing Denver punt, Cowboys returner Tony Hill muffed the ball at his own 1-yard line. In the scramble to recover, Broncos receiver John Schultz placed both of his hands on the ball and nearly took possession, but the Cowboys emerged from the melee with the ball. A few plays later, from the 19-yard line, Dallas running back Tony Dorsett fumbled the ball forward into heavy traffic, but center John Fitzgerald made the recovery to keep possession for the Cowboys, who then punted.
On the Broncos second possession, Cowboys defensive linemen White and Harvey Martin simultaneously hit Morton as he attempted to throw, which resulted in a wobbly pass that failed to cross the line of scrimmage and was intercepted by defensive back Randy Hughes. Five plays after the turnover, Dorsett scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, converting on a fourth and goal attempt. On the Broncos next possession, Morton was intercepted for a second time after his pass was tipped by linebacker Bob Breunig into the arms of defensive back Aaron Kyle, who returned the ball 19 yards to Denver's 35-yard line. Dallas then advanced to the 8-yard line, but Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach was sacked by Lyle Alzado for a 10-yard loss on third down, forcing the Cowboys to settle for a 35-yard Efren Herrera field goal to increase their lead to 10–0.
Denver was forced to punt to begin the second quarter, and Dallas then advanced to the Broncos' 19-yard line. On third down, Staubach unleashed a pass that was intercepted in the end zone; however, the officials ruled that he had stepped out of bounds before he threw the ball. On the next play, Herrera successfully added a 43-yard field goal to increase the Cowboys' lead to 13–0. The rest of the quarter was filled with an avalanche of sloppy play, turnovers, and missed opportunities. On the second play of the next Denver drive, Morton unleashed an errant pass for his third interception, this time by defensive back Benny Barnes at the Cowboys' 40-yard line. The Denver defense immediately stiffened, sacking Staubach for a fourth time and forcing a three-and-out and a punt. However, the punt struck an unsuspecting Denver player, John Schultz, on his helmet as he attempted to throw a block during the return, and the ball was quickly recovered by the Cowboys' Bruce Huther.
The Cowboys then advanced to the 26-yard line, but Herrera pulled his 43-yard field goal attempt wide left, keeping the score 13–0. On the following drive the Broncos committed their fifth turnover as wide receiver Jack Dolbin fumbled, with Hughes returned the ball 19 yards to the Denver 27-yard line. However, the Cowboys failed to score as Herrera missed another field goal, this time from only 32 yards out. On the first play after that missed attempt, Denver wasted no time in giving the ball away again, as tight end Riley Odoms fumbled the ball back to Dallas, with Hughes recovering it and returning it to the 28-yard line. However, on the next play, Dallas gave the ball right back to Denver as tight end Billy Joe DuPree caught a pass inside the 10-yard line but fumbled, with Denver linebacker Tom Jackson making the recovery. Five plays later, with the Broncos desperate to score before the half, Morton uncorked yet another errant pass that was intercepted by defensive back Mark Washington who returned the ball 27 yards to Denver's 35-yard line. There were 6 seconds remaining on the clock after the interception, but Dallas couldn't capitalize as Herrera missed yet another field goal attempt, his third miss of the half, this time from 44 yards out as time expired.
By halftime, the Cowboys had fumbled five times (losing one), had missed three field goals, and had allowed four sacks, but still led 13–0. Meanwhile, the Broncos had committed a halftime record 7 turnovers. Morton, who had thrown only 8 interceptions during the entire 1977 season, was picked off 4 times in the half in addition to 3 fumbles lost, finishing with a passer rating of 0.0. Incredibly, after punting on their very first drive of the game, six of the next seven Broncos possessions resulted in a turnover, and there also was a fumble on a punt return.
Denver trailed by only 13 points as the second half began, and on the opening drive of the second half, the Broncos moved the ball deep into Dallas territory. First, John Schultz returned the second half kickoff 25 yards to the 35-yard line, and then Otis Armstrong ripped off an 18-yard gain. Seven plays later, Jim Turner finished the drive with a 47-yard field goal, cutting the score to 13–3. But later in the period, the Cowboys scored another touchdown on a 45-yard pass from Staubach to receiver Butch Johnson, who made a fingertip catch as he fell into the end zone as the Cowboys increased their lead to 20–3. Johnson dropped the ball when he hit the ground, but officials ruled he had scored a touchdown before it came out of his hands.
Denver wide receiver Rick Upchurch returned the ensuing kickoff a Super Bowl-record 67 yards to the Cowboys 26-yard line. On the next play, Morton nearly threw his fifth interception, and was then immediately replaced by former Ole Miss quarterback Norris Weese. Two plays later on fourth down, Jim Jensen's 16-yard run moved the ball to the 1-yard line, and then Rob Lytle scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 20–10.
Next, Dallas drove into Denver territory but Staubach was sacked by Tom Jackson and lost the ball, Rubin Carter recovering at the Broncos' 45 early in the fourth quarter. Weese was incomplete on his next three attempts, however, one on a pass to Upchurch in the end zone, and Denver punted.
The Broncos forced a Dallas punt but Weese fumbled the ball while being sacked by Martin, and Kyle recovered it on the Denver 29-yard line. On the next play, the Cowboys scored on a 29-yard halfback option play: Staubach pitched the ball to fullback Robert Newhouse, who ran left and then threw a pass to back-up receiver Golden Richards for a touchdown. The score gave the Cowboys a 27–10 lead and put the game out of reach. Newhouse became the first running back in Super Bowl history to complete a touchdown pass. Most notable about the trick play was that Denver's defense was not fooled by it. Richards was properly covered by defensive back Steve Foley, but was still able to make the catch.
Staubach finished the game with 17 out of 25 pass completions for 183 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Dorsett was the leading rusher of the game, with 66 rushing yards and a touchdown. He also caught 2 passes for 11 receiving yards. In addition to his 29-yard touchdown pass, Newhouse also contributed with 55 rushing yards. Dallas tight end Billy Joe DuPree was the leading receiver of the game with 4 receptions for 66 yards. Hughes had an interception and a Super Bowl record 2 fumble recoveries.
Before being taken out of the game, Denver's starting quarterback Craig Morton completed just 4 out of 15 passes for 39 yards and was intercepted 4 times. His 21-yard completion to Haven Moses on the Broncos' opening drive was the only pass he completed that both resulted in positive yardage and did not end in a turnover. Morton's passer rating for the game was 0.0, the lowest in Super Bowl history. Upchurch recorded 125 total offensive yards (94 on kickoff returns, 22 on punt returns, and 9 receiving yards).
The Cowboys' superb defense played a critical role in the game. White and Martin were named co-Most Valuable Players; this award is usually bestowed on an offensive player. The voters actually wanted to name the entire 11-man starting defensive lineup as co-MVPs, and asked the NFL if this was acceptable. The league said no, and so two players were picked for the award. The unheralded Hughes and Kyle of the Cowboy secondary each had superb games to play an important role in the victory. The two men came up with five turnovers between them, leading directly to 17 of Dallas' points.
The game was the 8th Super Bowl in 10 years in which the winning team scored enough to win before the losing team put up any points on the board. By contrast, this has happened only four times since, in Super Bowls XV, XVIII, XXXV, and XLVIII.
In 2015, on the occasion of Super Bowl 50, "Slate" webpage writer Justin Peters watched all the games over a two-month period. He considered Super Bowl XII to be the worst Super Bowl ever. Morton was a large part of the reason for Peters, who felt the Broncos' quarterback was lucky to have only been intercepted four times in the first half, and a total output that amounted to only one completion for positive yardage that was not followed by an immediate turnover. Nor had the Cowboys impressed him, in large part due to Herrera's missed field goals in the second quarter. "Blowouts can at least be fun to watch sometimes", he concluded. "This game was nothing but pain."
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XII, Super Bowl XII Play Finder Dal, Super Bowl XII Play Finder Den
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
"Note: A seven-official system was not used until the following season"
Jim Tunney was the only referee to work consecutive Super Bowls. The NFL now prohibits referees from working Super Bowls in consecutive seasons (a referee can be an alternate the season following an on-field assignment), although officials at other positions can do so.
This was the first Super Bowl in which all officials had previously called one.
Five of the six officials—all except Veteri—previously worked a Super Bowl in New Orleans. Of those five, only Douglas was not on the crew for Super Bowl VI at Tulane Stadium. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29138 |
Super Bowl XIII
Super Bowl XIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1978 season. The Steelers defeated the Cowboys by the score of 35–31. The game was played on January 21, 1979, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, the fifth and last time that the Super Bowl was played in that stadium.
This was the first Super Bowl that featured a rematch of a previous one (the Steelers had previously beaten the Cowboys, 21–17, in Super Bowl X), and both teams were attempting to be the first club to win a third Super Bowl. Dallas was also the defending Super Bowl XII champion, and finished the 1978 regular season with a 12–4 record, and posted playoff victories over the Atlanta Falcons and the Los Angeles Rams. Pittsburgh entered the game after posting a 14–2 regular season record and playoff wins over the Denver Broncos and the Houston Oilers. Super Bowl XIII is also the only Super Bowl to date that featured two teams (and quarterbacks) that had previously won two Super Bowls in the same decade. The Dallas Cowboys (quarterbacked by Roger Staubach) won Super Bowl VI during the 1971-72 season and Super Bowl XII during the 1977-78 season. The Pittsburgh Steelers (quarterbacked by Terry Bradshaw) won Super Bowl IX during the 1974-75 season, and Super Bowl X during the 1975-76 season.
Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who was named Super Bowl MVP, completed 17 out of 30 passes for Super Bowl records of 318 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes. Bradshaw eclipsed Bart Starr's Super Bowl record for passing yards in the first half with 253 yards in the air as the Steelers led 21–14 at intermission. His 75-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter also tied Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V for the longest pass in a Super Bowl. The Cowboys were able to stay close, only trailing 21–17 at the end of the third quarter, but Pittsburgh scored two touchdowns in a span of 19 seconds in the fourth period. Dallas also could not overcome turnovers, drops, and a controversial penalty during the second half. The Cowboys were eventually able to score two touchdowns in the final minutes of the game, but still ended up being the first defending champion to lose in the Super Bowl and the first losing Super Bowl team to score 30 points or more.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XIII to Miami on June 14, 1977 at the owners meetings held in New York.
For the 1978–79 season, the NFL extended its schedule from 14 regular season games to 16 (which remains in place today, although the playoffs have since been expanded), and increased the playoffs from an 8-team tournament to 10, creating two extra playoff games. The three division winners from each conference would be ranked first through third and be given a week off, and two wild card teams from each conference, seeded fourth and fifth, would play a playoff game with the winner going on to play the first seeded team (or, if they were in the same division, the second seed).
In Super Bowls past the designated home team wore their colored jerseys, while the "visiting" team wore white. This was a rule implemented by the NFL and the teams had no choice in this matter. Super Bowl XIII was the first time the "home team" had the choice of which uniform to wear. Subsequently the Cowboys chose to wear their white jerseys, and Pittsburgh were forced to wear their colored since they were the designated visiting team. Home team designation had been kept the same since the beginning, thus the NFC being designated the home team in the odd years, while the AFC being designated the home team in the even years.
The Steelers joined the Cowboys in their attempt to be the first team to win a third Super Bowl, after wins in Super Bowl IX and Super Bowl X. Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw had the best season of his career, completing 207 of 368 passes for 2,915 yards and 28 touchdowns, with 20 interceptions. He ranked as the second highest rated passer in the league (84.8), his 28 touchdown passes led the league, and he won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Wide receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth provided the team with a great deep threat. Swann recorded 61 receptions for 880 yards and 11 touchdowns, while Stallworth had 41 receptions for 798 yards and 9 touchdowns. Tight end Randy Grossman, who replaced injured starter Bennie Cunningham for most of the season, also was a big factor, recording 37 receptions for 448 yards and a touchdown.
In the Steelers' rushing game, fullback Franco Harris was the team's leading rusher for the 7th consecutive season, recording 1,082 yards and 8 touchdowns, while also catching 22 passes for another 144 yards. Halfback Rocky Bleier had 633 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, while also catching 17 passes for 168 yards. The Steelers' success on offense was due in large measure to their stellar offensive line, anchored by future Hall of Fame center Mike Webster.
Although Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" defense had some new starters this season, such as linemen John Banaszak and Steve Furness, and defensive back Tony Dungy, they finished first in fewest points allowed (195), second in the league against the run (allowing 107.8 yards per game), and ranked third in fewest total yards allowed (4,529). Once again, defensive tackles Joe Greene and L. C. Greenwood anchored the line, while Pro Bowl linebackers Jack Ham and Jack Lambert combined for 7 interceptions. Dungy led the team with 6 interceptions, while the rest of the secondary, defensive backs Mel Blount, Donnie Shell, and Ron Johnson, combined for 11.
The Cowboys became the first team to appear in five Super Bowls (after playing in Super Bowls V, VI, X and XII). Dallas led the league in scoring (384) and was No. 2 in total yards (5,959). The defending Super Bowl champions were once again led by quarterback Roger Staubach. Staubach finished the season as the top rated passer in the NFL (84.9) by throwing 231 out of 413 completions for 3,190 yards and 25 touchdowns, with 16 interceptions. He also rushed for 182 yards and another touchdown. Wide receivers Drew Pearson and Tony Hill provided the deep passing threats, combining for 90 receptions, 1,537 yards, and 7 touchdowns. Tight end Billy Joe DuPree contributed 34 receptions for 509 yards and 9 touchdowns. Running back Tony Dorsett had another fine season, recording a total of 1,703 combined rushing and receiving yards, and scoring a total of 9 touchdowns. Fullback Robert Newhouse and halfback Preston Pearson also contributed from the offensive backfield, combining for 1,326 rushing and receiving yards, while Newhouse also scored 10 touchdowns. The Cowboys also had a superb offensive line, led by Herbert Scott and 12-time Pro Bowler Rayfield Wright.
The Cowboys' "Doomsday Defense" finished the season as the top-ranked defense in the league against the run by only allowing 107.6 yards per game, 2nd in total yards allowed (4,009), and 3rd in points allowed (208). Pro Bowl linemen Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Harvey Martin, and Randy White anchored the line, leading the league with 58 sacks, while linebackers Bob Breunig, D. D. Lewis and Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson provided solid support. Their secondary, led by safeties Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters, along with cornerbacks Benny Barnes and Aaron Kyle, combined for 16 interceptions.
The Cowboys started the regular season slowly, winning only six of their first ten games. But Dallas finished strong, winning their last six regular season games to post a 12–4 record.
Dallas first opponent was the Atlanta Falcons, a scrappy 9-7 squad making the first playoff appearance in their 13-year history. Despite being 14-point favorites, the Cowboys found themselves trailing 20-13 at the end of the first half, having lost three fumbles and Roger Staubach to a concussion. But under backup quarterback Danny White, Dallas rallied back in the second half with two touchdowns, while their defense intercepted two passes from Steve Bartkowski and forced a turnover on downs on their own 35-yard line late in the fourth quarter as Atlanta was driving for a potential tying score, and the team went on to win 27-20.
In the following week, any doubts about the Cowboys due to their struggle to win against the Falcons were quickly put to rest as they shut out the 12-4 Los Angeles Rams 28-0, holding them to just 277 total yards and forcing 7 turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Steelers easily demolished the defending AFC champion Denver Broncos, 33–10, and the Houston Oilers, 34–5. In the AFC championship game, the "Steel Curtain" defense held the Oilers to just 142 yards and forced 9 turnovers.
Although the Super Bowl had grown into America's biggest one-day sporting event by this point, many believe the 13th edition began the game's evolution to unofficial national holiday. It was the first Super Bowl with a true heavyweight title-fight feel, given the Steelers' and Cowboys' unquestioned status as the two best teams in the NFL, and the honor of the first three-time Super Bowl champion (and likely team of the 1970s designation) that would go to the winner.
Super Bowl XIII can arguably be called the greatest collection of NFL talent for a game. In addition to coaches Noll and Landry, 16 players would end up being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Of the 16 Hall of Fame players to play in this game, ten were Pittsburgh players (Bradshaw, Harris, Shell, Swann, Stallworth, Webster, Greene, Lambert, Ham, and Blount), and six were Dallas players (Staubach, Dorsett, Harris, White, Wright, and Jackie Smith). The Cowboys had lured Smith out of retirement from the St. Louis Cardinals, due to injuries to Cowboys tight ends; most notably, Jay Saldi. Other Hall of Famers who participated in the game representing the Cowboys were general manager/team president Tex Schramm, and defensive coordinator Ernie Stautner, who actually was a Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Steelers. Additional Hall of Famers representing the Steelers included owner Art Rooney Sr., and son Dan Rooney. Tony Dungy also played in the game as a safety for the Steelers, and is in the Hall of Fame as a head coach.
This was the first Super Bowl in which the designated "home" team was allowed to select between their primary team colored jersey or their white jersey, a rule similar to that of home games in the regular season and playoffs. Previously, the designated "home" team was required to wear their team colored jersey. The Cowboys, who traditionally wear their white jerseys in home games and often only wear their blue jerseys against teams that have similar policies for themselves (most notably against the Washington Redskins and occasionally the Philadelphia Eagles), were forced to wear their blue jerseys as the "home" team in Super Bowl V, which the team lost to the Baltimore Colts and is widely believed where the "blue jersey jinx" started with America's Team. Not wanting a repeat of that being the designated "home" team in Super Bowl XIII, the Cowboys were able to persuade the NFL to change the rule to allow the "home" team to choose so that they could wear their white jerseys. The Cowboys would later repeat the option of wearing white jerseys as the "home" team in Super Bowl XXVII, while the Redskins would do so in Super Bowl XVII and, ironically, the Steelers (who always wear their black jerseys in home games) did in Super Bowl XL due to the team's success on the road that season. The only other teams to wear white jerseys as the designated home team in a Super Bowl were the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50 and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
This was the first Super Bowl played on grass to match two teams which played their home games on artificial turf.
The Cowboys were playing their third Super Bowl at the Orange Bowl, the first team to play three different Super Bowls in the same stadium. The New England Patriots have since done the same playing three Super Bowls at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, as have the San Francisco 49ers who have played three Super Bowls at Hard Rock Stadium, including the next Super Bowl to be played in Miami. The Cowboys were 0–3 in Orange Bowl games and 5–0 in their other Super Bowls.
Much of the pregame hype surrounding Super Bowl XIII centered around Cowboys linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson. Henderson caused quite a stir before the NFC Championship Game by claiming that the Rams had "no class" and the Cowboys would shut them out. His prediction came true as the Cowboys did shut them out, aided by Henderson's 68-yard interception return for a touchdown. In the days leading up the Super Bowl, Henderson began talking about the Steelers in the same manner. He predicted another shutout and then made unflattering comments about several Pittsburgh players. He put down the talent and the intelligence of Bradshaw, proclaiming ""Bradshaw couldn't spell 'cat' if you spotted him the 'c' and the 'a'."" But the Steelers refused to get into a war of words with Henderson. Greene responded by saying the Steelers didn't need to say they were the best, they would just go out on the field and ""get the job done.'"
The matchup of quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach is still the only one in Super Bowl history to feature two quarterbacks with two Super Bowl victories. With this start, Staubach became the first quarterback to start four Super Bowls. Bradshaw joined Fran Tarkenton, Bob Griese as well as Staubach as the only quarterbacks to start at least three Super Bowls. The only quarterbacks to start more Super Bowls than Staubach and Bradshaw are John Elway and Tom Brady, who guided the Broncos and Patriots to five and nine Super Bowls respectively. 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, Bills quarterback Jim Kelly and Peyton Manning (two with the Colts, two with the Broncos) later matched Staubach and Bradshaw by leading their teams to four Super Bowls.
The point spread for the game opened at Pittsburgh -3.5 points. As the Steelers backers placed bets on them the sportsbooks adjusted the line. It eventually hit Pittsburgh -4.5 and then the Dallas money poured in on the Cowboys. It eventually settled at Pittsburgh at -4. The Steelers' four-point eventual margin of victory meant the Las Vegas sportsbooks lost the vast majority of wagers on the game. The game thus came to be known as "Black Sunday" in Las Vegas.
The game was televised in the United States by NBC, with Curt Gowdy handling play-by-play and sharing the booth with color commentators John Brodie and Merlin Olsen. Dick Enberg served as the pregame host for the broadcast. Also taking part in NBC's coverage were Bryant Gumbel, Mike Adamle (who also covered the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremony), Donna De Varona, and recently retired former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton. For this game and Super Bowl XV, NBC used a custom, synthesizer-heavy theme in place of their regular music.
This was Gowdy's seventh and final Super Bowl telecast, and his last major event for NBC before moving to CBS later in 1979. Enberg had essentially succeeded Gowdy as NBC's lead NFL play-by-play announcer in the 1978 regular season, and network producers didn't decide until nearly the last minute which man would get the Super Bowl call.
The national radio broadcast of Super Bowl XIII was carried by the CBS Radio Network, with Jack Buck and Hank Stram calling the action and Pat Summerall hosting. Locally, Verne Lundquist and Brad Sham called the game for the Cowboys on KRLD-AM in Dallas, while Jack Fleming and Myron Cope called it for the Steelers on WTAE-AM in Pittsburgh. A technical glitch led to Fleming and Cope's commentary going out over NBC's television broadcast in place of the network's own audio during the coin toss ceremony.
"Brothers and Sisters" premiered on NBC after the game, representing the Super Bowl lead-out program.
The game was later featured on NFL's Greatest Games as Battle of Champions.
The pregame festivities featured the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and several military bands. The Colgate Thirteen performed the national anthem, while the Stetson University Army ROTC Color Guard presented the Colors. The coin toss ceremony featured Pro Football Hall of Famer and longtime Chicago Bears owner/head coach George Halas, who was driven onto the field in a 1920 automobile to commemorate the 1920 founding of the NFL.
The halftime show was "Carnival: A Salute to the Caribbean" with various Caribbean bands.
Both teams entered the game with the best defenses in the league (the Cowboys only allowed 107.6 rushing yards per game while the Steelers only allowed 107.8), and each side took advantage of the other team's mistakes throughout the game. But Dallas could not overcome their miscues in the second half.
On their opening drive, the Cowboys advanced to the Pittsburgh 38-yard line, with running back Tony Dorsett gaining 38 yards off 3 running plays. But they lost the ball on a fumbled handoff while attempting to fool the Steelers defense with a reverse-pass play. Receiver Drew Pearson later explained, "We practiced that play for three weeks. It is designed for me to hit Billy Joe 15 to 17 yards downfield. We practiced the play so much it was unbelievable we could fumble it. I expected the handoff a bit lower, but I should have had it. Billy Joe was in the process of breaking into the clear when the fumble occurred." The play was similar to the near-turnover by Butch Johnson in the previous Super Bowl.
After defensive lineman John Banaszak recovered the loose ball on the Pittsburgh 47-yard line, the Steelers attempted 2 running plays with running back Franco Harris carrying the ball, but only gained 1 yard. Then on third down, wide receiver John Stallworth caught a 12-yard pass to the Cowboys' 40-yard line. Then after Terry Bradshaw converted another third down, this time with a 10-yard pass to Randy Grossman on 3rd and 8, he threw 28-yard touchdown completion to Stallworth to take a 7–0 lead.
On their next drive, the Cowboys responded by advancing to the Steelers 39-yard line, but were pushed back to their own 39-yard line after quarterback Roger Staubach was sacked twice, and they were forced to punt. On the Steelers' ensuing drive, Bradshaw threw a 22-yard pass to Harris and followed it up with a 13-yard pass to receiver Lynn Swann to move the ball to the Dallas 30-yard line. But on the next play, Dallas linebacker D. D. Lewis ended the drive by intercepting a pass intended for Stallworth. It was the first interception thrown by Bradshaw in Super Bowl play. However, the Cowboys could do nothing with the turnover and punted after three plays.
With a little more than a minute to go in the period, Bradshaw fumbled the ball while being sacked by Cowboys lineman Harvey Martin, and defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones recovered it on the Pittsburgh 41-yard line. Staubach then capitalized on Bradshaw's mistake three plays later with a 39-yard scoring strike to receiver Tony Hill, tying the game at 7 as the first quarter expired. Pittsburgh sent eight men on an all-out blitz, but Staubach got the pass away just before he was hit by Steelers' safety Mike Wagner. Hill beat Donnie Shell in single-coverage and scored the only first-quarter touchdown surrendered by Pittsburgh all season (In Super Bowl X, the Cowboys also scored a first-quarter touchdown against a Steeler team that hadn't permitted one all year). Drew Pearson ensured the play's success by distracting Steelers cornerback Mel Blount, who was oblivious of Hill as he raced past Blount and Pearson en route to the end zone.
The Steelers took possession at the start of the second quarter and advanced to their own 48-yard line. On the next play, Dallas linebackers Mike Hegman and Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson went after Bradshaw on a blitz. After taking the snap, Bradshaw collided with Franco Harris and the ball popped loose. Bradshaw scooped it up and rolled to his right, looking to pass, but Henderson wrapped him up before he could throw, while Hegman ripped the ball out of his hands and returned the fumble 37 yards for a touchdown, giving the Cowboys a 14–7 lead.
The Steelers had now turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions, but the Cowboys' lead didn’t last long. On the third play of Pittsburgh's ensuing possession, Stallworth caught a pass from Bradshaw at the Steelers 35-yard line. He then broke a tackle from defensive back Aaron Kyle, waited for Swann and blockers to cross in front of him, turned toward the inside and outraced every other defender to the end zone, turning a simple 10-yard pass into a 75-yard touchdown completion to tie the score, 14–14. Bradshaw later explained that Stallworth was not even the primary receiver on the play: "I was going to Lynn Swann on the post", he said, "but the Cowboys covered Swann and left Stallworth open. I laid the ball out there and it should have gone for about 15 yards, but Stallworth broke the tackle and went all the way."
Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" defense then dominated the Dallas offense on their ensuing drive. First, Banaszak tackled fullback Robert Newhouse for 4-yard loss. Next, linebacker Jack Ham tackled Dorsett for a 3-yard loss on an attempted sweep. On third down, defensive tackle Joe Greene sacked Staubach, forcing a fumble that bounced through the hands of Steelers' defensive lineman Steve Furness. Cowboys lineman Tom Rafferty eventually recovered at the Dallas 13-yard line. Theo Bell then returned Danny White's ensuing 38-yard punt 3 yards to the Dallas 48-yard line.
The Steelers began their ensuing drive with Bradshaw's 26-yard completion to Swann. Jones tackled Harris for an 8-yard loss on the next play, but a subsequent holding penalty on Henderson gave Pittsburgh a first down at the Dallas 25-yard line. However, after an incomplete pass and a 2-yard run by Harris, Hegman sacked Bradshaw for an 11-yard loss on third down, pushing the ball back to the 34-yard line. The Steelers then came up empty after kicker Roy Gerela's 51-yard field goal attempt hit the crossbar.
With less than two minutes remaining in the half, Dallas advanced to the Pittsburgh 32-yard line, after starting from their own 34-yard line. But Blount exacted revenge from the first quarter by intercepting a pass from Staubach and returning it 13 yards to the 29, with a personal foul on Dallas tight end Billy Joe DuPree adding another 15 yards and giving the Steelers the ball at their own 44-yard line (note: the interception happened on exactly the same play that Drew Pearson scored on in the first quarter of Super Bowl X; Mike Wagner intercepted Staubach on exactly the same play call in the 4th quarter of the same game). Following a penalty, Bradshaw completed 2 passes to Swann for gains of 29 and 21 yards, moving the ball to the 16-yard line with 40 seconds left in the half. Next, after dropping a pass intended for him, Harris ran the ball to the 7-yard line. Then with just 26 seconds left, Bradshaw completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to fullback Rocky Bleier, giving the Steelers a 21–14 lead at halftime.
The torrid scoring pace slowed during much of the third quarter, as both teams began to assert themselves on the defensive side of the ball. But late in the quarter, a 12-yard punt return by Cowboys receiver Butch Johnson gave Dallas good field position on their 42-yard line. The Cowboys subsequently drove down to the Steelers 10-yard line, mostly with Dorsett's rushing. Then on third down with less than three minutes remaining in the period, Staubach spotted 38-year-old reserve tight end Jackie Smith wide open in the end zone and threw him the ball. Head coach Tom Landry said Staubach tried to throw the ball soft when he saw how wide open Smith was and that it came in low, and that when Smith tried to stop, his feet seemed to come out from under him. Jackie Smith states that it was still a catchable ball and that he should have made the play. Instead, Smith dropped the pass and the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal from kicker Rafael Septién, cutting their deficit to 21–17. Though Smith played 16 years in the league and is now enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he is perhaps best known for this dropped touchdown, particularly in a championship game that was ultimately decided by four points.
Two controversial penalties early in the fourth quarter paved the way for the Steelers to score 14 unanswered points.
The Steelers advanced to their own 44-yard line after a crucial 3rd down pass from Bradshaw to tight end Randy Grossman, a 13-yard pass to Swann, and a 5-yard run by Harris. Bradshaw then attempted a pass to Swann, but the receiver collided with Cowboys defensive back Benny Barnes and fell to the ground as the ball rolled incomplete. However, official Fred Swearingen (the referee of the Immaculate Reception game of 1972) called Barnes for pass interference. Replays showed that it could have been incidental contact, as Swann seemed to run into Barnes. The penalty gave Pittsburgh a first down at Dallas' 23-yard line.
Two plays later, the Steelers faced 3rd down and 4 from the Dallas 17. Henderson sacked Bradshaw for a 12-yard loss, but the play was nullified by a delay of game penalty on Pittsburgh, bringing up 3rd down and 9 instead of a fourth down. Replays clearly showed the whistle blew before the play's onset, plus most of the players pulled up and stopped playing after a whistle sounded, but Henderson claimed, "I didn't hear a whistle until after I had knocked Bradshaw down. The same guy (Swearingen) made that call too. Who is that guy?" " Franco Harris confronted Henderson for taunting Bradshaw after the whistle, and on the next play, Bradshaw handed the ball off to Harris, who raced untouched, with help from the Umpire Art Demmas impeding Cowboys safety Charlie Waters' attempt to tackle him, up the middle for a 22-yard touchdown run. The next day Waters was quoted as saying, "I don't know what I could do – maybe knock him [Umpire Demmas] flat and maybe he'd knock Franco flat? Our safeties play a vital role in the run. That official gets in the way a lot. He screened me off." This score increased Pittsburgh's lead to 28–17. The run would be the Steelers' longest touchdown run in Super Bowl competition until Willie Parker scampered 75 yards for a score against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.
On the ensuing kickoff, video shows that Gerela slipped when trying to plant his foot, causing him to squib the ball, which bounced to Cowboys lineman Randy White at the 24-yard line. White, who was playing the game with a cast on his broken left hand, fumbled the ball before being hit by Tony Dungy, and Pittsburgh linebacker Dennis Winston recovered the ball at the Dallas 18-yard line. Remarkably, Winston wasn't even in the middle of the scrum when the fumble first occurred; he was standing by several teammates and decided to join the battle for the ball before referees intervened. On the next play, Bradshaw threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Swann, increasing the Steelers' lead to 35–17 with less than 7 minutes left in the game. The touchdown was Bradshaw's last pass of the game.
Some of the Steelers were already celebrating victory on the sidelines, but the Cowboys refused to give up. On their next drive, Dallas drove 89 yards in 8 plays, including an 18-yard scramble by Staubach on 3rd and 11 and a 29-yard run by Dorsett, to score on Staubach's 7-yard touchdown pass to DuPree. Then after Dallas' Dennis Thurman recovered an onside kick at 2:19, Drew Pearson caught 2 passes for gains of 22 and 25 yards (the second catch on 4th down and 18) as the Cowboys drove 52 yards in 9 plays to score on Staubach's 4-yard touchdown pass to Butch Johnson. With the ensuing extra point, the Steelers' lead was cut to 35–31 with just 0:22 left in the game.
But the Cowboys' second onside kick attempt was unsuccessful. Bleier recovered the ball, and the Steelers were able to run out the clock to win the game.
Swann was the leading receiver in the game with 7 receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown. Stallworth recorded 115 yards and two touchdowns off just 3 receptions. Stallworth and Swann became the first pair of teammates to each have 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl and first time two receivers did it in the same game. Dorsett was the top rusher of the game with 96 rushing yards, and also caught 5 passes for 44 yards. Harris was Pittsburgh's leading rusher with 68 yards, and he caught a pass for 22 yards. Staubach finished the game with exactly as many passing attempts (30) and completions (17) as Bradshaw, good for 228 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Butch Johnson caught 2 passes for 30 yards and a touchdown, returned 3 kickoffs for 63 yards, and gained 33 yards on 2 punt returns, giving him 126 total yards. Drew Pearson hauled in 4 passes for 73 yards, all in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Terry Bradshaw mocked Dallas linebacker Thomas Henderson's previous insult about him not being able to spell the word "cat", stating "Ask if he can spell M.V.P".
The teams would face in yet another re-match in Three Rivers Stadium during Week 9 of the 1979 regular season, with the Steelers prevailing in a defensive slug fest, 14–3. Unlike Super Bowl XIII, Harris was able to break free of Doomsday, gaining 48 of his 102 yards on the game-clinching touchdown. The game was mostly remembered for L. C. Greenwood's hit of a sliding Staubach, causing a head injury that later influenced the quarterback to retire following the season.
Pittsburgh would cement their legacy as "The Team of the 70's" by winning Super Bowl XIV over the Los Angeles Rams, 31–19. The Cowboys would fall to the Rams in the Divisional Round in 1979 in Staubach's final game. Led by Danny White, Dallas would appear in three straight NFC Championship games from 1980–82 but wouldn't reach another Super Bowl until their 52–17 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII. Super Bowl XIII is still widely regarded as one of the greatest Super Bowl games played. According to the nfl.com article "Ranking the Super Bowls" by media analyst Elliot Harrison, featuring Dallas personnel man Gil Brandt, Super Bowl XIII was the greatest of the first 49 played. According to Brandt, "Super Bowl XIII, in my mind, was the most memorable of the Super Bowls. Those were two great football teams. We (the Cowboys) made mistakes. We had Randy White on the return team with a cast on, and then he fumbled the kickoff ... which really hurt us. Even though we lost, I would say Super Bowl XIII was the greatest Super Bowl."
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XIII, Super Bowl XIII Play Finder Pit, Super Bowl XIII Play Finder Dal
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Longest gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source:
This was the first Super Bowl to use a seven-man officiating crew. The side judge was added by a vote of NFL owners at their March 1978 meeting.
Jack Fette became the first official to work four Super Bowls. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29139 |
Super Bowl XIV
Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1979 season. The Steelers defeated the Rams by the score of 31–19, becoming the first team to win four Super Bowls. The game was played on January 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and was attended by a Super Bowl record 103,985 spectators. This also became the first Super Bowl where the game was coincidentally played in the home market of one of the participants, as Pasadena is about northeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It was the last time the Rams made the Super Bowl while based in Los Angeles until LIII in 2018, where they lost to the New England Patriots 13–3.
The Rams became the first team to reach the Super Bowl after posting nine wins or fewer during the regular season since the NFL season expanded to 16 games in 1978. Their 9–7 regular season record was followed by postseason wins over the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Steelers were the defending Super Bowl XIII champions, and finished the 1979 regular season with a 12–4 record, and posted playoff victories over the Miami Dolphins and the Houston Oilers.
Super Bowl XIV was a close game during the first three quarters. The Rams led 13–10 at halftime before Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw connected with wide receiver Lynn Swann on a 47-yard touchdown pass. Los Angeles regained the lead on a halfback option play with running back Lawrence McCutcheon's 24-yard touchdown pass to Ron Smith. But Pittsburgh controlled the fourth quarter, scoring 14 unanswered points with Bradshaw's 73-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Stallworth, and running back Franco Harris' 1-yard touchdown run. Despite throwing three interceptions, Bradshaw was named Super Bowl MVP by completing 14 of 21 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XIV to Pasadena on June 14, 1977 at the owners meetings held in New York.
Team owner Carroll Rosenbloom drowned during an off-season accident, resulting in a power struggle between his second wife, Georgia Frontiere, and his son, Steve Rosenbloom. Frontiere eventually gained control of the team and fired her stepson. Prior to Carroll Rosenbloom's death, the Rams had already announced their intentions to leave the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and move to Anaheim Stadium in Orange County for the 1980 season.
The Rams barely outscored their opponents, 323–309, and finished the regular season with a 9–7 record, the worst ever by a team who advanced to the Super Bowl (that record was later tied by the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII and the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI). The team was plagued with injuries during the regular season, including the loss of their starting quarterback Pat Haden. His replacement, Vince Ferragamo, completed less than 50 percent of his passes and threw twice as many interceptions (10) as touchdowns (5). But he still led the Rams to victory in 6 of their last 7 games.
The Rams gained 6,060 total yards of offense during the regular season, ranking second in the league. The team's main offensive weapon was running back Wendell Tyler, who rushed for 1,109 yards, caught 32 passes for 308 yards, and scored 10 touchdowns. Tyler's rushing yards came off just 218 rushing attempts, giving him a league-leading 5.1 yards per carry average. Fullback Cullen Bryant provided Tyler with excellent blocking while also gaining 846 total yards and scoring 5 touchdowns. Wide receiver Preston Dennard was the team's main deep threat, catching 43 passes for 766 yards and 4 touchdowns. The offensive line, led by tackles Doug France and Jackie Slater, guard Dennis Harrah, and Pro Bowl center Rich Saul, paved the Rams' running attack to 4th in the NFC during the season despite injuries. They also gave up only 29 sacks.
But the Rams' main strength was their defense, which featured defensive end Jack Youngblood, who made the Pro Bowl for the 7th year in a row and was playing with a broken leg, and lightning-quick Fred Dryer on the opposite end. Behind them, the Rams had two outstanding linebackers: Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds, and Jim Youngblood (no relation to Jack), who had recorded 5 interceptions and returned 2 of them for touchdowns. The Rams also had a solid secondary, led by free safety Nolan Cromwell, who also grabbed 5 interceptions. On November 4, 1979, the Rams' defense established a still-current NFL record by holding the Seattle Seahawks' offense to a total of minus 7 yards for the game; the Seahawks finished the 1979 season 4th in the league in points scored.
The Steelers won the AFC Central with a 12–4 regular season record (including 8–0 at home), and advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl and their fourth appearance in the last six seasons. Pittsburgh appeared to be even better than what they were in their three previous Super Bowl victories. leading the league with 6,258 yards in total offense, an average of 391 yards per game and just 31 yards short of an NFL record. The team also led the league in scoring with 416 points.
Pittsburgh quarterback Terry Bradshaw had another fine season as the leader of the Steelers offense, throwing for 3,724 yards and 26 touchdowns during the regular season (but he did throw 25 interceptions). Wide receiver John Stallworth was his top target with 70 receptions for 1,183 yards and 8 touchdowns, while wide receiver Lynn Swann caught 41 passes for 808 yards, an average of 19.7 yards per catch. Steelers starting tight end Bennie Cunningham, who missed most of the previous season due to injuries, was also a big contributor with 36 receptions for 512 yards.
Fullback Franco Harris was the Steelers' leading rusher for the 8th consecutive season with 1,186 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also recorded his 7th consecutive season with more than 1,000 yards, tying an NFL record set by Jim Brown. Harris also had his best year as a receiver out of the backfield, recording career-highs of 36 receptions for 291 yards and another touchdown. Halfback Rocky Bleier also had another superb season, providing Harris with excellent blocking while also contributing 711 combined rushing and receiving yards. And running back Sidney Thornton also emerged as a big threat with 816 total yards and averaging 5 yards per carry. Pittsburgh also had a solid offensive line, led by center Mike Webster. The Steelers' offense did lead the NFL with a staggering 52 turnovers in the regular season, a trend that would continue in Super Bowl XIV.
The Steelers' "Steel Curtain" defense finished the regular season as the top rated defense in the AFC, limiting opponents to only 4,621 offensive yards. Up front, linemen Joe Greene and L. C. Greenwood terrorized opposing quarterbacks and rushers. And linebackers Jack Lambert and Jack Ham excelled at run stopping and pass coverage, combining for 8 interceptions. The Steelers also had a fine secondary, led by defensive backs Mel Blount, who recorded 3 interceptions, and Donnie Shell, who had 5.
In the playoffs, the Rams avenged the previous year's NFC Championship Game shutout loss to the Dallas Cowboys by beating them 21–19. Then they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game, 9–0, scoring only three field goals.
Meanwhile, the Steelers went on to defeat the Miami Dolphins, 34–14, and the Houston Oilers, 27–13, in the playoffs. During those two playoff games, the Pittsburgh defense limited running backs Larry Csonka and Earl Campbell, respectively, to a combined total of only 35 rushing yards. Campbell was the league's rushing leader during the regular season with 1,697 yards, but could only gain 15 yards against the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.
Pittsburgh was heavily favored to win Super Bowl XIV and become the first team to win 4 Super Bowls. Most people did not think that the Rams even belonged on the same field with the Steelers. In fact, Sports Illustrated had called the NFC Championship Game "a game for losers, played by losers". One sports writer sarcastically suggested that Bradshaw throw left-handed and the Rams should be allowed to play with 12 men on the field to make the Super Bowl more competitive.
However, the Steelers were not taking their opponents lightly. In their previous meetings, the Rams held a 12–1–2 all-time record over the Steelers, including wins in 1971, 1975, and 1978. The wins in 1975 (by a score of 10–3) and 1978 (by a score of 10–7) were over Steeler teams that eventually won the Super Bowl those seasons. Also, the Steelers had shown clear signs of weakness when playing away from their home stadium during the season. Their first loss of the year was on the road in a 4-turnover performance against the Philadelphia Eagles. Two weeks later at 5–1, Pittsburgh was blown out 34–10 in Cincinnati against an 0–6 Bengals team. In week 12, the team lost 8 turnovers in a 35–7 loss on the road against the San Diego Chargers.
Bradshaw became the second quarterback to start four Super Bowls, joining his counterpart from Super Bowls X and XIII Roger Staubach. Joe Montana became the third to start four Super Bowls, but all were passed by John Elway and Tom Brady, and also matched by Jim Kelly and Peyton Manning.
Super Bowl XIV holds the record for attendance with 103,985 spectators.
CBS televised the game in the United States with play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator Tom Brookshier. One of the guest analysts for the network's studio pregame show was former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden; he impressed CBS executives so much that he replaced Brookshier as lead game analyst in 1981. CBS Radio coverage featured Jack Buck and Hank Stram; with Brent Musburger working both radio and television coverage (hosting the Super Bowl Today pregame show and the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation).. Joining Musburger on CBS' pregame coverage was the NFL Today crew of Irv Cross (who joined Musburger in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room), Jayne Kennedy (the only Super Bowl she would be part of covering for CBS), Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder and Jack Whitaker; with George Allen as a second guest analyst; while filing remote reports from bars in the respect team's home markets were Paul Hornung in The Ginger Man in Beverly Hills (briefly joined by Jayne Kennedy's "NFL Today" predecessor Phyllis George and her then-husband, newly-inaugurated Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown Jr. along with Houston Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini) and Tim Ryan at the LeMont Restaurant in Pittsburgh (which included a brief shot of the newly-redesigned Pittsburgh Penguins logo and uniform); while Dick Stockton handled the Los Angeles Rams locker room interviews. Locally, Bob Starr and Al Wisk called the game for the Rams over KMPC in Los Angeles, while WTAE-AM in Pittsburgh featured the Steelers' play-by-play team of Jack Fleming and Myron Cope. The KMPC broadcast, thanks to an agreement with the Iranian militants, Iran's Ministry of National Guidance and KMPC reporter Alex Paen, would be recorded and played for the Americans held hostage in Iran.
The famous Coca-Cola commercial (titled "Hey Kid, Catch!") in which "Mean" Joe Greene gives a boy his game jersey aired during CBS' telecast of the game. However, it is technically not viewed as a Super Bowl ad since it actually debuted on October 1, 1979, not during the day of the game. 60 Minutes was broadcast after the game, representing the Super Bowl lead-out program.
The Los Angeles Unified School District All-City Band played during the pregame ceremonies. Later, actress and singer Cheryl Ladd performed the national anthem. The coin toss ceremony featured longtime Steelers owner Art Rooney.
The performance event group Up with People performed during the halftime show titled "A Salute to the Big Band Era".
Despite being the underdogs, the Rams managed to hang onto a 13–10 lead at halftime, and a 19–17 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But the Steelers held the Rams scoreless in the fourth quarter and scored two touchdowns for the win. Despite the game's uneven matchup and the final score, this game is regarded by some as one of the most competitive games in Super Bowl history. Overall, the lead changed seven times between both teams, a Super Bowl record (Pittsburgh took the lead 4 times, while Los Angeles took it 3 times).
The Rams took the opening kickoff but the Steel Curtain, however, managed to force a three-and-out. Then on the Steelers' 7th play of their first possession, quarterback Terry Bradshaw completed a 32-yard pass to running back Franco Harris to reach the Los Angeles 26-yard line. But a third down pass fell incomplete, forcing Pittsburgh to settle for a 41-yard field goal from rookie kicker Matt Bahr.
Bahr's ensuing kickoff was very short, giving the Rams great field position at their 41-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Los Angeles running back Wendell Tyler caught a 6-yard pass from Vince Ferragamo. Then on the next play, Tyler took a handoff, ran left, broke some tackles, and ran 39 yards to the Steelers 14-yard line before he was finally dragged down by Pittsburgh defensive back Donnie Shell, the longest run against the Steelers all season. Shell saved the touchdown by making the tackle after previously being knocked to the turf five yards past the line of scrimmage. 6 plays later, fullback Cullen Bryant scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Rams a 7–3 lead. The score was the Steelers' first rushing touchdown allowed in Super Bowl competition in franchise history.
But the lead did not last long. Pittsburgh defensive back Larry Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to his own 47-yard line, and then the Steelers marched 53 yards in 9 plays using every offensive weapon in their arsenal. First, Harris ran for 12 yards, fullback Rocky Bleier ran for 1, then tight end Bennie Cunningham caught a pass for 8. Bleier ran again for 2, followed by Bradshaw's 12-yard completion to receiver Lynn Swann on the last play of the first quarter.
The second period opened with Bradshaw's 13-yard completion to Cunningham to reach the Los Angeles 5-yard line, and then Harris ran through the middle to the 4. Wide receiver John Stallworth was then stopped at the 1-yard line, but then Harris ran to the right untouched and scored a touchdown on the next play, giving the Steelers a 10–7 lead.
However, like the Rams' previous lead, the Steelers' lead also turned out to be short-lived. Aided by a 20-yard pass interference penalty against Shell, Los Angeles advanced 67 yards in 10 plays to score on 31-yard field goal from kicker Frank Corral to tie the game. Anderson gave the Steelers great field position after returning the ensuing kickoff 38 yards to the Pittsburgh 46-yard line, but the Steelers could not move the ball and had to punt. The Rams were also forced to punt on their next possession after only gaining 6 yards. But on the first play of the Steelers' next drive, Los Angeles defensive back Dave Elmendorf intercepted a pass from Bradshaw and returned it 10 yards to Pittsburgh's 39-yard line.
On the first two plays after the turnover, Ferragamo was sacked for a 10-yard loss and threw an incomplete pass. But he managed to overcome the situation with a 12-yard completion to Bryant on third down and a 10-yard completion to receiver Billy Waddy on 4th down and 8. Ferragamo's next pass was complete to tight end Terry Nelson for a first down at the 13-yard line, but after throwing two incompletions, Pittsburgh lineman John Banaszak sacked Ferragamo on third down. However, Corral kicked a 45-yard field goal to give the Rams a 13–10 halftime lead.
The heavily favored Steelers trailed at the end of the half. "How can you mess up this way?" Steelers assistant coach Woody Widenhofer asked his team at halftime. "Didn't we go over these things a dozen times? You guys are standing out there like statues."
Anderson once again gave the Steelers great starting field position, returning the opening kickoff of the second half 37 yards to the Pittsburgh 39-yard line. The Steelers lulled the Rams defense by running the ball on three consecutive plays of the drive, and then Bradshaw burned them with a 47-yard touchdown completion to Swann, who made a leaping catch at the Los Angeles 2-yard line and tumbled into the end zone to give Pittsburgh a 17–13 lead.
But they didn't hold it. After two plays of the ensuing drive, Ferragamo completed a 50-yard pass to Waddy. Then on the next play, Ferragamo handed the ball off to running back Lawrence McCutcheon, who started to run to the right. The Steelers' defense came up to tackle him behind the line of scrimmage, only to watch him throw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Ron Smith. Corral missed the extra point attempt, but the Rams had retaken the lead, 19–17.
The Steelers had some success advancing into Rams territory on their next two possessions, only to see the Rams intercept the ball both times. First, Rams free safety Eddie Brown stopped the ensuing Steelers drive with an interception, lateraling to Pat Thomas to gain an additional two yards. Then after a punt, Pittsburgh drove all the way to the Rams 16-yard line, but Los Angeles defensive back Rod Perry intercepted a pass intended for Stallworth. Thus, the third quarter ended with the Rams still in the lead, 19–17, seemingly in control of the game. Worse yet, Pittsburgh lost Swann to injury, when he was knocked out of the game by Pat Thomas.
With 12:59 left in the game, Rams punter Ken Clark's 59-yard punt planted Pittsburgh back on their own 25-yard line. Then faced with 3rd down and 8, Bradshaw took the snap, dropped back, and then threw a pass to Stallworth, who was running a streak pattern down the middle of the field. Stallworth caught the ball barely beyond the outstretched hand of Perry and took it all the way to the end zone for a 73-yard go-ahead touchdown to make the score 24–19 for the Steelers. The NFL Films highlight film notes that safety Eddie Brown was supposed to help Perry in covering Stallworth, but for some reason, Brown ignored the Steeler receiver. On the ensuing kickoff, the Rams tried a reverse, which resulted in poor field position.
After an exchange of punts, the Rams mounted one final, spirited drive to regain the lead. Ferragamo smartly moved the Rams down the field, completing 3 out of 4 passes around runs by Tyler. His 15-yard completion to Waddy on 3rd and 13 moved the Rams to the Pittsburgh 32-yard line with just under 6 minutes remaining. However, on the following play, Ferragamo made his first and only mistake of the game. Despite the fact that Waddy had broken free down the right side of the field, Ferragamo had zeroed in on Ron Smith down the middle of the field, but he didn't notice Pittsburgh linebacker Jack Lambert playing behind Smith. As Ferragamo released the ball, Lambert jumped in front of Smith and intercepted the pass with 5:24 remaining.
When faced with a 3rd down and 7 on their ensuing drive, Bradshaw once again made a crucial long pass completion to Stallworth, this time a 45-yard reception to the Rams 22-yard line, barely beyond the outstretched hand of Perry. Two plays later, a pass interference penalty on Los Angeles cornerback Pat Thomas in the end zone gave the Steelers a first down at the 1-yard line. The Rams managed to keep Bleier and Harris out of the end zone for two plays, but Harris then scored on a third-down, 1-yard touchdown run to give the Steelers a 31–19 lead and put the game away. The Rams responded by driving to Pittsburgh's 37-yard line, but ended up turning over the ball on downs with 39 seconds left in the game, and the Steelers ran out the clock for the win.
The city of Pittsburgh celebrated its third major pro championship in 13 months. The Steelers had also won the previous year's Super Bowl, and the city's Major League Baseball team, the Pirates, had won the World Series three months before this Super Bowl game. Ten days after the Steelers' Super Bowl victory, the city's National Hockey League team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, changed its uniform colors to match the black and gold scheme of the Pirates and Steelers, as well as that of the Pittsburgh city flag.
This was the third time in Super Bowl history that a team overcame a deficit entering the fourth quarter to win the game. The Baltimore Colts entered the final quarter down 13–6 against Dallas in Super Bowl V and won the game 16–13. The Pittsburgh Steelers started the final period against Dallas in Super Bowl X down 10–7 and eventually won the game 21–17. The lead had changed hands six times, a Super Bowl record to this day. Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth became the fourth, fifth and sixth players to score touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls, respectively. They had to celebrate when Swann returned from the hospital after being injured.
Ferragamo finished the game with 15 out of 25 completions for 212 yards, with 1 interception. Tyler was the top rusher of the game with 60 yards, and caught 2 passes for 20 yards. Waddy was the Rams leading receiver with 3 catches for 75 yards. Harris led the Steelers in rushing with 44 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also catching 3 passes for 66 yards. Stallworth was the top receiver of the game with 3 receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown, an average of 40.3 yards per catch. Swann had 5 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Larry Anderson set a Super Bowl record with 162 yards from his 5 kickoff returns.
The Rams would remain competitive in the 1980s but wouldn't reach another Super Bowl until their victory in Super Bowl XXXIV in January 2000, after the team had moved to St. Louis before the 1995 season. The closest the Los Angeles Rams would get to getting back to another Super Bowl was in 1985, when they advanced to the NFC title game before falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears, and in 1989; reaching the NFC Championship before losing to division rival and defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco. Following the loss in the 1989 NFC championship game, the Rams suffered through nine consecutive losing seasons and had the NFL's worst record of the 1990s until the 1999 championship season.
Wendell Tyler eventually won a Super Bowl as a featured back for the San Francisco 49ers in 1984. 1984 was also Jack Youngblood's 14th and final season in the NFL. The last link of the 1979 team was Jackie Slater, who remained on the team until 1995, the club's first season in St. Louis. He set an NFL record by playing 20 seasons with one team, yet Super Bowl XIV remained his lone trip to the Big Game. Slater was the last Ram to have been a teammate of legendary defensive tackle Merlin Olsen, who anchored the Rams' Fearsome Foursome for 15 seasons (1962-76).
Pittsburgh would go 9–7 the following season and miss the playoffs. They would go 8–8 in 1981 before making the playoffs the next three seasons. Many of the links that powered the Steelers to their Super Bowl wins began to retire shortly after Super Bowl XIV, starting with Rocky Bleier in 1980 and Joe Greene in 1981. Ham spent all of 1982 on injured reserve before retiring. Bradshaw sat out all but one half of the 1983 season before retiring due to recurring elbow injuries, and Blount retired after that season as well. The Steelers were also haunted by their decision to pass on Dan Marino, the standout quarterback for the University of Pittsburgh, in the 1983 NFL Draft. The Steelers' first-round selection of 1983, Texas Tech defensive tackle Gabriel Rivera, was paralyzed in an automobile accident after seven weeks of his rookie season.
Lambert was slowed throughout 1984 by a painful turf toe, retiring after that campaign. Stallworth, Webster, and Shell would play well into the 1980s and helped lead Pittsburgh to the 1984 AFC Championship game, where they lost to Marino's Miami Dolphins. But they would not reach a Super Bowl until the 1995 season, losing to the Dallas Cowboys 27–17 in Super Bowl XXX. Kicker Matt Bahr would win another Super Bowl with the New York Giants during the 1990 season. He kicked the game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XXV, and a week earlier booted the game-winning field goal against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, thus denying the 49ers a chance at three straight Super Bowl victories and surpassing the Steelers' total of four Super Bowl titles. Chuck Noll, the last link to Pittsburgh's dynasty, retired from coaching following the 1991 season. Only Bill Belichick matched (and later surpassed) Noll's four Vince Lombardi Trophies as a head coach. The Steelers' record of four Super Bowls in six seasons has yet to be matched.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XIV, Super Bowl XIV Play Finder Pit, Super Bowl XIV Play Finder LA
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XIV, according to the official NFL.com box score and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
This was the first Super Bowl officiating crew to feature two African-Americans (Toler and Beeks).
Stan Javie became the second man to officiate four Super Bowls, joining Jack Fette, whose fourth assignment was Super Bowl XIII.
Notes
Sources | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29140 |
Super Bowl XV
Super Bowl XV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1980 season. The Raiders defeated the Eagles by the score of 27–10, becoming the first wild card playoff team to win a Super Bowl.
The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 25, 1981, five days after the Iran hostage crisis ended. The game was thus held under patriotic fervor, as the pregame ceremonies honored the end of the crisis.
The Raiders were making their third Super Bowl appearance after posting an 11–5 regular season record, but losing a tiebreaker to the AFC West division winner San Diego Chargers. Oakland then advanced to the Super Bowl with playoff victories over the Houston Oilers, Cleveland Browns, and San Diego. The Eagles were making their first Super Bowl appearance after posting a 12–4 regular season record and postseason victories over the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys.
Aided by two touchdown passes from quarterback Jim Plunkett, the Raiders jumped out to a 14–0 lead in the first quarter of Super Bowl XV, from which the Eagles never recovered. Oakland linebacker Rod Martin also intercepted Philadelphia quarterback Ron Jaworski three times for a Super Bowl record. Plunkett was named the Super Bowl MVP after completing 13 of 21 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 9 yards. Plunkett was also the second Heisman Trophy winner to be named Super Bowl MVP after Roger Staubach in Super Bowl VI.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XV to New Orleans on March 13, 1979 at the owners meetings in Honolulu.
Super Bowl XV was the climax of Jim Plunkett's revival as an NFL starting quarterback. The 1970 Heisman Trophy winner was selected with the first pick of the 1971 NFL draft by the New England Patriots and was later named the 1971 NFL Rookie of the Year. But Plunkett suffered through five losing seasons with the Patriots and two uneven seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before being released as a free agent before the 1978 season.
Plunkett was signed by Oakland to be their backup quarterback, and thus he did not see much playing time, throwing no passes in 1978 and just 15 passes in 1979. Meanwhile, Oakland traded long time starting quarterback Ken Stabler in the 1979 off-season to replace him with Dan Pastorini, a former high school rival of Plunkett who had been selected two spots below him in the 1971 draft. After the Raiders started the 1980 season with a 2–3 record, Pastorini broke his leg and suddenly Plunkett was thrust into the starting role. The 33-year-old Plunkett got off to a bad start, throwing 5 interceptions in a 31–17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs after relieving Pastorini. However, he recovered and led the Raiders to victory in 9 of their last 11 games in the season, qualifying for the playoffs as a wild card team. Plunkett made 165 out of 320 pass completions for 2,299 yards, 18 touchdown passes, and was intercepted 15 times. He also contributed 141 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.
The Raiders' main offensive deep threat was wide receiver Cliff Branch (44 receptions, 858 yards, 7 touchdowns), while wide receiver Bob Chandler contributed 49 receptions for 786 yards and 10 touchdowns. Running back Mark van Eeghen was the team's top rusher with 838 yards and 5 touchdowns, while also catching 29 passes for 259 yards. Halfback Kenny King rushed for 761 yards and catching 22 passes for 145 yards. The Raiders also had an outstanding offensive line led by two future Hall of Famers, tackle Art Shell and guard Gene Upshaw. Upshaw became the first player to play in three Super Bowls with the same team in three different decades. He also played in Super Bowls II (1967) and XI (1976).
Oakland's defense, anchored by defensive end John Matuszak, was punishing. Defensive back Lester Hayes led the league in interceptions (13) and interception return yards (273), and was the league's Defensive Player of the Year. Safety Burgess Owens added three interceptions, returning them for 59 yards and a touchdown. The Raiders also had a trio of great linebackers: future Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks, Pro Bowler Rod Martin (3 Interceptions), and standout rookie Matt Millen.
The Raiders were led by head coach Tom Flores, the first Hispanic coach to win a Super Bowl.
In 1980, under head coach Dick Vermeil, the Philadelphia Eagles, who had not played in a league championship since their 1960 NFL championship, advanced to their first Super Bowl. Philadelphia's offense ranked 6th in the league in scoring (384 points) and 8th in yards gained (5,519). The Eagles were led by quarterback Ron Jaworski, who completed 257 out of 451 passes for 3,529 yards during the regular season, including 27 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions. Another key player on the Eagles offense was halfback Wilbert Montgomery, who was widely considered one of the top running backs in the NFL and had rushed for over 1,200 yards in each of the last two seasons. Injuries during the 1980 regular season had limited him to just 778 yards, but he proved he was fully recovered in the postseason by rushing for 194 yards in the NFC title game. Montgomery was also a superb receiver out of the backfield, recording 50 receptions for 407 yards. The other main deep threats on offense, wide receivers Harold Carmichael and Charlie Smith, along with tight end Keith Krepfle, combined for 125 receptions, 2,090 yards, and 16 touchdowns. Fullback
The Eagles' defense led the league in fewest points allowed during the regular season (222), while ranking second in fewest yards (4,443). Nose tackle Charlie Johnson anchored the line, and even managed to record 3 interceptions. Defensive end Claude Humphrey led the team in sacks with 14.5. Linebackers Jerry Robinson(4 fumble recoveries and 2 interceptions) and Bill Bergey excelled at both stopping the run and pass coverage. Philadelphia also had a fine secondary, led by veteran defensive backs Herman Edwards (3 interceptions) and Brenard Wilson (6 interceptions), along with rookie Roynell Young (4 interceptions). The Eagles' defense was a major factor in their hard-fought 10–7 victory over the Raiders in the regular season; they sacked Plunkett 8 times.
The Eagles advanced through the playoffs, defeating the Minnesota Vikings, 31–16, and the Dallas Cowboys, 20–7.
Meanwhile, Plunkett and the Raiders defeated the Houston Oilers 27–7, the Cleveland Browns 14–12 (on a play known as Red Right 88), and the San Diego Chargers 34–27. In doing so, Oakland became the third wild card team to advance to the Super Bowl, and the first wild card team to win three postseason rounds since the NFL expanded to a 10-team playoff format in 1978. Hayes had a spectacular performance in the playoffs, adding 5 more interceptions to give him a total of 18 picks in 19 games.
In the days before the game, most sports writers were speculating over whether, if the Raiders won, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle would present the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the team's owner Al Davis. Prior to the season, the league declined to approve the Raiders' proposal to move from the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. In response, Davis sued the NFL for violating antitrust laws. The conflict caused much friction between Rozelle and Davis. (The Raiders would eventually win the lawsuit, allowing the team to move to Los Angeles before the 1982 season.)
Oakland became the first team to avenge a regular-season loss in the Super Bowl. The Eagles defeated the Raiders 10–7 on November 23 at Veterans Stadium.
This game marked the first Super Bowl where both teams used the 3–4 defensive formation as their base defense. The Raiders were the first team to use the 3–4 in the Super Bowl in Super Bowl XI against the Minnesota Vikings, although the Miami Dolphins used a version of the 3–4 ("53 defense") in Super Bowl VI, Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII. The 3–4 would be used by at least one team in every Super Bowl between Super Bowl XV and game XXVIII.
The Raiders became the first team to appear in a Super Bowl in three different decades (1960s, 1970s and 1980s), having previously played in Super Bowls II and XI.
The game was broadcast in the United States by NBC, with Dick Enberg handling the play-by-play duties (Enberg's first Super Bowl in that role) and Merlin Olsen serving as color analyst. (John Brodie and Len Dawson, in a separate broadcast booth, also provided occasional analysis during the game.) Bryant Gumbel and Mike Adamle of "NFL '80" anchored the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage. Also taking part on NBC's coverage of the game were Pete Axthelm and Bob Trumpy. Like the game two years before, NBC used the same custom, synthesizer-heavy theme in place of their regular music. This game would also be the first Super Bowl to air with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.
"CHiPs" was broadcast after the game, representing the Super Bowl lead-out program. Toward the end of NBC's coverage, a montage of the game, the arrival of the hostages following their release, and the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th President of the United States aired to the tune of "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang.
The pregame festivities honored the end of the Iran hostage crisis (which was announced 5 days before the game), and featured a performance by the Southern University band. A large yellow bow long and wide was attached to the outside of the Superdome, while miniature bows were given to fans. (Yellow bows had been used in the US throughout the hostages' time in captivity as a sign of support.)
Singer, actress, and dancer Helen O'Connell later sang the national anthem. The coin toss ceremony featured Marie Lombardi, the widow of Pro Football Hall of Fame Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi.
The halftime show, featuring singers and dancers, was a "Mardi Gras Festival", with a performance from "Up With People".
Oakland linebacker Rod Martin intercepted Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski's first pass of the game and returned it 17 yards to Philadelphia's 30-yard line, setting up Jim Plunkett's 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cliff Branch seven plays later. After each team punted once, Jaworski threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rodney Parker, but the score was nullified by an illegal motion penalty on wide receiver Harold Carmichael, and the Eagles ended up being forced to punt. The Raiders later scored another touchdown with about a minute left in the quarter. On third down from the Oakland 20-yard line, Plunkett threw the ball to running back Kenny King at the 39-yard line as he was scrambling around in the backfield to avoid being sacked. King caught the pass as it carried just over the outstretched arms of defensive back Herman Edwards and took off to the end zone for a Super Bowl record 80-yard touchdown reception. The Raiders led 14-0 and tied the Miami Dolphins' record (which still stands) for the largest Super Bowl lead (14 points) at the end of the first quarter, set in Super Bowl VIII.
The Eagles managed to respond on their next drive, with Jaworski completing passes to tight end John Spagnola and Wilbert Montgomery for gains of 22 and 25 yards on a 61-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Tony Franklin, making the score 14–3 five minutes into the second quarter. Then with less than 4 minutes left in the period, the Raiders reached the Eagles 27-yard line, only to have kicker Chris Bahr miss a 45-yard field goal. The Eagles then drove 62 yards to Oakland's 11-yard line. On third down, Parker got ahead of defensive back Odis McKinney and was open on a route into the end zone, but Jaworski overthrew him and the pass was incomplete. Then with just 54 seconds left in the half, Franklin attempted a 28-yard field goal, but Raiders linebacker Ted Hendricks extended his 6'7" frame at the line and blocked the kick.
The Raiders then took the opening kickoff of the second half and scored quickly. Plunkett completed a 13-yard pass to King and a 32-yard completion to receiver Bob Chandler to move the ball to Philadelphia's 33-yard line. Then after a 4-yard run by running back Mark van Eeghen, Plunkett threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Branch, increasing Oakland's lead to 21–3. The Eagles responded by driving 56 yards to the Raiders 34-yard line, but on third down and 3, Jaworski threw his second interception of the game to Martin. Oakland subsequently drove 40 yards and scored with Bahr's 46-yard field goal, increasing their lead to 24–3.
The Eagles finally managed to score a touchdown that counted early in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to 24–10. Starting from their own 12-yard line, a 43-yard reception by receiver Charlie Smith and a 19-yard catch by Parker sparked an 88-yard, 12-play drive that was capped by Jaworski's 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Keith Krepfle. But on their ensuing drive, Oakland marched 72 yards in 11 plays, the longest a 23-yard completion from Plunkett to Chandler. Philadelphia kept the Raiders out of the end zone, but Bahr kicked a 35-yard field goal, increasing Oakland's lead to 27–10.
Oakland's defense then dominated the rest the game, forcing two turnovers on Philadelphia's last 2 possessions of the game to prevent any chance of a comeback. On the Eagles' next drive, Jaworski fumbled a snap and Oakland lineman Willie Jones recovered it. Following a Raiders punt, Martin recorded a Super Bowl record third interception, and the Raiders ran out the clock to win the game.
Cliff Branch's two touchdown catches tied a Super Bowl record. Only Max McGee in Super Bowl I and John Stallworth in Super Bowl XIII caught two touchdowns prior to this. Jaworski finished the game with more completions (18) and yards (291) than Plunkett, but completed just 18 of 38 attempts and was intercepted 3 times. Van Eeghen was the top rusher of the game with 75 yards. King was the top receiver with 93 yards and a touchdown off of just 2 receptions. Eagles running back Wilbert Montgomery led Philadelphia in rushing and receiving with 44 rushing yards and 6 receptions for 91 yards. The Eagles' loss came hours after former head coach Joe Kuharich had died.
After the game, the expected heated confrontation between Rozelle and Davis was actually very civil. As Rozelle presented the Lombardi Trophy to Davis, he praised Plunkett, head coach Tom Flores, the players, and the entire Raiders organization for being the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl. Davis thanked Rozelle, then proceeded to also praise the team.
Oakland became only the second wild card team to make it to the Super Bowl and the first to come away victorious. The Super Bowl IV champion Kansas City Chiefs are often thought of as a "wild-card team," but they were not; during 1969, the season before the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, the second-place finishers in both divisions of the American Football League qualified for the playoffs. Flores became the first person to be a member of a Super Bowl winning team as a player and head coach. He was a member of the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, but did not play in the game.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XV, Super Bowl XV Play Finder Oak, Super Bowl XV Play Finder Phi, Super Bowl XV Play by Play
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XV, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Source:
Dooley, Graf, Kelleher and Veteri wore #7 at their respective officiating positions during 1979-81 (except Dooley was promoted to Referee for 1981, wearing #19), but Kelleher had priority on the number for the Super Bowl, due to his seniority. Kelleher and Veteri became the third and fourth officials to work four Super Bowls, joining Jack Fette and Stan Javie.
Specific
General | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29141 |
Super Bowl XVI
Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1981 season. The 49ers defeated the Bengals by the score of 26–21 to win their first Super Bowl.
The game was played on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It marked the first time that a Super Bowl was held at a cold-weather city. The domed stadium saved the crowd at the game from the very cold and snowy weather, but the weather did affect traffic and other logistical issues related to the game. Super Bowl XVI also became one of the most watched broadcasts in American television history, with more than 85 million viewers, and a final national Nielsen rating of 49.1 (a 73 share).
For the first time since Super Bowl III, both teams were making their first Super Bowl appearance. The 49ers posted a 13–3 regular season record, and playoff wins over the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. The Bengals finished the regular season with a 12–4 record, and had postseason victories over the Buffalo Bills and the San Diego Chargers.
Cincinnati's 356 yards of offense to San Francisco's 275 marked the first time in Super Bowl history that a team which was outgained in total yards won. The Bengals also committed four turnovers to San Francisco's one, which played a major factor in the outcome. Three of Cincinnati's turnovers helped San Francisco build a Super Bowl record 20–0 halftime lead, off a touchdown pass and a rushing touchdown from quarterback Joe Montana and two field goals by Ray Wersching. The Bengals began to rally in the second half with quarterback Ken Anderson's 5-yard touchdown run and 4-yard touchdown pass, but a third-quarter goal line stand by the 49ers defense and two more Wersching field goals ultimately decided the game. The Bengals managed to score their final touchdown with 20 seconds left, but could not recover the ensuing onside kick. Montana was named the Super Bowl MVP, completing 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 18 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Cincinnati tight end Dan Ross recorded a Super Bowl-record 11 receptions (still the most ever by a tight end in a Super Bowl) for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XVI to Pontiac, Michigan on March 13, 1979 at the owners meetings in Honolulu.
San Francisco finished the regular season with a league-best 13–3 record. The 49ers' success surprised many because they finished with a 6–10 record during the previous season, and a 2–14 record before that (they even still had home blackouts early on in the 1981 season, the last blackouts for the 49ers to date). A major reason for the team's improvement was the emergence of their young quarterback Joe Montana. In just his third season in the league, Montana completed 311 out of 488 passes (a league-leading 63.7 completion percentage) for 3,565 yards and 19 touchdowns. His favorite targets were receivers Dwight Clark (85 receptions, 1,104 yards, and 4 touchdowns) and Freddie Solomon (59 receptions, 969 yards, and 8 touchdowns), along with tight end Charle Young (37 receptions for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns). Running back Ricky Patton was the top rusher on the team with 543 yards and 4 touchdowns, while also catching 27 passes for 195 yards. Multi-talented running back Earl Cooper also provided the team with a good running and receiving threat, rushing for 330 yards and catching 51 passes for 477 yards. Much of San Francisco's success was aided by their offensive line, which featured Dan Audick (LT), John Ayers (LG), Fred Quillan (C), Randy Cross (RG), and Keith Fahnhorst (RT).
Although the 49ers had three rookies starting as defensive backs, they all were major defensive threats: Carlton Williamson recorded four interceptions, Eric Wright had three, and Ronnie Lott recorded seven interceptions and tied an NFL record by returning three of them for touchdowns. Three-year veteran defensive back Dwight Hicks led the team with nine interceptions, which he returned for 239 yards and a touchdown, giving the secondary a total of 23. Defensive end Fred Dean and linebacker Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds were big contributors up front, making it difficult for the opposing teams to rush the ball; Dean became a 49er after an in-season trade with the San Diego Chargers and piled up 12 sacks for San Francisco.
The Bengals finished with the best regular season record in the AFC at 12–4. Cincinnati was also a surprise team because, like the 49ers, they also had recorded a 6–10 record during the previous season. And prior to this year, they had never won a playoff game in their entire history.
Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson was the top rated passer in the league and won both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. He completed 300 of 479 (62.6 percent) passes for 3,754 yards and 29 touchdowns, with only 10 interceptions. Anderson was also an outstanding scrambler, rushing for 320 yards and one touchdown, the highest rushing total among all NFL quarterbacks during the season. The Bengals main deep threat was rookie wide receiver Cris Collinsworth, who caught 67 passes for 1,009 yards and 8 touchdowns. Tight end Dan Ross had 71 receptions for 910 yards and 5 touchdowns, while wide receivers Isaac Curtis and Steve Kreider each recorded 37 receptions, combining for a total of 1,129 yards and 9 touchdowns. Fullback Pete Johnson was the leading rusher on the team with 1,077 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was also a good receiver out of the backfield, catching 46 passes for another 320 yards and 4 touchdowns. Halfback Charles Alexander was also a big contributor with 554 all-purpose yards and 28 receptions. A big reason for Cincinnati's production on offense was their line, led by future Hall of Fame tackle Anthony Muñoz and guard Max Montoya. On special teams, punter Pat McInally made the Pro Bowl with a 45.4 yards-per-punt average.
The Bengals also had a good defense that had not given up more than 30 points in any of their regular season or playoff games. Their line was anchored by defensive ends Ross Browner and Eddie Edwards, who did a great job stopping the run. Cincinnati's defense was also led by defensive backs Louis Breeden and Ken Riley, and linebackers Bo Harris, Jim LeClair, and Reggie Williams, who intercepted four passes and recovered three fumbles.
The Bengals went on earn their first playoff victory in team history by defeating the Buffalo Bills 28–21, and then defeated San Diego Chargers 27–7 in a game known as the Freezer Bowl because of the −59 wind chill conditions at Riverfront Stadium. Meanwhile, the 49ers went on to defeat the New York Giants 38–24, and then narrowly beat the Dallas Cowboys 28–27 on a last-minute touchdown pass known as The Catch.
The 49ers had handily beaten the Bengals in a December game played in Cincinnati and consequently were installed as a 2-point favorite. That said, going into Super Bowl XVI, most experts agreed that both teams were very evenly matched, but many thought Pete Johnson's rushing ability could prove to be the difference. Some also pointed out that Ken Anderson was an established 11-year veteran who had just finished the best season of his career, while the young Montana was only just starting to emerge as a top-notch quarterback. Furthermore, Anderson had advanced through the playoffs without throwing a single interception, while Montana had been intercepted 4 times, 3 of them occurring in the NFC title game.
During the season, both teams had shown impressive ball security. Cincinnati had the fewest turnovers of any team during the 1981 season with 24, while San Francisco ranked second with 25.
Cincinnati head coach Forrest Gregg became the first man to play in a Super Bowl and then be a head coach in a Super Bowl. Gregg played in Super Bowls I and II as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Tom Flores was on the Kansas City Chiefs' roster in Super Bowl IV and coached in Super Bowl XV. However, Flores did not play in Super Bowl IV.
This was the first Super Bowl to feature two first-time participants since Super Bowl III (there has been only one since, Super Bowl XX between the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots). This was also the only Super Bowl to date between two teams who had losing records the previous season, although Super Bowl XXXIV matched a team that had a losing record in 1998 (St. Louis Rams) against a team that finished a mediocre 8–8 that year (Tennessee Titans). This is the most recent Super Bowl in which both teams had never appeared in "any" AFL/NFL title game before the merger.
This is the only Super Bowl to have ever been played at the Pontiac Silverdome. This was also only the second of 16 Super Bowls to not take place in one of the three so-called "Big Super Bowl Cities" (the other was Houston in January 1974). Fourteen of the previous 16 Super Bowls took place in either Miami, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana or in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The Super Bowl did return to Michigan for Super Bowl XL, but that game was played at Ford Field in Detroit, which, in 2002, had replaced the Pontiac Silverdome as the home site for the Detroit Lions.
On the day of the Super Bowl, one of the 49ers buses, which had Bill Walsh and Montana on board, was stuck in traffic due to bad weather and a motorcade carrying then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. As a result, they would not arrive at the stadium until 90 minutes before kickoff time. "Coach Walsh was pretty loose on the bus," Montana told "Sports Illustrated" after the game. "He said, ‘I’ve got the radio on and we’re leading 7-0. The trainer’s calling the plays.’"
The game was televised in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden (the latter making his Super Bowl debut as a broadcaster). The broadcast also featured the introduction of the telestrator to a national audience, that was named CBS Chalkboard. Still in use today, it enables players and areas of play to be highlighted by the superimposing of lines and rings drawn by a freehand operator.
Hosting coverage for "The Super Bowl Today" pregame (90 minutes), halftime, and postgame shows was the "NFL Today" crew of Brent Musburger; Irv Cross; Phyllis George and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, with studio analysis from Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach. CBS, for this game, used the theme for the "CBS Sports Saturday/Sunday" for the intro (CBS had aired a special CBS Sports Sunday prior to the beginning of Super Bowl XVI coverage). This Super Bowl was simulcast in Canada on the CTV Television Network, which was airing the Super Bowl for the first time.
The game was one of the most watched broadcasts in American television history, with more than 85 million viewers. The final national Nielsen rating was a 49.1 (a 73 share), which is still a Super Bowl record, and ranks second to the final episode of "M*A*S*H" in 1983 among television broadcasts in general. (Super Bowl XLV holds the record for total U.S. viewership, with an average audience of 111 million, but only earned a rating of 46.0 and a 69 share).
The game was broadcast on nationwide radio by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jack Buck and color commentator Hank Stram. Hosting coverage for CBS was done by Dick Stockton. Locally, Super Bowl XVI was broadcast by KCBS-AM in San Francisco with Don Klein and Wayne Walker and by WLW-AM in Cincinnati with Phil Samp and Andy MacWilliams.
"60 Minutes" was broadcast after the game on CBS, representing the Super Bowl lead-out program. The closing music for the telecast was "The Winner Takes It All" by ABBA.
The pregame festivities featured the University of Michigan Band. The band later performed the Canadian National Anthem, which was not televised. Singer Diana Ross then performed the U.S. national anthem, which followed a moment of silence in support of the Polish trade union Solidarity; following the crackdown by the communist government of Poland on the pro-democracy union. This was the first of two Super Bowls, both held in Michigan, in which two national anthems were performed, and to have a joint Canadian-American armed forces color guard, which consisted of members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Camp Grayling color guards. The coin toss ceremony featured Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne.
Up with People provided the halftime entertainment featuring a salute to the 1960s and Motown. This was the first Super Bowl to be played in the Midwest.
The Bengals had the first opportunity to score early in the game. After returning the opening kickoff 17 yards, San Francisco's Amos Lawrence was hit by Bengals linebacker Guy Frazier and fumbled at his own 26-yard line (the first time in a Super Bowl that a turnover took place on the opening kick), where John Simmons recovered for Cincinnati. Quarterback Ken Anderson then started the drive off with a completion to wide receiver Isaac Curtis for 8 yards, and fullback Pete Johnson's 2-yard run then picked up a first down. Anderson followed with an 11-yard pass to tight end Dan Ross, moving the ball to the 5-yard line. However, Anderson threw an incomplete pass on first down, then was sacked by defensive end Jim Stuckey on second down for a 6-yard loss. Facing third down, Anderson tried to connect with Curtis in the end zone, but 49ers safety Dwight Hicks intercepted the ball at the 5-yard line and returned it 27 yards to the 32.
From there, quarterback Joe Montana led the 49ers offense to the Cincinnati 47-yard line with three consecutive completions. Then, the 49ers ran a fake reverse – flea flicker play that involved wide receiver Freddie Solomon and ended with Montana completing a 14-yard pass to tight end Charle Young at the 33. Three running plays and Montana's 14-yard completion to Solomon moved the ball to the 1-yard line. Finally, Montana scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, giving San Francisco a 7–0 lead.
The Bengals threatened to score early in the second quarter when they advanced across the San Francisco 30-yard line. But after catching a 19-yard pass from Anderson at the 5-yard line, wide receiver Cris Collinsworth lost a fumble while being tackled by 49ers defensive back Eric Wright. After recovering the fumble, the 49ers drove for a Super Bowl record 92 yards, scoring on a 10-yard pass from Montana to fullback Earl Cooper, increasing their lead to 14–0. The play Cooper scored on had not been called by Bill Walsh for two years. Cooper's leaping, celebratory spike of the football after scoring became the photo Sports Illustrated used for its post-game cover.
Following the touchdown came a squib kick by kicker Ray Wersching that was finally recovered by Bengal receiver David Verser, who was quickly tackled at the 2-yard line. According to the NFL's highlight film for the game, the 49ers had discovered Wersching's ability to effectively use the squib during their 1981 season opener when a leg injury kept him from fully powering into the football; because that game was also played at the Silverdome, Bill Walsh felt that Wersching would be able to recreate the crazy bounces of a squib on the hard Astroturf by shortening his stride and seeing what happened. The Bengals could only advance to their 25 before having to punt, and with just over 4 minutes left in the half, Montana led the 49ers on another scoring drive. First, he completed a 17-yard pass to wide receiver Dwight Clark at the Cincinnati 49-yard line. Then, running back Ricky Patton ran twice, advancing the ball to the 39-yard line. Montana's next two completions to Clark (his 4th and final reception of the game) and Solomon moved the ball to the 5-yard line. But then Montana threw two straight incompletions, forcing the 49ers to settle for Wersching's 22-yard field goal to increase their lead to 17–0.
With just 15 seconds left in the half, Wersching kicked a second squib kick that was muffed by Bengals running back Archie Griffin, and the 49ers recovered the ball on the Bengals' 4-yard line. As they lined-up for a field goal attempt, a false start penalty against San Francisco pushed them back 5 yards but Wersching connected from 26 yards, increasing the 49ers' lead to 20–0, which was the largest halftime lead in Super Bowl history to that date.
After receiving the opening kickoff of the second half, the Bengals drove 83 yards in 9 plays. Charles Alexander started off the drive with a 13-yard carry, with a facemask penalty on Hicks giving an additional 5 yards. Two plays later, Anderson converted a 3rd and 4 situation with a 19-yard pass to Steve Kreider, and eventually finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 20–7. This seemed to fire up Cincinnati's defense, who limited the 49ers to only 8 plays and 4 offensive yards for the entire third quarter.
Later in the quarter, Bengals defensive back Mike Fuller's 17-yard punt return gave the Bengals the ball at midfield. Two penalties and a 4-yard sack pushed them back to their own 37, but on third down, Collinsworth's 49-yard reception from Anderson moved the ball to the San Francisco 14-yard line. Johnson then later successfully converted on a fourth down run, giving the Bengals a first down on the 3-yard line. On that play, the 49ers only had 10 players on the field because linebacker Keena Turner, who was seriously ill with chicken pox during Super Bowl week, missed a call to enter the game.
On first down, Johnson drove into the line and gained 2 yards down to the 49ers' 1-yard line. The Bengals then tried to run Johnson into the line on second down, but lost a yard when a charging rush prevented the Bengals from executing their blocking assignments. Cincinnati receiver David Verser also missed a blocking audible by Anderson. On third down, 49ers linebacker Dan Bunz made probably the key defensive play of the game. Anderson faked to Johnson and threw a swing pass out to Alexander, who was isolated on Bunz. Bunz, however, corralled Alexander at the line of scrimmage on an open-field tackle and kept him from reaching the end zone. Highlights showed that Alexander was supposed to have entered the end zone before making his cut, and his early turn prevented a touchdown pass.
After calling a timeout, rather than attempting a field goal on fourth down, the Bengals sent Johnson into the middle of the line one last time. But San Francisco cornerback Ronnie Lott and linebackers Bunz and Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds tackled him for no gain, giving the ball back to the 49ers.
The 49ers only gained 8 yards on their ensuing drive, and the Bengals got the ball back after receiving Jim Miller's 44-yard punt at their own 47-yard line. Taking advantage of their great starting field position, the Bengals marched 53 yards in 7 plays and scored a touchdown on a 4-yard pass from Anderson to Ross. With the score, the deficit was cut to 20–14 with 10:06 left in the fourth quarter.
However, the 49ers countered with a 50-yard, 9-play drive that took 4:41 off the clock, and included Montana's 22-yard pass to receiver Mike Wilson and seven consecutive running plays. Wilson's reception was a play Walsh specifically designed for the Super Bowl that capitalized on the Bengals doing a long-run coverage on Wilson anytime he ran a pass route over 20 yards; Wilson simply ran 25 yards straight out and then cut back to receive Montana's precision pass. Wersching ended the drive with a 40-yard field goal to give San Francisco a 23–14 lead with just 5 minutes left.
On the Bengals' first play after receiving the ensuing kickoff, Eric Wright intercepted a pass from Anderson. After returning the interception 25 yards, Wright fumbled while being tackled by Bengals guard Max Montoya, but San Francisco linebacker Willie Harper recovered the ball at the Bengals' 22.
The 49ers then ran the ball on five consecutive plays, taking 3 minutes off the clock, to advance to the Cincinnati 6-yard line. Wersching then kicked his fourth field goal to increase the 49ers' lead to 26–14 with less than 2 minutes left in the game. Wersching's 4 field goals tied a Super Bowl record set by Green Bay Packers kicker Don Chandler in Super Bowl II. Because of his 4 field goals and the close score, this is the only Super Bowl in which the losing team scored more touchdowns than the winning team (Cincinnati 3, San Francisco 2).
Anderson completed six consecutive passes on the Bengals' ensuing drive, the last one a 3-yard touchdown pass to Ross to make the score 26–21. However, none of the receivers on Anderson's completions were able to get out of bounds to stop the clock. By the time Ross scored, only 16 seconds remained in the fourth quarter. The Bengals tried an onside kick, but Clark recovered the ball for the 49ers, allowing San Francisco to run out the clock to win the game.
The game featured several great performances by players on both teams. Montana threw for 157 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for another 18 yards and a touchdown. Wright had an interception and forced a fumble. Collinsworth caught 5 passes for 107 yards, an average of 21.4 yards per catch. Cris Collinsworth and Dan Ross became the second pair of teammates to each have 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl. Collinsworth had 107, while Ross had 104. John Stallworth and Lynn Swann were the first to do so in Super Bowl XIII.
Fuller gained 35 yards on 4 punt returns. Ross recorded a Super Bowl record 11 receptions for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns (the most ever by a tight end in a Super Bowl) and he was tied for the most receptions in a Super Bowl with Jerry Rice (who tied Ross' record in the Super Bowl rematch), Deion Branch, and Wes Welker until Demaryius Thomas broke that record in Super Bowl XLVIII with 13 catches. Anderson finished the game with 25 out of 34 pass completions for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions. He also gained 14 rushing yards and a touchdown on 6 carries. Anderson's 25 completions and his 73.5 completion percentage were both Super Bowl records. Wersching scored 14 points on 4 field goals and 2 PATs. Wersching's squib kickoffs caused 2 Cincinnati fumbles; the 49ers recovered one, leading to their 2nd field goal.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XVI, Super Bowl XVI Play Finder SF, Super Bowl XVI Play Finder Cin
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XVI, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29142 |
Super Bowl XVII
Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1982 season. The Redskins defeated the Dolphins 27–17 to win their first Super Bowl championship. The game was played on January 30, 1983 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
This Super Bowl came at the end of a season that was significantly shortened by a players' strike. Teams ended up only playing nine regular season games, and the league conducted a special 16-team, four-round playoff tournament where divisions were ignored in the seeding. The Redskins had an NFC-best 8–1 regular season record, while the Dolphins finished at 7–2. Both teams advanced through the first three postseason rounds to Super Bowl XVII. The game then became a rematch of Super Bowl VII, also played in the Los Angeles area at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ten years before, where the Dolphins completed their 17–0 perfect season at the Redskins’ expense by a score of 14–7. This was also the second Super Bowl to rematch teams, the first being Super Bowl XIII.
The Redskins scored 17 unanswered points in the second half and gained a Super Bowl record 276 yards on the ground, while holding the Dolphins to just 47 offensive plays for 176 total yards, 76 of which came on a single play.
Nevertheless, Miami built a 17–10 halftime lead with Jimmy Cefalo's 76-yard touchdown catch and Fulton Walker's 98-yard kickoff return.
The turning point in the game came with 10:10 remaining: facing fourth down and 1-yard to go at the Dolphins' 43-yard line, and trailing 17–13, Washington running back John Riggins broke through the Miami defense and ran into the end zone for a touchdown to take the lead. Wide receiver Charlie Brown then added an insurance touchdown with his 6-yard scoring reception.
Riggins was named Super Bowl MVP,
finishing the game with 2 Super Bowl records: the most rushing yards in a Super Bowl game (166), and the most rushing attempts (38). He was the first player from an NFC team to rush for 100 yards in a Super Bowl. Riggins also recorded a reception for 15 yards, giving him more total yards than the entire Miami team.
The NFL awarded Super Bowl XVII to Pasadena on March 13, 1979 at the owners meetings in Honolulu.
This was the first outdoor Super Bowl to have a Jumbotron present. A temporary Sony Diamond Vision screen was installed in northeast corner of the stadium just above the last row seats. The only other Super Bowl facilities to date which had replay screens were indoors: the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans (XII and XV), and the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit (XVI).
A 57-day-long players' strike reduced the 1982 regular season from a 16-game schedule to 9. Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament. Division standings were ignored. Eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records.
The modified schedule forced the league to extend the regular season into January for the first time. After the 57-day strike, the NFL extended the regular season one weekend (pushing the end of the regular season back from December 26 to January 2), moving back the start of the playoffs and eliminating the week off for the first time since Super Bowl IV.
The strike-shortened season impacted 4 teams that made the playoffs during the 1981 regular season. The San Francisco 49ers, winners of Super Bowl XVI, suffered a 3–6 record. The Buffalo Bills, the New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles did not qualify for the playoffs either. The Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions qualified for the playoffs despite 4–5 records, the only sub-.500 teams to reach the NFL playoffs until the 7–9 Seattle Seahawks reached the playoffs following the 2010 season; however, the Seahawks were the first to accomplish this in a non-strike shortened season.
The Dolphins finished the strike-shortened regular season with a 7–2 record, ranking them second in the AFC. The club's main strength was their defense, nicknamed the "Killer Bees" because 6 of their 11 starters had last names that began with the letter "B". The "Killer Bees", anchored by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Bob Baumhower, led the league in fewest total yards allowed (2,312) and fewest passing yards allowed (1,027). Linebacker A. J. Duhe was extremely effective at blitzing and in pass coverage. And the Dolphins' secondary, consisting of defensive backs Don McNeal, Gerald Small and brothers Lyle and Glenn Blackwood, combined for 11 interceptions.
However, the Dolphins' passing attack, led by quarterback David Woodley, ranked last in the league with 1,401 total yards, 8 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. One of the few bright spots in the Dolphins' passing attack was wide receiver Jimmy Cefalo, who gained 356 yards off of just 17 receptions, an average of 20.9 yards per catch. Wide receiver Duriel Harris also provided a deep threat with 22 receptions for 331 yards.
But Miami's strength on offense was their running game, ranking 3rd in the league with 1,344 yards. Pro Bowl running back Andra Franklin was the team's top rusher with 701 yards (3rd in the NFL) and 7 touchdowns. Running back Tony Nathan rushed for 233 yards, and caught 16 passes for another 114 yards. Woodley himself also recorded 207 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. One reason for the Dolphins' rushing success was the blocking of their offensive line, led by future Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson, along with Pro Bowlers Bob Kuechenberg (a starter on Miami's Super Bowl teams in the early 1970s) and Ed Newman.
Super Bowl XVII was the Redskins' first Super Bowl victory (third NFL championship overall), and their second Super Bowl appearance, since they were defeated by the Dolphins, 14–7 in Super Bowl VII. This was the second rematch in Super Bowl history (the first being the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowls X and XIII). Washington finished the strike-shortened regular season with an NFC-best 8–1 record, earning their first playoff appearance in six years and leading the NFL in fewest points allowed (128).
Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann finished the season as the top rated passer in the NFC, completing 161 out of 252 (63 percent) of his passes for 2,033 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also rushing for 150 yards. The main weapons in the passing game were wide receivers Charlie Brown (32 receptions, 690 yards, and 8 touchdowns) and Art Monk (35 receptions, 447 yards, and 1 touchdown). Running back John Riggins led the Redskins' running game, rushing for 553 yards and 3 touchdowns during the regular season. Much of Washington's success on offense was also attributed to their offensive line, affectionately known as "The Hogs".
Washington also had impact players on their special teams. Mark Moseley became the first placekicker ever to win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, making 20 out of 21 field goals and all 18 of his extra point attempts. Kick returner Mike Nelms also gained a combined total of 809 yards returning kickoffs and punts.
The Redskins' defense was led by 6'7", 296-pound defensive tackle Dave Butz, who anchored the line, along with defensive ends Dexter Manley and Tony McGee, who each recorded 6.5 sacks. Washington's secondary was led by defensive backs Vernon Dean and Jeris White, who each recorded 3 interceptions.
The Dolphins advanced through the special 16-team playoffs by defeating the New England Patriots, 28–13, the San Diego Chargers, 34–13, and the New York Jets, 14–0, to earn a trip to their fourth Super Bowl in team history.
Meanwhile, the Redskins defeated the Detroit Lions, 31–7, the Minnesota Vikings, 21–7, and the Dallas Cowboys, 31–17.
Before the playoffs, the 33-year-old Riggins, who had averaged barely 3 yards per carry during the season, told coach Joe Gibbs "I'm really getting down the road. I don't have many of these left. I've been out two weeks and I'm ready. Give me the ball." Gibbs did just that, and Riggins ended up rushing for a combined total of 444 yards and 3 touchdowns during those playoff victories.
Another key contributor in the playoff games was backup wide receiver Alvin Garrett, who replaced Monk after he suffered a leg injury that kept him out of the entire postseason. Although he only recorded one reception during the entire regular season, Garrett caught a combined total of 13 receptions for 231 yards and 4 touchdowns in Washington's three playoff games.
Entering Super Bowl XVII, the Dolphins were favored to win the game, primarily because of their "Killer Bees" defense, which had recorded 12 interceptions in their three playoff games, including 5 each in the final two. Another reason why the Redskins were the underdogs was because they had 26 players on their 45-man roster who had been signed by the team as free agents, including 14 who had never even been drafted by an NFL team. Only 10 players on the Redskins roster had any prior playoff experience.
The game was televised in the United States by NBC, with Dick Enberg handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Merlin Olsen in the broadcast booth. Len Berman and his "NFL '82" castmates, Mike Adamle (who also covered the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremony), Ahmad Rashād and Pete Axthelm anchored the pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. NBC's national Nielsen rating of 48.6 was the second-highest for a Super Bowl broadcast, trailing only the 49.1 garnered by Super Bowl XVI on CBS the year before. NBC introduced a new theme for the game; a brass-based piece that would see usage in various forms (as game introduction; pregame introduction or bumper music) for most of the remainder of the decade.
The game was broadcast nationally on radio on CBS, with Jack Buck handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Hank Stram in the broadcast booth. Brent Musburger anchored the Super Bowl XVII pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage with analysis from Irv Cross and Jimmy Snyder for CBS. Locally, Super Bowl XVII was broadcast on WMAL-AM in Washington, D.C. by Frank Herzog, Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen, and on WIOD-AM in Miami, Florida by Rick Weaver and Hank Goldberg.
Following the game, NBC aired the premiere episode of "The A-Team", beginning the tradition of the game's host network airing programming after the game. As a way to hype the show for NBC, Mr. T was in attendance for the game.
Locally, Super Bowl XVII was shown on WRC-TV, the Washington, D.C. NBC affiliate and on WCKT-TV, the Miami, Florida NBC affiliate.
The game was shown live in the UK for the first time when Channel 4, Britain's newest channel (launched November 2, 1982) covered it.
Additionally, the Super Bowl was shown live in Canada on CTV, which also simulcasted NBC's coverage.
In Mexico was broadcast, with NBC's signal, live at Rose Bowl Stadium by Televisa Channel 5 XHGC.
The game is featured on "NFL's Greatest Games" under the title "Hog Day Afternoon", narrated by John Facenda and featuring interviews with Joe Bugel.
Super Bowl XVII was dedicated to University of Alabama coach Bear Bryant, who died on January 26, 1983. A moment of silence was held in his memory during the pregame ceremonies. Dolphins Dwight Stephenson, Bob Baumhower and Don McNeal were All-Americans for Bryant at Alabama, and Redskins reserve running back Wilbur Jackson was the first African-American to earn a football scholarship to Alabama.
The Los Angeles Unified School District All-City Band played during the pregame ceremonies. Later, actress Leslie Easterbrook performed the national anthem. Easterbrook almost missed the ceremony, saying, "the limo driver couldn’t find the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. When I finally got there I ran through that tunnel by myself and actually slid, as if I was diving for first base. I slid into the microphone and they had 60 seconds of silence for the passing of a football coach from Alabama. I caught my breath and did it."
The coin toss ceremony featured Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Elroy Hirsch. Dolphins captain Bob Kuechenberg called "tails," and the coin came down "tails." However, referee Jerry Markbreit became confused by the similar design of both sides of the coin and incorrectly thought "heads" had landed. After a short discussion with his head linesman, Dale Hamer, Markbreit corrected his mistake before the kickoff, then asked Kuechenberg if the Dolphins would receive said kickoff, which they did. Justin Peters of "Slate", who watched all the Super Bowls over a two-month period in 2015 before Super Bowl 50, reported what transpired: “Tails is the call,” said Markbreit. “Heads,” he said after the coin had dropped. “No, it’s tails, it’s tails,” everyone then said. “Whoop!” Markbreit said, bending down before announcing “Tails!” “So some confusion over what is heads and what is tails,” Dick Enberg said. Peters called it one of the funniest of all Super Bowl moments.
The halftime show was produced by Bob Jani Productions and titled "KaleidoSUPERscope", and featured the Los Angeles Super Drill Team.
Miami scored first on their second possession when faced with 2nd-and-6 on their own 24. David Woodley froze hard-charging lineman Dexter Manley with a pump fake before throwing the ball to wide receiver Jimmy Cefalo, who caught the ball ahead of single coverage by safety Tony Peters at the Redskins 45 and raced untouched down the right sideline for a 76-yard touchdown completion. Then after forcing the Redskins to punt, Woodley attempted a deep pass again, but was hit by Manley, causing him to fumble, and defensive tackle Dave Butz recovered the ball on the Dolphins 46-yard line. The turnover led to Redskins kicker Mark Moseley's 31-yard field goal to cut the Dolphins' lead to 7–3, two plays into the second quarter.
Miami kick returner Fulton Walker returned the ensuing kickoff 42 yards to the Dolphins 47-yard line. From there, the Dolphins advanced to the Redskins 3-yard line. But Woodley's pass fell incomplete on third down, so Miami had to settle for kicker Uwe von Schamann's 20-yard field goal to increase their lead to 10–3 with 6 minutes left in the half. Although the drive was only 50 yards long, it consisted of 13 plays and took 8:39 off the clock.
Aided by a 27-yard completion from quarterback Joe Theismann to tight end Rick Walker, 13 rushing yards and a 15-yard reception by running back John Riggins, and a 12-yard run from Theismann himself, the Redskins marched 80 yards in 11 plays to score on wide receiver Alvin Garrett's 4-yard touchdown reception.
Garrett's touchdown tied the game 10–10 with less than 2 minutes left in the half, but the tie did not last long; Fulton Walker returned the ensuing kickoff a Super Bowl-record 98 yards for a touchdown to give the Dolphins a 17–10 lead. It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown in Super Bowl history, and the longest kickoff return in postseason history, breaking the prior record of 97 yards by Vic Washington in 1972.
A penalty on the ensuing kickoff forced Washington to start their next drive at their own 7-yard line, but they managed to get to the 28 after their first four plays. Then a pass interference penalty on defensive back Lyle Blackwood on the next play moved the ball to the Miami 42-yard line. Immediately after Blackwood's penalty, wide receiver Charlie Brown's 26-yard reception advanced the Redskins to the Dolphins 16-yard line. After calling their final timeout with 14 seconds left, Washington made one last attempt to score a touchdown before trying a field goal. Theismann's subsequent pass was caught by Garrett, but he was tackled at the 9-yard line by defensive back Glenn Blackwood, preventing any possible field goal attempt as the Redskins were unable to stop the clock before time expired in the half.
Both teams opened the second half trading punts. But after driving to their own 47-yard line on their second possession of the third quarter, the Redskins managed to fool the Dolphins with a reverse play. Riggins took a handoff from Theismann and then handed the ball off to Garrett, who was running in the opposite direction. The play worked perfectly, as Garrett ran the ball 44 yards to Miami's 9-yard line before being tackled. But the Dolphins' defense only allowed Washington to advance to the 3-yard line on their next three plays, and so the Redskins had to settle for another field goal from Moseley to cut their deficit to 17–13.
Later in the third quarter, Theismann was intercepted by Miami linebacker A. J. Duhe at the Redskins 47-yard line. After the turnover, the Dolphins reached the 37-yard line, and Woodley tried to pass the ball deep to Cefalo again. However, Washington defensive back Vernon Dean deflected the ball, and safety Mark Murphy made a one-handed interception at the 5-yard line as he was falling to the ground. After the Redskins got a first down, Theismann had a pass blocked at the line of scrimmage by Kim Bokamper. Bokamper nearly intercepted the pass in the Redskins' end zone, but Theismann prevented the score with a timely move, knocking the ball out of Bokamper's hands.
The Redskins then drove to Miami's 43-yard line, and once again tried to fool the Dolphins with a trick play, this time a flea flicker. Riggins took a pitch from Theismann, ran up to the line of scrimmage, and then pitched the ball back to Theismann, who then attempted to pass it. But this time Miami was not fooled, and Lyle Blackwood made a diving interception at the 1-yard line (this was the first Super Bowl ever to have 3 consecutive drives end with interceptions).
However, Blackwood's interception turned out to be somewhat beneficial for the Redskins, as it pinned Miami back at their own 1. The Dolphins could only gain 3 yards with their next three plays, and Washington ended up getting the ball back with great field position on their own 48-yard line. The Redskins ran three plays to reach Miami's 43-yard line, but then faced a fourth down and one to go. Instead of punting, the Redskins decided to gamble and attempt to get the first down with a run from Riggins. But Riggins did a lot more than pick up the first down. Coach Joe Gibbs called his trademark play I-Right 70 Chip, starting tight end Clint Didier in motion towards the right, then reversing motion back to the left. Theismann handed to Riggins, who broke a tackle from Miami cornerback Don McNeal and still managed to build up enough speed to outrun defensive back Glenn Blackwood as he took off for a 43-yard touchdown run, giving Washington their first lead of the game, 20–17, with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the game. McNeal, who was assigned to cover Didier on the play, slipped briefly as Didier changed direction. The Redskins ran the play to the left, behind Didier and fullback Otis Wonsley, and Riggins ran over McNeal to score the touchdown. Although McNeal did indeed slip briefly while following Didier across the formation, it would have made little difference in the outcome of the play. Despite a valiant effort by McNeal, the 185-pound cornerback could do little more than hold on briefly as he met the 240-pound Riggins running with a full head of steam, hit him high, and slid down his body as "The Diesel" pulled away towards the end zone and the Redskins' first Super Bowl victory.
Washington quickly forced Miami to punt on their next possession, and punt returner Mike Nelms's 12-yard return gave the Redskins great field position at the Dolphins 41-yard line. The Redskins then ran five consecutive running plays by Riggins, consuming a lot of time off the clock and moving the ball to the 19-yard line. Then on third down, Theismann made a key pass completion to Brown to the 9-yard line. Riggins then advanced the ball to the 6-yard line with two more runs. Then after the 2-minute warning, Brown caught a touchdown pass on the next play, increasing the Redskins' lead to 27-17 and putting the game away. Walker returned the ensuing kickoff 36 yards to the 35-yard line, but Miami could only advance to the 39 before turning the ball over on downs.
Washington had completely dominated Miami in the second half, allowing only two first downs and no pass completions with their longest gain a play of just 9 yards. Overall, the Dolphins gained just 9 first downs and 4 completions in the entire game. "Their way is what we called Dolphin football," said left guard Bob Kuechenberg, one of only two holdovers from Miami's three previous Super Bowl teams in the 1970s (the other was defensive end Vern Den Herder). "They controlled the second half and they're fitting world champions.
Woodley finished the game with just 4 out of 14 completions for 97 yards. Receiver Duriel Harris, who recorded 2 receptions for 15 yards, was the only other Dolphins player to catch a pass in the game besides Cefalo. And after catching a 76-yard pass in the first quarter, Cefalo caught just 1 more pass for 6 yards in the entire game. Walker finished the game with 4 kickoff returns for 190 yards and a touchdown, setting Super Bowl records for most kickoff return yards and highest single game yards per return average (47.5). Woodley's poor performance was a factor behind the Dolphins drafting Dan Marino 27th overall three months after the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, Theismann, the first starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl while wearing a single digit number (7), finished 15 out of 23 for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions. He also added 20 rushing yards on 3 carries. Brown was the Redskins leading receiver with 6 receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown. Nelms returned 6 punts for 52 yards, both Super Bowl records, and returned 2 kickoffs for 44 yards.
Overall, Washington gained 400 yards of offense, including a Super Bowl-record 276 rushing yards, while limiting Miami to only 176, with just 34 yards in the second half.
About Super Bowl XVII, Justin Peters commented, "Super Bowl XVII capped off a strike-shortened season, and, as a result, the players seemed much better rested than usual, and the game was much more energetic than some of its predecessors."
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XVII, Super Bowl XVII Play Finder Mia, Super Bowl XVII Play Finder Was
1Completions/attempts
2Rushing attempts
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XVII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29143 |
Super Bowl XVIII
Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984 at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Los Angeles Raiders to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1983 season. The Raiders defeated the Redskins, 38–9. The Raiders' 38 points scored and 29-point margin of victory broke Super Bowl records; it remains the most points scored by an AFC team in a Super Bowl. This was the first time the city of Tampa hosted the Super Bowl and was the AFC's last Super Bowl win until Super Bowl XXXII, won by the Denver Broncos.
The Redskins entered the game as the defending Super Bowl XVII champions, and finished the 1983 regular season with a league-best 14–2 record, and led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed, and set a then-NFL record in scoring with 541 points. The Raiders posted a 12-4 regular season record in 1983, their second in Los Angeles, having moved there from Oakland in May 1982.
As the favored team, the Redskins' 38–9 defeat at the hands of the black-jerseyed Raiders led Super Bowl XVIII to be known as "Black Sunday." The Raiders outgained the Redskins in total yards, 385 to 283. Los Angeles built a 21–3 halftime lead, aided by touchdowns on Derrick Jensen's blocked punt recovery, and Jack Squirek's 5-yard interception return on a screen pass with seven seconds left in the first half. Raiders running back Marcus Allen, who became the third Heisman Trophy winner to be named the Super Bowl MVP, carried the ball 20 times for a then-record total of 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a then-record 74-yard run in the third quarter. He also caught 2 passes for 18 yards.
The telecast of the game on CBS was seen by an estimated 77.62 million viewers. The broadcast was notable for airing the famous "1984" television commercial, introducing the Apple Macintosh. The NFL highlight film of this game was the final voiceover work for famous NFL narrator John Facenda.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XVIII to Tampa on June 3, 1981 at a league meeting held in Detroit. This was first time Tampa hosted the game, making it the first Super Bowl to be played in Florida in a city other than Miami.
The Redskins entered the game appearing to be even better than the previous season when they defeated the Miami Dolphins 27–17 in Super Bowl XVII. The Redskins finished the regular season with a 14–2 record, the best in the NFL, and their two losses were only by one point each. In addition, the Redskins set new NFL records with 541 points (since broken by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, the 2007 and 2012 New England Patriots, 2011 Green Bay Packers, and 2013 Denver Broncos), and also had a turnover margin of +43 and the top-ranked run defense.
The Redskins had a number of efficient offensive weapons. Quarterback Joe Theismann won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award for being the second rated passer in the league behind Steve Bartkowski, completing 276 out of 459 (60.1 percent) of his passes for 3,714 yards, 29 touchdowns, and only 11 interceptions. He rushed for 234 yards and another touchdown. Washington's main deep threats were wide receivers Charlie Brown (78 receptions, 1,225 yards, and 8 touchdowns) and Art Monk (47 receptions, 746 yards, and 5 touchdowns), with the latter fully healthy after the previous year's injury that caused him to miss the entire postseason. Wide receiver Alvin Garrett, who replaced Monk during that time, emerged as a significant contributor by catching 25 passes for 332 yards. Fullback John Riggins once again was the team's top rusher with 1,347 yards, and set a then-NFL record by scoring the most rushing touchdowns in a season (24). Multi-talented running back Joe Washington recorded 772 rushing yards, while catching 47 passes for 454 yards and 6 touchdowns. Kicker Mark Moseley led the NFL in scoring with 161 points, while Riggins ranked second with 144, making them the first teammates to finish a season as the NFL's top two scorers since 1951. Washington's powerful offensive line, "The Hogs", were led by two Pro Bowlers, guard Russ Grimm and tackle Joe Jacoby.
The Redskins' defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,289). Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dave Butz recorded 11.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. On the other side of the line, defensive end Dexter Manley recorded 11 sacks and an interception. Defensive back Mark Murphy led the NFL with 9 interceptions, while the other starters in the secondary, Vernon Dean, Anthony Washington and Ken Coffey, along with rookie cornerback Darrell Green, combined for 13 interceptions. Washington, Coffey and Green filled the void left by the season-long suspension of safety Tony Peters and the season-long holdout by cornerback Jeris White.
The Raiders made it to their fourth Super Bowl in team history after posting a 12–4 regular season record. Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett completed 230 out of 379 (60.7 percent) passes resulting in 2,935 yards and 20 touchdowns. His favorite target was tight end Todd Christensen, who led the NFL with 92 receptions for 1,247 yards and 12 touchdowns. Wide receivers Cliff Branch and Malcolm Barnwell combined for 74 receptions, 1,209 yards, and 6 touchdowns. But the largest impact on offense was running back Marcus Allen. In just his second NFL season, Allen led the team in rushing yards (1,014) and total yards from scrimmage (1,604), while ranking second on the team in receptions (68) and touchdowns (11). But Allen was not the only key running back on the team. Kenny King and Frank Hawkins combined for 1,119 total rushing and receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns. Los Angeles also had a powerful special teams attack led by Greg Pruitt, who led the NFL in punt returns (58), and punt return yards (666), while adding another 604 yards returning kickoffs and rushing for 154 yards and two scores.
On defense, their three-man front was led by Pro Bowl defensive linemen Howie Long (13 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries) and Lyle Alzado, who had 7 sacks, along with rookie Greg Townsend, who recorded 10.5 sacks and a 66-yard fumble return touchdown. The linebacking corps was led by Pro Bowlers Rod Martin and Matt Millen, along with 15-year veteran Ted Hendricks. Martin had six sacks and four interceptions. Cornerbacks Mike Haynes (acquired in a trade from New England) and Lester Hayes were widely considered to be the best cornerback tandem in the NFL. Pro Bowl Safety Vann McElroy recovered 3 fumbles and ranked second in the NFL with 8 interceptions. The Raiders' head coach was Tom Flores.
The Raiders only allowed a combined total of 24 points in their playoff victories over the Pittsburgh Steelers, 38–10, and the Seattle Seahawks (who had beaten the Raiders twice during the regular season), 30–14. Allen had been particularly effective in the playoffs, gaining a total of 375 combined yards and scoring three touchdowns. The Raiders' defense limited Seahawks running back Curt Warner, who had led the AFC in rushing yards (1,449 yards), to just 26 yards on 11 carries.
Meanwhile, the Redskins crushed the Los Angeles Rams 51–7, and then narrowly defeated the San Francisco 49ers 24–21, with Mark Moseley kicking the game-winning field goal with just 40 seconds left. Mirroring the previous postseason, Riggins was a key contributor, rushing for a combined playoff total of 242 yards and five touchdowns in the two games. In doing so, Riggins extended his NFL record of consecutive playoff games with at least 100 rushing yards to six. Brown also was a key contributor in both playoff wins, recording a combined total of 11 receptions for 308 yards and a touchdown. Washington's defense was just as effective at stopping their postseason opponent's rushing attack as they had been during the regular season, limiting running backs Eric Dickerson and Wendell Tyler to a combined total of 60 rushing yards. Dickerson was the NFL's leading rusher with 1,808 yards and 18 touchdowns during the season, but could only gain 16 yards on 10 carries against the Redskins' defense.
Coming into Super Bowl XVIII, the Redskins were favored to win because of their offense, their number one-rated run defense, their league-best 14–2 regular season record, and their Super Bowl win from last season. Also, the Redskins had defeated the Raiders during an October 2 regular season game, 37–35, by scoring 17 points in the final six minutes of the game.
In 1970, Jim Plunkett had won the Heisman Trophy as the quarterback of Stanford University with 2,229 votes. The runner up for the award, with 1,410 votes, was University of Notre Dame quarterback Joe Theisman
The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. Hosting pregame coverage for "The Super Bowl Today" was Brent Musburger; Irv Cross; Phyllis George and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. Other contributors to CBS coverage included Jim Hill (who was also sports director of KNXT in Los Angeles which aired the game in that market {KNXT changed its call letters to the current KCBS-TV that April}; WDVM aired the game in Washington, D.C.); Charlsie Cantey; Pat O'Brien; Dick Vermeil; Tom Brookshier; Hank Stram (who also worked the game alongside Jack Buck on CBS Radio); John Tesh and CBS News correspondent Charles Osgood. Dick Stockton would serve as pregame host for CBS Radio coverage; while Musburger would also contribute halftime commentary in addition to hosting CBS television coverage During this game, CBS introduced a new theme and open that would later be used for their college football coverage until it was replaced by the current college football theme introduced on Super Bowl XXI (the next Super Bowl CBS aired at the end of the 1986 season).
In addition to King and Marotta, who called the game over KRLA in Los Angeles, additional local radio coverage of Super Bowl XVIII was provided by WMAL-AM with Frank Herzog, Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen announcing. Nationally, Jack Buck and Hank Stram announced for CBS Radio.
It was simulcast in Canada on CTV and in the United Kingdom on Channel 4.
Apple's famous "1984" television commercial, introducing the Macintosh computer and directed by Ridley Scott, ran during a timeout in the third quarter. The advertisement changed how the Super Bowl would be used as a media advertising platform.
As previously mentioned, the highlight package to Super Bowl XVIII was voiceover artist John Facenda's final project for NFL Films. Facenda died eight months after the game. An expanded version of "Black Sunday" (the highlight film's title) has appeared on "NFL's Greatest Games" and contains an additional hour of game footage plus audio play-by-play from Bill King and Rich Marotta (Raiders), and Frank Herzog and Sonny Jurgensen (Redskins), while retaining Facenda's narration.
Following the game, CBS aired the pilot episode of "Airwolf".
The pregame festivities, which paid tribute to George Halas, featured the University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band and the Florida State University Marching Chiefs. After a moment of silence for Halas, singer Barry Manilow performed the national anthem. The coin toss ceremony featured Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback and defensive tackle Bronko Nagurski.
The halftime show was a "Salute to Superstars of Silver Screen."
During the first half, the Raiders scored on offense, defense, and special teams, becoming the first team to score two non-offensive touchdowns in a Super Bowl. Less than five minutes into the game, Los Angeles's Derrick Jensen blocked Jeff Hayes' punt deep in Washington territory and recovered the ball in the end zone to give the Raiders a 7–0 lead. On their ensuing drive, Washington was forced to punt, but Los Angeles punt returner Ted Watts muffed the catch, and Washington safety Greg Williams recovered the ball at the Raiders 42-yard line. However, the Redskins advanced only to the Raiders 27-yard line and came away with no points after kicker Mark Moseley missed a 44-yard field goal attempt.
Early in the second quarter, Raiders punter Ray Guy prevented a disaster when he leaped to pull in a high snap one-handed, before punting through the endzone for a touchback. After Washington were forced to punt, quarterback Jim Plunkett completed a 50-yard pass to wide receiver Cliff Branch, advancing the ball to the Redskins' 15-yard line. Branch said that the Raiders took advantage of the tailwind after the teams switched sides. Two plays later, Plunkett threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Branch, increasing the lead to 14–0. One of the key contributors on the touchdown play was center Dave Dalby. After snapping the ball, Dalby had no one in front of him to block, so he backpedaled into the backfield and spotted linebacker Rich Milot coming at Plunkett from the left side, managing to throw a block against him just in time to prevent a sack and enable Plunkett to throw the ball. Cliff Branch became just the fourth player to catch a touchdown in two different Super Bowls (after Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Butch Johnson).
On their next drive, the Redskins moved the ball 73 yards in 12 plays to the Raiders 7-yard line, with Joe Theismann completing a 17-yard pass to receiver Alvin Garrett and three passes to tight end Clint Didier for 50 yards. However, linebacker Rod Martin broke up Theismann's third-down pass attempt, forcing Washington to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Moseley. Los Angeles took the ensuing kickoff and drove 41 yards to the Redskins 39-yard line. The drive stalled when Plunkett's third-down pass fell incomplete, but Ray Guy's 27-yard punt pinned Washington back at their own 12-yard line with 12 seconds left in the half. From there, head coach Joe Gibbs had Theismann run a screen play called "Rocket Screen", but Raiders linebacker Jack Squirek intercepted the pass and returned it for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 21–3 halftime lead. The defense was prepared for the play, as Theismann had successfully completed an identical screen pass to Joe Washington for a 67-yard gain in their 37–35 victory over the Raiders on October 2. In fact, Los Angeles linebackers coach Charlie Sumner had sent Squirek onto the field as a last-second substitution specifically to cover Washington. "I was mad," said linebacker Matt Millen, who had to run off the field to avoid a penalty. "I'd called a blitz, and I was cranked up for it, but he told Jack to play the screen and sent him in. I guess Charlie knows what he's doing, huh?"
The Redskins regrouped in the second half and scored on their opening drive by marching 70 yards in nine plays. First, Garrett returned the opening kickoff 35 yards from 5 yards deep in the end zone to the Washington 30-yard line. Then, Theismann completed a 23-yard pass to receiver Charlie Brown to the Raiders 47-yard line. Eight plays later, fullback John Riggins finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. (Riggins became the second player to run for touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls; he had one in Super Bowl XVII en route to winning that game's Super Bowl MVP award.) Moseley's extra point attempt was blocked by reserve tight end Don Hasselbeck, but the Redskins had cut the score to 21–9 and were just two touchdowns away from taking the lead.
However, the Raiders completely took over the rest of the game, preventing any chance of a Washington comeback. On the ensuing drive, Washington defensive back Darrell Green was called for a 38-yard pass interference penalty while trying to cover Raiders receiver Malcolm Barnwell, setting up running back Marcus Allen's 5-yard touchdown run seven plays later to make the score 28–9. Late in the third quarter, the Redskins had an opportunity to score after defensive back Anthony Washington forced and recovered a fumble from Branch at the Raiders 35-yard line. They moved the ball nine yards in their next three plays, and then faced fourth down and one. Washington attempted to convert the fourth down with a run by Riggins, just like their successful fourth down conversion against the Miami Dolphins in the previous Super Bowl. But this time, Riggins was tackled by Martin for no gain.
On the next play, the last play of the third quarter, Plunkett handed the ball off to Allen, who started to run left as the play was designed. But after taking an unusually wide turn in that direction (he later confessed, "I messed up."), Allen saw a lot of defenders in front of him and cut back to the middle before taking off for a then-Super Bowl record 74-yard touchdown run, increasing L. A.'s lead to 35–9. This play would later be immortalized by one of the last great lines from narrator John Facenda, who said, "As Washington's hopes faded into the dying daylight, on came Marcus Allen, running with the night."
In the fourth quarter, the Raiders sacked Theismann three times, forcing him to fumble once, and intercepted a pass. Meanwhile, a 39-yard run from Allen set up a 21-yard field goal from kicker Chris Bahr to make the final score of the game 38–9.
Plunkett finished the game with 16 out of 25 pass completions for 172 yards and a touchdown. Theismann threw for more yards than Plunkett (243), but was just 16 out of 35 and was intercepted twice. He was also sacked six times. Branch was the top receiver of the game with six receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown. Guy punted seven times for 299 yards (42.7 average), with 244 net yards (34.8 average) and planted five of his seven punts inside the 20. Martin recorded a sack, a pass deflection, and a fumble recovery. Riggins, who had rushed for over 100 yards in his last six postseason games, was held to 64 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, with his longest gain being just 8 yards. Brown was their top receiver with three receptions for 93 yards. Tight end Clint Didier caught five passes for 65 yards. Garrett recorded 100 yards on kickoff returns, and one reception for 17 yards. Part of both of Allen's touchdown runs were cutbacks, which, according to "New York Daily News" writer Larry Fox, burned an overpursuing Redskins defense.
After the game, Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard said that Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes were the difference in the game. Haynes had played out his contract with the Patriots after the 1982 season, and sat out most of the first part of the 1983 season during contract negotiations. He eventually signed with the Raiders, who were forced to give the Patriots draft picks in compensation. He played the final five games of the regular season; his addition gave the Raiders two shutdown corners. According to Beathard, Hayes and Haynes "changed our whole game plan." Hayes had only one tackle, but had the left side of the field covered so effectively that Theismann hardly bothered to throw there. Haynes had two tackles, one interception, and two pass breakups. Although Brown averaged 31 yards on his 3 receptions, Redskin wide receivers combined for only 5 catches, with none in the first half.
This marked the final game in the Hall of Fame career of Raiders linebacker Ted Hendricks, who retired upon earning his fourth Super Bowl ring (three with the Raiders and one with the Baltimore Colts).
The Raiders were the first team to score an offensive, defensive, and special teams touchdown in the same Super Bowl. The Redskins became the second defending champion to lose a Super Bowl (their divisional rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, were the first, losing Super Bowl XIII after winning Super Bowl XII). The Redskins would be joined by the Green Bay Packers in 1998 (won Super Bowl XXXI, lost Super Bowl XXXII), the Seattle Seahawks in 2015 (won Super Bowl XLVIII, lost Super Bowl XLIX), and the New England Patriots in 2018 (won Super Bowl LI, lost Super Bowl LII).
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XVIII, Super Bowl XVIII Play Finder LA, Super Bowl XVIII Play Finder Was
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XVIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29144 |
Super Bowl XIX
Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1984 season. The 49ers defeated the Dolphins by the score of 38–16, to win their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 20, 1985, at Stanford Stadium, on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, the first Super Bowl played in the San Francisco Bay Area. This also became the second Super Bowl after Super Bowl XIV where the game was coincidentally played in the home market of one of the participants.
The game was hyped as the battle between two great quarterbacks: Miami's Dan Marino and San Francisco's Joe Montana. The Dolphins entered their fifth Super Bowl in team history after posting a 14–2 regular season record. The 49ers were making their second Super Bowl appearance after becoming the first team to win 15 regular season games since the league expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978.
With Marino and Montana, the game became the first Super Bowl in which the starting quarterbacks of each team both threw for over 300 yards. In addition, the two teams combined for 851 total offensive yards, which at that time was a Super Bowl record. But after trailing 10–7 in the first quarter, the 49ers would end up taking the game in dominating fashion, scoring three touchdowns in the second quarter, and 10 unanswered points in the second half. Montana, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, completed 24 of 35 passes for a Super Bowl-record 331 yards and three touchdowns. He also broke the Super Bowl record for most rushing yards gained by a quarterback with his 5 rushes for 59 yards and 1 rushing touchdown.
This was the first Super Bowl to be televised in the United States by ABC, joining the annual broadcasting rotation of the game with CBS and NBC. It was also the first time that the sitting U.S. president participated in the coin toss ceremony; Ronald Reagan appeared live via satellite from the White House and tossed the coin. This Super Bowl was unique in that it fell on the same day that he was inaugurated for a second term; because Inauguration Day (January 20) fell on a Sunday, Reagan was sworn in privately and the public ceremony took place the following day.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XIX to Stanford University Stadium in Stanford, California on December 14, 1982 at an owners meeting held in Dallas. It became the fourth primarily college stadium to host a Super Bowl, following Tulane Stadium, then the home of the New Orleans Saints (1970, 1972, and 1975), Rice Stadium (1974) and the Rose Bowl (1977, 1980, 1983, 1987, and 1993).
As the Dolphins advanced to the Super Bowl for the fifth time in franchise history, much of the media focus was on Miami's young quarterback, Dan Marino. In just his second year in the league, he broke nearly every NFL single-season passing record. Marino set a record for the most completions in a season (362) and became the first quarterback to throw for over 5,000 yards, reaching a total of 5,084. He set the record for the most games throwing for at least 300 passing yards (9) and the most games with 400 yards (4). Marino's 48 touchdown passes broke the previous record of 36, which was held by both George Blanda for the Houston Oilers in 1961 and Y. A. Tittle for the New York Giants in 1963. And he had the most games (6) and the most consecutive games (4) with at least 4 touchdown passes.
Thus going into Super Bowl XIX, many sports writers predicted that it would be the first of many Super Bowls that Marino would play in during his career. Marino had a unique ability to read the defenses quickly before setting up to throw, and his skill of quickly releasing the ball made it very difficult for defenders to sack him. In addition, he had protection given to him by an offensive line led by All-Pro center Dwight Stephenson and Pro Bowl guard Ed Newman. Coming into Super Bowl XIX, Marino had only been sacked 13 times in the regular season and not once in the playoffs.
The Dolphins had a number of offensive threats for Marino to use. Wide receivers Mark Clayton (73 receptions, 1,389 yards, 18 touchdowns) and Mark Duper (71 receptions, 1,306 yards, 8 touchdowns) became the first teammates to each gain over 1,300 receiving yards in one season, while Clayton's 18 touchdown catches broke the NFL single-season record of 17 set by Don Hutson in 1942. Receiver Nat Moore caught 43 passes for 574 yards and 6 touchdowns, while tight end Dan Johnson contributed 34 receptions for 426 yards. While Miami's main offensive attack was passing, they still had a trio of great running backs: Tony Nathan, Woody Bennett, and Joe Carter. Both Nathan and Bennett finished the season with over 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards, while Carter contributed 495 rushing yards. Despite Miami's superb offense, punter Reggie Roby still made the Pro Bowl, averaging 44.7 yards per punt with a net gain average of 38.7.
However, the Dolphins' defense was a little suspect. They tied the Houston Oilers and the Minnesota Vikings for the most rushing yards allowed during the regular season (4.7 yards per attempt), and ranked just 19th in fewest yards allowed (5,759). The main bright spots on the defense were safeties, brothers Lyle and Glenn Blackwood, along with Pro Bowl inside linebacker A. J. Duhe, Pro Bowl nose tackle Bob Baumhower, and defensive end Doug Betters. Glenn Blackwood had picked off 6 passes during the season and returned them for 169 yards, while Betters recorded 14 sacks and a fumble recovery. Linebacker Charles Bowser was also a big contributor, recording 9 sacks and one fumble recovery.
Despite their defensive flaws, the Dolphins' powerful offense led the NFL in scoring (513 points) and total yards gained (7,064), and helped the team reach an AFC best 14–2 regular season record.
The 49ers advanced to their second Super Bowl in team history after becoming the first team to win 15 regular season games since the league expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978. Much of the hype surrounding the team was their offense, which boasted five Pro Bowlers. Quarterback Joe Montana recorded 279 completions out of 432 attempts for 3,630 yards, 28 touchdowns, and only 10 interceptions. Running back Roger Craig was one of the 49ers' major weapons, both rushing and receiving. Craig was the team's second-leading rusher with 649 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns, and also caught 71 passes for 675 yards. Pro Bowl running back Wendell Tyler, who had rushed for a team record 1,262 yards during the regular season, recorded 7 rushing touchdowns, and also caught 28 passes for 230 yards and 2 touchdown receptions. Fullback Earl Cooper also made an impact with 41 receptions for 459 yards and 4 touchdowns. Wide receivers Freddie Solomon and Dwight Clark also were deep threats, gaining a combined total of 1,617 yards and 16 touchdowns. Up front, three of the 49ers' five starting offensive linemen, Randy Cross, Fred Quillan, and Keith Fahnhorst, had been selected to play in the Pro Bowl. Overall, San Francisco's offense finished the season ranked second in the NFL in scoring (475 points) and fourth in total yards (6,544).
Although they did not get as much media attention as the offense, the 49ers' defense led the league in fewest points allowed during the regular season (227). All four of the 49ers' starting defensive backs, Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Carlton Williamson, and Dwight Hicks, were selected to play in the Pro Bowl. Pro Bowl linebacker Keena Turner was also a major defensive weapon, recording 2 sacks and 4 interceptions for 51 yards. Defensive end Dwaine Board anchored the line, recording 10 sacks and a fumble recovery. Future hall of fame Defensive end Fred Dean missed the first 11 games of the season holding out over a contract dispute, but immediately made his presence felt upon returning, recording 4 sacks in his five games.
The Dolphins gained 405 yards of total offense in their 31–10 playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks, and over 500 yards as they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 45–28, in the AFC Championship Game. In the victory over the Steelers (the only team to beat San Francisco during the season), Marino completed 21 of 32 passes for 421 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 1 interception.
Meanwhile, the 49ers' underrated defense allowed the team to blitz through the playoffs. Although Montana threw a combined total of 5 interceptions in their 2 games, they only gave up a combined total of 10 points and zero touchdowns in their victories over the New York Giants, 21–10, and the Chicago Bears, 23–0.
At 33–3, the combined records for the two teams coming into the game were and still are the best in Super Bowl history. The 49ers were 17–1 and the Dolphins 16–2 including their playoff games.
This was the second time a team could have been considered a home team for a Super Bowl, with Stanford just 30 miles away from San Francisco proper - Stanford is actually 15 miles closer to the city than Santa Clara, where the 49ers play home games today. The 49ers' practice facility was located in Redwood City at the time, just five miles from Stanford Stadium. Promotion for the Super Bowl also contributed to that feeling with many photographs of the Vince Lombardi Trophy near San Francisco landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge. Thus, the 49ers may be considered the only team to have won the Super Bowl at home. The Los Angeles Rams also played near home at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in Super Bowl XIV, but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As a result of the 1982 television contract signed by the NFL with the three networks, this game was the first Super Bowl to be televised in the United States by ABC, as they earned their first turn at the Super Bowl, with a new alternation process started for the 1983 game. Previously, the Super Bowl telecast alternated between CBS and NBC, while the networks simulcast the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
ABC's NFL program, "Monday Night Football", happened to be celebrating its 15th season in 1984. Two more ABC-aired Super Bowls would occur during major anniversary seasons for "MNF" – Super Bowl XXIX (also won by the 49ers) closed out the 25th anniversary season (1994), and Super Bowl XXXIV (won by the St. Louis Rams, division rivals of the 49ers) closed out the 30th anniversary season (1999).
This Super Bowl also marked the first to have closed captioning in real time throughout the game courtesy of the National Captioning Institute (previous Super Bowls only had "scoreboard information" captioned); with the captioning sponsored by Ford Motor Company and Kentucky Fried Chicken
Frank Gifford was the play-by-play announcer, while then-ABC Sports analyst Don Meredith and then-Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann served as color commentators. Al Michaels and Jim Lampley hosted the pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame (Lampley presided over the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremony) coverage for ABC. Michaels and Lampley were joined by analysts O. J. Simpson (who would normally have been the second color commentator; when interviewed as to why Theismann would join Gifford and Meredith in the booth instead of Simpson; director Chet Forte was quoted in the January 14, 1985 edition of "Broadcasting Magazine" as saying that Theismann could contribute more due to having played both teams in the regular-season as well as having played in the two previous Super Bowls.) and Tom Landry (in a separate booth during the game). Also helping out with ABC's coverage were Jack Whitaker, Dick Schaap, Donna de Varona, Ray Gandolf, and ABC News reporters Stone Phillips, Jeff Greenfield, Judd Rose, and Bill Redeker.
This would be the only ABC Super Bowl for Gifford as play-by-play announcer, the final game for Don Meredith and the second (and last) time a commentator for the Super Bowl (Theismann) was an active player (Jack Kemp in Super Bowl II was the only other active player to provide commentary). Michaels would call ABC's next six Super Bowls, until the network lost their NFL rights in 2006.
ABC featured "MacGruder and Loud" after the game.
Jack Buck was the play-by-play announcer, while Hank Stram served as color commentator for the CBS' national radio coverage. Brent Musburger hosted the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for CBS Radio. Musburger was joined by analysts Irv Cross and Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. Locally, Super Bowl XIX was broadcast by WIOD-AM in Miami with Rick Weaver and Hank Goldberg and by KCBS-AM in San Francisco with Don Klein and Don Heinrich.
Shown on Channel 4, the XIX Super Bowl was the third to be broadcast live and in its entirety in the United Kingdom.
Super Bowl XIX was simulcast in Canada on CTV.
In Australia, Super Bowl XIX was broadcast on the Nine Network, live from 10.00am (Australian Eastern Summer Time) on Monday, January 21, 1985, with a repeat screening late at night.
Clips from this game can be seen in the movie "" as the character Ray Finkle is in reality Dolphins kicker Uwe von Schamann. Von Schamann made three field goals and an extra point in this game, but Finkle missed the game-winning field goal in a fictional Super Bowl XIX. The latter play actually occurred six years later in Super Bowl XXV.
The "NFL's Greatest Games" episode "Masters of the Game" focuses on Super Bowl XIX. The film was narrated by Brad Crandall after legendary NFL Films announcer John Facenda died in September 1984. This was the last Super Bowl highlight film produced by NFL Films using film stock; beginning with the 1985 season, NFL Films videos were produced on videotape.
The Oliver Stone film, "Any Given Sunday", features an (off-screen) "Pantheon Cup" championship game where San Francisco beats Miami, 32–13. Stone, a longtime 49ers fan, based his film's finale on Super Bowl XIX.
A major plot point in the episode "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome" of the television show "Sliders" is based on this game. In the alternate reality, the 49ers play the Jets in the Super Bowl, which leads the main character Quinn Mallory to the conclusion that something is awry.
The pre-game festivities featured a tribute to the NFL and an appearance by various team mascots. Later, a mega-choir formed by members of the San Francisco Children's Chorus, San Francisco Boys Chorus, San Francisco Girls Chorus and Piedmont Children's Choir performed the national anthem under well known choir director Louis Magor.
In honor of Inauguration Day, Ronald Reagan, himself a longtime California resident and former Governor of the state from 1967–75, became the first president to participate in a Super Bowl coin toss ceremony. However, he did it from the White House via satellite. Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Hugh McElhenny, a former 49er, was on the field during the ceremony. The U.S. Air Force provided four T-37 aircraft from nearby Mather Air Force Base (Sacramento, CA) and its 455th Flying Training Squadron for the fly-over. At $255 per hour of flying time for each aircraft, this T-37 flyover ranks as the most economical in the history of Super Bowls. In addition, all the pilots were young officers symbolizing California as the land of opportunity and youth.
The halftime show was titled "World of Children's Dreams" and featured Tops In Blue, an elite performing tour ensemble consisting of members from the U.S. Air Force. Additional performers were recruited from USAF active, retired, and their dependents.
Instead of the predicted shootout between Dan Marino and Joe Montana, the game was mostly one-sided. The 49ers' defense only allowed 25 rushing yards and 16 Dolphins points. San Francisco also intercepted Marino twice and sacked him 4 times. The Dolphins set a Super Bowl record for fewest rush attempts in a game (9).
In the opening minutes of the game, it seemed that the game "would" live up to the hype. On the opening kickoff, 49ers rookie kick returner Derrick Harmon caught the ball too close to the sidelines and stepped out of bounds at the San Francisco 6-yard line. The 49ers managed to advance to the 41-yard line but were forced to punt, and Dolphins defensive back Fulton Walker returned the punt 9 yards to the Miami 36-yard line. Then on their first play of the drive, Marino completed a 25-yard pass to Tony Nathan. Five plays later, Miami reached the San Francisco 23-yard line. But on third down, 49ers cornerback Eric Wright tackled wide receiver Mark Clayton 2 yards shy of the first down. Miami had to settle for a 37-yard field goal from Uwe von Schamann.
The Dolphins' 3–0 lead did not last long, as the 49ers stormed down the field on their next possession. San Francisco drove 78 yards in 8 plays, culminating in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Montana to reserve running back Carl Monroe to give them a 7–3 lead. But Miami retook the lead on their ensuing drive. After a 5-yard rush by Nathan, the Dolphins went into a no-huddle offense, preventing the 49ers from making substitutions and keeping their run defense on the field. Marino completed five consecutive passes, hitting Clayton for 18 yards, Mark Duper for 11, Clayton again for 13, and tight end Dan Johnson for 21. On the next play, Marino finished the drive by hitting Johnson for a 2-yard touchdown pass, giving the Dolphins a 10–7 lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the 49ers began to take control of the game. Bill Walsh switched to a 4–1–6 (or dime defense) to slow down Miami's passing attack, with Keena Turner as the sole linebacker. Miami tried to run against the 4–1–6 alignment, to no avail. Safety Dwight Hicks broke up two consecutive Marino passes, and the Dolphins were forced to punt from their own 10-yard line. Then after taking the ball at the Miami 47-yard line, Montana scrambled for a 19-yard run, and then completed a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Dwight Clark to reach the 12-yard line. From there, Wendell Tyler rushed for 4 yards, and then Montana threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Roger Craig, giving the 49ers a 14–10 lead.
Miami then had to punt again on their ensuing possession, and San Francisco defensive back Dana McLemore returned the ball 28 yards to the 49ers 45-yard line. After advancing 15 yards with two running plays, Montana completed a pair of passes to tight end Russ Francis to move the ball 29 yards to the Miami 11-yard line. Craig ran for 5 yards on the next play, and then Montana ran the final 6 yards to the end zone for a touchdown, making the score 21–10. After the ensuing kickoff, Miami again was forced to punt after three plays, and McLemore returned Reggie Roby's 39-yard punt 10 yards to the 49ers 48-yard line. Montana was sacked for a 5-yard loss by Doug Betters on the first play of the ensuing drive, but he struck back with a 20-yard completion to Craig and a 7-yard run over the next two plays. On the next play, wide receiver Freddie Solomon caught a pass from Montana, took one step, and then lost the ball due to a hit from safety Lyle Blackwood. Blackwood quickly recovered the ball and took off for the 49ers' end zone, but field judge Bob Lewis blew the play dead, ruling that Solomon's fumble was an incomplete pass. Bill Quinby, the side judge, who was nearest to the play, did not make any call. Five plays later, Craig finished the nine-play, 52-yard drive with his second touchdown on a 2-yard run, increasing the 49ers' lead to 28–10.
With about two minutes left in the half, the Dolphins finally managed to get a good drive going on their next possession. Marino completed seven out of nine passes, the last one being a 30-yard pass to tight end Joe Rose, to reach the 49ers' 12-yard line. However, San Francisco's defense tightened up on the next three plays, forcing two incompletions and a completed pass for no gain, and Miami was forced to settle for von Schamann's second field goal of the game to cut their deficit to 28–13 with 12 seconds left in the half. Then Miami caught a break as the 49ers botched the ensuing kickoff. San Francisco lineman Guy McIntyre received von Schamann's short kick and was about to down the ball, but then changed his mind at the last second and decided to return it. This turned out to be a big mistake; McIntyre fumbled while being leveled by rookie Joe Carter, and Jim Jensen recovered the ball for Miami at the 49ers' 12-yard line. After that, von Schamann kicked his third field goal on the last play of the half, cutting the score to 28–16. "I can laugh about the play now, but it wasn't funny at the time," McIntyre said after the game. "My first instinct when I got the ball was to fall down. Then I heard everyone yelling, 'Get up! Get up!' So I got up, and here comes someone sneaking underneath me, and he hit the ball."
However, any thoughts of a Miami comeback ended early in the third quarter. On the first play of the second half, 49ers defensive end Dwaine Board tackled Nathan for a 1-yard loss. Then after Marino threw an incompletion, Board sacked him for a 9-yard loss on third down. For the fourth time in the game, Roby had to punt, and again McLemore gave the 49ers good field position with an 8-yard punt return to San Francisco's 47-yard line. The 49ers then drove 43 yards and scored on kicker Ray Wersching's 27-yard field goal. On the Dolphins' ensuing drive, they were forced to punt again after Marino was sacked twice (once by defensive lineman Manu Tuiasosopo and once by Board). Starting on their own 30-yard line after a 5-yard return by McLemore, Montana completed a 40-yard pass to Tyler, followed up with a 14-yard completion to Francis. Three plays later, Craig scored his third touchdown on a 16-yard reception to make the score 38–16. The score proved to be the last one from either team, as the defenses of both teams took over for the rest of the game – especially the 49ers' defense, who intercepted Marino twice.
Overall, San Francisco gained a Super Bowl-record 537 yards, breaking the Oakland Raiders' record of 429 yards in Super Bowl XI, while limiting Miami to 314, with just 25 rushing yards. San Francisco's 38 points also tied a Super Bowl record set by the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII.
The 49ers' 288 offensive yards in the first half also tied the Raiders in Super Bowl XI for the most offensive yards in a half during a Super Bowl.
Marino finished the game with 29 out of 50 pass completions for 318 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Clayton was the top receiver of the game, with 6 receptions for 92 yards. Walker returned 4 kickoffs for 93 yards and gained 15 yards on 2 punt returns. Nathan was the Dolphins leading rusher with 18 yards, while also catching 10 passes for 83 yards. Craig had 58 rushing yards, 77 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns. He was the first player to score 3 touchdowns in a Super Bowl, and his 2 touchdown catches also tied a Super Bowl record. Tyler led San Francisco in rushing with 65 yards, and also caught 4 passes for 70 yards. Clark caught 6 passes for 77 yards. Board recorded 2 sacks. McLemore recorded 51 punt return yards, the second most in Super Bowl history. "Sports Illustrated" called 49ers defensive tackle Gary Johnson the Super Bowl's "unofficial defensive MVP" after he recorded one sack, flushed Marino out of the pocket numerous times, and had four unassisted tackles.
49ers rookie defensive tackle Michael Carter became the first athlete to win an Olympic medal and Super Bowl ring in the same year. Before this game he had won a silver medal in the shot put competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
After the game, Lyle Blackwood criticized the referee's ruling of Freddie Solomon's fumble as an incomplete pass. "You don't want the game to hinge on that play, but you never know," Blackwood said. "I could have taken the ball up the sideline. That's a 14-point swing." However, other Dolphins were not convinced. "We were dominated to the point where one play didn't make much of a difference," said Dolphins coach Don Shula. "Our major objective was to contain Montana, and we did a terrible, terrible job of it," added defensive coach Chuck Studley. Even Reggie Roby, who averaged only 39.3 yards per punt and didn't place any of his 6 punts inside the 20, took some responsibility for the loss. "I was trying to kill the ball, and I kicked it bad," he said. "I didn't hit one well. I was scared – scared to make a mistake. It was the worst game of my life, counting high school, college, counting everything." Meanwhile, in the 49ers' locker room, Joe Montana had his own explanation for the win. "As far as my own game, well, I'd have to admit it was pretty close to the best I've ever played. I didn't throw anything I didn't have confidence in. We got in sort of a groove. Once you get going like that you gain confidence, and it carries over to the defense, and then back to the offense. It's a snowball kind of thing."
The 49ers' offensive line dominated the Dolphins' undersized defensive line, a major reason why Montana was only sacked once. Offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick recalled that when he and his linemen looked at film of the game, they were surprised at how one-sided the matchup was. According to McKittrick, he and the linemen wondered, "This is a Super Bowl defense?"
Walsh recalled that he could see "a distinct difference" between his 49ers and the Dolphins during warmups. According to Walsh, it was obvious that the Dolphins were "a one-dimensional team" with no real ground game to compliment Marino's passing, and were nowhere near as physical as the 49ers.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XIX, Super Bowl XIX Play Finder SF, Super Bowl XIX Play Finder Mia
1Completions/attempts
2Rushing attempts
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XIX, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source:
Tom Kelleher became the first official to work five Super Bowls, a record which has been tied by four other officials, but never surpassed. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29145 |
Super Bowl XXI
Super Bowl XXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1986 season. The Giants defeated the Broncos, 39–20, for their first Super Bowl and first NFL title since 1956. The game was played on January 25, 1987, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
This was the Broncos' first Super Bowl appearance since the 1977 season. Led largely through the play of quarterback John Elway and a defense that led the AFC in fewest yards allowed, the Broncos posted an 11–5 regular season record and two narrow playoff victories. The Giants, led by quarterback Phil Simms, running back Joe Morris, and their "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" defense, advanced to their first Super Bowl after posting a 14–2 regular season record and only allowing a combined total of 3 points in their two postseason wins.
The game was tight in the first half, with the Broncos holding a 10–9 halftime lead, the narrowest margin in Super Bowl history. The only score in the second quarter, however, was Giants defensive end George Martin's sack of Elway in the end zone for a safety. This began the Giants run of scoring 26 unanswered points through the third and fourth quarters. The Giants also posted a Super Bowl record 30 points in the second half, and limited the Broncos to only 2 net yards in the third quarter. Simms, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, finished the game with 22 of 25 passes completed for 268 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 25 rushing yards on 3 carries. His 22 out of 25 (88%) completion percentage broke both a Super Bowl and NFL postseason record.
The telecast of the game on CBS was seen by an estimated 87.2 million viewers. This was one of the first times that a very large, national audience saw what is now the traditional Gatorade shower, where players dump a cooler full of liquid over a coach's head following a meaningful win. The practice was first started by Giants players in 1985 but it did not gain much national prominence until this season.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXI to Pasadena, California on May 24, 1984 during their May 23–25, 1984 meetings in Washington, D.C. Fourteen cities were part of the bidding process, which was scheduled to award four Super Bowls (XXI, XXII, XXIII, and XXIV). The bidding cities included: Anaheim, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pasadena, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa, and Tempe. The Philadelphia host committee assembled what was considered a strong, but long-shot bid, hoping to win the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold weather city.
The balloting for XXI took 13 ballots and over two hours to complete, with Pasadena finally receiving the winning bid. XXII was also voted on, but the voting for XXIII and XXIV was postponed. This was the fourth time that Pasadena hosted the game, and the sixth time it was held in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
The Broncos won the AFC West with an 11–5 regular season record, largely through the play of quarterback John Elway. In just his fourth season in the league, Elway made an impact to the team with his ad-libbing skills. During the regular season, he had thrown for 3,480 yards and 19 touchdowns, while also rushing for 257 yards, the third-leading rusher on the team.
Elway did not really have a particular receiver who caught most of his passes during the regular season, but wide receivers Mark Jackson, Vance Johnson, Steve Watson, and tight end Orson Mobley all combined for 136 receptions and 2,132 yards. Pro Bowl running back Sammy Winder was the Broncos' top rusher with 789 yards and 9 touchdowns, while also catching 26 passes for another 171 yards and 5 touchdowns. Halfback Gerald Willhite rushed for 365 yards and 5 touchdowns, while also leading the team in receptions with 64 (for 529 yards and three touchdowns), and ranking third in the NFL in both punt return yards (468) and yards per return average (11.1). The Broncos also had a powerful offensive line, led by Pro Bowl guard Keith Bishop.
The Broncos' defense led the AFC in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,651). The defensive line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Rulon Jones, who recorded 13.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Denver's linebacking corps, led by three-time Pro Bowler Tom Jackson and Karl Mecklenburg, who recorded 9.5 sacks, was viewed as comparable to the Giants' Pro Bowl linebackers. Their secondary was led by Pro Bowl cornerbacks Dennis Smith and Louis Wright, along with Mike Harden, who intercepted 6 passes and returned them for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wright, Steve Foley, and Jackson, the last remnants of Denver's Orange Crush defense of the 1970s, all retired after this Super Bowl.
The Giants advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history, and were playing for their first league championship since they lost to the Chicago Bears in the 1963 NFL Championship Game. The Giants were led by quarterback Phil Simms, who threw for 3,487 yards and 21 touchdowns (but also 22 interceptions). Simms' main target was tight end Mark Bavaro, who caught 66 passes for 1,001 yards and 4 touchdowns. Although the Giants did not have one great wide receiver, they did have several good ones. Receivers Stacy Robinson, Bobby Johnson, and Phil McConkey combined for 76 receptions and 1,307 yards.
However, running the ball was the Giants' primary offensive attack. Running back Joe Morris finished the regular season with a then-franchise record 1,516 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, while also catching 21 passes for 223 yards and another touchdown. One reason for his success was fullback Maurice Carthon, who provided Morris with excellent blocking and was the team's second leading rusher with 260 yards. Another reason was the play of their offensive line, led by Pro Bowl left tackle Brad Benson and right tackle Karl Nelson. On special teams, punter Sean Landeta made the Pro Bowl with an average of 44.8 gross yards per punt (2nd in the NFL), a net average of 37.1, and 24 punts inside the 20.
The Giants also had a lot of weapons on their defense, nicknamed The "Big Blue Wrecking Crew". After giving up 31 points in a season-opening loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants had not given up more than 20 points in a game until the last game of the season, in a 55–24 win over the Green Bay Packers. The team ranked second in the NFL in fewest points (236) and yards (4,757) allowed. The Giants' defensive leader was Hall of Fame outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who led the league with 20.5 sacks during the regular season, won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award for the third time in his career, and became just the second defensive player to win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. At 6'3" and 245 pounds, Taylor was big enough to break through the offensive lines of many teams, but he still had enough speed to chase down running backs. The Giants' other starting linebackers, Gary Reasons, Carl Banks, and Harry Carson, did not get as much media attention as Taylor, but Carson had been selected to play in the Pro Bowl, while Reasons had two interceptions and Banks recorded 6.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries. Nose tackle Jim Burt and right end Leonard Marshall, who were also both selected to the Pro Bowl, anchored the defensive line. Marshall recorded 12 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, and 1 interception during the season. The Giants secondary was led by safeties Terry Kinard (4 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries) and Kenny Hill (3 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries), along with cornerback Perry Williams (4 interceptions).
With the play of their defense, the running attack led by Morris, and Simms' passing game, the Giants earned a 14–2 regular season record.
Elway's ability to improvise on the fly, in part, helped Denver to make it through the playoffs, narrowly defeating the New England Patriots 22–17, and the Cleveland Browns 23–20, in the AFC Championship Game. The AFC Championship Game against the Browns was particularly significant because Elway displayed why many NFL experts thought Super Bowl XXI would be the first of many Super Bowls for him. In what became known as "The Drive", the Broncos started from their own 2-yard line, trailing 20–13, with 5:32 left to play. But in 15 plays, Elway led Denver 98 yards for a game-tying touchdown pass with 39 seconds left. The Broncos then won in overtime after Elway led them 60 yards in 9 plays to set up kicker Rich Karlis' game-winning field goal.
Meanwhile, the Giants went on to only allow a combined total of 3 points in their playoff victories over the San Francisco 49ers, 49–3, and the Washington Redskins, 17–0, respectively. The dominating performances by the Giants' defense gave the team extra confidence going into their Super Bowl matchup versus the Broncos.
Much of the pregame hype centered around the confrontation between Elway and Taylor, and whether or not Taylor would be able to hurry Elway's throws or sack him. The Giants had narrowly defeated Denver during the regular season, forcing four turnovers in a 19–16 win despite being outgained in total yards 405 to 262. This was the last Super Bowl until Super Bowl XXXIV in which both teams entered the game having never won a Super Bowl before.
The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. Brent Musburger of "The NFL Today" anchored "The Super Bowl Today" pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. Helping Musburger were reporters Irv Cross and Will McDonough and analysts Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Theismann, CBS News reporter Charles Osgood and Dan Dierdorf (in his final CBS assignment before moving on to ABC's "Monday Night Football" for the following season). The game was also the first NFL game to be broadcast in Dolby Surround sound and in stereo. The game was also broadcast in Canada on CTV and in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. The latter had commentary by Frank Gifford and John Smith. This was also the first Super Bowl to be telecast on commercial television in Asia, as the GMA Network in the Philippines aired its first Super Bowl. This game also marked the first Super Bowl to be broadcast live in Rome.
In the teams' local markets, the game was also broadcast by CBS stations in the New York City and Denver markets, WCBS-TV 2 in New York City and KMGH-TV 7 in Denver.
The postgame show was supposed to feature the song "One Shining Moment" but due to postgame interviews taking so long, CBS never aired it. They ultimately changed the lyrics from "The ball is kicked" to "The ball is tipped" in time for the 1987 Final Four (in which Indiana University won its most recent national title to date), and the song has since then been played at the end of the network's annual NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship coverage (it is also played on Turner Sports when said game airs on that network due to alternating rights with CBS that first started in 2016). CBS also debuted the theme music (composed by Lloyd Landesman) that would later be used for their college football coverage during this game (still used as of the 2018 season), as well as its open that was used through 1990.
This Super Bowl is featured in "NFL's Greatest Games" under the title "Land of the Giants" and was narrated by John Doremus.
Nationally on radio, the game was carried over the NBC Radio Network. Don Criqui served as play-by-play with Bob Trumpy his color commentator. This was the last Super Bowl called by Criqui, as NBC Radio lost NFL rights following the season and he returned to his secondary play-by-play role on NBC television. Trumpy would call two more Super Bowls for NBC television (Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII) as part of the network's No. 1 broadcast team. In the teams' local markets, the game was carried on WNEW-AM in New York City with Jim Gordon and Dick Lynch and KOA-AM in Denver, Colorado with Bob Martin and Larry Zimmer.
The pregame show was a salute to California and featured the pop music group The Beach Boys. Singer Neil Diamond performed the national anthem. The show was directed and choreographed by Lesslee Fitzmorris. The coin toss ceremony featured Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman Willie Davis.
The halftime show was a "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary" featuring an introduction by George Burns (who was only nine years younger than the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles) and a performance by the Southern California high school drill teams and dancers.
As had been their tradition all season, upon securing their victory, Giants players celebrated by dumping a Gatorade cooler on head coach Bill Parcells. The 1986 Giants were the first team to initiate what has now become a standard post-game celebration, and the Super Bowl telecast enabled a large, national audience to first witness what has become commonplace.
Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil Simms became the first athlete to appear in an "I'm going to Disney World!" television ad, being recorded shouting the phrase while celebrating the team's victory immediately after the game.
On the Broncos' first play after receiving the opening kickoff, quarterback John Elway faked a handoff, then spun around and ran in the opposite direction for a 10-yard gain to the Denver 34-yard line. Then on third down, his 24-yard completion to receiver Mark Jackson advanced the ball to the Giants' 39-yard line. However, the Giants' defense tightened up and halted the drive at the 30-yard line, forcing Denver to settle for Rich Karlis's 48-yard field goal to give them a 3–0 lead. Karlis's kick tied a game record for longest field goal set by Jan Stenerud of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.
The Giants then took the ensuing kickoff and stormed right back on a 9-play, 78-yard drive. First, quarterback Phil Simms completed a 17-yard pass to receiver Lionel Manuel. Then running back Joe Morris ran for 11 yards to the Denver 41-yard line. The Giants then marched to the Denver 6-yard line with Simms' 18-yard pass to receiver Stacy Robinson, and then a 17-yard completion to tight end Mark Bavaro two plays later. Finally, Simms threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zeke Mowatt, giving the Giants a 7–3 lead.
Denver kick returner Ken Bell gave his team great field position by returning the ensuing kickoff 28 yards to the Broncos 42-yard line. Elway's first two plays were a 14-yard completion to running back Sammy Winder, an 11-yard completion to tight end Orson Mobley, moving the ball to the New York 33-yard line. On the next play Elway called a screen pass for Winder, which he ran for a gain of nine yards before going out of bounds. Linebacker Harry Carson hit Winder after he stepped out, garnering a flag for a personal foul. Then, a second penalty was assessed to Lawrence Taylor, who was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for picking up and throwing the first flag.
Carson's penalty was assessed for twelve yards, half the distance to the goal from the spot of the dead ball, and Taylor's was for half the distance from that spot, resulting in a first down at the Giants' 6-yard line. On third down, Elway scored on a quarterback draw to regain the lead for the Broncos. Karlis added the extra point for a 10–7 score.
On Denver's first drive of the second quarter, Elway dropped back to pass from his own 18-yard line on third down. The Giants' pass rush forced him to scramble out of the pocket, but it gave him time to find receiver Vance Johnson, who was wide open, for a 54-yard completion. Elway then moved the Broncos down the field further and after a third down completion to Steve Sewell, the third time Denver converted on the drive (Elway found Mobley for a second first down after the Johnson play), they had the ball on the New York 1 with a chance to go up by 10.
Needing a stop, the Giants stood their ground. First, Elway tried a run-pass option, but Taylor broke through the line and tackled him for a one-yard loss. Carson stopped fullback Gerald Willhite on the next play for no gain on a run up the middle, and Carl Banks chased down Winder as he attempted to score on a sweep, tackling him for a four-yard loss. After losing five yards in three plays, Karlis tried to salvage the drive with a field goal, but he missed from 23 yards, giving him the record for the shortest missed field goal in Super Bowl history.
The first use of instant replay in a Super Bowl game came with approximately three minutes to play in the half. With Denver deep in its own end of the field, Elway, on second down from his own 13-yard line after having been sacked on first down, found tight end Clarence Kay for a gain of 25 yards. The call was then reversed on the field, as the officials said that Kay had never had control of the ball before he was tackled. Play did not immediately resume, however, as referee Jerry Markbreit continued to discuss with his crew what to do. Finally, director of officiating Art McNally paged umpire Bob Boylston from the instant replay booth, which was, at the time, the signal that a play would be reviewed. As the officials waited for their decision, CBS showed several replays of the play that were inconclusive. After several minutes, Markbreit was given word that the play would stand as called and relayed this to the crowd. This proved crucial, as on the next play, Giants defensive tackle George Martin sacked Elway in the end zone, recording a safety and cutting the Denver lead to 10–9. To make matters more complicated, CBS' production staff found a reverse angle of the Kay catch that was unavailable to the replay booth, and it clearly showed the reception made by Kay. CBS broadcast this replay toward the end of the half.
With less than a minute remaining in the half, Elway completed a 31-yard pass to receiver Steve Watson and an 11-yard pass to Willhite, giving the Broncos a first down at the Giants 20-yard line. But the Giants defense forced three consecutive incompletions, the last of which saw Elway lead tight end Orson Mobley too far on a throw to the end zone and cause him to collide with the goal post. Then Karlis, who had made 11 of 12 field goals from inside 40 yards during the season, missed the ensuing field goal, ending another Denver drive with nothing to show for it. Karlis later admitted his two misses in the first half were devastating to the Broncos. "Both times I didn't get my hips all the way through the kicks. I was steering the ball, and I know better than that. I felt the team unravel after that. I really hurt them."
In the second half, the Giants dominated the Broncos, outscoring them 30–10 with four touchdowns and a field goal on their first five possessions.
The Giants took the opening kickoff in the third quarter, but faced fourth down and one yard after their first three plays. New York sent their punt formation out onto the field. Parcells had entertained the possibility of running a fake punt and sent Jeff Rutledge, his backup quarterback, onto the field to line up as a third blocking back along with Maurice Carthon and Lee Rouson. Parcells said his reasoning was that if the Broncos were not going to pick up on Rutledge being used as a decoy for a potential fake, he would take advantage. As he had thought, Denver paid no attention to Rutledge, and he moved under center while punter Sean Landeta split out as a receiver and Carthon and Rouson lined up in a split back set behind him. Rutledge then took the snap from center and ran a quarterback sneak to the New York 48-yard line for a first down. On the next play, Simms completed a 12-yard pass to Morris, and then followed it up with a 23-yard completion to Rouson. Three plays later, Simms finished the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bavaro to give the Giants a 16–10 lead. The Broncos were forced to punt on their next drive, and receiver Phil McConkey returned the punt 25 yards to Denver's 36-yard line. The Broncos managed to keep the Giants out of the end zone, but New York kicker Raul Allegre kicked a 21-yard field goal to increase their lead to 19–10.
Denver was again forced to punt on their ensuing possession. Afterwards, Simms completed a 17-yard pass to Manuel at the Broncos 45-yard line. Two plays later, the Giants executed a flea flicker play for a long gain. Simms handed off to Morris, but before he crossed the line of scrimmage, Morris pitched the ball back to Simms. With the ensuing pass, Simms found McConkey, who was wide open at the Broncos 20-yard line. After eluding one tackler, he was upended just before he reached the goal line, throwing his hands up in mock frustration after being stopped at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Morris scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, increasing New York's lead to 26–10.
Elway barely avoided a turnover by recovering his own fumble on the last play of the third quarter, but on the first play of the fourth quarter, he threw an interception to Giants defensive back Elvis Patterson. After that, Simms completed a 36-yard pass to Robinson. Four plays later from Denver's 6-yard line, Simms threw a pass to Bavaro in the end zone. The pass bounced off Bavaro's fingertips, but fell right into the hands of McConkey for a touchdown, extending the lead to 33–10.
The Broncos finally managed to get a good drive going on their next possession, advancing the ball 74 yards in 13 plays. Elway completed 5 of 6 passes for 46 yards and rushed for 14, while Karlis finished the drive with a 33-yard field goal, making the score 33–13. But New York recovered his ensuing onside kick attempt and stormed right back for more points. Rouson ran twice for 21 yards, and then Simms ran for a 22-yard gain. On the next play, Ottis Anderson scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, giving the Giants a 39–13 lead after Allegre missed the extra point.
Denver finally scored a touchdown when Elway found Johnson on a 47-yard bomb later on, which was the 100th recorded Super Bowl touchdown. However, by that point, the game had become so far out of reach that it did not do much good. Elway would eventually be replaced by Gary Kubiak, who took a sack to end the game, and the Giants were victorious in a 39–20 rout of the Broncos.
As the final seconds of the game ticked away, Harry Carson, continuing the recent trend started by the Giants, gave head coach Bill Parcells a Gatorade shower, going as far as to take off his jersey and pads and sneak behind Parcells with a Rose Bowl security team shirt on. Thanks in large part to this particular Gatorade dunking, a tradition of sorts was formed that continues to this day. In addition, Brad Benson and Bart Oates drenched Simms with a cooler of ice water; "I think it was very appropriate to cool the guy down", Oates explained, "as hot as he was in the game."
Simms finished with a passer rating of 150.92, the highest for one game in Super Bowl history. Morris was the top rusher of the game, gaining 67 yards, and added another 20 yards on 4 receptions. Robinson was the Giants' top receiver with 3 catches for 62 yards. Bavaro caught 4 passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. McConkey caught 2 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown, returned a punt for 25 yards, and even got to make a contribution after the game, discovering a dropped police pistol on the field and turning it over to a stadium security guard. Defensively, while the Broncos managed to bottle up Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks had 14 tackles, 10 of which were unassisted and four of those for negative yardage, while Leonard Marshall had two sacks and forced a fumble. Elway finished the game with 22 out of 37 pass completions for 304 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He also was the Broncos' leading rusher in the game, with 27 rushing yards and a touchdown on 6 carries. Denver's Vance Johnson was the top receiver of the game, with 5 receptions for 121 yards, an average of 24.2 yards per catch, and a touchdown.
The Giants' victory in Super Bowl XXI marked the second time in four months that the New York metropolitan area had won a championship in a major professional sport; three months before, the New York Mets had won the 1986 World Series.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXI, Super Bowl XXI Play Finder NYG, Super Bowl XXI Play Finder Den
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXI, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29146 |
Super Bowl XXII
Super Bowl XXII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1987 season. The Redskins defeated the Broncos by the score of 42–10, winning their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 31, 1988 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, which was the first time that the Super Bowl was played there.
This Super Bowl came at the end of a season that was shortened by a players' strike. Each team only missed one regular season game due to the labor dispute, but three games were played mostly with replacement players until the dispute was settled. The Broncos were making their second consecutive (and third overall) Super Bowl appearance, after posting a 10–4–1 regular season record, largely through the strength of their quarterback, John Elway. The Redskins, who were making their fourth Super Bowl appearance, posted an 11–4 regular season record. Washington was led by quarterback Doug Williams, who entered the season as a backup, and was 0-2 as a starter during the regular season. He ended up leading Washington to their two playoff victories. In doing so, he became the first African American quarterback ever to start in an NFL league championship game, let alone a Super Bowl.
After trailing 10–0 at the end of the first quarter of Super Bowl XXII, the Redskins scored 42 unanswered points, including a record-breaking 35 points in the second quarter, and setting several other Super Bowl records. Williams, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, completed 18 of 29 passes for a Super Bowl record 340 yards and four touchdowns, with one interception. He also became the first player in Super Bowl history to pass for four touchdowns in a single quarter, and four in a half. Williams became the first African American starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXII to San Diego on May 24, 1984 during their May 23–25, 1984 meetings in Washington, D.C. This was the first Super Bowl played at Jack Murphy Stadium (now currently known as SDCCU Stadium) in San Diego, California.
Fourteen cities were part of the bidding process, which was scheduled to award four Super Bowls (XXI, XXII, XXIII, and XXIV). The bidding cities included: Anaheim, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pasadena, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa, and Tempe. The Philadelphia host committee assembled what was considered a strong, but long-shot bid, hoping to win the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold weather city. Jacksonville and Tempe had no NFL team at the time; the Jacksonville Jaguars were founded in 1993 and did not start play until 1995, while the Cardinals moved from St. Louis to Tempe in 1988.
After the balloting for XXI took over two hours to complete, XXII was also voted on, but the voting for XXIII and XXIV was postponed. San Diego was awarded the game, marking the second time consecutive Super Bowls were played in the same state, with Pasadena hosting Super Bowl XXI. This has now happened three times in NFL history; Super Bowls II and III were both played at the Miami Orange Bowl and Super Bowls XLIII and XLIV were played in Florida (at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens).
The primary storyline surrounding Super Bowl XXII was that Washington's Doug Williams was the first African-American quarterback ever to start in a Super Bowl. This was even more meaningful given that the Redskins had once been among the league's most racist teams, being the last team to sign a black player after they reentered the league.
Williams had taken a rather unconventional route to the Super Bowl. He began his career as the first round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1978. After five seasons (including a trip to the NFC championship game in 1979), a contract dispute caused him to leave the team and sign with the Oklahoma Outlaws of the newly formed USFL. When that league folded a few years later, Williams found himself out of a job until Redskins coach Joe Gibbs asked him to join the team to be the backup for quarterback Jay Schroeder. Williams played just one game in 1986, and spent most of the 1987 season on the bench. But injuries and inconsistent play from Schroeder made Gibbs promote Williams to starting quarterback.
Williams had played extremely well in his five regular season games, passing for 1,156 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Redskins' main receiving threat was wide receiver Gary Clark, who caught 56 passes for 1,066 yards, an average of 19 yards per catch. Wide receivers Ricky Sanders and Art Monk were also deep threats, combining for 80 receptions and 1,130 yards. Running back George Rogers was Washington's leading rusher with 613 yards. However, Rogers saw limited action in Super Bowl XXII due to injuries that later forced him into early retirement. Rookie running back Timmy Smith started in his place. Fullback Kelvin Bryant also was a big contributor, rushing for 406 yards, and catching 43 passes for 490 yards during the 1987 season. The Redskins offensive line was by tackle Joe Jacoby, a 4-time pro bowl selection, and future Hall of Fame Center Russ Grimm.
The Redskins also had an excellent defensive unit, led by defensive backs Barry Wilburn, who recorded nine interceptions for 135 return yards and one touchdown; Todd Bowles, who intercepted four passes; and Darrell Green. Their line was anchored by defensive ends Charles Mann, who led the team with 9.5 sacks and recovered a fumble; and Dexter Manley, who recorded 8.5 sacks.
The Redskins finished the 1987 strike-shortened regular season as NFC East champions with an 11–4 record and the third seed in the NFC playoffs.
The Broncos advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl, overall the third appearance in team history. Quarterback John Elway had another excellent season, passing for 3,198 yards and 19 touchdowns. He was also the team's second leading rusher with 304 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receivers Vance Johnson and Ricky Nattiel, and tight end Clarence Kay, combined for 104 receptions and 1,754 yards. Running back Sammy Winder was the leading rusher with 741 yards and six touchdowns, while fullback Gene Lang rushed for 304 yards and caught 17 receptions. Denver's offensive line was led by guard Keith Bishop, who earned his second consecutive Pro Bowl selection. The Broncos also possessed a solid defensive unit, led by outside linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, who recorded 7 sacks and picked off three passes, and defensive back Mike Harden with four interceptions. Defensive end Rulon Jones led the line with 7 sacks.
The Broncos finished the strike-shortened 1987 season winning the AFC West with a 10–4–1 record and the number one seed in the AFC playoffs. Dan Reeves was the head coach.
The Broncos routed the Houston Oilers in the Divisional round of the playoffs, 34–10, jumping to a 14–0 first-quarter lead off of two quick Oilers turnovers, with Elway completing 14 of 25 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Vance Johnson recorded four catches for 105 yards, including a 55-yard reception to set up Elway's second touchdown pass. However, Johnson was injured during the game; he ended up missing AFC Championship game, and played only sparingly in the Super Bowl. Denver also lost safety Mike Harden for the rest of the season with a broken arm.
Denver then won the AFC Championship Game in exciting fashion over the AFC Central champion Cleveland Browns, 38–33 for the second consecutive year. The Broncos seemed to be in control of the game during the first half, taking a 21–3 lead. However, with quarterback Bernie Kosar, Cleveland rallied back and tied the score 31–31 in the fourth quarter. Elway responded with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Winder, taking the lead back with less than five minutes left in regulation. The Browns took the ball back and drove to the Denver 8-yard line, but the drive ended with a play that became known as The Fumble, resulting in more bad luck in Cleveland professional sports lore: Denver defensive back Jeremiah Castille stripped the football from Browns running back Earnest Byner and recovered the ensuing fumble as Byner was rushing in for the potential tying touchdown, securing the Broncos' win.
Meanwhile, the Redskins had narrow wins in the playoffs. First, they won at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears, 21–17. The key play was a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown by Redskins defensive back Darrell Green for the go-ahead touchdown. The Bears' Kevin Butler kicked a field goal to close the deficit to 21–17, but the Bears could get no closer. Noteworthy was the Redskins trailed 14–0 early in the game.
The Redskins won a defensive battle against the surprising Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game, 17–10. The Vikings barely made the playoffs with an 8–7 record during the strike-shortened regular season, but advanced to the NFC championship by winning on the road against the teams with the best records in the NFL, defeating the 12–3 New Orleans Saints 44–10, and the 13–2 San Francisco 49ers 36–24. The experienced Redskins, who had narrowly defeated Minnesota in a 27–24 overtime game during Week 15 of the season, put an end to the Vikings' string of upsets, aided by Williams' go-ahead touchdown pass to wide receiver Gary Clark with five minutes remaining to lead 17–10. Then they sealed the victory with 56 seconds left when a hard hit by Green caused running back Darrin Nelson to drop a potential touchdown catch in the end zone on fourth down and four from the Redskins 6-yard line.
Coming into Super Bowl XXII, the Broncos were favored to win (−3 as noted on the NFL Today show by Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder) because most experts thought both teams were equal in terms of talent with Elway presumed to be the superior quarterback to Williams. Elway had won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and was selected to start for the AFC in the Pro Bowl, while Williams had played just five regular season games in the 1987 season.
Before the game, it was announced that Williams underwent emergency root canal treatment for an abscessed lower right molar the previous night. Team dentist Barry Rudolph said there were no complications, and Williams then was pronounced fit to start.
The game was broadcast in the United States by ABC with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentators Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf. Keith Jackson hosted the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for ABC, joined by analysts Lynn Swann and Mike Adamle as well as then Cleveland Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer and then Minnesota Vikings head coach Jerry Burns. (Bob Griese was originally supposed to co-host with Jackson, but had to bow out due to a family illness, as his wife Judi was in the late stages of breast cancer, from which she died on February 15, 1988.) Also helping with ABC's coverage were Jack Whitaker, Jim Hill and Becky Dixon. This was the first Super Bowl broadcast on ABC with the broadcast team of Michaels, Gifford, and Dierdorf in the booth (as the 1987 season was the first year the trio was together, with Dierdorf moving to ABC from CBS; Gifford was the only holdover from ABC's Super Bowl XIX telecast). The trio went on to man the booth for ABC's "Monday Night Football" from 1987 to 1997 and called Super Bowls XXV and XXIX.
It was simulcast in Canada on CTV and in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. It was also the first Super Bowl in which Mexico's Televisa brought a team of its own (instead of relying on the U.S. signal with comments made from Mexico City), airing on its Canal de las Estrellas.
The game was broadcast nationally on radio by CBS, with Jack Buck handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Hank Stram in the broadcast booth, and Jim Hunter reporting from the sidelines. Brent Musburger anchored the Super Bowl XXII pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage with analysis from Will McDonough and Jimmy Snyder for CBS. Locally, Super Bowl XXII was broadcast on WMAL-AM in Washington, D.C. by Frank Herzog, Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgenson, and on KOA-AM in Denver, Colorado by Bob Martin and Larry Zimmer.
Locally, Super Bowl XXII was shown on WJLA-TV, the Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate and on KUSA-TV, the Denver, Colorado ABC affiliate.
"The Wonder Years" premiered on ABC immediately following the game. This was only the second successful series to debut following a Super Bowl up to that time ("The A-Team", which had premiered following Super Bowl XVII, was the first). "The Wonder Years" was a late switch by ABC; which had initially scheduled the two-hour premiere of "China Beach" for the post Super Bowl slot, but concerns about the game running long and potentially pushing the premiere episode's conclusion after midnight contributed to the program change. The NFL Films "NFL's Greatest Games" highlight film was titled "Ambush at Super Bowl XXII"; and was the first such highlight film to feature former Boston and Buffalo radio personality Jeff Kaye as its narrator.
The pregame festivities featured a tribute to entertainer Bob Hope, who was approaching the age of 85. Members representing the military service branches marched out onto the field in full dress uniforms, and in unison saluted Bob Hope for his dedication to helping the troops. Trumpeter Herb Alpert performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", while Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Don Hutson participated in the coin toss ceremony (the game happened to coincide with Hutson's 75th birthday). Alpert's performance was the last non-vocal performance of the National Anthem in a Super Bowl to date.
The halftime show, produced by Radio City Music Hall, was titled "Something Grand" and featured performances by vocalist Chubby Checker, The Rockettes, and 88 grand pianos. Among the 44 Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, American performer Jennifer Jones made her national debut as its first African American Rockette. Checker's performance marked the first time a major artist performed during the show.
Super Bowl XXII started out very well for the Denver Broncos. After forcing Washington to go three-and-out, the Broncos scored on their first play from scrimmage, when quarterback John Elway threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ricky Nattiel, giving Denver a 7–0 lead after just 1:57 had elapsed in the game. It was the earliest touchdown any team had ever scored in Super Bowl history to that point (the record was later broken by Jerry Rice in Super Bowl XXIX, and again by Devin Hester in Super Bowl XLI). The Broncos quickly forced Washington to punt, and once again Elway displayed his superb scrambling skills. On the second play of Denver's ensuing possession, Elway completed a 32-yard pass to wide receiver Mark Jackson. Then, he caught a 23-yard pass from halfback Steve Sewell, becoming the first quarterback ever to catch a pass in the Super Bowl (Elway had scored a touchdown on that play during opening day the previous year against the Raiders). The Redskins managed to halt Denver's drive on the 6, but kicker Rich Karlis kicked a field goal to increase the Broncos' lead to 10–0.
After yet another Redskins punt, Denver managed to drive to the Washington 30 on their third possession with two runs by Gene Lang for a total of 24 yards and an 18-yard reception by Sewell. But this time they failed to score because Washington safety Alvin Walton sacked Elway for an 18-yard loss on third down, pushing the Broncos out of field goal range.
Meanwhile, the Redskins could not generate any offensive momentum in the first quarter, with the Broncos' defense forcing a punt on every drive. To make matters worse, late in the period, quarterback Doug Williams twisted his back leg while planting to make a throw and had to leave the game. Williams was untouched by a Bronco defender before he dropped the ball while falling to the ground; the referee, however, inadvertently blew his whistle, stopping the play & costing Denver a fumble recovery and an almost certain fumble return touchdown and a 17-0 lead. Backup quarterback Jay Schroeder was sacked by Denver's Karl Mecklenburg on his first snap, continuing the Redskins' offensive woes. By the time the quarter ended, the Broncos had more than twice as many total yards of offense (142) as the Redskins (64). In the previous 21 Super Bowls, no team had ever overcome a 10-point deficit to win.
Williams returned with 14:17 left in the second quarter, and the Washington offense began to click. And much like they had in the second half of Super Bowl XXI against the New York Giants, the Broncos defense collapsed.
On the Redskins' first play of the second quarter, receiver Ricky Sanders got behind defensive back Mark Haynes (who tried to jam him at the line of scrimmage) and safety Tony Lilly, caught a pass from Williams, and took it 80 yards for a touchdown. After forcing the Broncos to punt on their next possession, Washington advanced to the Denver 27. Facing third-and-one, Williams connected with receiver Gary Clark who made a diving catch in the end zone to give Washington a 14–10 lead.
After the ensuing kickoff, Denver drove to the Washington 26, aided by running back Sammy Winder's 27-yard reception and Elway's 21-yard run. But left tackle Dave Studdard, blocking defensive end Dexter Manley, went down with a knee injury. After Elway threw an incomplete pass on third down, Karlis missed a 43-yard field goal attempt. On the first play of the Redskins' ensuing drive, Williams threw a 16-yard completion to Clark. Then on the next play, running back Timmy Smith, a rookie in his first NFL start, took off for a 58-yard touchdown run, with blocking from guard Raleigh McKenzie and tackle Joe Jacoby, making the score 21–10. Washington's offensive line featuring McKenzie and Jacoby figured greatly in a play known as the Counter Gap, which the Skins ran repeatedly in the game.
The Redskins increased their lead to 28–10 on their next possession with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Sanders, making him the first player in Super Bowl history to catch two touchdowns in one quarter. Four plays after the ensuing kickoff, Washington defensive back Barry Wilburn intercepted a pass from Elway on the Redskins 21, and once again, the Redskins stormed down the field to score. First, Smith broke loose for a 43-yard run, then Williams completed a pair of passes to Sanders to reach the Denver 7. Two plays later, Williams threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Clint Didier to make the score 35–10. On Denver's next drive, Elway completed three consecutive passes for 40 total yards to advance to the Redskins 36. However, Washington rookie defensive back Brian Davis intercepted Elway's next pass at the 21 with seven seconds left in the half.
In the second quarter alone, Williams completed 9 of 11 passes for 228 yards and four touchdowns; Smith rushed five times for 122 yards and a touchdown; and Sanders caught five passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. The Redskins scored 35 points and gained 356 yards in total offense, both Super Bowl records, and scored five touchdowns on 18 total offensive plays.
During the regular season, the Broncos had allowed 35 points for the "entire game" only once—and it was in that game, a 40-10 loss to the Houston Oilers in Week 4, that they fielded replacement players, with the regular players having gone on strike.
By the end of the game, Elway was sacked five times and threw three interceptions, and Washington scored another touchdown on a 68-yard fourth-quarter drive featuring a 25-yard run by Clark on a reverse and three runs by Smith for 43 yards, the last a 4-yard touchdown to bring the game to its final score of 42–10.
Smith finished the game with a Super Bowl record 204 rushing yards, and scored two touchdowns. Sanders caught nine passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns, and returned three kickoffs for 46 yards. His 193 receiving yards and his 235 total offensive yards were both Super Bowl records, and his 80-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter also tied a Super Bowl record. Clark caught three passes for 55 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing once for 25 yards. Wilburn recorded two interceptions, while Walton had two sacks. Meanwhile, running back Gene Lang was the Broncos' leading rusher, with only 38 yards on five carries. Elway finished the game with 14 out of 38 pass completions for 257 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions. He was also Denver's second-leading rusher with 32 yards on three carries; this was the only Super Bowl in which Elway played without scoring a rushing touchdown. Jackson was Denver's top receiver with four catches for 76 yards.
In 2015, on the occasion of Super Bowl 50, "Slate" writer Justin Peters watched all the games over a two-month period. He considered Super Bowl XXII to be the best Super Bowl ever, declaring it was, "The most significant Super Bowl ever played. The most unlikely comeback from the most unlikely quarterback, Doug Williams, who led his team to score 35 points in the second quarter: a single-quarter Super Bowl scoring record that still stands!"
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXII, Super Bowl XXII Play Finder Was, Super Bowl XXII Play Finder Den
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Source:
Following this game, Johnny Grier was promoted to referee, becoming the first African-American to lead an NFL officiating crew.
In addition to Grier, Dale Hamer was promoted to referee in 1989. Don Wedge was a referee from 1976 to 1978 before becoming a side judge in 1979.
Jack Fette retired following this game and became a replay official. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29147 |
Super Bowl XXIII
Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1988 season. The 49ers defeated the Bengals 20–16, winning their third Super Bowl. The game was played on January 22, 1989 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003). This was the first Super Bowl hosted in the Miami area in 10 years, and the first in Miami not held at the Orange Bowl.
This was the second meeting between these two teams in the Super Bowl; their first meeting was seven years earlier. The game was also the third rematch between Super Bowl teams after Super Bowl XIII and Super Bowl XVII. This was the Bengals' second Super Bowl appearance after finishing the regular season with a 12–4 record. The 49ers were making their third Super Bowl appearance after posting a 10–6 regular season record.
The game is best remembered for the 49ers' fourth-quarter game-winning drive. Down 16–13, San Francisco got the ball on their own 8-yard line with 3:10 on the clock and marched 92 yards down the field in under three minutes. They then scored the winning touchdown on a Joe Montana pass to John Taylor with just 34 seconds left in the game. The game was tight throughout. The teams combined for five field goals, and battled to a 3–3 score by the end of the second quarter, the first halftime tie in Super Bowl history. Cincinnati's only touchdown, a 93-yard kickoff return by Stanford Jennings in the third quarter, was quickly answered by a four-play, 85-yard drive that ended with San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice's 14-yard touchdown reception. Rice, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, caught 11 passes for a Super Bowl record 215 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing once for five yards.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXIII to Miami, Florida on March 14, 1985 during their March 10–15, 1985 meetings held in Phoenix. This was the sixth time that Miami hosted the game, and the first at Joe Robbie Stadium; the 5 previous Super Bowls in the area were played at the Miami Orange Bowl.
Originally, the selection was to be voted on during the May 23–25, 1984 meetings. However, after balloting for XXI took more than two hours, voting for XXIII was rescheduled. Twelve cities were part of the bidding process, which was scheduled to award two Super Bowls (XXIII and XXIV). The bidding cities included: Anaheim, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Tempe. Miami entered as the favorite.
This was the last Super Bowl played on the second to last Sunday in January. From 1990 to 2001, the game was played on the last Sunday of January and since 2002, on the first Sunday in February (with the exception of Super Bowl XXXVII, which was played on January 26, 2003). This was also the last east coast Super Bowl that began under daylight.
For the 49ers, it was their first Super Bowl appearance since they defeated the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. They had made the playoffs in the three seasons between Super Bowl XIX and Super Bowl XXIII, but were eliminated each time in the first round, primarily because of the poor performances by their offensive stars in those games; quarterback Joe Montana, receiver Jerry Rice, and running back Roger Craig all failed to produce a single touchdown. The previous season's 36–24 playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings had been a particularly low point for Montana, who had played so poorly that head coach Bill Walsh had benched him early in the third quarter.
In the 1988 season, San Francisco won the NFC West with a 10–6 regular season record and earned the #2 playoff seed, but it was a long uphill battle. Two other teams in their division, the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints had also recorded 10-6 records, meaning not only did they earn a first round bye with the narrowest possible margin, but a one more loss would have caused them to miss the playoffs altogether. The team had a quarterback controversy with Montana and Steve Young each starting during the season. Young had started three games during the year, in which the 49ers went 2-1, including a crucial 24-21 week 9 win over the Vikings in which Young scored the game winning touchdown on a dynamic 49-yard run with time running out in the 4th quarter. But after a 6–5 start, Montana led the 49ers to win four of their final five regular season games.
Montana finished the regular season with 238 completions for 2,981 yards and 18 touchdowns, and also added 132 rushing yards. His favorite target was Rice, who recorded 64 receptions for 1,306 yards (a 20.4 yards per catch average) and 9 touchdowns. Craig was also a key contributor, leading the team in receptions (76) while finishing the season with a total of 2,036 combined rushing and receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, earning him the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. Fullback Tom Rathman also made a big impact, rushing for 427 yards and catching 42 passes for 387 yards. San Francisco also had a major special teams threat in second-year receiver John Taylor, who led the NFL in punt return yards (556), yards per return, (12.6), and touchdowns (2). He also gained 228 yards on kickoff returns and 325 receiving yards on just 14 receptions (a 23.2 yards per catch average).
The 49ers' defense was led by defensive backs Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright, Jeff Fuller, and Tim McKyer, who recorded a combined total of 18 interceptions. McKyer led the team with 7, while Lott recorded 5, along with 3 forced fumbles and 4 fumble recoveries. Linebacker Charles Haley was also a big contributor with 11.5 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries. The 49ers also had a solid defensive line, featuring Michael Carter (6.5 sacks), Danny Stubbs (6 sacks), Larry Roberts (6 sacks), and Pierce Holt (5 sacks).
The Bengals were also a team on the rebound. During the strike-shortened 1987 season, quarterback Boomer Esiason and head coach Sam Wyche had openly feuded, and the team finished with a miserable 4–11 record, including 0-3 in games played by replacement players. The coach and quarterback worked out their differences in the offseason, and Esiason ended up having the best season of his career en route to Super Bowl XXIII. During the regular season, he threw for 3,572 yards and 28 touchdowns with only 14 interceptions, while also rushing for 248 yards and a touchdown on 43 carries. Esiason's performance made him the top-rated quarterback in the league with a 97.4 passer rating and earned him the NFL Most Valuable Player Award.
Cincinnati had a number of offensive weapons, boasting six Pro Bowl selections. Wide receiver Eddie Brown was the top receiver on the team, with 54 receptions for 1,273 yards and 9 touchdowns, setting franchise records for most receiving yards in season, highest yards per catch average in a season (24.0) and most receiving yards in a single game (216 against the Pittsburgh Steelers). Wide receiver Tim McGee and Pro Bowl tight end Rodney Holman were also major threats, combining for 75 receptions, 1,213 yards, and 9 touchdowns. Rookie fullback Ickey Woods was their top rusher with 1,066 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also catching 21 passes for 199 yards and gaining a lot of media attention with his "Ickey Shuffle", a dance routine he did in the end zone to celebrate his touchdowns. Multi-talented running back James Brooks was also a key contributor, gaining a total of 1,218 combined rushing and receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. And the Bengals' offensive line was led by such Pro Bowl players as right guard Max Montoya and left tackle Anthony Muñoz. Muñoz was named the NFL Offensive Lineman of the Year for the third time in his career, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for the 8th season in a row. With all these weapons, Cincinnati's offense led the NFL in scoring (448 points), rushing yards (2,710), and total yards (6,302).
The Bengals' defense ranked 17th in the league, allowing 5,556 yards and 329 points during the regular season. Cincinnati had a superb defensive line, led by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tim Krumrie (3 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries), along with linemen Jim Skow (9.5 sacks), David Grant (5 sacks), and Jason Buck (6 sacks). Their linebacking corps was led by 13-year veteran Reggie Williams, one of six players remaining from their 1981 Super Bowl team. Pro Bowl defensive backs Eric Thomas and David Fulcher combined for 12 interceptions, while safety Lewis Billups added 4 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. The team ended up winning the AFC Central with a 12–4 record.
The Bengals went on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in the AFC Divisional playoff game 21–13, and the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game 21–10. Woods was the key contributor in both wins, rushing for a combined total of 228 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cincinnati's 17th-ranked defense during the season made a major improvement in the playoffs, holding both their opponents to a combined total of 23 points and recording 5 interceptions.
Meanwhile, Bill Walsh guided the 49ers to crushing playoff wins over the Minnesota Vikings, 34–9 and the Chicago Bears, 28–3. With the win over the Bears, the 49ers became the first road team to win an NFC Championship Game since the 1979 season.
Despite the Bengals' superior regular season record and Esiason's MVP award, the 49ers were heavily favored to win the Super Bowl, mainly because of Montana. Montana had already led the 49ers to two previous Super Bowls and both times left with a championship ring and Super Bowl MVP honors. Esiason was also suffering from a sore left (throwing) shoulder, although the Bengals tried to keep it under wraps and made up for a lack of big-play passing attack with a run-heavy offense led by Woods and Brooks against their first two playoff opponents, Seattle and Buffalo.
While Montana had his ups and downs during the regular season, he appeared to be playing his best in the postseason, throwing for 466 yards and 5 touchdowns in his two playoff games, with only 1 interception. In contrast, the sore-shouldered Esiason had thrown for only 202 yards and 1 touchdown, with 2 interceptions, in the Bengals' two playoff victories.
While in Miami, Cincinnati suffered a major blow even before the game began. On the night before the Super Bowl, Stanley Wilson, the Bengals' best fullback and their third-leading rusher during the season with 398 yards, was caught using cocaine in his hotel room. The Bengals had no choice but to leave him off the roster. It was Wilson's third violation of the league's drug policy, and as a result he was banned from the league for life.
Both coaches had a long history with each other. In 1979, 49ers coach Bill Walsh had talked Sam Wyche out of retirement to come and join the team as an assistant coach. Wyche remained on Walsh's coaching staff until 1982, winning a Super Bowl ring against the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.
The rematch was the third time in Super Bowl history two teams were meeting for a second time. Miami and Washington met in Super Bowls VII and XVII, with the teams splitting the games. Dallas and Pittsburgh met in Super Bowls X and XIII, with Pittsburgh winning both of those games. Both Dallas-Pittsburgh matchups were in Miami at the Orange Bowl. Pittsburgh and Dallas would later meet in Super Bowl XXX (which the Cowboys won by 10) to become the first two teams to ever meet three times in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys and Bills (Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII), Rams and Patriots (Super Bowls XXXVI and LIII), Eagles and Patriots (Super Bowls XXXIX and LII), and Giants and Patriots (Super Bowls XLII and XLVI) have also met in two Super Bowls each.
On January 16, a Hispanic Miami police officer shot and killed a speeding black motorcyclist in the Overtown section of Miami. A large crowd gathered and turned violent, leading to rioting and looting which lasted into January 18. A television van and several automobiles and buildings were set on fire, and police used tear gas against the rioters. A teenager was shot and killed in the melee and more than $1 million worth of damage was done.
Rumors began that the Super Bowl might be moved to Tampa, and the incident later prompted the NFL to look at the league's hiring of minorities and its lack of black coaches at the time (the following season, Art Shell, became the first African-American NFL head coach of the modern era with the Los Angeles Raiders).
The game was broadcast in the United States by NBC with Dick Enberg handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Merlin Olsen in the broadcast booth. This would be Olsen's final Super Bowl broadcast, as he was demoted the following season to make room for retiring 49ers head coach Bill Walsh. Bob Costas and Gayle Gardner hosted the "Super Bowl Live!" pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame coverage with analysts Paul Maguire and then-Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula. Also assisting with NBC's coverage were pregame roving reporter Jim Gray (who was also working as a researcher for NBC Sports at the time), Al Roker, who did a brief weather report at the beginning of the pregame show (Roker was already in Miami due to NBC News having sent him there as part of the "Sunday Today" coverage) and Marv Albert, who interviewed Sam Wyche and Boomer Esiason after the game. Meanwhile, during NBC's pregame coverage, Ahmad Rashād and John Candy hosted the Diet Pepsi Talent Challenge at the Miami Seaquarium. Also, Frank Deford narrated a special segment profiling recently deceased Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney.
This was also the first NFL game that NBC covered with their new "Quantel Cypher" graphics system, which was introduced during their coverage of the 1988 Seoul Olympics (they had used Chyron for their graphics prior to Super Bowl XXIII; the Cypher was also used for the network's presentation of the 1988 World Series). NBC also introduced their "cursive font" logo during this broadcast. Before, it was just the 1986 peacock logo with "NBC SPORTS" in their generic corporate font.
With the win, the 49ers became the first team to win Super Bowls televised on three different networks (CBS–XVI, ABC–XIX, and NBC). Since then, the Washington Redskins (in 1992), the Green Bay Packers (in 1997), the Pittsburgh Steelers (in 2006), the New York Giants (in 2008), and the New England Patriots (in 2015) have accomplished this same feat.
At the end of NBC's telecast, they played Rod Stewart's "Forever Young" against highlights of the past few months of sporting events to air on the network: The Summer Olympics from Seoul, the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics, the Fiesta Bowl between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and West Virginia Mountaineers, and finally Super Bowl XXIII. And then during the closing credits, NBC used the instrumental tune "Everglade Run" by Yanni.
The movie "Brotherhood of the Rose" aired after the game.
This game also marked the debut of the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter. The first winner of the annual survey was an ad from American Express starring "Saturday Night Live" stars Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz, who went to the game with different credit cards – Carvey with American Express, Lovitz with AmEx rival Visa.
The game aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, and simulcast on CTV in Canada and Televisa's Canal de las Estrellas in Mexico. For viewers watching the game on AFN TV Europe (Armed Forces Network), AFN and NBC broke for a commercial just before the Montana-Taylor touchdown play. AFN continued their announcements and did not get back to the game until after the touchdown. AFN viewers saw the winning touchdown in replay.
On radio, the game was broadcast in the United States by CBS with Jack Buck handling the play-by-play duties and color commentator Hank Stram in the broadcast booth. Brent Musburger hosted the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage with analysts Dick Butkus, Irv Cross and Will McDonough, all from CBS' "The NFL Today". Locally, Super Bowl XXIII was broadcast by WKRC-AM in Cincinnati with Phil Samp, Ken Anderson and Dave Lapham and by KGO-AM in San Francisco with Lon Simmons (calling his final game as 49ers play-by-play announcer), Wayne Walker and Joe Starkey.
The pregame festivities honored the Miami and South Florida areas, along with a tribute to NASA.
Singer Billy Joel later sang the national anthem. He also sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XLI, which coincidentally was held at the same venue. The coin toss ceremony featured former Miami Dolphins players Nick Buoniconti, Bob Griese, and Larry Little.
This was the last outdoor Super Bowl to start earlier than 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, as it started just after 5 p.m.
The halftime show was titled "Be Bop Bamboozled in 3-D" and featured Elvis Presto, played by then-"Solid Gold" dancer Alex Cole, and hundreds of South Florida-area dancers and performers. Ironically, not one actual Elvis Presley song was performed. Several scenes included computer generated 3-D images. Prior to the game, Coca-Cola distributed 3-D glasses at retailers for viewers to use. At the onset of the halftime show, primary sponsor Diet Coke aired the first commercial in 3-D. Coca-Cola had originally planned to use the 3-D Diet Coke commercial as part of the "Moonlighting" season finale, which was also aired in 3-D, but withdrew plans due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike.
Super Bowl XXIII started out with devastating injuries on both sides. On the third play of the game, 49ers tackle Steve Wallace was taken off the field with a broken ankle. Later on, Bengals defensive lineman Tim Krumrie twisted his ankle nearly 180 degrees, shattering two bones in his left leg.
After the two teams traded punts on their first drives of the game, the 49ers, aided by a roughing the passer penalty and a 17-yard screen pass to fullback Tom Rathman on 3rd-and-10, marched 73 yards from their own 3-yard line to the Bengals 24. But dropped passes, including one by receiver Mike Wilson on the 2-yard line (the first time in a Super Bowl that instant replay was used to reverse a call), forced them to settle for a 41-yard field goal from kicker Mike Cofer.
On the 49ers' next drive, Montana threw a pass to wide receiver Jerry Rice, who first tipped it to himself and then made a one-handed catch before stepping out of bounds at the San Francisco 45-yard line.
Then after reaching the Cincinnati 42-yard line, Montana spotted defensive back Lewis Billups trying to cover Rice one-on-one and made him pay for it by completing a pass to the receiver at the 10. But two plays later on a third-down play, Bengals safety David Fulcher made a touchdown saving tackle at the 2 to keep Rathman from scoring. Cofer then attempted a 19-yard field goal, but a poor snap from center Randy Cross (though NBC's Dick Enberg initially blamed backup guard Chuck Thomas; who lined up next to Cross and split long-snapping duties; primarily on punts) threw off the kicker's timing and his kick sailed wide left. Cofer succeeded Rich Karlis, who missed a 21-yard field goal in Super Bowl XXI, as the kicker with the shortest missed field goal in Super Bowl history, a record that still holds.
The 49ers then forced the Bengals to punt on their next drive. On the play, San Francisco Pro Bowl punt returner John Taylor misplayed punter Lee Johnson's kick, and it sailed over his head, bouncing all the way to the 49ers 9 to make it a then-Super Bowl record 63-yard punt. But Taylor made up for his mistake by chasing the ball down and returning it for a then-Super Bowl record 45 yards to the Bengals 46. Thanks to Taylor, a seemingly routine punt had turned into a double record setter. Taylor's Super Bowl record for longest punt return stood for 27 seasons until Super Bowl 50, when Denver Broncos' return specialist Jordan Norwood had a 61-yard return. Johnson's Super Bowl record for longest punt stood for 30 seasons until Super Bowl 53, when Los Angeles Rams' punter Johnny Hekker had a 65-yard punt.
However, the 49ers were unable to take advantage of their excellent starting field position. On first down, running back Harry Sydney fumbled a pitch from Montana and was downed for a 10-yard loss after he dove on the ball. On the next play, Montana was sacked by defensive lineman David Grant (who replaced Krumrie at nose tackle). Then on third down, Fulcher forced a fumble from 49ers running back Roger Craig, and Bengals defensive end Jim Skow recovered the ball on his own 41. Cincinnati then drove to the San Francisco 42, but after two incomplete passes and defensive end Danny Stubbs's eight-yard sack on Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason, they were forced to punt. However, Johnson pinned the 49ers back at their own 11. Then the Cincinnati defense limited the 49ers to just one yard on their ensuing drive, and ended up with great field position after defensive back Ray Horton returned San Francisco punter Barry Helton's 37-yard punt five yards to the 49ers 44.
On their ensuing drive, the Bengals managed to get into scoring range by driving 28 yards to the San Francisco 16, assisted by an 18-yard completion from Esiason to receiver Tim McGee. But after Esiason's third down pass intended for wide receiver Eddie Brown was overthrown, they were forced to settle for kicker Jim Breech's 34-yard field goal with 1:15 left in the half.
The two teams went into their locker rooms tied 3–3, the first halftime tie in Super Bowl history, and the lowest halftime score since the Pittsburgh Steelers took a 2–0 halftime lead over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX.
On their opening possession in the second half, the Bengals managed to get a sustained drive going, moving the ball 61 yards in 12 plays and taking 9:15 off the clock. Esiason, who completed only 4 of 12 passes for 48 yards in the first half, completed 3 of 4 passes for 54 yards on the drive, including a 20-yard completion to James Brooks and 23-yard and 11-yard completions to Cris Collinsworth, setting up a 43-yard field goal from Breech to give the Bengals their first lead of the game, 6–3. Cincinnati then forced San Francisco to punt, but on the first play of their next drive, 49ers rookie linebacker Bill Romanowski intercepted a pass from Esiason at the Bengals 23. However, after a dropped pass by Rice, the 49ers' offense could not get a first down, and they had to settle for Cofer's 32-yard field goal to tie the game, 6-6.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, it appeared that this would become the first Super Bowl ever to go three quarters without either team scoring a touchdown. But on the ensuing kickoff, Stanford Jennings received the ball at the 7, ran straight up the middle behind a wedge of blockers, and burst out of the pack into the open field. 49ers receiver Terry Greer managed to chase him down and trip him up at the 1, but he still fell into the end zone for a 93-yard touchdown return, giving the Bengals a 13–6 lead. Jennings joined Fulton Walker as the only other player at that time to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. In the next three Super Bowls played in what is now Hard Rock Stadium, players duplicated Jennings' feat: Andre Coleman returned a kickoff against the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX for the San Diego Chargers, Tim Dwight did so for the Atlanta Falcons against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII, and Devin Hester did so for the Chicago Bears against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI.
But the 49ers immediately responded with a touchdown of their own on an 85-yard, 4-play drive. First, Montana threw a short pass to Rice, who turned it into a 31-yard gain.
Then the San Francisco quarterback completed a 40-yard pass to Craig on the first play of the fourth quarter, moving the ball to the Bengals 14. Montana's next pass was dropped by Bengals cornerback Lewis Billups in the end zone. On the next play, Montana threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Rice to tied the game at 13.
Cofer's ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Bengals the ball at their own 35. But they could only reach their 43 before being forced to punt. Taylor nearly turned the ball over by fumbling Johnson's punt, but teammate Darryl Pollard recovered the ball at the San Francisco 18. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Montana completed a 44-yard pass to Rice, and then Craig ran for seven yards, moving the ball to the Bengals 31. But after Craig was tackled for a one-yard loss on the next play, Fulcher broke up a third-down pass intended for Taylor, and then Cofer's 49-yard field attempt sailed wide right.
The Bengals took over from their own 32 and regained the lead with a 10-play, 46-yard drive, featuring a 17-yard reception by backup receiver Ira Hillary on third and 13, along with 21 yards on three carries from Ickey Woods and a 12-yard play-action sideline pass to James Brooks. At the end of the drive, Breech kicked a 40-yard field goal, giving the Bengals a 16–13 lead with 3:20 left in the game. The 49ers returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 15 with 3:10 on the clock, but an illegal block penalty on the play pushed the ball back half the distance to the goal line to the 8.
Montana then led an 11-play, 92-yard drive to score the winning touchdown. In order to calm his teammates in the huddle just before the final game-winning drive, Montana pointed into the stadium crowd and said "Hey, isn't that John Candy?" The tactic worked, and the 49ers were able to drive down the field for the win. It became the defining moment of Montana's "Joe Cool" reputation. Assuming that the Bengals would expect him to throw the ball near the sidelines (to enable the receivers to step out of bounds to immediately stop the clock), Montana first threw a pair of completions in the middle of the field, one to Craig and one to tight end John Frank. His next pass went to the right sideline, 7 yards to Rice, which was then followed up by a pair of runs by Craig to reach their own 35-yard line. Montana then completed a 17-yard pass to Rice to advance to the Bengals 48-yard line, and followed it up with a 13-yard completion to Craig to move them to the 35-yard line.
But on the next play, Montana threw his first incomplete pass of the drive, overthrowing Rice. After that, Cross committed an illegal man downfield penalty, which at the time was a 10-yard foul, moving the ball back to the 45 and bringing up second down and 20 with just 1:15 left in the game. But on the next play, Montana hit Rice with a 27-yard completion giving the 49ers the ball at the Cincinnati 18. An eight-yard pass to Craig then advanced San Francisco to the 10. Then with 39 seconds left, Montana finished the drive with a 10-yard TD pass to Taylor, giving the 49ers the lead for good.
Although Jerry Rice was named MVP, Montana had an MVP-worthy performance, completing 23 of 36 passes for a Super Bowl record 357 yards, throwing for two touchdowns, and gaining 14 rushing yards. Craig finished with 71 yards rushing, and eight receptions for 101 receiving yards. He was the first running back in Super Bowl history to gain 100 receiving yards. Taylor finished the game with a Super Bowl record 56 punt return yards. His 18.7 yards per return was also the highest average in Super Bowl history. Linebacker Charles Haley had six tackles and two sacks. For Cincinnati, Jennings rushed one time for three yards, and gained 117 yards and a touchdown on two kickoff returns. Woods had a game-high 79 rushing yards. The sore-armed Esiason was limited to completing 11 out of 25 passes for 144 yards and an interception. Collinsworth (who retired after the game) was the Bengals' top receiver of the game, but with just three catches for 40 yards.
The 49ers became the sixth team to win the Super Bowl over a team with a better regular season record. The 49ers also became the first team since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978 to win the Super Bowl after winning only 10 games during the regular season. Their six regular season losses were tied for the most ever by a Super Bowl champion, until the 9–7 New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI following the 2011 season. Additionally, the 49ers' 13 combined regular season and postseason wins are tied for the lowest ever for a league champion, also tied with the 2011 New York Giants.
This was the final NFL game coached by the 49ers' Bill Walsh, as he retired from NFL coaching. After spending the next three seasons as a broadcaster for NBC, he then coached Stanford from 1992 to 1994. Walsh then returned to the 49ers' front office, first serving as the team's Vice President and General Manager from 1999 to 2001, and as a consultant from 2002 to 2004.
This was also the final Super Bowl that Pete Rozelle presided over as NFL Commissioner. Paul Tagliabue was selected by league owners as Rozelle's successor in 1989, taking over the post midway through the 1989 season.
The Bengals have only recorded one postseason win since Super Bowl XXIII, a Wild Card Playoff game against the Houston Oilers on January 6, 1991, and currently hold the NFL's longest active drought between postseason victories.
On January 26, 2006, NFL.com ranked this game Number 1 on its list of the top 10 Super Bowls of all time.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXIII, Super Bowl XXIII Play Finder SF, Super Bowl XXIII Play Finder Cin, Super Bowl XXIII Play by Play, The Football Database Super Bowl XXIII
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29148 |
Super Bowl XXIV
Super Bowl XXIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1989 season. The game was played on January 28, 1990, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 49ers defeated the Broncos by the score of 55–10, winning their second consecutive Super Bowl, and then-tying the Pittsburgh Steelers with four Super Bowl victories. San Francisco also became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls with two different head coaches; rookie head coach George Seifert took over after Bill Walsh retired following the previous season's Super Bowl.
The 49ers finished the 1989 regular season with a league best 14–2 record. The Broncos, who posted an 11–5 regular season record, entered the Super Bowl looking to avoid tying the Minnesota Vikings with four Super Bowl losses as well as the Vikings record of losing three Super Bowls in four years.
This game remains the most lopsided game in Super Bowl history. San Francisco's 55 points were the most ever scored by one team, and their 45-point margin of victory was the largest ever. The 49ers are also the only team to score at least eight touchdowns in a Super Bowl and at least two touchdowns in each quarter (the only mistake was a missed extra point attempt).
San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana was named the Super Bowl MVP, his third award in his fourth Super Bowl victory. He completed 22 of 29 passes for a total of 297 yards and a Super Bowl record 5 touchdowns, while also rushing for 15 yards. Montana's 75.9 completion percentage was the second highest in Super Bowl history, and he also set a record by completing 13 consecutive passes during the game. Montana became the third player in league history to win both the Super Bowl MVP and the AP Most Valuable Player Award during the same season, after Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw who did so in the 1966 and 1978 seasons, respectively.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXIV to New Orleans, Louisiana on March 14, 1985 during their March 10–15, 1985 meetings held in Phoenix. This would be a record seventh time that New Orleans hosted the Super Bowl. Tulane Stadium was the site of Super Bowls IV, VI, and IX; while the Louisiana Superdome previously hosted XII, XV, and XX.
Originally, the selection was to be voted on during the May 23–25, 1984 meetings. However, after balloting for XXI took more than two hours, voting for XXIV was rescheduled to the following year. Twelve cities were part of the bidding process, which was scheduled to award two Super Bowls (XXIII and XXIV). The bidding cities included: Anaheim, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Tempe. New Orleans entered as the favorite.
The 49ers entered the game seeking to win their second straight Super Bowl. Bill Walsh retired as head coach after San Francisco's 20–16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the previous year's Super Bowl, but rookie head coach George Seifert did not miss a beat, as he guided the 49ers to a league-best 14–2 regular season record. Their two losses were only by a combined margin of 5 points.
The 49ers' offense was just as dominating as it was during the previous regular season. Quarterback Joe Montana threw for 3,512 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only 8 interceptions, giving him what was then the highest single-season quarterback rating in NFL history (112.4). Montana also rushed for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns, and earned both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. Wide receiver Jerry Rice had another outstanding season, catching 82 passes for 1,483 yards and 17 touchdowns. Running back Roger Craig was the team's leading rusher with 1,054 yards and 6 touchdowns, and he recorded 49 receptions for 473 yards and another touchdown.
But other stars on the 49ers' offense began to emerge, enabling the team to spread the ball around. After being used primarily as a punt returner during his first two seasons, wide receiver John Taylor had a breakout season, catching 60 passes for 1,077 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also returning 36 punts for 417 yards. Tight end Brent Jones recorded 40 receptions for 500 yards. Fullback Tom Rathman had the best season of his career, rushing for 305 yards and catching 73 passes for 616 yards. Kicker Mike Cofer scored 136 points while making a career-high 80.6% of his field goals. Even Montana's backup, Steve Young, had a great year, throwing for 1,001 yards and 8 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions, while also rushing for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns. With all of these weapons, San Francisco's offense led the league in total yards from scrimmage (6,268) and scoring (442 points).
The 49ers' defense allowed the third-fewest points in the NFL (253). Defensive end Pierce Holt recorded 10.5 sacks, as did linebacker Charles Haley. In addition to Haley, their linebacking corps was anchored by Keena Turner, Matt Millen, and Bill Romanowski. Future Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott led the team with 5 interceptions. Defensive backs Eric Wright and Chet Brooks also combined for 5 interceptions between them.
The Broncos were trying to avoid becoming the second team, after the Vikings, to lose a fourth Super Bowl. After appearing in Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXII, the team missed the playoffs with an 8–8 record during the 1988 season. But they signed several new players in the offseason to help them win 10 of their first 12 games in 1989 and finish with an 11–5 record.
One of Denver's new major additions was rookie running back Bobby Humphrey, who rushed for 1,151 yards, caught 22 passes for 156 yards, and scored 8 touchdowns. Humphrey gave the Broncos a powerful running attack that they lacked in their previous Super Bowl seasons. Also new to the team was rookie kicker David Treadwell, who made the Pro Bowl with an 81.8% field goal percentage and ranked third in the NFL with 120 points. The defense, coordinated by Wade Phillips, had a new weapon as well: rookie free safety Steve Atwater. Together with veteran defensive backs Dennis Smith, Wymon Henderson, and Tyrone Braxton, the Broncos' secondary combined for 14 interceptions. Braxton lead the team with 6, which he returned for 103 yards and a touchdown, while also recovering 2 fumbles. Another new addition was defensive end Ron Holmes, who recorded 9 sacks. Holmes, along with veteran linebacker Karl Mecklenburg (7.5 sacks and 4 fumble recoveries) and defensive end Simon Fletcher (12 sacks), gave Denver one of the top defensive lines in the AFC.
Veteran receiver Vance Johnson had the best season of his career, catching 76 passes for 1,095 yards and 7 touchdowns, while also returning 12 punts for 118 yards. However, quarterback John Elway played inconsistently during the regular season, throwing just as many interceptions as touchdowns (18) and recording only a 73.7 passer rating.
Despite his regular season problems, Elway ended up playing his best during the playoffs. First, he led the Broncos on a late touchdown drive to narrowly defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24–23. The Steelers held a 17–10 halftime lead before Elway's 37-yard touchdown pass to Vance Johnson tied the game in the third quarter. Then after Pittsburgh scored two field goals to take a 23–17 fourth-quarter lead, Elway led the Broncos on a 71-yard drive to score on Melvin Bratton's 1-yard, game-winning touchdown run. On the ensuing drive, Randy Robbins then recovered a Steelers fumble on third down with 2:02 left to clinch the victory.
The Broncos then defeated the Cleveland Browns 37–21 in the AFC Championship Game. This was the third time in the last four years that both teams faced each other for the AFC Championship, and the previous two resulted in two of the most famous games in NFL Lore: The Drive and The Fumble. In this game, the Broncos seemed to be in complete control at first, building up a 24–7 lead. But Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar rallied his team back with two third-quarter touchdowns, cutting the lead to 24–21 going into the 4th quarter. Some observers began to wonder if this game would become known as "The Comeback". However, Elway destroyed any chance of a Browns comeback by leading the Broncos 80 yards and scoring with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Winder on the first drive of the 4th quarter. Denver then scored field goals on each of their next two drives to put the game away. Elway finished the game with 385 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions, while also leading Denver in rushing with 5 carries for 39 yards.
Meanwhile, the 49ers started out their postseason by blowing out the Minnesota Vikings, 41–13. Minnesota started out the game by marching 70 yards on their opening drive and scoring a field goal to take a 3–0 lead. But the 49ers dominated the rest of the game. On their first play from scrimmage, Montana completed a short pass to Rice, who then took it all the way to the end zone for a 72-yard touchdown reception. The next time they had the ball, Montana led them on another touchdown drive, scoring on a short pass to tight end Brent Jones. Then defensive back Chet Brooks intercepted a pass from Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson and returned it 28 yards, setting up Montana's third touchdown pass on an 8-yard toss to Taylor. Then just before halftime, Montana threw another touchdown pass to Rice, giving the 49ers a 28–3 halftime lead. Then in the fourth quarter, San Francisco scored two more touchdowns to put the game away: a 53-yard interception return by Lott and a 4-yard run by Craig. Montana finished the game with 241 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Wilson was held to just 9 completions for 74 yards, and was intercepted twice.
The 49ers then entered the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams, who had defeated San Francisco in one of their two regular season games against them, and were coming off postseason wins against two of the NFC's toughest teams, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams scored first to take a 3–0 lead. However, the 49ers took over in the 2nd quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points on two touchdown passes by Montana and a touchdown run by Craig. By halftime, San Francisco had a commanding 21–3 lead and went on to a surprisingly easy 30–3 win and their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance. Montana had another superb performance, compiling 262 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, again without throwing an interception. Rams quarterback Jim Everett was held to 163 yards and threw 3 interceptions.
Although Elway's performance in the AFC Championship Game was widely considered his best ever, many sports writers and fans believed that the Broncos' best effort would not be good enough to beat the 49ers. After all, Denver had barely defeated the Steelers, who only had a 9–7 regular season record, while the 9–6–1 Cleveland Browns had almost overcome a 17-point second half deficit before Denver put them away in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the Elway-led Broncos had already lost two Super Bowls. On the other hand, the Montana-led 49ers, with their powerful offense, had already won three Super Bowls.
Montana came into this game with a 7–0 record as a starting quarterback at the Superdome due to the 49ers' dominance of their then-NFC West rival New Orleans Saints. The 49ers' only loss in the Superdome in the 1980s came in 1986, when Mike Moroski started for an injured Montana.
The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. Brent Musburger hosted all of "The Super Bowl Today" pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame events with help from his "NFL Today" co-hosts Irv Cross, Dick Butkus, and Will McDonough, along with game analysts Terry Bradshaw, Ken Stabler, and Dan Fouts, and then-Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka. CBS Sports reporter Pat O'Brien, meanwhile, was stationed in San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana's hometown of Monongahela, Pennsylvania.
This was the last NFL broadcast where Musburger and Cross appeared on "The NFL Today", which both had been involved with since its 1975 premiere. Shortly before he was to call the 1990 men's Division I college basketball championship game on April 2, 1990, Musburger was fired by CBS management. Cross, meanwhile, was made a color analyst alongside Tim Ryan for two seasons before he left after the 1991 season. In addition, both Butkus and McDonough left the network after this game; McDonough moved to NBC's pregame team while Butkus decided to return to acting and philanthropic work. CBS elected to go with a two-man team for the next year, pulling Bradshaw and Greg Gumbel off of their respective broadcast teams and naming them the new hosts for "The NFL Today".
CBS also debuted a new graphical package and theme song for their telecasts. The graphics became part of "The NFL Today" open while the theme continued to be used on game broadcasts for the next two seasons and replaced the original "NFL Today" theme, which had been used in remixed form for the 1989 season. The last use of the actual theme was for the 1991 season's NFC Championship game, while a remixed version was used for Super Bowl XXVI's pregame show.
The game drew a national Nielsen rating of 39.0 for CBS, the lowest rating for a Super Bowl game since Super Bowl III in January 1969.
This game was featured on "NFL's Greatest Games" under the title "Coronation".
This Super Bowl was simulcast in Canada on CTV and in Mexico on Imevisión's Canal 13, and later aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4.
This was the last Super Bowl to feature a kickoff time earlier than 6 p.m. ET.
"Grand Slam" was broadcast after the game on CBS.
On radio, the game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jack Buck and color commentators Hank Stram and Randy Cross. Cross filled in for Stram when the latter was stricken with laryngitis and had to leave the broadcast in the third quarter of the game. Dick Stockton hosted all of the events. Locally, Super Bowl XXIV was broadcast by KGO-AM in San Francisco with Joe Starkey and Wayne Walker and by KOA-AM in Denver with Larry Zimmer and Jim Turner (Zimmer was moved from his normal position as a color commentator when the Broncos' regular play-by-play voice, Bob Martin, became seriously ill the day before the game; eventually losing his battle with cancer just under a month after the game).
The pregame show was a salute to Mardi Gras and featured musician and singer David Clayton-Thomas.
Soul and R&B singer (and New Orleans native) Aaron Neville later sang the national anthem.
The coin toss ceremony featured the recent inductees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: defensive back Mel Blount, quarterback Terry Bradshaw, offensive lineman Art Shell, and safety Willie Wood. Shell, who was then the head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, became the first active head coach or player to join the coin toss ceremonies. Bradshaw, not to be outdone, joined the ceremonies on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Super Bowl IX, which had been played at Tulane Stadium and saw the Pittsburgh Steelers win their first world championship.
The halftime show was a salute to both New Orleans and the 40th anniversary of the comic strip Peanuts. The show featured performances by clarinetist Pete Fountain, fiddle player Doug Kershaw, and singer Irma Thomas – all Louisiana natives. Three local college bands, Southern University, ULL, and Nicholls State, joined in the performance. The finale featured a float that was dressed up as a riverboat that rose several stories high. The float was so huge that one of the goal posts had to be moved so it could be put on the field.
The 49ers blew out the Broncos by gaining 461 yards of total offense, holding the ball for 39:31, and scoring on eight of their first 11 drives. The San Francisco defense also limited the Broncos to 167 yards, 12 first downs, and a time of possession to 20:29, while recording six sacks and forcing four turnovers. The 49ers converted all of the turnovers into touchdowns, needing only four plays total to score on the last three.
On their opening possession, the Broncos were forced to punt after three plays, and the 49ers scored on their ensuing drive, marching 66 yards in 10 plays and scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Montana to wide receiver Jerry Rice.
The Broncos responded with a 49-yard scoring drive, mainly on plays by running back Bobby Humphrey, who rushed 4 times for 22 yards and caught a 27-yard shovel pass, quarterback John Elway's longest completion of the game. Kicker David Treadwell finished the drive with a 42-yard field goal to cut the Broncos' deficit to 7–3.
Denver's defense forced San Francisco to punt on their next drive after three plays, and wide receiver Vance Johnson gave his team good field position with a 7-yard return to the Broncos' 49-yard line. But then Humphrey lost a fumble at midfield while being tackled by defensive end Kevin Fagan, and safety Chet Brooks recovered the loose ball for San Francisco at the 49ers' 46-yard line.
At this point, the 49ers completely took over the game. Ten plays after the fumble recovery, the 49ers scored on a 7-yard pass from Montana to tight end Brent Jones. Kicker Mike Cofer missed the extra point attempt wide right, keeping the score at 13–3, but it turned out to be the only miscue the 49ers would make for the rest of the game.
Once again, the Broncos were forced to punt three plays after the ensuing kickoff, and the 49ers advanced 69 yards in 14 plays to score another touchdown. The key player on that drive was fullback Tom Rathman, who caught 3 passes for 39 yards, kept the drive alive with a successful run on a fourth down, and capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 20–3. With under two minutes left in the first half, wide receiver John Taylor's 17-yard punt return gave the 49ers the ball near midfield. Just over a minute later, San Francisco scored another touchdown with a 38-yard completion from Montana to Rice, increasing their lead to 27–3 at the end of the half.
When the second half started, the 49ers picked up right where they left off. Linebacker Michael Walter intercepted Elway's first pass of the third quarter, and Montana threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Rice on the next play. Then Elway was intercepted again on the Broncos' ensuing drive, this time by Brooks, who returned the ball 38 yards to the Denver 37-yard line. Two plays later, Montana fooled defensive back Steve Atwater with a pump fake in Rice's direction, and then threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Taylor, making the score 41–3 before the quarter was 6 minutes old. San Francisco had scored 3 touchdowns in less than 6 minutes to blow open the game.
Denver's lone touchdown came on their next possession, a 61-yard, 5-play drive. First, Broncos defensive back Darren Carrington returned the ensuing kickoff 39 yards to the 39-yard line. Elway's 13-yard completion to Johnson, a 34-yard run from Humphrey, and a pass interference penalty on 49ers linebacker Bill Romanowski moved the ball to the San Francisco 1-yard line. Elway then capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run on third down, cutting their deficit to 41–10.
However, the 49ers continued to dominate the Broncos. San Francisco responded to Denver's score with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took 6:56 off the clock, and ended with Rathman's 3-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Then after the ensuing kickoff, Elway was sacked for a 6-yard loss by defensive end Danny Stubbs. Then after an offsides penalty on the 49ers, cornerback Don Griffin sacked Elway, forcing a fumble. Stubbs recovered the loose ball and returned it 15 yards to Denver's 1-yard line. 49ers running back Roger Craig then closed out the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on the next play to make the final score of the game 55–10. The 49ers had two scores in this quarter before two minutes had elapsed. Steve Young relieved Montana for the remainder of the game.
Rice finished the game with 7 receptions for 148 yards and a Super Bowl record 3 receiving touchdowns. He joined teammate Roger Craig as the only players to score three touchdowns in a Super Bowl (Craig did it in Super Bowl XIX – 2 receiving and 1 rushing). Craig was the leading rusher of the game with 69 rushing yards and a touchdown, while also catching 5 passes for 34 yards. Rathman rushed for 38 yards and 2 touchdowns while also catching 4 passes for 43 yards. Taylor caught 3 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown and added another 38 yards on 3 punt returns. Elway was held to a passer rating of 19.4 on just 10 completions out of 26 attempts for 108 yards with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He managed to run for a touchdown, but fumbled twice (although he recovered one of them). Humphrey was Denver's leading rusher and receiver, with 61 rushing yards and 3 receptions for 38 yards. Carrington returned 6 kickoffs for 146 yards.
A photo essay titled "Ranking the Super Bowls", written by media analyst Elliot Harrison and featuring Dallas personnel man Gil Brandt, ranked Super Bowl XXIV the lowest of the first 50 played. The article was published on the NFL's website.
Montana and the 49ers looked to win a third consecutive Super Bowl in 1990 and once again finished with the league's best record at 14-2. However, in the NFC Championship Game that year, the 49ers were defeated by the New York Giants on a field goal as time expired. During the game, Montana was sacked from his blind side by Leonard Marshall and was forced to leave the game with a series of injuries including a broken finger, a bruised back, and a concussion. Later, it was discovered that Montana suffered an injury to his throwing elbow in the game and it was severe enough to cost him the entire 1991 season. Montana's injuries, which kept him out of fifteen games in 1992 as well, paved the way for Steve Young to become the 49ers' starting quarterback full-time and Montana was eventually traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993; Young would win the 49ers another Super Bowl title in 1995 in Super Bowl XXIX.
After Super Bowl XXIV, Elway and the Broncos entered a period of decline. 1990 saw them fall to 5-11, which put them last in the AFC West. While they returned to the playoffs in 1991, the Broncos failed to make the Super Bowl after losing the AFC Championship Game to the Buffalo Bills. That marked the first time in their existence that Denver lost the conference championship. They eventually returned to success as Elway led the team to an NFL-best 13-3 record in 1996, only to lose in their first playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Incidentally, that was the final time in Elway's career that he would lose a playoff game. After his three previous attempts had gone unsuccessfully, Elway led the Broncos to Super Bowl XXXII where they finally broke through and won the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history over the Green Bay Packers. A year later, in what later proved to be the final game of his career, Elway led the Broncos to another victory in the Super Bowl as Denver won Super Bowl XXXIII 34-19 over the Atlanta Falcons.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXIV, Super Bowl XXIV Play Finder SF, Super Bowl XXIV Play Finder Den
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXIV, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29149 |
Super Bowl XXV
Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1990 season. The Giants defeated the Bills by the score of 20–19, winning their second Super Bowl.
The game was held at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on January 27, 1991, during the time of the Gulf War. A memorable performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Whitney Houston preceded the game. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC), who broadcast the game in the U.S., did not air the halftime show (headlined by American boy band New Kids on the Block) live. Instead, the network televised a special "ABC News" report anchored by Peter Jennings on the progress of the war before airing the halftime show on tape delay after the game.
The Bills and their explosive no-huddle offense were making their first Super Bowl appearance after finishing the regular season with a 13–3 record, and leading the league in total points scored with 428. In advancing to their second Super Bowl, the Giants also posted a 13–3 regular-season record, but with a ball-control offense and a defense that allowed a league-low 211 points. Super Bowl XXV became the first Super Bowl to feature two teams representing the same state, even though the Giants technically play in New Jersey.
The game is known for Bills placekicker Scott Norwood's last-second missed field goal attempt that went "wide right" of the uprights, starting a four-game losing streak in the Super Bowl for the Bills. The game became the only Super Bowl decided by one point and the first Super Bowl in which neither team committed a turnover. The Giants set a Super Bowl record-holding possession of the ball for 40 minutes and 33 seconds. The Giants also overcame a 12–3 second-quarter deficit and made a 75-yard touchdown drive that consumed a Super Bowl-record 9:29 off the clock. Giants running back Ottis Anderson, who carried the ball 21 times for 102 yards and one touchdown, was named Super Bowl MVP. He was the first awardee to receive the newly named "Pete Rozelle Trophy" (named for the former commissioner, Pete Rozelle). Anderson also recorded one reception for seven yards. The NFL in its 100 Greatest Games series ranked it at number 10.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXV to Tampa during a May 20, 1987 meeting held at Coronado, California. It was the second time that Tampa hosted the game; the city previously hosted Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984.
The Bills and the Giants entered the game using contrasting styles: While the Bills led the league in total points scored (428), the Giants led the league in fewest points allowed (211).
The teams had met earlier in the season as well. On December 15, in another nationally televised game, the Bills completed a season sweep at Giants Stadium, beating the Giants 17–13, a game which was close, but would prove to be not as close as this one.
The 1990 New York Giants were built to head coach Bill Parcells's specifications of "power football": a defense and an offense meant to sustain extremely long drives. The Giants' defense ranked second in the league in fewest total yards allowed (4,392) and first in fewest points allowed, and boasted three Pro Bowl selections: defensive tackle Erik Howard, and linebackers Pepper Johnson and Lawrence Taylor. The secondary was led by defensive back Everson Walls, an offseason acquisition from the Dallas Cowboys, who recorded six interceptions, and safety Greg Jackson, who recorded five interceptions and four sacks. The Giants' offense was unspectacular, ranking just 17th in the league in yards gained and 13th in points scored. Despite that, they wore down opposing teams' defenses with extremely long drives, thus keeping their opponents' offense on the sidelines and preventing them from scoring. More importantly, the Giants set an NFL record by losing only 14 turnovers in a 16-game regular season. A big reason for the team's offensive success was the blocking of linemen Bart Oates and William Roberts, the only Pro Bowlers on the offense. Ottis Anderson was the team's leading rusher with 784 yards and 11 touchdowns, while also catching 18 passes for 139 yards. Kick returner Dave Meggett led the NFL in punt return yards (467), while also gaining 492 yards on kickoff returns, rushing for 164 yards, and catching 39 passes for 410 yards.
New York began the regular season by winning their first ten games, and then went into a tailspin and lost three of their next four. One week after losing to division rival Philadelphia Eagles, 31–13, the 10–1 Giants met defeat on "Monday Night Football" in a 7–3 defensive battle with the 10–1 San Francisco 49ers, who had won the previous two Super Bowls and ultimately finished the regular season with an NFL best 14–2 record. Then, in their 17–13 loss to the Bills, New York suffered a setback when starting quarterback Phil Simms, who had thrown for 2,284 yards and 15 touchdowns with only four interceptions during the year, went down for the season with a broken bone in his foot.
Simms's replacement, Jeff Hostetler, had started only two games in his seven years as a backup with the Giants. However, Hostetler displayed polished passing and scrambling ability in his limited playing time during the season, and threw only one interception and committed no fumbles. With Hostetler at the helm, the Giants responded by winning their final two games to finish the regular season 13–3, good enough to win the NFC East and earn the second seed in the NFC playoffs.
The Bills had a very talented team with nine Pro Bowl selections on their roster. Their defense was led by defensive end Bruce Smith, who recorded 19 sacks, forced four fumbles, and won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. Behind him, three of the Bills' starting linebackers, Darryl Talley, Shane Conlan, and Cornelius Bennett, were selected to the Pro Bowl. Defensive back Kirby Jackson led the team in interceptions with 3. On special teams, Pro Bowler Steve Tasker was a dominant threat, forcing fumbles, delivering jarring tackles, and blocking kicks.
Despite their good defense, it was the Bills' flashy, high-powered offense that gained the most attention. Unlike the Giants, the Bills routinely used the no-huddle tactic to storm down the field and score points very quickly. Instead of going into a huddle after each play, quarterback Jim Kelly would immediately send his offense back to the line of scrimmage and make the call there after reading the defense. This strategy prevented opposing defenses from reading the Bills' formation correctly, making substitutions, or even catching their breath.
The Bills' no-huddle K-Gun offense worked well enough for Kelly to finish the regular season as the top-rated quarterback in the NFL (101.2), throwing for 2,829 yards, 24 touchdowns, and only nine interceptions. One reason for his success was that he had two outstanding wide receivers: future Hall of Famer Andre Reed, who made his specialty going across the middle on slants and crossing routes, recorded 71 receptions, 945 yards, and 8 touchdowns, and future Hall of Famer James Lofton, who was the big threat with 35 receptions for 712 yards (a 20.3 yards per catch average). Tight end Keith McKeller contributed 34 receptions for 464 yards and five touchdowns. Pro Bowl running back Thurman Thomas had an AFC-best 1,297 rushing yards, caught 49 passes for 532 yards, and scored 13 touchdowns. Thomas also led the NFL in yards from scrimmage for the second consecutive season. A key to the Bills' prolific offense was the blocking of its superb offensive line, led by All-Pro center Kent Hull and Pro Bowl left tackle Will Wolford.
Even though Kelly missed the last two games of the season with a knee injury, suffered in the same game in which the Giants lost Simms, the Bills finished with a 13–3 regular season record.
The Giants began their championship postseason run by a trivial elimination of the Chicago Bears, 31–3. In leading the Giants' "power football" offense, Hostetler threw only 17 passes, but two went for touchdowns and he threw no interceptions. He also directed a rushing attack that gained 194 yards, including 43 (and a touchdown) from Hostetler himself. This game offered a preview of what lay in store for Super Bowl XXV, as the Giants scored on drives of 75, 80, 49, and 51 yards, which lasted nine, 11, 11, and 16 plays, respectively. Overall, New York held the ball for 38:22, compared to Chicago's 21:38. However, New York lost another key player for the season when rookie running back Rodney Hampton, the team's second-leading rusher during the regular season with 455 yards, suffered a broken leg.
The following Sunday, the Giants upset the San Francisco 49ers 15–13 in the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers, an NFL-best 14–2 in the regular season and winners of the last two Super Bowls, were 6½-point favorites at kickoff. Their outstanding defense was led by future Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott and linebacker Charles Haley, who led the NFC in sacks. San Francisco's offense was considered the best in the NFC, led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana and wide receiver Jerry Rice. However, except for a 61-yard touchdown pass from Montana to wide receiver John Taylor, the Giants contained the 49ers' offense very well. A sack by Giants defensive end Leonard Marshall early in the fourth quarter knocked Montana out of the game. Despite their super defensive effort, the Giants still trailed 13–9 midway through the fourth quarter, but a 30-yard run from linebacker Gary Reasons on a fake punt set up kicker Matt Bahr's fourth field goal, cutting their deficit to 13–12. The 49ers (now led by Steve Young) tried to run out the clock on their ensuing possession, but running back Roger Craig had the ball dislodged by nose tackle Erik Howard, and Lawrence Taylor recovered the fumble in mid-air with 2:36 remaining. Five plays later, Bahr kicked his fifth field goal, a 41-yarder, as time expired to give New York the win.
As for the Bills, Jim Kelly returned from his injury to lead Buffalo to a 44–34 playoff victory over the Miami Dolphins. The Bills jumped to an early 20–3 lead, but Miami quarterback Dan Marino rallied his team back and cut Buffalo's lead to 30–27 going into the fourth quarter. However, Buffalo scored a touchdown on their first drive of the period with a 5-yard run by Thurman Thomas. Kicker Scott Norwood then recovered a fumble from Miami on the ensuing kickoff, allowing the Bills to put the game away with Kelly's 26-yard touchdown pass to Andre Reed. Kelly finished the game with 336 passing yards, three touchdowns, and 37 rushing yards. Reed was also a major factor, recording 123 receiving yards and a pair of touchdown catches. James Lofton caught seven passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. Thomas led the Bills' ground attack with 32 carries for 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while also catching three passes for 38 yards.
Buffalo then crushed the Los Angeles Raiders 51–3, the most lopsided score in AFC Championship Game history. The Bills' defense dominated the Raiders' offense, which was without running back Bo Jackson, who suffered a career-ending injury against the Cincinnati Bengals the week before, limiting them to an early field goal and intercepting five passes from quarterback Jay Schroeder. Meanwhile, the Bills' offense racked up 502 yards, piling up yards and points so fast the game was out of reach by the end of the first half. Kelly was 17 of 23 for 300 yards passing, and two touchdowns to Lofton. Thomas had 138 yards rushing, 61 yards receiving, and his backup, Kenneth Davis, tied a playoff record with three touchdowns.
The Bills were heavily favored to win Super Bowl XXV. Most experts expected that the Giants' defense would not be able to contain the Bills' turbo-charged no-huddle offense, which had scored 95 points in 2 playoff games. Many also questioned how effective the Giants' offense would be after failing to score a single touchdown in the NFC Championship Game. Also, in Week 15 of the regular season, the two teams met at Giants Stadium, where the Bills defeated the Giants 17–13.
For the first time, each player wore a Super Bowl logo patch on his jersey. This would not become a regular practice in Super Bowls until Super Bowl XXXII. The Super Bowl XXV logo was painted at midfield, and the NFL logo was placed at each of the two 35-yard lines.
With the Gulf War having begun 10 days prior to this Super Bowl's scheduled date of January 27; rumors had begun circulating of a possible delay or cancellation of the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. However, the NFL quickly denied those rumors by stating the games would go on as scheduled.
The game was broadcast in the United States by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), featuring the "Monday Night Football" broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentators Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf. Brent Musburger hosted all the events with the help of then-ABC Sports analysts Bob Griese and Dick Vermeil, Musburger's regular color commentator on ABC's college football telecasts. Also, sponsors Coca-Cola and Diet Pepsi had to withdraw planned contest promotions or advertisements, due to the Gulf War situation. PepsiCo's contest, a heavily promoted $3 million giveaway in which viewers would be invited to call a toll-free number during the first three quarters; with the caller receiving a Diet Pepsi coupon and an opportunity to win one of 3 prizes totaling $1 million each, was also withdrawn due to FCC and Congressional fears and complaints from the telephone communications industry that the United States telephone system would be overwhelmed.
In the teams' local markets, the local ABC stations aired the game in the New York City and Buffalo markets (WABC-TV 7 in New York City and WKBW-TV 7 in Buffalo).
CBS aired the game nationally on radio. Jack Buck served as play-by-play with Hank Stram as color commentator. In the teams' local markets, the game was carried on WNEW-AM in New York City with Jim Gordon, Dick Lynch, and Karl Nelson and WGR in Buffalo, New York with Van Miller, Ed Rutkowski, and Pete Weber.
The game was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4, in Mexico on the Canal de las Estrellas, in Canada on CTV and in Venezuela on Venevisión. Because of the Gulf War situation, this marked the first time the Super Bowl aired in most countries around the world. Outside of North America and England, this Super Bowl aired for the first time in countries such as Australia and Russia.
Whitney Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" for Super Bowl XXV, backed by the Florida Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Jahja Ling. With America involved in the Gulf War, the positive response to the rousing performance was overwhelming; it would later see a release as a single and a video. It reached number 20 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 – making her the only act to turn the national anthem into a pop hit of that magnitude.
Houston's rendition was critically acclaimed and regarded as one of the best performances of the U.S. national anthem in history. The "" album includes this music track. Following 9/11, the single was re-released by Arista Records, peaking at number 6 on the Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the RIAA.
Former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle joined the coin toss ceremony.
The halftime show was titled "A Small World Salute to 25 Years of the Super Bowl". Produced by Disney, it featured over 3,500 local children from different ethnic backgrounds and a performance by boy band New Kids on the Block, with special guest Warren Moon.
ABC did not broadcast the halftime show live. Instead, they televised a special ABC News report anchored by Peter Jennings on the progress of the Gulf War. The halftime show was later shown on tape delay after the game at around 10:40 EST, although most ABC affiliates ran the first episode of "Davis Rules" following the Super Bowl, and may have televised the remaining parts of the halftime show later.
To counteract the Bills' no-huddle offense, the Giants' used a tough-nosed, conservative plan on both sides of the ball. On offense, the plan was to use a power running game utilizing Ottis Anderson, aided by quarterback rollouts, bootlegs, and play-action fakes. As tight end Mark Bavaro later recalled, "We came out with three tight ends, fat slobs picking you up and moving you and letting you tackle O.J. [Anderson], if you could." This enabled them to take time off the clock and limit Buffalo's possessions. The Giants set a Super Bowl record for time of possession with 40 minutes and 33 seconds, including 22 minutes in the second half.
On defense, New York wanted to be physical with Buffalo's wideouts, and play with extra defensive backs to concentrate on stopping the Bills' passing game, while shifting focus away from trying to stop Buffalo's running game. In his book "The Education of a Coach", David Halberstam wrote that one of defensive coordinator Bill Belichick's specific plans to combat the Bills involved convincing his defense (who had been the best unit against the run in the NFL that season) that they would win the game if Thurman Thomas ran for more than 100 yards. Belichick also felt that Jim Kelly was not as good at reading defenses as some other elite quarterbacks were (for example, Joe Montana), and that Kelly tended to "freeze" what he was seeing from a series and then use that information on the next one, which meant the Giants could be a step ahead of him all game if they alternated their cover plans from drive to drive.
The contrast in strategies was evident during the first quarter. After forcing the Bills to punt on the opening drive of the game, the Giants consumed 6:15 off the clock by marching 58 yards in 10 plays to score on a 28-yard field goal from Matt Bahr. In that drive, New York ran five rushing plays and five passing plays. However, the Bills struck right back on their ensuing possession with a five-play, 66-yard drive that took 1:23 off the clock, including a tipped 61-yard completion from Kelly to wide receiver James Lofton that set up Scott Norwood's 23-yard field goal to tie the game 3–3.
After forcing the Giants to punt on their ensuing possession, the Bills' offensive strategy started to work to perfection. Kelly led the Bills on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive that consumed 4:27 and moved the ball so effectively that the team never faced a third down. Kelly completed six consecutive passes (four to Andre Reed) for 62 yards, and running back Don Smith capped it off with a one yard touchdown run to give Buffalo a 10–3 lead early in the second quarter. Smith's touchdown run was his only carry of the game and the last carry of his career. Reed's 5 first quarter receptions were a Super Bowl record.
After trading punts, the Giants were pinned at their own 7-yard line. On second down, defensive end Bruce Smith sacked quarterback Jeff Hostetler in the end zone for a safety, increasing the Bills' lead to 12–3. On the play, Smith had a chance to force a fumble, since Hostetler was holding the football with only his throwing hand. But to his credit, Hostetler held the ball away from Smith, helping to ensure that only two points would be surrendered.
Later on, the Giants got the ball at their own 13-yard line with 3:43 left in the second quarter. New York abandoned their long-drive strategy and employed a quick-strike attack of their own. It worked, as Hostetler led the Giants 87 yards and scored on a 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Stephen Baker with just 25 seconds left in the half to cut New York's deficit to 12–10.
The Giants opened the third quarter and resumed their original game strategy by driving 75 yards in 14 plays to score on Ottis Anderson's one yard touchdown run, giving the Giants a 17-12 lead. The drive consumed a then-Super Bowl record 9:29 (since surpassed by the Giants in Super Bowl XLII), and included four successful third down conversions. The highlight was a 14-yard pass to wide receiver Mark Ingram on third down and 13 yards to go. Ingram caught a short pass and broke five Buffalo tackles to get the first down and keep the drive alive. By this point, the Bills offense had gone nearly two hours of real-time (counting the halftime show) since they last possessed the ball.
After forcing Buffalo to punt on its ensuing possession, New York drove to the Bills' 35-yard line. But on fourth and two, Smith tackled Anderson for a two yard loss. Buffalo then took over and stormed down the field, advancing 63 yards in just four plays and scoring on a 31-yard burst from running back Thurman Thomas on the first play of the fourth quarter, regaining the lead for Buffalo at 19–17. Thomas' touchdown run marked 1,000 points scored in Super Bowl history (1,001 with the extra point).
However, before the Bills' defenders had a chance to catch their breath, they found themselves back on the field trying to contain another long Giants drive. This one went for 14 plays and 74 yards, half of which came off passes from Hostetler to tight end Mark Bavaro, and took another 7:32 off the clock. The Bills managed to halt the drive at their own 3-yard line when linebacker Cornelius Bennett broke up Hostetler's third down pass, but Bahr kicked his second field goal to give New York a 20–19 lead. On the Bills' ensuing possession, they could only advance to their own 41-yard line before having to punt, enabling the Giants to take more time off the clock. The Bills finally forced New York to punt and took the ball at their own 10-yard line after Sean Landeta's 38-yard kick with 2:16 remaining.
On the Bills' final possession, Kelly led the team down the field with a mix of scrambles, short passes, and Thomas runs, of which the last was for a healthy, and very critical, seven yards, managing to get the Bills to the Giants 29-yard line, just within field goal range with eight seconds to play. Norwood attempted a 47-yard game-winning field goal. Norwood's kick sailed wide right, less than a yard outside of the goalpost upright. To this day, this is the only potential Super Bowl winning field goal attempt in which the kicker's team would lose if the kick were missed. After Norwood's miss, the Giants ran out the clock.
There were many impressive performances in the game by players from both teams. Jim Kelly completed 18 of 30 passes for 212 yards with no interceptions, while adding another 23 yards on six rushing attempts. Jeff Hostetler completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 10 yards. Dave Meggett recorded 129 combined net yards (48 rushing, 18 receiving, 37 on punt returns, 26 on kickoff returns). But the best performances came from both teams' starting running backs. Ottis Anderson rushed for 102 yards, caught a pass for seven yards, and scored a touchdown. Thurman Thomas scored a touchdown, rushed for 135 yards, and caught five passes for 55 yards, giving him 190 total yards from scrimmage. Thomas' 135 yards are the most yards rushing for a member of a losing team. This was also only the second Super Bowl to have two 100-yard rushers.
The defensive game plan for the Giants, written by then-defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, has been included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Giants' triumph helped Belichick and wide receivers coach Tom Coughlin make their names and eventually land head-coaching jobs with the Cleveland Browns and Boston College, respectively. Currently, Belichick is head coach of the New England Patriots, while Coughlin went from Boston College to be the first head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and spent 12 seasons as the head coach of the New York Giants before resigning in 2016. Giants head coach Bill Parcells retired shortly after winning his second Super Bowl with the Giants. However, he went on to coach three other teams since then: the New England Patriots (whom he helped bring to Super Bowl XXXI) from 1993–1996, the New York Jets from 1997–1999, and the Dallas Cowboys from 2003–2006. Both Coughlin and Belichick have gone on to win Super Bowls as head coaches: Belichick with the Patriots in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, and LIII; Coughlin with the Giants in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI, coincidentally both against Belichick's Patriots.
It was the first Super Bowl in which neither team committed a turnover. The only other Super Bowl to date without a turnover is Super Bowl XXXIV, in which the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23–16. Because of Thomas's high production, some sports writers, such as "Sports Illustrated"s Paul Zimmerman, felt that he should have won the game MVP even though his team lost, just as Chuck Howley had done in Super Bowl V.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXV, Super Bowl XXV Play Finder NYG, Super Bowl XXV Play Finder Buf
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
Super Bowl XXV was the first Super Bowl where no new player records were set. Three players tied a record. One single team record was set according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary.
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29150 |
Super Bowl XXVI
Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1991 season. The Redskins defeated the Bills by a score of 37–24, becoming the fourth team after the Pittsburgh Steelers, the now Las Vegas Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers to win three Super Bowls. The Bills became the third team, after the Minnesota Vikings (Super Bowls VIII and IX) and the Denver Broncos (Super Bowls XXI and XXII) to lose back-to-back Super Bowls. The game was played on January 26, 1992, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the first time the city played host to a Super Bowl.
Both teams finished the regular season with the best record in their respective conference. The Redskins posted a 14–2 regular season record, and led the league during the regular season with 485 points. Washington head coach Joe Gibbs entered the game seeking his third Super Bowl victory with the team, but with his third starting Super Bowl quarterback, Mark Rypien. The Bills finished the regular season with a 13–3 record and advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl, largely through the play of quarterback Jim Kelly and their "K-Gun" no-huddle offense. However, their defense ranked second to last in the league in total yards allowed.
Early in the second quarter, the Redskins jumped out to a 17–0 lead from which the Bills could not recover. Washington also sacked Kelly four times and intercepted him four times. Rypien, who completed 18 of 33 passes for 292 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, was named Super Bowl MVP.
The telecast of the game on CBS was seen by an estimated 79.6 million viewers. This was the first time that a major television network successfully scheduled Super Bowl counterprogramming: Fox aired a special live football-themed episode of its popular sketch comedy show "In Living Color" during the halftime show.
The game was referenced on the "Lisa the Greek" episode of the third season of "The Simpsons" when Lisa and Homer bonded over gambling on football games.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXVI to Minneapolis during their May 24, 1989 meeting in New Orleans. Indianapolis, Pontiac and Seattle also made bids for the game. Super Bowl XXVI became the second Super Bowl to be played in a cold, winter climate city. The first one was Super Bowl XVI on January 24, 1982 at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Temperatures in Minneapolis on game day were a high of and low of , about above average.
The Metrodome also hosted the 1992 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four, making it the only stadium to host both events in the same calendar year. It also hosted the 1991 World Series as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Atlanta Braves. Minneapolis is the only city and the Metrodome is the only venue to host all three events in a 12-month span (all three of these events aired on CBS, who would go on to purchase their Twin Cities affiliate, WCCO-TV, later in the year). The attendance mark of 63,130 was second lowest (and the lowest post-merger attendance) only to the first Super Bowl's attendance of 61,946, and the Metrodome was the smallest stadium to ever host the Super Bowl. To date, this and Super Bowl LII are the northernmost Super Bowls ever played.
Washington entered Super Bowl XXVI leading the league during the regular season in scoring with 485 points, while allowing the second-fewest points (224). The team was led by Mark Rypien, head coach Joe Gibbs' third different starting Super Bowl quarterback. Rypien led the NFC during the regular season in passing yards (3,564) and touchdown passes (28). With 249 out of 421 completions and only 11 interceptions, he earned the second-highest passer rating in the league (97.9).
Rypien had several great targets to whom he could throw. Wide receiver Gary Clark was the main deep threat on the team, catching 70 passes for 1,340 yards and 10 touchdowns. On the other side of the field, wide receiver Art Monk, playing in his 12th NFL season, was just as reliable, catching 71 passes for 1,049 yards and 8 touchdowns. Monk's 71 receptions in 1991 gave him a career total of 801, just 18 behind the all-time record held by Steve Largent. Wide receiver Ricky Sanders was also a big element of the passing game, catching 45 passes for 580 yards and 5 touchdowns.
The Redskins' primary weapon in the backfield was running back Earnest Byner, who ranked 5th in the NFL with 1,048 rushing yards, while also catching 34 passes for 308 yards and scoring 5 touchdowns. Rookie running back Ricky Ervins was also a major asset to the running attack, rushing 145 times for 680 yards for an average of 4.7 yards per carry, while also catching 16 passes for 181 yards. And when Washington was near the goal line, they usually relied on fullback Gerald Riggs, who rushed for 248 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. The Redskins' offensive line, known as "The Hogs", was led by Pro Bowl tackle Jim Lachey and guard Mark Schlereth, along with four-time Pro Bowl veterans Russ Grimm and Joe Jacoby. The Hogs allowed the fewest sacks in the league with just 9, 10 sacks less than the team that allowed the second-fewest. Even Washington's special teams unit was a big threat. Running back Brian Mitchell led the NFL in punt return yards (600) and punt return touchdowns (2) with a 13.3 yards per return average, while also gaining 583 yards returning kickoffs.
Washington's defense, which ranked third in the NFL in fewest yards allowed (4,638), was led by All-Pro defensive back Darrell Green, who was one of the fastest players in the NFL, and Pro Bowl linebacker Wilber Marshall. Green and Marshall recorded 5 interceptions each, with Marshall recording 75 return yards and a touchdown, while also compiling 5.5 sacks and forcing 4 fumbles. Safety Brad Edwards was also a big factor in the secondary, recording four interceptions. Up front, their line was anchored by defensive end Charles Mann, who recorded 11 of Washington's 50 sacks, and recovered a fumble. Defensive end Fred Stokes also made a big impact with 6.5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and an interception.
The Redskins stormed to a league-best 14–2 regular season record. After crushing the Detroit Lions 45–0 on opening day, they recorded 11 consecutive wins before suffering their first loss to the Dallas Cowboys, 24–21. Their only other defeat was a meaningless loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the final game of the regular season in which they rested most of their starters because they had already clinched the #1 NFC playoff seed.
The Bills' no-huddle "K-Gun" offense once again dominated the league by gaining an NFL-leading 6,525 yards and scoring 458 points, second only to Washington. The leaders of the offense, quarterback Jim Kelly and running back Thurman Thomas, both had the best seasons of their careers. Kelly completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 3,844 yards and a league-leading 33 touchdowns, with only 17 interceptions, to give him a 97.6 passer rating. Thomas rushed for 1,407 yards, caught 62 passes for 620 yards, and scored 12 touchdowns to earn him both the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award and the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. With 2,067 yards from scrimmage, Thomas led the league in that category for the third consecutive season. Just like Washington, Buffalo had more than one threat in their backfield. Running back Kenneth Davis emerged as a big threat, rushing for 624 yards, catching 20 passes for 118 yards, and scoring 5 touchdowns.
The Bills also had several major weapons in their passing game. Wide receiver Andre Reed led the team with 81 receptions for 1,113 yards and 10 touchdowns, and also rushed 12 times for 136 yards. On the other side of the field, veteran wide receiver James Lofton recorded 57 receptions for 1,072 yards and 8 touchdowns to earn his 8th Pro Bowl appearance and finished the year just 55 yards short of the all-time receiving yardage record, held by Steve Largent (13,089 yards). Pro Bowl tight end Keith McKeller was also a big contributor with 44 receptions for 434 yards, while receiver Don Beebe had 32 catches, 414 yards, and 6 touchdowns. Once again, the Bills' offensive line was led by center Kent Hull, along with left tackle Will Wolford and Pro Bowl left guard Jim Ritcher.
But the Bills had big problems on their defense. Buffalo ranked just 27th (out of 28 teams) in yards allowed, 19th in points allowed, and recorded only 31 sacks. A reason for this was that defensive linemen Bruce Smith and Jeff Wright had missed most of the season with injuries. One of the few bright spots on the Bills' defense was Pro Bowl linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who recorded 78 tackles, 9 sacks, and 2 fumble recoveries. Another Pro Bowl linebacker, Darryl Talley, led the team with 90 tackles and 5 interceptions, while also recovering 2 fumbles. Cornerback Nate Odomes was the leader of the secondary with 5 interceptions, which he returned for 120 yards and a touchdown, along with 66 tackles and a fumble recovery.
Despite their defensive problems, the Bills finished the season with an AFC-best 13–3 regular season record.
The Redskins first defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 24–7, in a rain-soaked playoff game that was closer than their 56–17 regular season win over Atlanta. Rypien had 442 passing yards and 6 touchdowns in the earlier game, but could only complete 14 out of 28 passes for 170 yards and 0 touchdowns in the rematch. Still, Washington dominated the Falcons again by forcing 6 turnovers and rushing for 162 yards. The Redskins held the ball for over 36 minutes while running back Ricky Ervins recorded 104 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Then Washington crushed the Detroit Lions 41–10 in the NFC Championship Game. The Lions posted a 12–4 regular season record and were coming off a 38–6 playoff blowout over the Dallas Cowboys. Many sports writers predicted that the NFC Championship Game would be much closer than the Redskins' win over the Lions in the season opening game because Detroit's future Hall of Fame running back, Barry Sanders, did not play in it due to injury. He had recorded 1,548 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in the remaining 15 games of the season, and 99 combined rushing and receiving yards against Dallas in the playoffs. However, the Redskins crushed Detroit in this game as well, quickly forcing two Lions turnovers and building up a 10–0 lead before the game was five minutes old. The Redskins scored 41 points off of two touchdown runs by Riggs, two field goals from kicker Chip Lohmiller, a pair of touchdown passes from Rypien to Monk and Clark, and Green's 32-yard 4th-quarter interception return for a touchdown. Sanders was held to just 59 total yards, and linebacker Wilber Marshall sacked Lions quarterback Erik Kramer three times.
Meanwhile, the Bills first defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 37–14, avenging a 33–6 Monday night loss during the regular season, in which the Chiefs recorded six sacks, recovered five fumbles, and gained 239 rushing yards, with running backs Harvey Williams and Christian Okoye recording over 100 rushing yards each. During this playoff game, the Bills jumped to a 24–0 lead in the 3rd quarter, with Kelly throwing three touchdown passes, the first two to Reed and the third to Lofton. The Bills also got a big performance out of Thomas, who rushed for over 100 yards, and kicker Scott Norwood, who made three field goals. Meanwhile, unconcerned with Kansas City's weak passing game, Buffalo played Bennett and Talley close to the line of scrimmage on nearly every play to stuff the run. Both players combined for 13 tackles, while the Bills' defense held Kansas City to 77 yards on the ground. Chiefs running back Barry Word, who became their primary rusher since the Monday Night game and rushed for over 100 yards in each of Kansas City's previous three games, was limited to just 50 yards. In addition, Buffalo's defense knocked Chiefs quarterback Steve DeBerg out of the game and intercepted backup quarterback Mark Vlasic four times.
Buffalo then played against the Denver Broncos, who were coming off a 26–24 win over the Houston Oilers, in which quarterback John Elway led them on an 87-yard drive to set up kicker David Treadwell's game-winning field goal with only 16 seconds left. It was predicted that this AFC Championship Game would be a shootout between the Bills' powerful offense and the superb postseason play of Elway. But neither Elway nor the Bills' offense had much success in the 10–7 Bills victory in a game totally dominated by defense. Bennett, who spent almost as much time in the Denver backfield as Elway, had another great game, constantly pressuring Elway, sharing one sack, and tackling Denver rushers behind the line of scrimmage three times. Bills linebacker Carlton Bailey also made a big impact late in the 3rd quarter, intercepting a screen pass from Elway and returning it 11 yards for Buffalo's only touchdown of the game. After backup quarterback Gary Kubiak scored Denver's only touchdown with less than two minutes to go, the Bills then clinched the victory when defensive back Kirby Jackson forced and recovered a fumble from running back Steve Sewell on Denver's final drive of the game. Treadwell's three missed field goals were a large factor in the final outcome of the defensive struggle.
During the week leading to Super Bowl XXVI, it seemed most of the pressure was on the Bills. The AFC Championship Game appeared to be the best defensive effort by Buffalo all season, as they held the Broncos to only a touchdown, while also limiting Elway to just 11 of 21 completions for 121 yards and no touchdowns, with 1 interception. But the Bills' high-powered offense was completely shut down, limited to just a single field goal for the entire game. In addition, the Bills could have easily been eliminated by the Broncos, had Treadwell not missed three field goal attempts, two of which hit the uprights. The performance also gave an opportunity for Gibbs and the Redskins' coaches to devise a strong game plan to exploit their Super Bowl opponent's weaknesses.
"Denver was successful being aggressive. That may have aided us a little bit in our thinking," said Redskins defensive coordinator Richie Petitibon. "Looking at them before they had played Denver, we kind of thought you had to put pressure on this guy (Jim Kelly). We attacked the line of scrimmage more than usual. We wanted to blitz to stop the run early in the game. It's sometimes tough to pick up blitzes against the running game."
Redskins linebacker Matt Millen was bidding to become the first player to play in a Super Bowl victory for three different franchises (he played in Super Bowl XV and Super Bowl XVIII with the Raiders, and Super Bowl XXIV with the 49ers). However, Millen was deactivated for the game and watched from the Redskins sideline. He retired from the NFL shortly after the game to pursue a career in broadcasting (and later as a team executive).
During the CBS telecast, it was mentioned that Leonard Smith (the Bills' regular starting strong safety) couldn't play as a result of an infection in his knee.
Bills defensive line coach Chuck Dickerson mocked the Washington Redskins' famed offensive line, "The Hogs" in a television interview. Dickerson said Redskins tackle Joe Jacoby was "a Neanderthal – he slobbers a lot, he probably kicks dogs in his neighborhood." He also said tackle Jim Lachey "has bad breath. Players will fall down without him even touching them." Redskins coach Joe Gibbs got his hands on some tapes of Dickerson and played them at a team meeting on the night before the game. (Levy fired Dickerson three days after the game.)
The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden for the fifth time. Lesley Visser, Jim Gray, and Pat O'Brien reported on the sidelines; Visser would later preside over the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy to the Redskins, becoming the first woman to do so. "The Super Bowl Today" was hosted by Greg Gumbel and Terry Bradshaw with Randy Cross and Dan Fouts contributing team reports, and Visser, Madden, Jim Gray, Bernard Goldberg and Mike Francesa (among others) contributing feature segments.
This would be the last Super Bowl to air on CBS until Super Bowl XXXV at the end of the 2000 season. CBS lost the NFC package to Fox following the 1993 season, leaving the network without the NFL until it acquired the AFC package from NBC for the 1998 season. Super Bowl XXVI was not originally in CBS' rotation; since it had just broadcast Super Bowl XXIV two years earlier. CBS would have received Super Bowl XXVII as part of the rotation while NBC would have aired Super Bowl XXVI. Instead, the NFL made an exception for CBS, which had acquired the rights to the 1992 Winter Olympics, and allowed the network to air the Super Bowl as a lead-in program for its Olympics coverage.
For this game, as they had done for Super Bowl XXIV, CBS debuted a new theme and opening for its NFL coverage. Composed by Frankie Vinci, the theme was used for the next two seasons on television and on CBS Radio after that; several remixes of the song were used from the time CBS resumed covering NFL games in 1998 until the end of the 2002 season; after that, CBS began using an E.S. Posthumus composition and has used it ever since.
In addition to the new theme, CBS also rolled out a new network-wide graphics package for its sports coverage. With a few minor tweaks, the red, white, and blue graphic displays stayed in place until 1996 when CBS rolled out a new orange and yellow package.
Super Bowl XXVI was telecast in over 100 countries around the world, including Australia (Network Ten), Canada (CTV), Mexico (Canal 13) and the United Kingdom (Channel 4).
Following the game was a "60 Minutes" interview with future President Bill and Hillary Clinton and an episode of "48 Hours". Super Bowl XXVI was featured in the episode of "The Simpsons" entitled "Lisa the Greek", which aired three days prior to the game and correctly predicted that Washington would win.
Also, this game was part of a broadcasting service test commissioned by the U.S. Navy. The ships participating were the USS America; USS Concord; USS Eisenhower; USS Inchon; USS Monterey; USS Normandy and the USS Sierra.
The pregame show featured local Minnesota youth including the Metropolitan Boys Choir, the Minnesota Youth Symphonies, and local marching bands.
Singer Harry Connick, Jr. later sang the national anthem. For the first time in Super Bowl History, the anthem was also performed in sign language, with Lori Hilary signing the anthem for the deaf fans. The coin toss ceremony featured Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Noll. Noll, former Steelers Hall of Fame head coach who had retired a month earlier after 23 seasons, conducted the coin toss. Noll's Steelers had lost to both of these teams earlier in the season by large margins (52–34 to Buffalo and 41–14 to Washington).
STS-42, a space shuttle mission, was in orbit during the game. A live downlink between the Metrodome and "Discovery" happened during the pregame show. Three of the mission's seven crew members demonstrated a 'human coin toss' in space.
Buffalo head coach Marv Levy stated his famous phrase "Where else would you rather be?" to his players moments before kickoff, as shown on NFL Films highlights.
The halftime show was titled "Winter Magic", and featured a celebration to the winter season and the Winter Olympics.
The halftime show was produced by Timberline Productions.
Nearly 2,000 performers were involved in the show. The show featured drill teams, professional dancers (including ballroom dancing couples), the 60-piece Minnesota Youth Symphonies, color guards and drill teams from area high schools, and rollerbladers. In addition, the Pride of Minnesota marching band performed, former Olympic champions Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill skated. Singer Gloria Estefan performed during the show's finale.
The performance began with a 30-second overture, leading into an introduction by Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill, welcoming viewers to Minnesota, “where winter’s the hottest time of the year.”
This was followed by the original composition "Winter Magic". Performers on the field spell out the word "winter" followed by the word "magic".
This was followed by "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", followed by a rendition of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy".
This was followed by "Frosty", an original composition involving rapping based on the character described in the song Frosty the Snowman. During this performance two 30-foot inflatable snowman figures were inflated, and dancing snowman figures were also utilized. The University of Minnesota Marching Band took the field during this song.
This was followed by a salute to the 1992 Winter Olympics athletes, with Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill skating to on sheets of Teflon that were embedded on the tops of large platforms that were placed on the field for the show. They skated to the song "One Moment in Time". After they finished their skating performance, the tribute to Olympians continued to the song "Don't Stop Me Now". Members of the 1980 United States Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Team took stage for this tribute, holding sparklers. Rollerbladers also took part in this segment of the performance. Boitano and Hamill left the field on a snowmobile.
Gloria Estefan then took stage, and performed her songs "Live for Loving You" and "Get on Your Feet".
The show then concluded with a finale song.
To compete with the halftime show, Fox decided to broadcast a special live episode of "In Living Color" and was able to attract and keep Super Bowl viewers. It was decided that Michael Jackson would perform at halftime during Super Bowl XXVII, followed by more big-name talent during subsequent Super Bowl halftimes in order to maintain Super Bowl viewership.
Both teams entered the game as the two highest scoring teams in the league, but after the end of the first quarter, both of them would be scoreless.
The miscues began right from the start. First, the opening kickoff had to be redone because Bills kicker Brad Daluiso kicked the ball before referee Jerry Markbreit signaled to begin play. Then after Washington was forced to punt, Bills running back Thurman Thomas missed the first two plays of Buffalo's first drive because he misplaced his helmet.
Later in the first quarter, Washington drove 89 yards and appeared to score a touchdown on a third-down pass from quarterback Mark Rypien to wide receiver Art Monk (who had already caught 3 passes for 67 yards on the drive). But it was overruled by instant replay: the officials ruled that Monk's foot was out of bounds when he caught the ball (the first time a touchdown was overruled by instant replay in a Super Bowl). The Redskins tried to salvage the drive with a field goal attempt, but holder Jeff Rutledge fumbled the snap.
On Buffalo's first play after the botched field goal attempt, Bills quarterback Jim Kelly gave Washington another chance to score by throwing an interception to Redskins safety Brad Edwards, who returned it 21 yards to the Bills 12-yard line. But Rypien promptly gave it back to the Bills by throwing an interception to Bills defensive back Kirby Jackson on the third play of the Redskins' next drive.
In the second quarter, the Redskins began to take over the game. First, a 41-yard completion from Rypien to wide receiver Ricky Sanders and a 19-yard run by Earnest Byner set up Chip Lohmiller's 34-yard field goal to give Washington a 3–0 lead. The Redskins' defense then forced Buffalo to a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and punter Chris Mohr's 23-yard punt sailed out of bounds at the Washington 49-yard line. The Redskins then drove 51 yards in 5 plays capped by Byner's 10-yard touchdown reception. Then, on the Bills next drive, Washington defensive back Darrell Green intercepted a pass from Kelly at the Redskins 45-yard line. Three plays later, Rypien completed a 34-yard pass to wide receiver Gary Clark to the Buffalo 15-yard line. A 14-yard run by Ricky Ervins then set up fullback Gerald Riggs' 1-yard touchdown run to expand the Redskins' lead to 17–0.
The Bills had a chance to drive for a score late in the second quarter. With 1:46 left in the half, Bills special teams expert Steve Tasker downed Mohr's 48-yard punt at the Redskins 1-yard line. Washington gained zero net yards during the possession, and Buffalo got the ball back after Cliff Hicks returned Kelly Goodburn's 42-yard punt 2 yards to the Redskins 41-yard line. From there, Kelly completed a 21-yard pass to tight end Keith McKeller to the 20-yard line. But after an incomplete pass and an 8-yard sack by linebacker Wilber Marshall, Edwards broke up a third-down pass intended for Andre Reed in which Edwards hit Reed before the ball got to him; however, no flag for pass interference was thrown. In disgust, Reed threw his helmet to the ground, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that took the Bills out of field goal range and forced them to punt. As the teams ran off the field at halftime, Marv Levy confronted field judge Ed Merrifield, who missed the pass interference call and then threw the unsportsmanlike conduct flag against Reed.
The Bills became the ninth team to go scoreless in the 1st half of a Super Bowl, after the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III; the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI; the Redskins in Super Bowl VII, the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII; and the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI. All eight of the previous teams ended up losing the game.
The Redskins then increased their lead to 24–0 just 16 seconds into the second half after linebacker Kurt Gouveia intercepted Kelly's pass on the first play of the third quarter and returned it 23 yards to the Bills' 2-yard line. The blitz that forced Kelly's rushed throw and led to the turnover had been drawn up by the Redskins' defensive coaches on the pregame bus ride to the Metrodome, as they came up with an idea to use their superior speed rushers against the powerful but not-that-mobile interior Bills' offensive line. One play later, Riggs scored his second touchdown of the game. The Redskins' 24–0 lead midway through the 3rd quarter tied the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VIII for the largest shutout lead in Super Bowl history. It was broken by the Seattle Seahawks' 36–0 lead in Super Bowl XLVIII.
The Bills finally got some momentum going with their next few drives. First, they drove 77 yards to the Redskins 3-yard line, aided by a 43-yard completion from Kelly to receiver Don Beebe. Washington kept Buffalo out of the end zone, but Scott Norwood kicked a 21-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 24–3. Then, aided by a 29-yard pass interference penalty on Redskins cornerback Martin Mayhew in the end zone, the Bills drove 56 yards in 6 plays and finally scored a touchdown on their next drive with a 1-yard run by Thomas to make the score 24–10.
However, Buffalo's hopes of a comeback faded when Washington advanced 79 yards in 11 plays on the ensuing drive, scoring on Clark's 30-yard touchdown reception to give the Redskins a 31–10 lead with 1:24 left in the third quarter. Three plays after receiving the ensuing kickoff, Kelly fumbled the ball while being sacked by defensive back Alvoid Mays, and it was recovered by defensive end Fred Stokes.
After the turnover, Washington drove to the Bills 7-yard line and increased their lead to 34–10 with Lohmiller's 25-yard field goal on the second play of the fourth quarter.
On the Bills' ensuing drive, Kelly was sacked for a 9-yard loss by Stokes, threw an incomplete pass, and then threw his second interception of the game to Edwards, who returned it 35 yards to Buffalo's 33-yard line. Five plays later, Lohmiller kicked his third field goal with 11:36 left in the game to increase Washington's lead to 37–10. With the game almost completely out of reach, the Bills managed to respond with a 15-play, 79-yard drive to cut the score to 37–17 on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kelly to tight end Pete Metzelaars. Then, after recovering an onside kick, the Bills drove 50 yards and scored another touchdown with Beebe's 4-yard reception to make the score 37–24. But the Bills' second onside kick attempt was unsuccessful, and the Redskins were able to run out the clock. From there, the Bills attempted one final pass play before time expired.
Kelly completed 28 of a Super Bowl–record 58 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, but was sacked four times, intercepted four times, and lost a fumble. Thomas ran for only 13 yards on 10 carries and was limited to 27 yards on four receptions. James Lofton was the top receiver for the Bills with 7 catches for 92 yards, but Reed was limited to just 5 catches for 31 yards. Clark had seven catches for 114 yards and a touchdown and Monk added seven for 113 yards (Clark and Monk became the third pair of teammates to each have 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl; they joined the Steelers' John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, who did it in Super Bowl XIII and the Bengals' Cris Collinsworth and Dan Ross, who did it in Super Bowl XVI).
Ervins was the top rusher of the game with 72 yards. Byner recorded 49 rushing yards, and 3 receptions for 24 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Edwards recorded four tackles, broke up five passes, and returned two interceptions for 56 yards. The Redskins amassed 417 yards of total offense while limiting the explosive Bills to 283, with just 43 rushing yards.
The two teams combined for the most points in a 3rd quarter in Super Bowl history (24 total points: 14 for Washington and 10 for Buffalo) and the most combined in a second half (44 total points: 24 for Buffalo and 20 for Washington).
With the win, the Redskins became the first team, and Joe Gibbs the first coach, to win a Super Bowl with three different quarterbacks. Two other teams have since duplicated this feat: the New York Giants (Phil Simms in Super Bowl XXI, Jeff Hostetler in Super Bowl XXV, and Eli Manning in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI) and the Green Bay Packers (Bart Starr in the first two Super Bowls, Brett Favre in Super Bowl XXXI, and Aaron Rodgers in Super Bowl XLV).
This was the last major professional championship won by a D.C.-based team until the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXVI, Super Bowl XXVI Play Finder Was, Super Bowl XXVI Play Finder Buf
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXVI, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Source:
"Note:" Back Judge and Field Judge swapped titles prior to the 1998 season. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29151 |
Super Bowl XXVII
Super Bowl XXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1992 season. The Cowboys defeated the Bills by the score of 52–17, winning their third Super Bowl in team history, and their first one in 15 years. This game is tied with Super Bowl XXXVII as the third-highest scoring Super Bowl with 69 combined points. The Bills became the first team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls, and just the second team to play in three straight (the Miami Dolphins played in Super Bowls VI–VIII, winning VII and VIII). The game was played on January 31, 1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the seventh Super Bowl held in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
The Bills advanced to their third consecutive Super Bowl after posting an 11–5 regular season record, but entered the playoffs as a wild card after losing tiebreakers. The Cowboys were making their sixth Super Bowl appearance after posting a 13–3 regular season record. It was the first time that the two franchises had played each other since 1984.
The Cowboys scored 35 points off of a Super Bowl-record nine Buffalo turnovers, including three first half touchdowns. Bills backup quarterback Frank Reich, who replaced injured starter Jim Kelly in the second quarter, threw a 40-yard touchdown on the final play of the third quarter to cut the lead to 31–17. Dallas then scored three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was named Super Bowl MVP, completing 22 of 30 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns for a passer rating of 140.6, while also rushing for 28 yards.
In response to the Fox Network's Super Bowl counterprogramming of a special episode of "In Living Color" during the previous year, the NFL booked Michael Jackson to perform during the entire Super Bowl XXVII halftime show. Jackson's performance started the league's trend of signing top acts to appear during the Super Bowl to attract more viewers and interest.
Super Bowl XXVII was originally scheduled to be played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, the home of the Phoenix Cardinals. In 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday honoring African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. In 1986, the first year that the holiday was observed, Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, had issued an executive order creating the holiday after the state legislature voted against it. Babbitt's successor, Republican Evan Mecham, rescinded the order on the grounds that Babbitt did not have the authority to issue such an order and Arizona ceased to observe MLK Day for the time being. Mecham also made his displeasure for the holiday widely known, saying that King did not deserve a holiday and that black supporters of the law should have been more concerned about getting jobs. In response, Dr. King's widow Coretta Scott King and musician Stevie Wonder spearheaded a complete entertainment and convention boycott of Arizona, condemning Mecham for the rescinding of the law and accusing him of racism. Blacks across the nation supported the boycott. Mecham was impeached and removed from office in 1988 on charges of obstruction of justice and financial misconduct. In 1989, the state legislature approved the holiday; however, Arizona's State Constitution required new holidays to be approved via initiatives to be approved by popular vote.
On March 13, 1990, the NFL had its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, and one of the items on its agenda was to determine a host city for Super Bowl XXVII. Among the cities being considered was Tempe, and Arizona civil rights activist Art Mobley was sent to the meeting to make sure that the Arizona ballot initiative was a talking point at the discussion. The vote was conducted and Tempe was awarded the game, but committee chairman and Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman warned that if the MLK Day ballot initiative went against adoption of the holiday, the NFL would not hesitate to pull the game from Arizona and move it somewhere else. The fact that the majority of NFL players were African-American was a big factor into this threat, as many of them felt uncomfortable of having the Super Bowl in a state that didn't recognize a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Polls showed that over 60% of the electorate approved of an MLK holiday in Arizona; however, the issue was confused since there were two competing initiatives and it was not clear that voters could vote "yes" for both. One initiative called for replacing President's Day with MLK Day while the other called for a new holiday on MLK's birthday. Both initiatives required a yes/no vote, and voters were confused if they could vote yes on both. Each initiative was defeated; however, a professor of statistics at Arizona State University demonstrated that all the yes/yes, yes/no, and no/yes votes totaled just over 60% of ballots cast, which corresponded with every poll taken prior to and after the vote. The NFL responded by making good on its threat to remove the Super Bowl from Tempe and held another vote in Kohala, Hawaii on March 19, 1991, with Pasadena chosen as the site for the first time since Super Bowl XXI was played there six years earlier. Arizona voters approved the MLK Day holiday in the 1992 elections when voters were simply asked to vote Yes or No on whether or not Arizona should recognize an MLK Day. The NFL responded by awarding Tempe Super Bowl XXX at their 1993 meeting.
The Bills entered Super Bowl XXVII trying to avoid becoming the first team to lose three consecutive Super Bowls. Once again, the team was loaded with Pro Bowl players, boasting 12 Pro Bowl selections. During the regular season, Buffalo's no-huddle offense ranked as the number two offense in the league (6,114 yards) and ranked as the number one rushing offense (2,436 yards). Running back Thurman Thomas rushed for a career-high 1,487 yards and 9 touchdowns during the regular season, while also catching 58 passes for 626 yards and another 3 touchdowns. Running back Kenneth Davis rushed for 613 yards, caught 15 passes for 80 yards, and added another 251 yards returning kickoffs. Quarterback Jim Kelly had 269 out of 462 completions for 3,457 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions. Wide receiver Andre Reed led the team with 65 receptions for 913 yards and 3 touchdowns, receiver James Lofton contributed 51 receptions for 786 yards and 6 touchdowns, and wide receiver Don Beebe caught 33 passes for 554 and 2 touchdowns. Also, tight end Pete Metzelaars recorded 30 receptions for 298 yards and 6 touchdowns. The Bills also had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, led by Pro Bowlers Will Wolford, Jim Ritcher, and Howard Ballard, along with center Kent Hull.
On defense, the line was anchored by end Bruce Smith (14 sacks) and nose tackle Jeff Wright (6 sacks, 1 fumble recovery), who were both fully recovered after missing almost all of the previous season due to injuries. The Bills were once again led by their trio of linebackers Darryl Talley (77 tackles, 4 sacks), Shane Conlan (66 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 interception), and Pro Bowler Cornelius Bennett (52 tackles, 4 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries). The secondary was aided by the emergence of second-year safety Henry Jones, who tied for the NFL lead with 8 interceptions, returning them for 263 yards and 2 touchdowns. Safety Mark Kelso recorded 7 interceptions, while Pro Bowl cornerback Nate Odomes had 5. Defensive back Cliff Hicks led the Bills special teams unit, returning 29 punts for 289 yards (9th in the NFL).
However, the Bills' quest for a third consecutive Super Bowl suffered a major setback when they lost the final game of the season to the Houston Oilers. The loss caused the Bills to finish with an 11–5 record, losing out on the AFC East title to the Miami Dolphins based on tie-breaking rules, making them a wild card team for the playoffs. Thus, even if they won their first playoff game, they would have to win two on the road to make the Super Bowl. To make matters worse, Kelly also suffered strained knee ligaments during the loss to the Oilers and had to miss the first two playoff games. Furthermore, their first opponent in the playoffs ended up being the Oilers. A headline on a Buffalo newspaper stated the Bills' situation: "Bills Begin The Longest Road Today."
Super Bowl XXVII saw the resurrection of the Dallas Cowboys. From 1966 to 1985, the team made the playoffs 18 out of 20 seasons under coach Tom Landry, including five Super Bowl appearances and two Super Bowl wins. But in the late 1980s, the team suffered several losing seasons, including a 3–13 regular season record in 1988. Then Jerry Jones bought the team on February 25, 1989, and in a controversial move, promptly fired Landry, the only coach Dallas had in 29 years as an NFL franchise. Jones replaced Landry with University of Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson.
With Johnson as head coach and Jones as his own general manager, people in the league thought they could take advantage of them. Both lacked NFL experience, and instead of hiring coaching assistants with experience in the league, they hired ones that worked with Johnson in Miami. Compounding this issue was the departure of the two men that brought previous success to Dallas: founding president Tex Schramm and famed personnel man Gil Brandt.
The Cowboys' 3–13 record in 1988 did have a silver lining; it was the worst in the league and thus gave the Cowboys the first pick in the 1989 NFL Draft. Jones and Johnson picked UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman, who would eventually go on to be selected to the Pro Bowl six times in his NFL career. Meanwhile, Jones and Johnson immediately started to shuffle the team's depth chart to find players talented enough to build a winning team. Linebacker Ken Norton Jr., one of the few holdovers from Landry's last losing seasons, would later claim that he would often go into a player huddle and meet new teammates for the first time.
Then, Jones and Johnson made a move midway through the 1989 season that shocked many in the league: they traded their only Pro Bowl player, running back Herschel Walker, to the Minnesota Vikings for five veteran players and eight draft choices. Although the Cowboys finished the 1989 season with a 1–15 record, their worst record since the team's inception, the foundations for the Cowboys' return to glory had been set. Although Dallas had the league's worst record, they traded away the first pick in the 1990 draft so they could get backup quarterback Steve Walsh in the supplemental draft. Then with the 17th pick, they drafted running back Emmitt Smith, and the trifecta of Aikman, Smith, and wide receiver Michael Irvin (who was drafted by Landry in 1988) was now set. Dallas also signed veteran tight end Jay Novacek away from Phoenix, who went on to make the Pro Bowl in five of his six years with the Cowboys.
Johnson also started to rebuild the team by drafting players who were fast, quick, and athletic. The defense was designed to become aggressive, while the offense was made to be a conservative one that did not make mistakes. In 1990, the Cowboys finished 7–9, but Smith won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award and Johnson was selected as NFL Coach of the Year. In 1991, the Cowboys finished with an 11–5 record and made the playoffs for the first time in six years.
In 1992, the Cowboys finished with a 13–3 regular season record, the second-best in the league. Although not a single one of their defensive players made the Pro Bowl, Dallas was ranked as the number one defense in the league (allowing only 4,278 yards), fourth in fewest points allowed (243), and ranked as the number one defense against the run (allowing only 1,244 yards), bringing back many fans' memories of the Doomsday Defenses of old. The defensive line was anchored by Jim Jeffcoat (10.5 sacks) and Tony Tolbert (8.5 sacks), along with future Hall of Fame pass rusher Charles Haley (six sacks), who had led the NFC in sacks in 1990 and had been acquired by Dallas in a trade with San Francisco. While Norton and Defensive Rookie of the Year Robert Jones anchored the linebacking corps, the team's solid secondary was led by defensive backs Kenneth Gant and James Washington, who both recorded 3 interceptions each, and rookie cornerback Kevin Smith. The last member of the secondary was defensive back Issiac Holt who had been acquired as part of the trade with the Vikings for Walker.
Dallas' offense finished second in the league in scoring with 409 points. Aikman had the best season of his career, completing 302 out of 473 passes (ranking second and fourth in the league) for 3,445 yards (fourth in the league) and 23 touchdowns (third in the league) while throwing only 14 interceptions, producing a quarterback rating of 89.6 (third best in the league). Smith led the NFL in rushing for the second year in a row with 1,713 yards and scoring 18 rushing touchdowns, while also catching 59 passes for 335 yards and a touchdown. Fullback Daryl Johnston was also an asset in the backfield, providing Smith with effective blocking and hauling in 32 receptions. Irvin, the team's emotional lightning rod, caught 78 passes for 1,396 yards and 7 touchdowns. Other contributors on the offense included wide receiver Alvin Harper (35 receptions for 562 yards and 4 touchdowns) and Novacek (68 receptions for 630 yards and 6 touchdowns). Dallas' dominant offensive line, later dubbed "The Great Wall of Dallas", was led by Pro Bowlers Nate Newton and Mark Stepnoski, along with 10-year veteran Mark Tuinei, free agent acquisition John Gesek and the youngster Erik Williams.
With all this talent, the Cowboys would be considered by many to be one of the deepest and most talented teams to take to the gridiron.
The Cowboys easily defeated their first playoff opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, 34–10. Dallas' defense held the Eagles to only 178 offensive yards and sacked quarterback Randall Cunningham five times. Meanwhile, the Cowboys recorded 160 rushing yards and 185 passing yards. Aikman completed 15 of 25 passes and 2 touchdowns, while Smith ran for 114 yards and a touchdown.
Dallas then defeated the San Francisco 49ers 30–20 in the NFC Championship Game. This was the first time that the two teams met in the NFC Championship since the 49ers narrowly beat the Cowboys in the 1981 NFC Championship Game on a late touchdown pass known as "The Catch". The 49ers came into the game with the league's best regular season record at 14–2 and led the league in scoring with 431 points. But in this game, the Cowboys built a 24–13 lead going into the fourth quarter, as Aikman capped a nine-minute drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Smith. However, 49ers quarterback Steve Young's 5-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice cut the lead to 24–20 with 4:22 left in the game. But instead of trying to run out the clock with a running play, Aikman threw a 70-yard completion to Harper. Three plays later, Aikman threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kelvin Martin to clinch the victory (the extra point was blocked). Aikman finished with 332 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, with no interceptions.
The Bills first defeated the Houston Oilers 41–38 in overtime, overcoming a 32-point deficit in what became known as "The Comeback". Playing without Kelly or Bennett in the lineup, nothing seemed to go right for the Bills in the first half. The Bills' offense could only score a single field goal, while their defense played even worse, as Oilers quarterback Warren Moon passed for 222 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Houston jumped to a 28–3 halftime lead. The disaster only seemed to get worse in the second half, as Thomas was knocked out of the game with a hip injury, while backup quarterback Frank Reich's first pass of the second half was intercepted by Bubba McDowell and returned 58 yards for a touchdown, making the score 35–3. However, the Bills suddenly stormed back to score five unanswered touchdowns to overcome the seemingly insurmountable deficit. First, Kenneth Davis scored on a 1-yard touchdown run. Then Buffalo recovered an onside kick and immediately scored again on Reich's 36-yard touchdown pass to Don Beebe. Reich then threw touchdowns of 26 and 18 yards to Andre Reed. In the fourth quarter, Reich hit Reed with a 17-yard score to give the Bills a 38–35 lead. The Oilers kicked a field goal late in the game to send it into overtime, but Nate Odomes' interception in the extra period set up kicker Steve Christie's game-winning field goal to give the Bills the biggest comeback win in NFL history.
Buffalo then recorded a 24–3 win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the AFC Central champions with the AFC's best regular season record at 11–5. Although Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas had not recovered enough to play in this game, Reich threw for 160 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions, while Davis rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, the defense redeemed themselves after giving up 38 points against the Oilers by holding the Steelers to only a field goal.
The Bills then defeated the Miami Dolphins 29–10 in the AFC Championship Game. The Dolphins were coming off a 31–0 blowout playoff win over the San Diego Chargers. But Buffalo's defense dominated the Dolphins' offense, intercepting quarterback Dan Marino twice, recovering three fumbles, and limiting Miami to just 33 rushing yards. Although Buffalo's offense had trouble scoring touchdowns because Kelly and Thomas were rusty coming back from their injuries, Christie scored five field goals to make up for the difference. Kelly did connect with Thomas on a screen pass for a 17-yard touchdown, and Davis ran it in from two yards out for another score. As a result, the Bills became the fourth wild-card team to advance to the Super Bowl.
This marked the first time since the AFL–NFL merger that the two Super Bowl teams each won their conference championship on the road, with Dallas winning in San Francisco and Buffalo in Miami. The only time it happened prior to 1992 was in 1966 (Super Bowl I), when Kansas City won at Buffalo and Green Bay won at Dallas. This would happen again in 1997, with Green Bay winning in San Francisco and Denver in Pittsburgh; in 2012, with San Francisco winning in Atlanta and Baltimore in New England; and in 2018, with the Los Angeles Rams winning in New Orleans and New England in Kansas City.
Even though the Bills had more experienced players than the Cowboys, Dallas was favored to win Super Bowl XXVII based on the recent dominance of NFC teams in the Super Bowl. Some writers and fans were starting to compare Buffalo to the Super Bowl losers Minnesota Vikings and the Denver Broncos.
Still, many thought that the inexperienced Cowboys might panic under the pressure of playing in their first Super Bowl, and thus make a number of mistakes. Also, some thought Buffalo's no-huddle offense could eventually wear down and dominate Dallas' young defense.
Finally, Jimmy Johnson was looking to become the first head coach to win a college football national championship (University of Miami in 1987) and a Super Bowl. As of 2019, Johnson, Cowboys' successor Barry Switzer, and current Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll remain the only coaches to achieve this goal.
This became last of five Super Bowl games played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Two other Super Bowl games were played nearby at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This was the last time that a Super Bowl was hosted in a different stadium than the city's NFL teams, as the Rose Bowl has long been considered more suitable than the Coliseum for the high-profile game. As previously mentioned, this would be the seventh and final (to date) Super Bowl in the Los Angeles area, tying New Orleans at the time for the city to host the most Super Bowls. Los Angeles would not host another Super Bowl for over two decades, since it had no NFL teams from 1995-2015, and having an NFL team in a market or region has long been a "de jure" requirement for bidding on the game. Los Angeles is scheduled to host Super Bowl LVI in 2022, but that will be at the new SoFi Stadium and not the Rose Bowl; since the 1990s the league has given preference in awarding the Super Bowl to brand new or recently renovated NFL stadiums, alongside a trend of teams demanding public money or relocating to play in new stadiums.
The game was broadcast on television in the United States by NBC. Dick Enberg served as the play-by-play announcer with color commentator Bob Trumpy in the broadcast booth. CBS was originally scheduled to broadcast Super Bowl XXVII, but the NFL allowed NBC and CBS to swap Super Bowls XXVI and XXVII so CBS could use Super Bowl XXVI as a strong lead-in for its coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Bob Costas hosted all the events with analyst Mike Ditka, who joined NBC almost immediately after he was fired as head coach of the Chicago Bears earlier in January. Other contributors included former "Boston Globe" sportswriter Will McDonough (assigned to Buffalo's locker room); former Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders tight end Todd Christensen; "The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno; Cris Collinsworth (participating in an NFL Experience piece with Christensen as well as reporting from the Dallas locker room); former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Magic Johnson (then working as a commentator for the "NBA on NBC"; Johnson was assigned to an interview with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and wide receiver Michael Irvin); Paul Maguire; Gayle Gardner; Jim Lampley (who would replace Costas as host of "NFL Live" for the following season); and "Dateline NBC" correspondent Deborah Roberts (producing a special report on the Michael Jackson halftime show). Also included was an interview with former New York Jets defensive end Dennis Byrd and his wife Angela in the first one-on-one interview since Byrd suffered a paralyzing neck injury (which he eventually recovered from) suffered in a collision with teammate Scott Mersereau during their game against Kansas City.
After the game, "" premiered on NBC. This would be the third successful series to premiere after a Super Bowl ("The A-Team", which premiered after Super Bowl XVII, and "The Wonder Years", which premiered after Super Bowl XXII, were the other two successful series).
Super Bowl XXVII was broadcast to 125 countries around the world. In addition to the United States, this Super Bowl was also broadcast in Canada on CTV, in Germany on Tele 5, in Mexico on Canal 5, in Australia on the ABC, in the Philippines on GMA Network and World TV 21 and the United Kingdom on Channel 4.
The "NFL's Greatest Games" episode "A Man and His Moment" features Jimmy Johnson reading excerpts from his book "Turning the Thing Around: My Life in Football", interspersed with game footage and audio from Super Bowl XXVII. It was based on the Super Bowl XXVII highlight film, which had the same title as this episode.
The pre show featured The Rockettes dance company in a tribute to Hollywood music and cinema in the United States. Also featured were former Eagles singer Glenn Frey and Fleetwood Mac.
Country music singer Garth Brooks sang the national anthem. He was accompanied by actress Marlee Matlin, who signed the anthem for the deaf fans. Brooks very nearly did not perform the anthem—he left the stadium less than an hour before he was slated to sing, because of a dispute with NBC, regarding a video he asked them to air for the song "We Shall Be Free". Television producers spotted rocker Jon Bon Jovi in the crowd and were prepared to have him perform the anthem, until Brooks was finally coaxed back into the stadium.
The coin toss ceremony featured a future infamous celebrity, former Bills running back O. J. Simpson, who was working for NBC Sports at the time.
After Super Bowl XXVI, where a special episode of "In Living Color", broadcast by future NFL broadcaster Fox during the game's halftime period, successfully attracted viewers away from the Super Bowl telecast on CBS (with viewership falling by 22% over halftime), the NFL began the process of heightening the profile of the halftime show in an effort to attract mainstream viewers. Radio City Productions, who would produce the halftime show, attempted to court Michael Jackson to serve as the headline act by meeting with him and his manager Sandy Gallin. After three failed negotiations, one having asked the NFL for a fee of $1 million, Jackson's management agreed to allow him to perform at Super Bowl XXVII.
Although the league does not pay appearance fees for Super Bowl halftime performers, the NFL and Frito-Lay agreed to donate $100,000 to the Heal the World Foundation—a charity that was founded by Jackson, as well as commercial time to air an appeal for the foundation's Heal L.A. campaign, which aimed to provide health care, drug education, and mentorship for Los Angeles youth, particularly children affected by the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Jackson's set included a medley consisting of "Jam" (with the beginning of "Why You Wanna Trip On Me"), "Billie Jean" and "Black or White". The finale featured an audience card stunt, a video montage showing Jackson participating in various humanitarian efforts around the world, and a choir of 3,500 local Los Angeles area children singing "We Are the World", later joining Jackson as he sang his single "Heal the World".
The halftime show was a major success, marking the first time in Super Bowl history that ratings increased between halves during the game, Nine days later, Jackson would gain his highest television interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Super Bowl XXVII started out well for Buffalo. The Cowboys were forced to a three-and-out on their opening possession. Bills special teams expert Steve Tasker then blocked the ensuing punt, knocking the ball out of bounds at the Cowboys 16-yard line. Four plays later, Thurman Thomas scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Bills the 7–0 early lead.
Dallas then reached their own 40-yard line on their next drive, but an illegal formation penalty nullified running back Emmitt Smith's 12-yard run. Troy Aikman then threw two consecutive incompletions, and the Cowboys were forced to punt again. The Bills subsequently advanced to midfield with the aid of a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty on Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett and a 21-yard reception by wide receiver Andre Reed.
Then the wave of turnovers began. On the next play, a blitz by reserve defensive back Kenneth Gant forced a pass by Jim Kelly that Dallas safety James Washington intercepted and returned 13 yards to the Bills 47-yard line. Six plays later, the Cowboys tied the game on Aikman's 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jay Novacek.
The Bills had to start at their own 10 following the ensuing kickoff due to an illegal block. On the first play of the drive, Dallas defensive end Charles Haley sacked Kelly and forced a fumble. Cowboys defensive tackle Jimmie Jones picked the ball out of the air at the 2-yard line and dove into the end zone for a touchdown to give his team a 14–7 lead. Dallas had scored two touchdowns in a span of 15 seconds, the shortest time between touchdowns in Super Bowl history.
Early in the second quarter, Kelly's 40-yard completion to Reed gave the Bills a first down at the Cowboys 4-yard line. But the Bills failed to score on three rushing attempts. On fourth down, Kelly's pass was intercepted in the end zone by safety Thomas Everett.
On Buffalo's next drive, linebacker Ken Norton Jr. hit Kelly, re-injuring the quarterback's knee that he sprained earlier in the season, and playoff star Frank Reich took Kelly's place. Reich started out well, completing his first two passes, including a 38-yard completion to Reed to advance the ball to the Dallas 22-yard line, while running back Kenneth Davis was also a major contributor on the drive, rushing five times for 28 yards. However, Thomas was stopped for no gain on third down and 1 at the 4-yard line. Rather than attempt another fourth-down play near the goal line, the Bills settled for Steve Christie's 21-yard field goal to cut their deficit to 14–10 with 3:24 left in the half.
The Cowboys then stormed down the field on their next possession, scoring in just five plays. After a pair of completions by Aikman for 17 yards, Smith's 38-yard run gave the Cowboys a first down inside the Bills 20-yard line as the half came to the 2-minute warning. Aikman then finished the drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Irvin, increasing his team's lead to 21–10. On the first play of the Bills' ensuing drive, Thomas caught a swing pass, but fumbled the ball while being tackled by Lett, and Jones recovered it at the Bills 18-yard line. Aikman then threw his second touchdown pass to Irvin to give the Cowboys a 28–10 lead (Irvin's two touchdown receptions made him the 7th player to do so in a Super Bowl. Irvin also became the second player, after Washington Redskins wide receiver Ricky Sanders in Super Bowl XXII, to catch two touchdowns in a single quarter; Furthermore, Irvin's two catches occurred in a span of 18 seconds, the fastest pair of touchdowns scored by a single player in Super Bowl history).
With a little over a minute left in the first half, Buffalo barely avoided another turnover when running back Kenneth Davis recovered a fumbled handoff from Reich. But two plays later, defensive back Larry Brown intercepted Reich's pass at the Dallas 28-yard line to preserve the Cowboys' 18-point lead at halftime.
Dallas then took the opening drive of the second half and advanced 77 yards in 11 plays, featuring a 25-yard reception by Irvin. However, on third down and 2, Aikman's pass to Novacek in the end zone was overthrown, forcing Dallas to settle for Lin Elliott's 20-yard field goal. This increased their lead to 31–10. Both teams were unable to score on each of their next possessions, but on the last play of the quarter, Reich threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to receiver Don Beebe. So despite five first-half turnovers, Buffalo was only trailing Dallas 31–17 going into the 4th quarter, and after their comeback from the 32-point deficit to the Houston Oilers, a 14-point comeback seemed perfectly within their capabilities.
Early in the 4th quarter, Aikman threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper. Then on the second play of the Bills' next possession, Everett intercepted a pass from Reich and returned it 22 yards to Buffalo's 8-yard line, setting up another touchdown three plays later on Smith's 10-yard run. After Buffalo received the ensuing kickoff, Reich fumbled a high snap while in a shotgun formation. Norton recovered the loose ball and returned it 9 yards for a touchdown, increasing the Cowboys' lead to 52–17. The 21 points by the Cowboys is the most for a team in the 4th quarter, matched by the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. The Cowboys also became just the second team to score two non-offensive touchdowns in a Super Bowl. The Raiders also did so in Super Bowl XVIII with a blocked punt return and an interception return.
One of the more memorable moments of the game came after the Cowboys had built a 35-point lead. Buffalo QB Frank Reich lost a fumble while being sacked by Cowboys lineman Jim Jeffcoat. Dallas tackle Leon Lett picked up the ball with no one in front of him, appeared ready to score on a 64-yard touchdown return. As Lett started to showboat just before crossing the goal line, a hustling Buffalo wide receiver Don Beebe ran Lett down from behind and stripped Lett of the ball just before he crossed the goal line, as the ball rolled out of the end zone for a touchback. After the game, in an otherwise dejected Buffalo locker room, Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson went straight to Beebe and thanked him for his hustle and perseverance.
Smith was the top rusher of the game, rushing for 108 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 6 passes for 27 yards. Irvin was the Cowboys' leading receiver with 6 receptions for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. Novacek added 7 receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown. Lett recorded a sack, a fumble recovery, and 2 forced fumbles.
Reich and Kelly combined for 22 out of 38 completions for 276 yards and a touchdown, but also threw 4 interceptions. Thomas, who gained 2,113 combined rushing and receiving yards during the season, was held to just 29 combined rushing and receiving yards in the game. Reed was the Bills' top receiver with 8 receptions for 152 yards. Bills running back Kenneth Davis was their leading rusher with 86 yards. Davis also caught 3 passes for 16 yards and returned a kickoff for 21 yards, giving him 123 total yards.
Buffalo had seven possessions which ended in four plays or less because of turnovers and resulted in five Dallas touchdowns. Irvin and Bills receiver Andre Reed each had over 100 yards receiving, making it the first time players from different teams had at least 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl; Irvin had 114 yards, while Reed had 152. Reed's total is the highest for a player on a losing team.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXVII, Super Bowl XXVII Play Finder Dal, Super Bowl XXVII Play Finder Buf
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXVII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
For the first (and to date only) time in Super Bowl history, officials changed shirts at halftime, going from short sleeves in the first half to long sleeves for the second.
Donnie Hampton died January 30, 1995 at age 47, one day after Super Bowl XXIX. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29152 |
Super Bowl XXVIII
Super Bowl XXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1993 season. The Cowboys defeated the Bills for the second straight year by the score of 30–13, winning their fourth Super Bowl in team history, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers for most Super Bowl wins. The game was played on January 30, 1994, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. Since the 1993 regular season was conducted over 18 weeks (two byes per team), the traditional bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl was not employed; the last time this happened was before Super Bowl XXV.
This is the only time that the same two teams have met in consecutive Super Bowls. The defending Super Bowl XXVII champion Cowboys finished with a 12–4 regular season record, despite key players missing games due to injuries. The Bills were making their fourth consecutive Super Bowl appearance, but still seeking their first title, after also finishing with a 12–4 regular season record, largely through the strength of their no-huddle offense.
After trailing 13–6 at halftime, the Cowboys scored 24 unanswered points in the second half. The Bills had built their lead off of running back Thurman Thomas' 4-yard touchdown run. But just 45 seconds into the third quarter, Thomas was stripped of the ball, and Dallas safety James Washington returned the fumble 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game. From there, Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who was named the Super Bowl MVP, largely took over the game. On Dallas' next possession, Smith was handed the ball seven times on an eight-play, 64-yard drive that was capped off with his 15-yard touchdown run. He later scored on a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Overall, Smith had 30 carries for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also catching 4 passes for 26 yards.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXVIII to Atlanta, Georgia, during their May 23, 1990, meeting in Dallas. The Georgia Dome was under construction at the time of the vote.
The Cowboys' journey to Super Bowl XXVIII proved more difficult than the previous season. Pro Bowl running back Emmitt Smith held out the first two regular season games over a contract dispute, and Dallas lost both of those contests, including a 13-10 loss at home to the Bills. Pro Bowl quarterback Troy Aikman, along with a few other key players, missed games due to injuries.
Following the loss to the Bills, Cowboys linebacker Charles Haley was so upset he slammed his helmet through a locker room wall, screaming "We'll never win with a fucking rookie running back, and we have the greatest one ever sitting at home watching TV!" in reference to Smith's replacement, Derrick Lassic. Team owner Jerry Jones apparently agreed, quickly signing Smith to a contract that made him the highest paid running back in the NFL. Jerry Jones, who was in the locker room when the helmet was thrown, said that it missed him by about 2 feet.
With Smith back in the starting lineup and Aikman healthy, Dallas went on to win their next seven games, including a dominating 26-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers and a 23-10 win on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles in which Smith rushed for 237 yards, the 6th highest total in NFL history. Their winning streak was finally snapped against the Atlanta Falcons, with Aikman on the sidelines with an ankle injury, and Smith knocked out of the game after his first carry. They also lost their next game against Miami due to an infamous error by defensive lineman Leon Lett that enabled the Dolphins to kick a game-winning field goal, but then went on to win their remaining five games. In the season finale against the New York Giants, with the Cowboys desperately trying to clinch the NFC East title and a first-round bye in the playoffs, Aikman showed he was at full health, completing 24 of 30 passes with no interceptions, while for Smith it was his career signature game. He suffered a first-degree separation in his right shoulder during the first half, but still finished with 229 total yards (168 yards rushing, 10 passes caught for 61 yards, and the team's only touchdown) in a 16-13 overtime win which enabled Dallas to finish with an NFC-best 12–4 record.
Though not as dynamic as the previous year, Dallas' offense remained incredibly efficient, led by Aikman, who finished the regular season completing 271 out of 392 passes for 3,100 yards, 15 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Smith recorded 1,486 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, while catching 57 passes for 414 yards and another touchdown, earning him his third consecutive NFL rushing title and the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Fullback Daryl Johnston was also a reliable backfield threat, scoring four touchdowns and contributing a career-high 50 receptions for 371 yards. Pro Bowler Michael Irvin was once again the team's leading wide receiver, catching 88 passes for 1,330 yards and seven touchdowns. Wide receiver Alvin Harper caught 36 passes for 777 yards and five touchdowns, while Pro Bowl tight end Jay Novacek had 44 receptions for 445 yards and one touchdown. Pro Bowlers Mark Stepnoski, Erik Williams, and Nate Newton anchored the offensive line. On special teams, rookie receiver Kevin Williams ranked seventh in the NFL with 381 yards on 36 punt returns, while also gaining 689 kickoff return yards and catching 20 passes for 151 yards.
The Cowboys' defense was anchored by such Pro Bowlers as lineman Russell Maryland, and Ken Norton Jr., and defensive backs Thomas Everett and Kevin Smith, who intercepted six passes during the season. Defensive end Tony Tolbert led the team with 7.5 sacks, while Charles Haley added 4.
The Bills finished at the top of the AFC by clinching the conference's best regular season record, winning 7 of their first 8 games and finished the season at 12–4. Quarterback Jim Kelly once again led Buffalo's no-huddle offense by passing for 288 out of 470 regular season completions for 3,382 yards, 18 touchdowns, with 18 interceptions. Kelly was joining an elite class by starting his fourth Super Bowl. The only other quarterbacks to start four were Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana, with John Elway, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning later doing so. Kelly is the only one to start four consecutive Super Bowl games.
Running back Thurman Thomas led the AFC with 1,315 rushing yards and six touchdowns, while also catching 48 passes for 387 yards. Running back Kenneth Davis rushed for 391 yards and six touchdowns, while also recording 21 receptions for 95 yards. Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Reed caught 52 receptions for a team-leading 854 yards and six touchdowns; wide receiver Bill Brooks had 60 receptions for 714 yards and five touchdowns; and wide receiver Don Beebe recorded 31 receptions for 504 yards and three touchdowns. Also, tight end Pete Metzelaars led the team with 68 receptions (a higher amount than his last four seasons combined) for 609 yards and four touchdowns. Pro Bowl offensive lineman Howard Ballard anchored the line.
Buffalo's defense was the team's weakness, ranking 28th (then-last) in the league, giving up 5,810 total yards. The defense did have a few good contributors, such as Hall of Fame lineman Bruce Smith (14 sacks, one fumble recovery), Pro Bowl linebacker Cornelius Bennett (five sacks, two fumble recoveries), linebacker Darryl Talley (101 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries, three interceptions) and cornerback Nate Odomes, who led the NFL with nine interceptions and one fumble recovery. Linebacker Marvcus Patton, who had moved up to the starting lineup to replace departed Pro Bowler Shane Conlan, was also an impact player, intercepting two passes and recovering three fumbles.
In the NFC, Dallas' first opponent in the playoffs was the Green Bay Packers, who were coming off a thrilling 28–24 win over the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card Game, in which quarterback Brett Favre had thrown the winning touchdown pass to Sterling Sharpe with only 55 seconds left in the game. In this game, the Packers scored first with a field goal, but Dallas stormed back with 17 consecutive points in the second quarter. First, Aikman threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Harper. Then with time running out the period, Dallas scored again on an Eddie Murray field goal. Green Bay then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, allowing the Cowboys to score again with Aikman's 6-yard pass to Novacek. The Cowboys went on to stave off an attempted Packers comeback in the second half and win the game, 27–17. Aikman finished the game with 28 of 37 completions for 302 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions. Irvin recorded 9 catches for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns.
One week later, Dallas faced the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game for the second year in a row in what was, at the time, the last NFL game to air on CBS. The 49ers had the NFL's highest scoring offense with 473 points, 97 more than the runner-up Cowboys. The last time the two teams played for the NFC title, Dallas won when Aikman thwarted an attempted 49ers comeback with a touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter. But this time, the game was extremely one-sided. The Cowboys scored touchdowns on four of their five first-half possessions. By the end of the half, Dallas had a commanding 28–7 lead. Aikman completed 14 of 18 passes for 177 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, while also rushing for 25 yards, but was knocked out of the game with a concussion in the third quarter. Then San Francisco scored a touchdown, making the score 28-14 with plenty of time left for a comeback. However, their hopes were soon dashed as backup quarterback Bernie Kosar, who had already played in three conference championship games and was unable to advance to the Super Bowl each time, led the Cowboys 82 yards to go up 35-14 on his 42-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper. Murray then put the finishing touches on San Francisco with a 50-yard field goal, while all the 49ers could do was score a useless touchdown in "garbage time" to make the final score 38-21. Smith rushed for 88 yards, caught seven passes for 85 yards, and scored two touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Dallas defense held 49ers running back Ricky Watters, who rushed for over 100 yards and scored 5 touchdowns in the divisional round, to just 37 yards on 12 carries.
Buffalo's first opponent was the Los Angeles Raiders, led by quarterback Jeff Hostetler, who had led the New York Giants to victory over the Bills in Super Bowl XXV three years earlier. The Raiders had also edged out the Bills 25-24 in week 14 of the regular season. In this game, the Raiders built up a 17–13 halftime lead, but Buffalo stormed back with 16 second half points. First, they scored on Kelly's 25-yard touchdown pass to Brooks. Then on their next drive, kicker Steve Christie kicked a 29-yard field goal to give the Bills a 23–17 lead. Los Angeles managed to respond with an 86-yard scoring strike from Hostetler to receiver Tim Brown, but Buffalo stormed right back with Brooks' 22-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. The Bills ended up winning the game 29–23, having scored 16 points in a span of 6:18 in the second half. Kelly threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
One week later, the Bills took on the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC title. Led by 4-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Montana, Kansas City had defeated the Bills 23-7 during the regular season, and were coming off thrilling narrow wins against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Oilers in the playoffs. In the days leading up to the game, many sports writers and fans were eager for the possibility of a Super Bowl in which Montana took on the San Francisco 49ers led by Steve Young, who had replaced Montana as their starting quarterback, or the Dallas Cowboys, who had displaced the 49ers to become the most dominant team in the NFC. However, Buffalo quickly crushed this prospect, burying Kansas City with a dominating 30–13 victory in the AFC Championship Game. Thomas rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns, and caught two passes for 22 yards. On defense, the Bills limited Montana to just 9 of 23 completions for 125 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception. In addition, Kansas City's future Hall of Fame running back, Marcus Allen, was held to just 50 rushing yards on 18 carries.
Both Dallas and Buffalo were the top seeded teams in their respective conferences, earning home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Until the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts qualified for Super Bowl XLIV, this was the last time that both number one seeds advanced to the Super Bowl.
Many sportswriters and fans were a bit upset that the Bills advanced to their fourth consecutive Super Bowl. They were distressed with Buffalo having lost the three previous Super Bowl games and did not want to see them lose again. Some Bills fans appeared to be defensive about their team's presence in the game; during Buffalo's victory in the AFC Championship Game a week earlier, one fan displayed a banner defiantly proclaiming, "We're back; deal with it, America!"
Therefore, the Super Bowl hype was more focused onto Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones and head coach Jimmy Johnson. Although the two rebuilt the team with young talent that eventually won the previous year's Super Bowl, both men had huge egos that conflicted with each other. Both had different ideas on the future personnel plans for the Cowboys, and both wanted equal credit for the team's recent success (eventually, Johnson would leave the team after the season).
This was the fourth rematch in Super Bowl history, and the first time that both teams met in consecutive years.
Before the game, the Super Bowl became the target of protests over the Georgia state flag, which at the time included stars of bars of the Confederate States of America and was seen as offensive by many. Several high-profile Georgia politicians got involved, including state senator Ralph D. Abernathy. The NFL tried to duck the issue, with spokesman Greg Aiello stating "We're not a political-advocacy group. It's not our role to get involved in political issues that have nothing to do with the Super Bowl." However, the NFL had cancelled plans to hold the Super Bowl in Phoenix three years earlier after a referendum to make Martin Luther King's birthday an Arizona state holiday was defeated. Ultimately, the flag was not flown inside the Georgia Dome, but was mounted on a pole outside the stadium.
Vice President Al Gore attended the game.
The game was broadcast in the United States by NBC, with play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg and color commentator Bob Trumpy. Jim Lampley hosted all the events with the help of analysts Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs and sideline reporters O. J. Simpson (on Buffalo's sideline) and Will McDonough (on Dallas' sideline). While Lampley was busy covering the trophy presentation, Bob Costas (who also interviewed Dallas head coach Jimmy Johnson and Dallas owner/general manager Jerry Jones together prior to the game) covered for Lampley at the host and analysts' desk (and signed off the broadcast for NBC).
It was the first (and, to date, only) time a single network had held consecutive Super Bowls outright. The five-year NFL contract signed in 1989 had a provision where the last Super Bowl in the contract (XXVIII) would not be rotated, but would go to the highest bidder. NBC, which had held XXVII (according to the original rotation, NBC would have had XXVI and CBS XXVII, but the NFL allowed the networks to switch the two games in order to allow CBS a significant lead-in to its coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics), was the only network to bid on XXVIII. Less than two weeks before the game was aired, NBC aired a Peanuts special, "You're In the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown", in which the character Melody-Melody wins the Punt, Pass & Kick contest wearing a Dallas Cowboys uniform. For this game, NBC introduced a new theme for NFL broadcasts by composer John Colby that would be retained for the 1994 season.
Previously, the league alternated the Super Bowl broadcast among its television networks, except for Super Bowl I in which both NBC and CBS televised it simultaneously. CBS broadcast Super Bowl II, then the league rotated the broadcast between CBS and NBC until 1985 when ABC entered the rotation when they broadcast Super Bowl XIX.
NBC aired the fifth episode of "The Good Life" and the premiere of "The John Larroquette Show" following the game.
The pregame show held before the game was titled "Georgia Music Makers" and featured performances by the rap music duo Kris Kross, the rock band The Georgia Satellites, country musician Charlie Daniels, and the Morehouse College Marching Band.
The United States Trampoline Association (USTA) performed on 4 trampolines during "Jump-Jump" performed by Kris Kross.
Later, singer Natalie Cole, accompanied by the Atlanta University Center Chorus, sang the national anthem.
To honor the 25th anniversary of the New York Jets' upset win in Super Bowl III, that game's MVP, former Jets quarterback Joe Namath joined the coin toss ceremony.
The halftime show was titled "Rockin' Country Sunday" and featured country music stars Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, and Wynonna Judd. The show's finale included a special appearance by Naomi Judd, who joined Wynonna in performing The Judds' single "Love Can Build a Bridge", to which everyone eventually joined in.
This was the first Super Bowl halftime show in which the main stadium lights were turned off for the performance. The show included dancers with yard-long light sticks.
Though the Bills had a lead at halftime, Super Bowl XXVIII would have an identical outcome to the three preceding Super Bowls and end with a Buffalo loss.
Dallas kick returner Kevin Williams returned the opening kickoff 50 yards to the Buffalo 48-yard line. The Cowboys began the drive with quarterback Troy Aikman's 20-yard pass to wide receiver Michael Irvin. But on third down and six from 24-yard line, Aikman threw an incomplete pass, and the Cowboys had to settle for kicker Eddie Murray's 41-yard field goal.
The Bills then responded with a 7-play, 43-yard scoring drive. Quarterback Jim Kelly's 24-yard pass to running back Thurman Thomas advanced the ball across the Dallas 40-yard line. After a 3-yard run by running back Kenneth Davis, however, Kelly threw two straight incompletions. The Bills then tied the game, 3–3, with Steve Christie's 54-yard field goal, the longest field goal in Super Bowl history.
Buffalo then forced Dallas to punt, but on the first play of the Bills' ensuing possession, Dallas safety James Washington forced Thomas to fumble, and safety Darren Woodson recovered the ball at midfield. Aided by wide receiver Alvin Harper's 24-yard reception, the Cowboys drove to the Bills' 7-yard line, but once again were forced to settle for a field goal; a 24-yarder by Murray to regain the lead, 6–3.
After receiving Murray's kickoff, the Bills could only reach their own 41-yard line before being forced to punt. However, Dallas cornerback Dave Thomas was penalized for running into punter Chris Mohr on the play, giving Buffalo a first down.
Taking advantage of their second chance, the Bills marched down the field with runs by Thomas and short completions by Kelly. Thomas eventually finished off the 17-play, 80-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run, giving the Bills a 10–6 lead early in the 2nd quarter.
Dallas started out their ensuing drive with a 15-yard reception by Irvin and a 13-yard run by running back Emmitt Smith to get to midfield. They were eventually forced to punt, but Cowboys defensive end Matt Vanderbeek downed John Jett's 43-yard punt at the Bills' 1-yard line. A 19-yard completion from Kelly to receiver Andre Reed moved Buffalo out from the shadow of their own end zone, and they eventually reached the Cowboys 46-yard line, but they too were forced to punt. However, Mohr matched Jett's feat with a 45-yard punt that was downed at the Dallas 1-yard line by Buffalo special teams expert Steve Tasker.
As the Bills had done, Dallas managed to get out of their own territory and advance to the Buffalo 47-yard line. However, Bills defensive back Nate Odomes intercepted a pass intended for Irvin, and returned it 41 yards to the Dallas 47-yard line with 1:03 left in the half. After a 1-yard run by Thomas, Kelly completed a pair of passes to Thomas and Reed for gains of 12 and 22 yards, respectively, to move the ball to the Cowboys 12-yard line. But the Dallas defense tightened up on the next three plays, as Kelly threw a 3-yard completion to Thomas, an incomplete pass, and a completion to Thomas for no gain. Christie then kicked his second field goal as time expired in the half, increasing Buffalo's lead to 13–6.
Buffalo's command over the game proved short-lived, as the Cowboys dominated the second half. After 45 seconds had elapsed from the third quarter, Leon Lett forced a Thomas fumble, which Washington returned 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game, 13-13.
Bills receiver Russell Copeland then returned the ensuing kickoff 22 yards to the Buffalo 37-yard line, but on third down, Cowboys linemen Jim Jeffcoat and Charles Haley shared a 13-yard sack on Kelly to force the Bills to punt. The Cowboys then scored on an 8-play, 64-yard drive in which Smith carried the ball on seven of the eight plays, gaining all but 3 of the 64 yards himself, and finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to give Dallas a 20–13 lead.
Meanwhile, Dallas' defense continued to stop Buffalo's offense throughout the second half. Washington intercepted a pass from Kelly on the first play of the 4th quarter and returned it 12 yards to the Bills 34-yard line. A false start penalty on the next play moved the ball back to the 39, but on the next three plays, Smith ran twice for 10 yards and caught a screen pass for 9. Aikman then completed a 16-yard pass to Harper, giving Dallas a first and goal at the 6-yard line. The Bills managed to prevent a touchdown on the next three plays, but on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line, Smith ran into the end zone for the score, giving the Cowboys a 27–13 lead.
The Bills started their ensuing drive from their own 22-yard line and managed to reach their own 36. Cowboy defensive lineman Jimmie Jones made two key plays, however; a second-down tackle on Thomas for a one-yard loss and a 13-yard sack on third down to push the ball back to the 22-yard line and force Buffalo to punt; a poor, 29-yard kick which the Cowboys recovered at their own 49-yard line. Dallas then put the game away with a 9-play, 49-yard scoring drive that took 4:10 off the clock. On the sixth play of the drive, Aikman completed a 35-yard pass to Harper to the Bills 1-yard line. After a false start penalty pushed them back to the 6-yard line, the Cowboys ran the ball on their next three plays to force Buffalo to use up all of their timeouts. Murray then kicked a 20-yard field goal with 2:50 left in the game, increasing the Cowboys' lead to 30–13, and effectively ending any chance of a Bills comeback.
"This one is the worst," Reed said after the game, referring to the Bills' streak of four consecutive Super Bowl losses. "We should have won. Then they come up with 24 unanswered points. That last fumble was once in a million. These things always happen to the Bills. It rips the heart out of you." "Dallas didn't wear us down in the second half," added Thomas. "I fumbled. I cost us the game." However, center Kent Hull managed to find some consolation. "In the immediate future we'll be thought of as losers," he said. "But one day down the road, when I'm no longer playing, they'll say, 'Wow, they won four straight AFC championships. They must have been good.'"
For the Cowboys, Troy Aikman completed 19 out of 27 for 207 yards with 1 interception, while Alvin Harper was the team's top receiver with three catches for 75 yards. Emmitt Smith, still suffering the effects of a shoulder injury during the regular-season finale, became just the second player in Super Bowl history to rush for 100 yards in back-to-back Super Bowls (the other being Larry Csonka, who did it in Super Bowls VII and VIII). He also became the fourth player to rush for touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls (joining Franco Harris, John Riggins and Thomas). Smith also became the first player to lead the league in rushing yards, win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, and win Super Bowl MVP all in the same season. He was also the fourth player, after Bart Starr (1966), Terry Bradshaw (1978), and Joe Montana (1989) to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP during the same season. Defensively, James Washington, who began as the nickel-back to counter Buffalo's "no-huddle" and frequent use of three wide receivers, had a phenomenal game with his 46-yard fumble return touchdown, an interception, forcing a Thurman Thomas fumble that Darren Woodson recovered, and collecting 11 tackles. Washington had only started in one game for the Cowboys during the season, but finished this one just a few votes short of earning the MVP award.
For the Bills, wide receiver Andre Reed finished the game with 6 receptions for 75 yards to lead Buffalo, with Don Beebe catching 6 passes for 60 yards and returning 2 kickoffs for 63 yards. Thomas was limited to just 37 rushing yards, but he also caught 7 passes for 52 yards (Thomas became the first player in Super Bowl history to score touchdowns in four Super Bowls: he scored one touchdown in each of the Bills' four straight appearances, XXV-XXVIII). Kenneth Davis was the Bills' top rusher with 38 yards. Kelly finished the game completing 31 of 50 passes for 260 yards and 1 interception. His 31 completions was a then-Super Bowl record. Kelly became the only player ever to throw 50 passes in two Super Bowls. In addition to his 50 passes in this game, he threw a Super Bowl-record 58 passes in Super Bowl XXVI.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXVIII, Super Bowl XXVIII Play Finder Dal, Super Bowl XXVIII Play Finder Buf
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXVIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
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Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29153 |
Super Bowl XXIX
Super Bowl XXIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion San Diego Chargers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1994 season. The 49ers defeated the Chargers by the score of 49–26, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowl championships. The game was played on January 29, 1995 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003).
This game is regarded as 49ers quarterback Steve Young's final leap out of the shadow of his predecessor, Joe Montana, who had won four Super Bowls with the 49ers (in 1981, 1984, 1988, and 1989), two with Young as the backup quarterback. With Young at the helm, and a defense consisting of several veteran free agents who joined the team during the previous offseason, San Francisco finished the regular season with a league-best 13–3 record, and led the league in total points scored (505). The Chargers, on the other hand, were regarded as a "Cinderella" team, and advanced to their first Super Bowl after posting an 11–5 regular-season record and overcoming halftime deficits in both of their playoff wins.
This was the first Super Bowl in which both teams scored in all four quarters. The combined aggregate score of 75 points and the ten total touchdowns both remain Super Bowl records. Still, the 49ers controlled most of the game, with Young completing touchdown passes in each of the 49ers' first two drives. The Chargers were able to cut the deficit late in the first quarter, 14–7, on a 13-play, 78-yard drive, but could not slow down San Francisco afterwards. Young was named the Super Bowl MVP, throwing a Super Bowl-record six touchdown passes, and completing 24 out of 36 passes for 325 yards.
Despite the predicted blowout (18½ points is the largest margin a team has been favored by in a Super Bowl), the fact that San Diego did not have as much national appeal nor a relatively large core fan base, and two teams from California playing, which could have significantly diminished interest along the East Coast, the telecast of the game on ABC still had a Nielsen rating of 41.3.
This was the first Super Bowl of the 1990's to not feature the Buffalo Bills.
NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXIX to Miami, Florida during a meeting on May 23, 1991. This was the seventh time that Miami hosted the game.
The Chargers were the biggest surprise of the 1994 season, with very few expecting them to even reach the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl.
San Diego suffered losing seasons in the 1980s until former Washington Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard joined the team in 1990. Beathard decided to rebuild the Chargers using the same model that he used to build the Redskins into Super Bowl contenders during the 1980s – a powerful running game built around big linemen, a passing game that helped sustain extremely long drives, and a bending but steady defense. After former Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Ross was hired by the Chargers in 1992, the team won the AFC West with an 11–5 regular season record and won an opening round playoff game against Kansas City. But in 1993, they slumped back to 8–8 and did not reach the postseason.
Before the start of the 1994 season, San Diego was not expected to do well because they had so many newcomers via the draft and free agency; the Chargers ended up with 22 new players on their roster, and 10 of them became starters. However, they ended up winning their first six regular season games en route to an 11–5 record, the AFC West championship, and the #2 AFC playoff seed. The Chargers went into the final game of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers needing a win to get the #2 seed (a loss would have given that spot to the Miami Dolphins), which came with a first-round bye and a home game in the divisional round of the playoffs. Backup quarterback Gale Gilbert, subbing for injured starter Stan Humphries, led the Chargers to a come-from-behind 37–34 win, with John Carney kicking a game-winning field goal in the game's final seconds.
The Chargers' offense was led by quarterback Stan Humphries, who was the Redskins' backup to Mark Rypien during the 1991 season, when they won Super Bowl XXVI. During the 1994 season for San Diego, Humphries completed 264 out of 453 attempts for 3,209 yards and 17 touchdowns, with 12 interceptions. Wide receiver Mark Seay was the team's leading receiver with 58 receptions for 645 yards and 6 touchdowns. Wide receiver Tony Martin had 50 catches for 885 yards and 7 touchdowns, wide receiver Shawn Jefferson recorded 43 catches for 627 yards and 3 touchdowns, and tight end Alfred Pupunu had 21 receptions for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Running back Natrone Means led the team in rushing with 1,350 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also recorded 39 receptions for 235 yards, and was named to the Pro Bowl. Third-down back Ronnie Harmon was also a big contributor, catching 58 passes for 615 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, the Chargers' special teams was also a major threat with Andre Coleman, who returned 49 kickoffs for 1,293 yards (26.4 average yards per return) and 2 touchdowns.
The Chargers had an excellent defensive line, anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Leslie O'Neal, who led the team with 12.5 sacks and forced four fumbles, defensive tackle Chris Mims, who recorded 11 sacks, and Shawn Lee, who added 6.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Their linebacking corps was led by Junior Seau, who was a Pro Bowl selection for the fourth consecutive year, recording 123 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and 3 fumble recoveries. Defensive back Stanley Richard was a major weapon in the secondary, recording 4 interceptions, 224 return yards, and 2 touchdowns. Defensive back Darrien Gordon was also a major asset to the team, recording 4 interceptions and 32 return yards, while also adding another 475 yards and 2 touchdowns returning punts. Safety Rodney Harrison was a rookie on the team.
Chargers backup quarterback Gale Gilbert became the first player to be a member of five consecutive Super Bowl teams. He had been a third-string quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, who had won AFC Championships in the four previous seasons (1990–1993).
From the 1988 to the 1993 seasons, the 49ers played in five out of six NFC Championship Games, winning Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV. But after head coach George Seifert's team lost two consecutive NFC Championship games to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and 1993, San Francisco brought in several veteran free agents to strengthen their defense. Among the players signed were defensive linemen Richard Dent (the MVP of Super Bowl XX), Charles Mann, Rhett Hall, and Rickey Jackson; linebackers Ken Norton Jr. and Gary Plummer; and cornerback Deion Sanders.
The free agents enabled the 49ers to jump from the 18th-ranked defense in the league to the 8th, and to jump from the league's 16th-best defense against the run to the 2nd. Pro Bowl defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield led the team with 8.5 sacks. Rookie defensive tackle Bryant Young was also a big threat to opposing quarterbacks and rushers, recording 42 tackles, 6 sacks, and a fumble recovery. Behind them, Norton played very effectively at the middle linebacker position, leading the team with 77 tackles and recording an interception. Pro Bowl safety Merton Hanks led the team with 7 interceptions for 93 return yards, while Sanders had 6 interceptions for 303 return yards and 3 touchdowns, earning him the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. His 303 return yards was the third-highest total in NFL history, while his touchdown returns of 74, 93, and 90 yards made him the first player ever to have two 90-yard interception returns in one season. Pro Bowl safety Tim McDonald was also a big contributor, recording 2 interceptions for 79 yards and a touchdown.
The 49ers' offense was led by quarterback Steve Young, who replaced future Hall of Famer Joe Montana as the starter in 1991 and 1992 due to injuries. After Young led the league in passing in both seasons, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, leaving Young as the undisputed starter in 1993. But even with his impressive passing statistics, Young was criticized as "not being able to win the big games" as Montana had done in leading the 49ers to Super Bowl victories in XVI, XIX, XXIII, and XXIV. It also didn't help that the team had lost to Montana's Chiefs 24–17 during the regular season.
Still, Young again led the league in passing during the 1994 regular season with a passer rating of 112.8, breaking Montana's record for the highest regular season rating in NFL history. Young recorded 324 out of 461 completions for 3,969 yards, 35 touchdowns, and just 10 interceptions. He also had 58 rushes for 293 yards and 7 touchdowns, and earned the NFL Most Valuable Player Award.
With Young at the helm, the 49ers led the league in total points scored (505) and helped them earn a league best 13–3 regular season record. Pro Bowl running back Ricky Watters was the team's leading rusher with 877 yards and 6 touchdowns, while also recording 66 receptions for 719 yards and 5 touchdowns. Rookie fullback William Floyd was the team's second-leading rusher with 305 yards and 6 touchdowns, while also having 19 receptions for 145 yards. The team's leading receiver was Pro Bowl wide receiver Jerry Rice, who had 112 catches for 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also gaining 93 yards and two more touchdowns rushing the ball. Receiver John Taylor was also a reliable target, catching 41 passes for 531 yards and 5 touchdowns. Pro Bowl tight end Brent Jones added 49 receptions for 670 yards and 9 touchdowns. The offensive line was led by Pro Bowl center Bart Oates, another offseason free agent pickup, and Pro Bowl guard Jesse Sapolu.
Running back Dexter Carter had a standout season as a returner on special teams, gaining a combined total of 1,426 yards and a touchdown returning both punts and kickoffs.
In the AFC Divisional Playoffs, the Chargers managed to overcome a 21–6 halftime deficit to defeat the Miami Dolphins, 22–21. In the first half, San Diego was limited to only two John Carney field goals, while Miami quarterback Dan Marino threw for over 180 yards and 3 touchdowns. However, the Chargers dominated the Dolphins in the second half, limiting their offense to just 16 plays. In the third quarter, after being stopped on fourth and goal at the 1-yard line, Chargers defensive lineman Reuben Davis tackled Dolphins running back Bernie Parmalee in the end zone for a safety. San Diego then took the ensuing free kick and marched 54 yards to score on Means' 24-yard touchdown run. Then with time running out, Humphries threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Seay, giving his team a one-point lead. The Dolphins, aided by a pass interference call, responded with a drive to the Chargers' 31-yard line, but kicker Pete Stoyanovich's potential game-winning 48-yard field goal attempt sailed far to the right of the goal posts and sealed San Diego's stirring win.
San Diego then faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. Once again, the Chargers fell behind early as the Steelers built up a 13–3 halftime lead, but Humphries fooled the Steelers secondary with a 43-yard play-action touchdown pass to a wide open tight end Alfred Pupunu. The Chargers then took a 17–13 lead when Martin beat the Steelers secondary (particularly a badly overmatched Tim McKyer) down the right sideline for a 43-yard touchdown reception. On their final drive, the Steelers advanced to the San Diego 3-yard line, but Chargers linebacker Dennis Gibson sealed the victory on fourth down by deflecting quarterback Neil O'Donnell's pass intended for running back Barry Foster to turn the ball back over to San Diego. Just like the 49ers in the NFC title game, the Chargers advanced to the Super Bowl despite the fact that the Steelers had outgained them in many key statistical categories such as total plays (80–47), total offensive yards (415–226), and time of possession (37:13–22:47).
The 49ers first defeated the Chicago Bears, 44–15, in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Although Chicago scored first with a field goal, San Francisco scored 37 unanswered points to put the game out of reach by the end of the third quarter. Floyd scored three rushing touchdowns, while Young rushed for a touchdown and threw for another.
San Francisco then defeated their nemesis, the Dallas Cowboys, 38–28, in the NFC Championship Game. Expected to be a close game, the 49ers converted 3 Dallas turnovers into 21 points in the first quarter. On the third play of the game, cornerback Eric Davis returned an interception from Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman for a touchdown. Wide receiver Michael Irvin lost a fumble on Dallas' next drive, setting up Young's 29-yard touchdown pass to Watters. Then Cowboys returner Kevin Williams lost a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and it was recovered by kicker Doug Brien at Dallas' 35-yard line. Several plays later, Floyd scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give San Francisco a 21–0 lead less than 8 minutes into the game. With the score 24–14 in the closing minutes of the first half, Aikman threw 3 straight incompletions, and a short punt by the Cowboys set up Young's 28-yard touchdown completion to Rice with 8 seconds remaining in the first half. The Cowboys eventually cut their deficit to 38–28 with a touchdown run by Emmitt Smith and Aikman's 10-yard touchdown pass to Irvin in the final period, but they were unable to score again. Although the Cowboys outgained the 49ers in total offensive yards (451–294), Aikman broke an NFC Championship Game record with 380 yards passing, and Irvin also broke an NFC Championship Game record with 192 receiving yards, Dallas was ultimately unable to overcome their first-quarter turnovers.
Entering Super Bowl XXIX, most sports writers and fans thought the Chargers had absolutely no chance of defeating the 49ers. San Francisco was on track, winning 12 of its last 13 games (with their only loss in that span coming against the Minnesota Vikings in a meaningless regular season finale at Minnesota), including their playoff victories. Many people also thought that the NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and the Cowboys was "the real Super Bowl", because those two teams were commonly viewed as vastly superior to any AFC team. Furthermore, San Francisco defeated San Diego, 38–15, during the regular season. As a result, the 49ers entered the game favored to win by 18½ points, surpassing the 18 point spread in which the Baltimore Colts were favored over the New York Jets in Super Bowl III more than two decades prior.
Many also speculated that Super Bowl XXIX would be the least watched game in Super Bowl history. In addition, the Chargers did not have as large of a core fan base when compared to the Chiefs, the Dolphins, or the Steelers. (This prediction ultimately turned out to be false. Although Super Bowl XXIX was viewed by 125.2 million people and had a Nielsen rating of 41.3, Super Bowl XXVI three years earlier was seen by 119.7 million viewers and recorded a 40.3 rating.)
This was the seventh Super Bowl to be played in Miami, at the time tying both New Orleans, Louisiana and the Greater Los Angeles area for hosting the Super Bowl the most times. It remains the only Super Bowl played between teams that play their home games in the same state (although Super Bowl XXV was played between the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills, two teams representing areas of New York, the Giants play their home games in New Jersey).
The game was also the main plot feature of an episode titled “Super Bowl Fever” of the TV show Home Improvement. In the show, Jill falls ill while Tim and his buddies try to watch the game. It aired on January 31, 1995.
The game was broadcast in the United States by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentators Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf. Lynn Swann (Chargers sideline) and Lesley Visser (49ers sideline) served as sideline reporters. During that Super Bowl, Visser became the first woman assigned to a Super Bowl sideline. Visser had previously become the first woman sportscaster to cover the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation ceremony, when she covered Super Bowl XXVI for CBS. Brent Musburger hosted all the Super Bowl XXIX pregame (2 hours), halftime, and postgame events with the help of then-ABC Sports analyst Dick Vermeil, Musburger's regular color commentator on ABC's college football telecasts, and then-New York Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason. This would be the final Super Bowl hosted by Musburger, as all subsequent Super Bowls on ABC were hosted by ESPN's Chris Berman following the Disney purchase of ABC (which included ESPN), and the subsequent integration of ESPN and ABC Sports (now ESPN on ABC). Also, the trophy presentation for this game was the last to be held in the winning team's locker room, as all subsequent Vince Lombardi Trophy presentations would be held on the field.
This was the last Super Bowl broadcast by the "Monday Night Football" broadcast team of Michaels, Gifford and Dierdorf. This was the broadcast team for "Monday Night Football" from 1987 to 1997. They also worked ABC's coverage of Super Bowls XXII and XXV. This would also be the last Super Bowl aired on ABC until the 1999 season (when Al Michaels called the game with Boomer Esiason).
On the Tuesday prior to the Super Bowl, the ABC sitcom "Full House" aired an episode called "Super Bowl Fun Day" involving two main characters actually at the game. ("Full House" was set in San Francisco, and this was the only time during the show's run that the 49ers advanced to a Super Bowl aired on ABC.) A week earlier, the "Seinfeld" episode "The Label Maker" involved Jerry trying to give away his tickets to the game. He eventually decided to go, but unfortunately was stuck sitting next to Newman.
Thirty-second television advertisements for Super Bowl XXIX averaged $1.15 million in costs, the first time that Super Bowl ads exceeded the $1 million mark.
This Super Bowl aired in over 150 countries worldwide. It was simulcast in Canada on CTV and TVA (in French), in Mexico on Televisa's Canal 5, in Germany on Tele 5, in Australia on the ABC, in the Philippines on the GMA Network and later aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4.
Following the game ABC premiered the television drama "Extreme" starring James Brolin; this was the last series to premiere following the Super Bowl until "Family Guy" premiered following Super Bowl XXXIII and is one of only four in the last fourteen years to premiere following a Super Bowl (joining "Family Guy", its spinoff "American Dad!", and "Undercover Boss" which premiered following Super Bowl XLIV), since the networks have preferred to have new episodes of established shows to catch as much of the post-game audience as possible.
This Super Bowl would later be featured on "NFL's Greatest Games" under the title "Exercise in Excellence." The Super Bowl highlight film on which the episode was based was the only Super Bowl highlight film to be narrated by Harry Kalas.
The pregame show held before the game featured country music singer Hank Williams Jr., who performed his theme song for "Monday Night Football", which was based on his single "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight".
Actress and singer Kathie Lee Gifford (Frank Gifford's wife) later sang the national anthem. She was accompanied by then-Miss America Heather Whitestone who signed the anthem for the hearing impaired.
To honor the NFL's 75th season, four former players all Hall of Fame members, who were named to the league's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team joined the coin toss ceremony: Otto Graham, Joe Greene, Ray Nitschke, and Gale Sayers.
A special 75th anniversary logo was painted at midfield. Each player also wore a patch on his jersey with the same logo; the 75th anniversary patch was worn by all players league-wide during the 1994 season. During the regular season, teams also wore "throwback" jerseys for selected games. The 49ers wore their throwbacks (which paid tribute to the 1957 Niners) for most of the season, this game included.
The halftime show was titled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye" and was produced by Disney to promote their Indiana Jones Adventure attraction at Disneyland that opened later that year. The show featured actors playing Indiana Jones and his girlfriend Marion Ravenwood who were raiding the Vince Lombardi Trophy from the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The show also had performances by singers Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and the Miami Sound Machine. The show ended with everybody singing "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", the song featured in Disney's (which later acquired ABC) 1994 film "The Lion King".
This halftime show also had a connection with past ABC programming: the first two "Indiana Jones" films had their broadcast premieres on ABC, and the network aired a TV series, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", from 1992 to 1993 (actually serving as the lead-in to "Monday Night Football" at one point).
The game was broadcast on nationwide radio by CBS with play-by-play announcer Jack Buck and color commentator Hank Stram. Jim Hunter hosted all of the events. Locally, Super Bowl XXIX was broadcast by XTRA-AM in San Diego with Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton and Jim Laslavic and by KGO-AM in San Francisco with Joe Starkey and Wayne Walker.
On the opening kickoff, a 15-yard face-mask penalty on Chargers linebacker Doug Miller gave San Francisco the ball at their own 41-yard line. Then on the third play of the drive, 49ers quarterback Steve Young threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice. The 49ers became the second team to take the opening kickoff and score a touchdown on that first drive (the first being the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VIII), and also set a new Super Bowl record for the fastest touchdown (later broken by the Chicago Bears' Devin Hester in Super Bowl XLI). After forcing the Chargers to punt, the 49ers advanced 79 yards in four plays, with Young rushing for 21 yards and then throwing a 51-yard touchdown pass to running back Ricky Watters to give San Francisco a 14–0 lead less than 5 minutes into the 1st quarter, and set a Super Bowl record for the fastest second touchdown scored by a team.
The Chargers responded on their ensuing possession, marching 78 yards in 13 plays and taking more than 7 minutes off the clock. Running back Natrone Means finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to cut San Diego's deficit to 14–7. However, the 49ers quickly countered after the ensuing kickoff, driving 70 yards in 10 plays. Rice started off the drive with a 19-yard reception and 10-yard run on a reverse play, while Young added a 12-yard completion to John Taylor and a 15-yard scramble.
Young eventually finished the drive with his third touchdown pass, this one from five yards out to fullback William Floyd five plays into the 2nd quarter.
Later in the quarter, Chargers punter Bryan Wagner's 40-yard punt from his own 9-yard line gave the 49ers the ball at the San Diego 49. San Francisco then marched on a 9-play drive to score on Young's fourth touchdown pass, an 8-yard toss to Watters with 4:44 left in the half, making the score 28–7. The Chargers then took the ensuing kickoff and drove 62 yards from their own 25-yard line to the San Francisco 13, featuring a 33-yard gain on a screen pass from Stan Humphries to Eric Bieniemy, San Diego's longest play of the game. But after three incomplete passes, one of which was a perfectly thrown Humphries pass that Mark Seay dropped in the end zone, they were forced to settle for kicker John Carney's 31-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 28–10.
A 33-yard completion from Young to tight end Brent Jones helped the 49ers reach the San Diego 29-yard line on their next possession, but Young's third-down pass to Jones was overthrown, and rookie kicker Doug Brien missed a 47-yard field goal attempt. The Chargers then drove to their own 46-yard line, but 49ers defensive back Eric Davis intercepted Humphries' third-down pass in the end zone with 10 seconds left in the half, and the score remained 28–10 at halftime. The Chargers' 18-point halftime deficit ended up being the closest scoring margin they would reach for the rest of the game.
Leading 28–10 in the 3rd quarter, the 49ers added 14 more points. The Chargers were forced to punt after three plays on the opening drive of the second half, and Dexter Carter returned the ball 11 yards to his own 38-yard line. Young subsequently completed three consecutive passes for 53 yards on a 7-play, 62-yard drive that ended with Watters' third touchdown on a 9-yard run. After a 33-yard kickoff return by Andre Coleman, the Chargers advanced to the San Francisco 33-yard line, but they turned the ball over on downs when Humphries' fourth-down pass was broken up by Davis. After the turnover, Young led his team on a 10-play, 67-yard drive, aided by a 22-yard pass interference penalty against Darrien Gordon on third and 14, to score on his fifth touchdown pass, a 15-yard completion to Rice. The Chargers' only highlight of the 3rd quarter was when Coleman returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Then, wide receiver Mark Seay caught a pass for a successful two-point conversion (the first in Super Bowl history; the rule had been adopted by the NFL at the start of the season), but it only cut the deficit to 42–18.
The 49ers were forced to punt on their next drive, but San Diego ended up turning the ball over on downs when Means was tackled for a 4-yard loss on a fourth down and 1 from their own 37-yard line.
Six plays later, Young threw his record-setting sixth touchdown pass to Rice with 13:49 remaining in the game to make the score 49–18. The Chargers responded with a 13-play, 59-yard drive to get to the San Francisco 7-yard line, but 49ers defensive back Deion Sanders intercepted backup quarterback Gale Gilbert's fourth-down pass in the end zone. After two San Francisco punts and another interception (defensive back Toi Cook picked off a pass from Humphries on the 49ers 28), the Chargers scored the final points of the game with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Humphries to wide receiver Tony Martin and another two-point conversion to make the score 49–26. San Francisco recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran time off the clock before punting to the San Diego 7. San Diego drove to the San Francisco 35 before time ran out, and the game ended in a 49ers victory.
At the end of the game, Young showed his jubilation at finally being able to win "the big one" while accepting the MVP trophy. "There were times when this was hard! But this is the greatest feeling in the world! No one — "no one!" — can ever take this away from us! No one, "ever!" It's ours!" Young and his teammates were equally enthusiastic in the locker room afterwards. "We're part of history," said guard Jesse Sapolu. "This is probably the best offense people will see in their lifetimes." "Is this great or what?" Young added. "I mean, I haven't thrown six touchdown passes in a game in my life. Then I throw six in the Super Bowl! Unbelievable."
Rice caught 10 passes for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns, tying his own record for most touchdown receptions in a Super Bowl, and becoming the first player ever to do it twice. He also recorded 10 rushing yards. Watters rushed for 47 yards and a touchdown, while also catching 3 passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Means, who rushed for 1,350 yards in the regular season, was held to just 33 yards in the game. Humphries finished 24 out of 49 for 275 yards and one touchdown, with two interceptions. Seay was the Chargers' top receiver with 7 receptions for 75 yards, while Ronnie Harmon added 8 catches for 68 yards. Defensive end Raylee Johnson had two sacks. Coleman's 8 kickoff returns for 244 yards and a touchdown set the following Super Bowl records: most kickoff returns in a Super Bowl, most kickoff return yards in a Super Bowl, and most combined net yards gained in a Super Bowl.
This was the first Super Bowl to have two players each score three touchdowns. Rice matched his Super Bowl XXIV performance with his three touchdown catches. Watters also had three touchdowns, matching Roger Craig's three touchdowns (two receiving and one rushing) in Super Bowl XIX. Watters also became the second running back to catch two touchdown passes in a game, matching Craig.
Ken Norton Jr. became the first player to win three straight Super Bowls, although as a member of two teams. Norton was a member of the Cowboys teams who won Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII. Deion Sanders became the first player to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series, playing in the 1992 World Series with the Atlanta Braves.
Chargers quarterback Gale Gilbert became the first player to be a member of five straight Super Bowl teams. Gilbert was a member of the Bills who played in four straight Super Bowls (XXV–XXVIII). Gilbert was on the losing team in all five Super Bowl games.
The 49ers' spectacular performance led to their offensive coordinator, Mike Shanahan, and defensive coordinator, Ray Rhodes, earning head coaching positions in 1995 for the Denver Broncos and the Philadelphia Eagles, respectively. Bobby Ross became the second coach, after Jimmy Johnson in Super Bowl XXVII, to lead a team to a college football national championship (Georgia Tech in 1990) and a Super Bowl. One year later, Barry Switzer would join Johnson as the only coaches to win championships in both NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) college football and the NFL.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXIX, Super Bowl XXIX Play Finder SF, Super Bowl XXIX Play Finder SD, USA Today Super Bowl XXIX Play by Play
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Longest gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXIX, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
Jerry Markbreit became the first official to serve as referee in four Super Bowls, a record that still stands.
As of the 2019 season, this is the only Super Bowl played between teams based in the same state. XXIX is also the 49ers' most recent Super Bowl championship, and was their last appearance in the Super Bowl until the 2012 season, when they lost to the Baltimore Ravens by a final score of 34–31. Their 2019 squad also lost Super Bowl LIV to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 20-31.
As for the Chargers, the implications of their defeat were worse in hindsight. This remains the only Super Bowl the Chargers have ever played in including the pre AFL-NFL merger, the 3rd championship game that the Chargers lost. The AFL Championship in 1963 remains to this day as the only major sports championship the city of San Diego has won (and also the longest championship drought for any city that has at least two major sports franchises), so even though they were heavy underdogs, the loss still had a great significance. The Chargers would also not win another playoff game since then until the 2007 season, when they reached the AFC Championship, but lost to the then 18-0 New England Patriots, 21–12. Super Bowl XXIX would be their only appearance while playing in San Diego, before they moved to Los Angeles following the 2016 season.
In addition, eight players from the 1994 Chargers Super Bowl team have died prior to reaching age 45. They include: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29154 |
Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1995 season. The Cowboys defeated the Steelers by the score of 27–17. The game was played on January 28, 1996, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, the first time the Super Bowl was played in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Both teams entered the game trying to tie the San Francisco 49ers for the record for most Super Bowl wins by a franchise (5). The Cowboys, who posted a 12–4 regular season record, were making their eighth Super Bowl appearance, while the Steelers, who recorded an 11–5 regular season record, were making their fifth appearance. This game was also the fifth rematch between Super Bowl teams. Moreover, it was the third meeting between the two longtime rivals in a Super Bowl (after Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII), the most between any two NFL teams. Dallas became the first team to win three Super Bowls in four years, while Pittsburgh's defeat was their first Super Bowl loss in team history.
Dallas' Larry Brown, a 12th-round draft pick, became the first cornerback to be named Super Bowl MVP by recording two interceptions in the second half, which the Cowboys converted into two touchdowns to prevent a Steelers comeback. Dallas built a 13–0 lead in the second quarter before Pittsburgh scored with 13 seconds left in the half to cut their deficit to 13–7. Midway through the 3rd quarter, Brown made his first interception and returned it 44 yards to the Pittsburgh 18-yard line to set up running back Emmitt Smith's 1-yard touchdown run. The Steelers then rallied to cut their deficit to 20–17 in the 4th quarter. But Brown recorded his second interception on Pittsburgh's next drive and returned it 33 yards to the Steelers 6-yard line to set up Smith's 4-yard rushing touchdown.
The NBC television broadcast broke the then-record for most watched sporting event ever on American television, and the second-most watched program of all time, trailing only the final episode of "M*A*S*H".
Tempe was originally chosen as the venue for Super Bowl XXVII on March 13, 1990. However, the NFL pulled the game away from Arizona after the league joined a massive, nationwide tourist boycott by various groups to protest the state's refusal to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. After Arizona voters finally adopted the federal holiday in 1992, the NFL again began to consider Tempe. NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXX to Tempe, Arizona during their March 23, 1993 meeting in Palm Desert, California.
Super Bowl XXX was the last to be hosted in a stadium containing bleacher seats, and would also be the last Super Bowl to be held on a college campus, as the stadium sits on the campus of Arizona State University.
Super Bowl XXX was also the last Super Bowl to have a team wear jerseys with screen printed numbers as was the case with the Cowboys.
The Cowboys entered the 1995 regular season attempting to become the first team in NFL history to win three out of the last four Super Bowls. They had previously won Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII but their chance of a "three-peat" (winning three consecutive championships) was thwarted when they lost the NFC Championship Game to the San Francisco 49ers, the eventual Super Bowl XXIX champions. This was the Cowboys’ eighth appearance in the Super Bowl, the most of any franchise; the Steelers tied this record in 2010 when that team advanced to Super Bowl XLV. The Patriots became the third team to reach the mark in 2014 when that team went on to win Super Bowl XLIX, and the Denver Broncos the fourth team in 2015 in Super Bowl 50.
After taking over the Cowboys in 1989, team owner/general manager Jerry Jones and head coach Jimmy Johnson rebuilt the team into a Super Bowl contender with young talent. Both had different ideas on the future personnel plans for the Cowboys, and both wanted equal credit for the team's recent success. As a result, Johnson eventually left the team after their Super Bowl XXVIII win and was replaced by former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer, who had one of the highest winning percentages of any college football coach in history, with a mark of .837.
In 1995, the Cowboys finished with a regular season record, the best in the NFC. Pro Bowl quarterback Troy Aikman finished the regular season completing 280 out of 432 passes for 3,304 yards and 16 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions. Pro Bowl running back Emmitt Smith won his fourth and last league rushing crown in his career with 1,773 yards, and broke a league single-season record with 25 rushing touchdowns. Smith was also a reliable receiver out of the backfield, recording a career-high 62 receptions for 375 yards. Fullback Daryl Johnston added 111 rushing yards, while also catching 30 passes for 248 and scoring three touchdowns. Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Irvin led the team in receiving with 111 catches for 1,603 yards and 10 touchdowns. Kevin Williams was another big receiving threat with 38 receptions for 613 yards, while also racking up 1,274 return yards on special teams. Pro Bowl tight end Jay Novacek had 62 receptions for 705 yards and five touchdowns. Dallas' offensive line was led by Pro Bowl selections Larry Allen, Ray Donaldson, Nate Newton, and Mark Tuinei. However, Donaldson suffered a season-ending injury late in the season and would be replaced by Derek Kennard.
Dallas' major acquisition before the season was four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Deion Sanders. Coincidentally, Sanders won the Super Bowl the year before with San Francisco. However, Sanders only played nine regular season games for the Cowboys in 1995 due to injuries, and thus only recorded 24 tackles and two interceptions for 34 yards. However, safety Darren Woodson was named to the Pro Bowl with 89 tackles and two interceptions for 46 return yards and a touchdown. Cornerback Larry Brown led the team in interceptions with six for 124 return yards and two touchdowns. Pro Bowl defensive end Charles Haley led the team in sacks with 10.5, while defensive end Chad Hennings added 5.5. Safety Brock Marion recorded six interceptions, returning them for 40 yards and a touchdown.
After starting fast at 8–1, the Cowboys hit a major bump in the road, losing big at home to the 49ers, 38–20 (they trailed 31–14 at halftime). Coincidentally, the 49ers, the previous Super Bowl champion, also suffered a blowout loss at home the prior season (40–8 to the Philadelphia Eagles). Adding insult to injury, the 49ers were without starting quarterback Steve Young and fullback William Floyd. The game was highly anticipated, with verbal exchanges between the teams during the week, and it marked the beginning of a difficult stretch for the team. The following four games resulted in two more losses for the Cowboys. However, after a narrow 21–20 win against the New York Giants, the Cowboys regained their dominating form, trouncing the Arizona Cardinals (who were playing their home games at Sun Devil Stadium) 37–13 on Christmas night in Arizona as part of "Monday Night Football", and then cruising through the playoffs with convincing wins against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. Brown foreshadowed his Super Bowl XXX heroics with a key interception against Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre late in the NFC Championship Game.
Super Bowl XXX was the first time that the Steelers advanced to the league championship game since winning Super Bowl XIV and the first under head coach Bill Cowher. Cowher took over the team in 1992 after longtime head coach Chuck Noll retired after a 23-year tenure and leading the team to four Super Bowl wins. During Cowher's first year, the Steelers captured the number one AFC playoff seed with an 11–5 regular season record, but were eliminated in their first playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, 24–3. Cowher then led the Steelers into the playoffs in 1993 and 1994, but were also eliminated, including a 17–13 upset loss to the San Diego Chargers in the 1994 AFC Championship Game.
In 1995, the Steelers overcame a 3–4 start (including a 20–16 upset loss to the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars) to win eight of their final nine games and finished with an record, the second-best in the AFC. Their offense was led by quarterback Neil O'Donnell, who completed 246 out of 416 passes for 2,970 yards and 17 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions. Pro Bowl wide receiver Yancey Thigpen was the team's leading receiver with 85 receptions for 1,307 yards and five touchdowns. Other contributors in the passing game included wide receivers Andre Hastings (48 catches for 502 yards and one touchdown) and Ernie Mills (39 receptions for 679 yards and 8 touchdowns), who both also excelled as returners on special teams. Mills gained 1,306 yards returning kickoffs, while Hastings returned 48 punts for 474 yards and a touchdown. The Steelers' rushing attack was led by Erric Pegram, who recorded 813 yards and five touchdowns, and Bam Morris, who had 559 yards and nine touchdowns. On special teams, newly acquired kicker Norm Johnson led the NFL in both field goals made (34) and field goals attempted (41), while also successfully making all 39 of his extra point attempts. Leading the offensive line was future Hall of Fame center Dermontti Dawson, who made the Pro Bowl for the third consecutive year.
The Steelers' defense ranked second in the league in total yards allowed (4,833). Pro Bowl linebacker Kevin Greene led the team with nine sacks, while another Pro Bowl linebacker, Greg Lloyd, led the team with 86 tackles, while also collecting 6.5 sacks and three interceptions. The secondary was led by Pro Bowl defensive back Carnell Lake and Willie Williams, who led the team with seven interceptions and 122 return yards. The secondary also featured future Hall of Fame defensive back Rod Woodson, who missed almost the entire season with a knee injury, but returned in time for the playoffs. He is still the only NFL player to return from a torn ACL to play in the same season.
The Cowboys first defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 30–11. The score was tied 3–3 into the 2nd quarter, until Dallas scored 27 consecutive points to put the game out of reach. First, Deion Sanders scored a 21-yard touchdown on an end-around play. Emmitt Smith then capped off a 79-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run before halftime. Kicker Chris Boniol later scored two field goals in the 3rd quarter, and Troy Aikman completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Michael Irvin in the 4th quarter, giving the Cowboys a commanding 30–3 lead. Meanwhile, Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham was limited to just 11 of 26 completions for 161 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception. Philadelphia could only score a single field goal and Cunningham's meaningless 4-yard touchdown run late in the 4th quarter.
Dallas then advanced to their fourth consecutive NFC Championship Game, where they faced the Green Bay Packers, who had eliminated the San Francisco 49ers in the other NFC Divisional Playoff Game. Dallas jumped to an early 14–3 lead with a pair of first quarter touchdown passes from Aikman to Irvin. However, Packers quarterback Brett Favre threw two touchdowns to take a 17–14 lead midway through the second quarter: a 73-yard strike to wide receiver Robert Brooks and a 24-yard pass to tight end Keith Jackson. Dallas stormed right back with a Boniol field goal, and a record 99-yard drive to score on Smith's 1-yard touchdown run, giving them a 24–17 halftime lead. In the third quarter, Green Bay regained the lead, 27–24 with a field goal and another touchdown pass from Favre to Brooks. However, Dallas scored two unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away, 38–27. A 90-yard drive was capped with Smith's second touchdown run. On Green Bay's ensuing drive, Larry Brown intercepted a pass from Favre and returned it 28 yards to set up Smith's third touchdown run. Smith finished the game with 150 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while also catching two passes for 17 yards. Aikman threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions. Irvin caught seven passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
For the Steelers, they started their playoff run with a 40–21 win over the Buffalo Bills. Pittsburgh dominated the Bills right from the start, building up a 23–7 halftime lead. Buffalo scored two touchdowns in the second half, but Bam Morris's two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter ended any thoughts of a Bills comeback. The Steelers' defense limited Buffalo's Jim Kelly to just 135 passing yards and one touchdown, while intercepting him three times. Bills running back Thurman Thomas, who had rushed for 158 yards and caught three passes for 42 yards in Buffalo's wild card playoff win over the Miami Dolphins, was held to just 46 rushing yards and 12 receiving yards. Meanwhile, Morris rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns, while kicker Norm Johnson made four field goals.
Pittsburgh then narrowly defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 20–16 to advance to their first Super Bowl since the 1979 season. In the second quarter, Neil O'Donnell's controversial 5-yard touchdown pass to Kordell Stewart gave Pittsburgh a 10–6 halftime lead (replays showed that Stewart stepped on the end line before making the catch, which would have made him ineligible). Stewart later said after the game: "I was hit in the end zone for pass interference earlier but (the refs) didn't throw a flag, so what goes around comes around." After the teams exchanged field goals in the third quarter, Indianapolis quarterback Jim Harbaugh threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Floyd Turner to give the Colts a 16–13 lead in the fourth quarter. The Steelers drove 67 yards on their final drive (keyed by a 4th down-and-3 conversion and a 37-yard pass play from O'Donnell to Ernie Mills) to score the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run by Morris with 1:34 left. Mills broke up what would have been a game-clinching interception by Colts linebacker Quentin Coryatt several plays earlier. The Colts responded by driving to the Steelers 29-yard line, and on the game's final play, Harbaugh threw a Hail Mary intended for wide receiver Aaron Bailey in the end zone. Bailey attempted to make a diving catch, but the pass was batted away at the last second by Randy Fuller and ruled incomplete.
The game was broadcast in the United States by NBC, with play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg and color commentators Phil Simms, Paul Maguire, and Jim Gray and Will McDonough on the sidelines. Greg Gumbel hosted all the events with the help of then-NBC analysts Ahmad Rashād, Mike Ditka, Joe Gibbs, and Joe Montana. The Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation started a tradition that continues today, in which it is held on the field instead of inside the winners' locker room as was the case previously.
All three Super Bowl wins for the Cowboys in the 1990s were broadcast on NBC, who later gained majority control and then full ownership of its affiliate in the Dallas area, KXAS-TV.
Following the game, NBC broadcast an hour-long episode of "Friends", restarting a trend in which the prized post-Super Bowl time slot was given to an established program. Previously, networks typically used the occasion to premiere a new show, with little success. Of the new series premiering after the Super Bowl from 1983–95, only "The A-Team" (NBC, after Super Bowl XVII), "The Wonder Years" (ABC, after XXII), and "" (NBC, after XXVII) had lengthy runs.
The radio broadcast was carried by CBS Radio, with Jack Buck and Hank Stram announcing. It proved to be Buck's last NFL broadcast.
Super Bowl XXX was broadcast to over 150 countries around the world, including Australia on Network Ten, Canada on CTV, Germany on Tele 5, Mexico on Canal 5, the Philippines on the GMA Network, and the United Kingdom on Channel 4.
Some weeks before the game, it was discovered that some proxy servers were blocking the web site for the event; this was due to the fact that the game's Roman numeral (XXX) is usually associated with pornography.
Super Bowl XXX is the subject of the "NFL's Greatest Games" episode "Duel in the Desert", based on the Super Bowl highlight film of the same name, which was narrated by Earl Mann.
The pregame show held before the game featured dancers in celebration of the culture of Native Americans in the United States, the traditions of the American Old West, and the great outdoors.
Actress and singer Vanessa Williams later sang the national anthem. Following the anthem, to honor the 10th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, the flyover was done in a Missing Man formation.
To honor the 30th Super Bowl game, several past Super Bowl MVPs joined the coin toss ceremony (similar to 10 years earlier in Super Bowl XX, and then subsequently repeated every 10 years thereafter in Super Bowl XL and Super Bowl 50). Joe Montana, MVP of Super Bowls XVI, XIX, and XXIV, tossed the coin.
Diana Ross performed during the halftime show, titled "Take Me Higher: A Celebration of 30 years of the Super Bowl". The show featured a number of her songs along with pyrotechnics, special effects, and stadium card stunts. The show ended with Ross singing "Take Me Higher" from her 1995 nineteenth studio album of the same name, and then she was taken from the field in a helicopter.
Super Bowl XXX began with Dallas wide receiver Kevin Williams returning the opening kickoff 18 yards to the 29-yard line. On the Cowboys' first possession, quarterback Troy Aikman completed a 20-yard pass on second down to wide receiver Michael Irvin, which was followed by a 23-yard rush by running back Emmitt Smith to advance to the Pittsburgh 28-yard line. The run would be Smith's longest of the day and the longest for either team. On 3rd-and-8 from the 26-yard line, Williams could only gain 2 yards on a reverse play, forcing Dallas to settle for a 42-yard Chris Boniol field goal.
On the Steelers' first possession, the Dallas defense forced a three-and-out and subsequent punt, which Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders returned 11 yards to the 25-yard line. After two Smith runs, Aikman completed two quick passes, the first to Irvin for an 11-yard gain and the second to Sanders (who was brought in on offense as an extra receiver) for 47 yards. Sanders became the only player in Super Bowl history to record a Super Bowl interception on defense and a reception on offense (he recorded an interception as a member of the 49ers a year earlier in Super Bowl XXIX). Four plays later, Aikman completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jay Novacek (playing in what would be his last game, as Novacek missed the following season due to back injuries before retiring), increasing Dallas' lead to 10–0. It was the second Super Bowl in which Novacek scored Dallas's first touchdown (he also scored their first touchdown in Super Bowl XXVII).
After the Steelers managed to advance to the Dallas 36-yard line on their ensuing drive, the possession fell apart due to a miscue by center Dermontti Dawson. Pittsburgh had lined up in the shotgun formation, and Dawson's snap sailed over quarterback Neil O'Donnell's head. O'Donnell managed to recover the fumble, but the Steelers were unable to recover from the 13-yard loss, and they had to punt two plays later.
After the punt, Dallas drove to the Steelers' 24-yard line. However, a pass interference penalty on Irvin nullified a 24-yard touchdown reception and moved the ball back to the 34-yard line. On the next play, Aikman completed a 19-yard pass to Novacek, bringing up second down and 1 from the 15-yard line. However, the Steelers' defense stopped Smith for no gain on the next play, and then tackled him for a 3-yard loss on third down. Boniol then kicked a 35-yard field goal, increasing Dallas' lead to 13–0.
After an exchange of punts, Steelers wide receiver Andre Hastings returned John Jett's punt 11 yards to the Pittsburgh 46-yard line. After O'Donnell's first-down pass fell incomplete, Dallas linebacker Charles Haley then sacked the Steelers quarterback for a 10-yard loss, forcing third down and 20. O'Donnell's next pass was a 19-yard completion to Hastings, and then a 3-yard run on fourth down by wide receiver/backup quarterback Kordell Stewart netted a first down. Nine plays later, O'Donnell threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Yancey Thigpen with just 13 seconds left in the half, cutting Pittsburgh's deficit to 13–7.
After the third quarter began with another exchange of punts, the Steelers advanced the ball to their own 48-yard line. However, on third down, Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown intercepted O'Donnell's pass at the Dallas 38-yard line and returned it 44 yards to the Pittsburgh 18-yard line. Aikman then completed a 17-yard pass to Irvin to reach the 1-yard line, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Smith to increase Dallas' lead to 20–7.
On their next drive, the Steelers faced second down and 2 on their own 47-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs after running back Bam Morris was tackled for no gain on three consecutive running plays: a draw play to the left, a run to the left, and one to the middle. The Steelers defense held, however, forcing Dallas into a three-and-out; after a 6-yard run by Smith and an incompletion, Aikman's third-down pass was broken up by defensive back Rod Woodson (who had missed most of the season due to a knee injury), forcing the Cowboys to punt.
On their next drive, the Steelers advanced from their own 20-yard line to the Dallas 19. However, Dallas defensive end Tony Tolbert sacked O'Donnell on third down for a 9-yard loss, one of four Dallas sacks in the game, forcing Pittsburgh to settle for kicker Norm Johnson's 46-yard field goal with 11:20 left in the game, cutting the deficit to 20–10.
On the ensuing kickoff, Pittsburgh surprised the Cowboys by executing a successful onside kick, with defensive back Deon Figures recovering the ball for Pittsburgh at their own 47-yard line. O'Donnell hit Hastings on two consecutive passes for 23 total yards. His next pass went to wide receiver Ernie Mills for 7 yards, and then Morris ran for 5 yards and caught a pass for a 6-yard gain to the Dallas 11-yard line. Three plays later, Morris scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, cutting Pittsburgh's deficit to 20–17.
With the aid of linebacker Levon Kirkland's 8-yard sack of Aikman, the Cowboys were forced to punt on their next drive, and Pittsburgh regained possession of the ball at their own 32-yard line with 4:15 remaining. However, on second down, Brown intercepted another O'Donnell pass and returned it 33 yards to the Steelers' 6-yard line. The play was a mirror image of O'Donnell's first interception to Brown; a throw in the right flat thrown under a heavy Cowboys blitz into the arms of Brown with no Steelers receiver in sight. After the game, O'Donnell said that he was throwing in the spot he expected receiver Corey Holliday to be on the second interception, stating that he expected Holliday to make an out-cut instead of an in-cut. Mills responded by questioning why O'Donnell would throw to a spot and not a man in a Super Bowl. Brown said he was all alone on both picks because he expected O'Donnell to throw to the outside to seemingly get rid of the ball amidst the Cowboys' blitz.
Two plays following the interception, Smith scored once again with 3:43 left in the game, increasing the Cowboys' lead to 27–17. Despite being held to 49 yards on the ground and only 9 in the second half, Smith scored the game-clinching touchdown by making a devastating cutback on Kirkland, the best player on Pittsburgh's defense that day. The Steelers responded by driving to the Dallas 40-yard line, but after O'Donnell threw four consecutive incompletions, Pittsburgh turned the ball over on downs with 1:42 left in the game. After that, Dallas ran out most of the clock with three quarterback kneels and an intentional delay of the game penalty before punting the ball back to the Steelers. Pittsburgh regained possession of the ball with three seconds remaining, but O'Donnell's Hail Mary pass was intercepted by Dallas safety Brock Marion on the final play of the game.
The Steelers had outgained the Cowboys in total yards, 310–254 (201–61 in the second half), had 25 first downs compared to the Cowboys' 15, and limited Dallas' powerful running attack to just 56 yards. However, they were unable to overcome O'Donnell's interceptions, which led to two Cowboys touchdowns. The irony of the game was that O'Donnell entered Super Bowl XXX as the NFL's all-time leader in fewest interceptions per pass attempt.
Troy Aikman finished the game with 15 out of 23 completions for 209 yards and a touchdown (Aikman became just the third quarterback to win three Super Bowl games; Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana each won four). Smith was the Cowboys' leading rusher with 49 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns (Smith became just the fifth player to score a touchdown in three Super Bowl games, joining Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, Thurman Thomas, and Jerry Rice; he also became the first player to rush for two touchdowns in two Super Bowls). Irvin was Dallas' top receiver with 5 catches for 76 yards. Novacek caught 5 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown. Defensive end Chad Hennings recorded 2 of the 4 Dallas sacks in the game. The Dallas defense did not allow a play from scrimmage longer than 20 yards.
Although his 3 interceptions were costly, O'Donnell recorded 28 of 49 completions for 239 yards and a touchdown. Morris was the top rusher of the game with 73 yards and a touchdown, and also caught 3 passes for 18 yards. Hastings was the top receiver of the game with 10 receptions for 98 yards, and returned 2 punts for 18 yards. Mills caught 8 passes for 78 yards and gained 79 yards on 4 kickoff returns, giving him 157 total yards. A knee injury he sustained in the fourth quarter would keep him out for most of the 1996 season.
Charles Haley became the first player to win five Super Bowl championships, winning two with San Francisco (XXIII and XXIV) and two previously with Dallas (XXVII and XXVIII). Barry Switzer became the second head coach, after former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson, to win a college football national championship (University of Oklahoma 1974, 1975, 1985) and a Super Bowl title.
After a many-year-long tradition of presenting the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the winning team in its locker room after the game, the NFL began the tradition of presenting the trophy on the field.
The outcome of the game had rather large ramifications for two soon-to-be free agents after their performances. Larry Brown, who was named Super Bowl MVP for his two interceptions, parlayed his performance into a lucrative free agent contract with the Oakland Raiders. However, he was not very effective and was cut from the team after two injury-plagued seasons. Neil O'Donnell left the Steelers in the offseason and signed a long-term free agent contract with the New York Jets, accepting New York's more lucrative offer. O'Donnell's tenure in New York, like Brown's in Oakland, was plagued by injuries and ineffective play, and he was released from his contract following the 1997 season. Both players finished their careers as backups, Brown returning to the Cowboys in 1998 and O'Donnell playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans until his retirement in 2003.
Both teams would post 10–6 records in 1996 and would win their opening playoff games by sizable margins before losing in the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Pittsburgh would reach the AFC Championship Game in 1997 before breaking up most of the team's nucleus during the 1998 and 1999 offseasons. Coach Bill Cowher and defensive back Willie Williams were the team's lone links to be a part of the Super Bowl XL championship team. The team would acquire running back Jerome Bettis in the 1996 offseason after releasing Morris for possession of illegal drugs months after Super Bowl XXX. Pittsburgh eventually reclaimed the record for most Vince Lombardi Trophies with six, following their victory in Super Bowl XLIII.
Super Bowl XXX served as the final Super Bowl victory for the Cowboys' dynasty of the 1990s. Dallas would win only one more postseason game until 2009. Injuries forced Michael Irvin and fullback Daryl Johnston to retire after the 1999 season, and Aikman also retired due to injuries one year later. Smith became the NFL's all-time leading rusher in 2002 before he was released by the team after that season. 1995 was statistically the best season for the Cowboys' triplets, although all three have stated that the 1995 Super Bowl was easily the toughest of the three Super Bowl runs. The Cowboys also became the first team to win Super Bowls under three head coaches (Tom Landry in Super Bowls VI and XII, Jimmy Johnson in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII, and Switzer). Two other teams have since won Super Bowl championships under three coaches, with the Green Bay Packers winning under Vince Lombardi, Mike Holmgren, and Mike McCarthy, and the Pittsburgh Steelers winning under Chuck Noll, Cowher, and Mike Tomlin.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXX, Super Bowl XXX Play Finder Dal, Super Bowl XXX Play Finder Pit
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXX, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
A portion of this Super Bowl was "predicted" six years earlier by NBC series "Quantum Leap". In the January 17, 1990 episode "All Americans", Al (Dean Stockwell) says in conversation with Sam (Scott Bakula), "I've been watching Super Bowl XXX. Ooo, Sam, the Steelers are down by 3. You wouldn't believe..." The Steelers "were" the AFC team in the game. They trailed by 3 twice in the game: unremarkably, early in the second quarter (3–0); but again at the critical turning point late in the 4th quarter (20–17) that ultimately gave the Cowboys the win and would lend credence to Al's suspense at the game's ending.
Several characters in the 1996 Elmore Leonard crime novel "Out of Sight" watch the game on TV, with one betting on it. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29155 |
Super Bowl XXXI
Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1996 season. The Packers defeated the Patriots by the score of 35–21, earning their third overall Super Bowl victory, and their first since Super Bowl II. The Packers also extended their league record for the most overall NFL championships to 12. It was also the last in a run of 13 straight Super Bowl victories by the NFC over the AFC. The game was played on January 26, 1997 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
This Super Bowl featured two clubs that had recently returned to competitiveness. After 24 mostly dismal seasons since Vince Lombardi left, the Packers' fortunes turned after head coach Mike Holmgren and quarterback Brett Favre joined the team in 1992. After four losing seasons, the Patriots' rise began in 1993 when Bill Parcells was hired as head coach, and the team drafted quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Under their respective head coaches and quarterbacks, Green Bay posted an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record in 1996, while New England advanced to their second Super Bowl after recording an 11–5 record.
The game began with the teams combining for 24 first-quarter points, the most in Super Bowl history. The Packers then scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter, including Favre's then-Super Bowl record 81-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Antonio Freeman. In the third quarter, the Patriots cut the lead to 27–21 off of running back Curtis Martin's 18-yard rushing touchdown. But on the ensuing kickoff, Desmond Howard returned the ball a then-Super Bowl record 99 yards for a touchdown. The score proved to be the last one, as both teams' defenses took over the rest of the game. Howard became the first special teams player ever to be named Super Bowl MVP. He gained a total of 154 kickoff return yards, and also recorded a then-Super Bowl record 90 punt return yards, thus tying the then-Super Bowl records of total return yards (244) and combined net yards gained (244).
This was the first Super Bowl broadcast by Fox under its first contract to carry NFL games. By a large margin it was the highest-rated program aired in the network's history at the time.
NFL owners awarded Super Bowl XXXI to New Orleans during their October 26, 1993 meeting in Chicago. This was the eighth time that New Orleans hosted the game.
After coach Raymond Berry benched and then cut future CFL record-setting MVP and champion Doug Flutie before being fired himself in 1989, the Patriots had three more losing seasons, including a dismal 1–15 regular season record in 1990. Then, in 1993, New England turned to veteran head coach Bill Parcells to lead the team, hoping to repeat the success he had with the New York Giants.
Although the Patriots posted a 5–11 regular season record during Parcells' first year, eight of their losses were by 7 points or fewer. To Parcells' credit, much of the improvement was the result of the contributions from their draft picks that they made before the season: linebackers Willie McGinest and Chris Slade. Tight end Ben Coates also became a major contributor as a favorite target of quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who was taken with the #1 overall pick in the 1993 draft. With that improvement, the team was sold to Robert Kraft in January 1994 for a then-record price of $200 million. It was an astonishing price considering the Pats had long been considered a laughing-stock by local and national media as well as opponents, and had one of the worst stadiums in the league (Foxboro Stadium). During the losing spell they had rarely sold out, resulting in most games going without local television coverage. Sports in New England at that time centered on the beloved, successful, Celtics and Red Sox, and even Bruins, not the NFL team orphaned in remote Foxborough, Massachusetts, thirty miles outside Boston. (During an earlier run of 13 years in the 1970s and 1980s with only 1 losing season, the very competitive Patriots sold out that venue regularly.)
The team then posted a 10–6 record in 1994 after starting the regular season at 3–6, but were eliminated by the Cleveland Browns in their first playoff game. The Krafts had also eliminated the practice of TV blackouts (and courted and nailed deals with local affiliates), and the season resulted in a resurge of popularity in the NFL game across the region. New England then had a let down and failed to make the playoffs in 1995, a year when many organizations were coming to grips with the new salary cap put in by the NFL to improve competition in the league. In the offseason, Parcells hired his old Giants defensive coordinator, Bill Belichick, as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach. Part of the team's spotty performance that season might have been that the head coach, Parcells, and the new owner, Kraft, did not get along well. Belichick came to serve during the 1996 season as the head coach's interface with the Kraft family and the non-football operations side of the business.
After losing their first two games in the 1996 regular season with lackluster performances, the Patriots would run through the rest of the season competitive in every game, finishing with an 11–5 record (their best in the Parcells era) and winning the AFC East. The Patriots' offense became the 7th-best unit in the league in terms of yards, and 2nd-best (behind the Packers) in points. Their pass offense, led by Bledsoe and wide receiver Terry Glenn, ranked third in the NFL. Bledsoe threw for 4,086 yards and 27 touchdowns against 15 interceptions. Glenn set a rookie record with 90 receptions, which yielded 1,132 yards and 6 touchdowns. Tight end Ben Coates was also a big contributor, catching 62 passes for 682 yards and 9 touchdowns. Wide receiver Shawn Jefferson recorded 50 receptions for 771 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Running back Curtis Martin would be the focal point of the rushing attack with his 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground, while also catching 46 passes for another 333 yards and 3 touchdowns. Pro Bowl running back Dave Meggett provided the team with a good special teams threat, gaining 1,369 yards and a touchdown returning kickoffs and punts, while also rushing for 122 yards and catching 33 passes for 292 yards.
On defense, the team's main weapon was Pro Bowler McGinest, who recorded 49 tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, an interception which he returned 46 yards for a touchdown, and a team-leading 9.5 sacks. Linebacker Chris Slade added 7 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. New England also had a solid secondary, led by defensive backs Willie Clay (72 tackles, a fumble recovery, 4 interceptions, 50 return yards), Ty Law (56 tackles, 3 interceptions, 45 return yards, 1 touchdown), and Lawyer Milloy (54 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, 2 interceptions).
After winning Super Bowl II after the 1967 regular season, the Packers became a losing team for much of the 1970s and 1980s, only making the playoffs in 1972 and the strike-shortened 1982 season. In addition to having the reputation of being a poor team, the Packers were unable to attract good players because many did not want to play in Green Bay's cold winter climate for a small market team.
All that changed when former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren became the Packers head coach in 1992. During his first year, the team improved to a 9–7 regular season record, barely missing the playoffs. One of the significant players on the 1992 Packers team was second-year quarterback Brett Favre, who spent his rookie season as a third-string quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. During a September 20, 1992 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Favre replaced injured starter Don Majkowski and proceeded to lead the team to a comeback victory. Afterwards, Favre became the starter for the rest of that season and held that position with the Packers until his purported retirement and subsequent conditional trade to the New York Jets in 2008 (followed by a departure for Minnesota in 2009).
Green Bay then made the playoffs in the 1993, 1994, and the 1995 seasons. As Holmgren, Favre, and the Packers continued to win, they were able to attract impact free agents like veteran defensive end Reggie White, nicknamed the "Minister of Defense", who joined the team in 1993.
In 1996, the Packers posted an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record after winning eight of their first nine games to start the season. After losing two straight games in November, they finished off the regular season winning their remaining five games, including dominating wins over two playoff teams: the Denver Broncos, 41–6, and the Minnesota Vikings, 38–10. The Packers' defense also led the league in both fewest points and yards allowed. They allowed 210 points and also scored an NFL-best 456 points, becoming the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to score the most points in the league and allow the fewest. They set an NFL record with seven wins by at least 25 points.
Favre won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award for the second straight season after throwing for 3,899 yards and an NFC record 39 touchdown passes during the 1996 regular season, with only 13 interceptions. His 39 touchdown passes was the third-highest total in league history at that time. Favre was also a good runner, ranking third on the team with 136 rushing yards and scoring 2 touchdowns.
The Packers had another valuable asset in game-breaking kick returner Desmond Howard. The former Heisman Trophy winner's NFL career as a wide receiver was widely viewed as a disappointment up until this point, recording just 92 receptions in his first four NFL seasons. After joining Green Bay before the 1996 season, the team used him as a kick returner. Howard excelled in this role and ended up setting an NFL record with 875 punt return yards, while also leading the league in yards per return (15.1) and punt return touchdowns (3). He also caught 13 passes for 95 yards and added another 460 yards returning kickoffs.
Green Bay also had a number of offensive weapons. Wide receiver Antonio Freeman led the team with 933 yards and 9 touchdowns. Multi-talented veteran wide receiver Don Beebe was also a constant breakaway threat, catching 39 passes for 606 yards and adding another 403 yards and a touchdown returning kickoffs. Beebe was a member of the Buffalo Bills during their four Super Bowl losses, and was thus extremely eager for another shot at a Super Bowl win. Late in the season, after a string of injuries sent star receiver Robert Brooks out for the season and caused Freeman to miss four games, Green Bay made another big addition to their receiving corps by signing Andre Rison, who had been cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and finished the season with 47 receptions for 593 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Packers also had two outstanding tight ends: Pro Bowler Keith Jackson recorded 40 catches for 504 yards and 10 touchdowns, and Mark Chmura had 28 receptions for 370 yards.
Although Green Bay's running game did not have any standout backs or Pro Bowlers, running backs Dorsey Levens and Edgar Bennett, and fullback William Henderson were all very good at blocking, running, and receiving. Bennett was the team's leading rusher with 899 yards, while also catching 31 passes for 176 yards and scored 3 touchdowns. Levens rushed for 566 yards, caught 31 passes for 226 yards, returned 5 kickoffs for 84 yards, and scored 10 touchdowns. Henderson had 130 rushing yards, caught 27 passes for 203 yards, and returned 2 kickoffs for 38 yards. Up front, Pro Bowl center Frank Winters anchored the offensive line, along with guard Adam Timmerman.
On defense, White continued to be a weapon, recording 29 tackles, 3 fumble recoveries, and led the team with 8.5 sacks. Defensive tackle Santana Dotson was also a big asset, recording 5.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. In the secondary, the team was led by safety Eugene Robinson, who recorded 55 tackles, 6 interceptions, and 107 return yards. Defensive back LeRoy Butler was also a major force, recording 65 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and 5 interceptions for 149 return yards and a touchdown.
Aided by Martin's 166 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 78-yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter, the Patriots first eliminated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 28–3. New England gained a total of 346 yards in the game, while limiting Steelers quarterback Mike Tomczak to just 110 passing yards with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
The Patriots then defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 20–6 in the AFC Championship Game. The Jaguars, an expansion team in 1995, advanced after upsetting the AFC's top seed, the Denver Broncos. However, New England took advantage of several key Jacksonville miscues in a game dominated by defense. A bad snap allowed Patriots defensive back Larry Whigham to tackle Jaguars punter Bryan Barker at the Jacksonville 4-yard line, setting up Martin's 1-yard touchdown run a few plays later. The Jaguars scored a field goal in the 2nd quarter, but Jacksonville punt returner Chris Hudson's fumble set up Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri's 29-yard field goal. Eventually, the teams exchanged field goals, and the Patriots led 13–6 going into the 4th quarter. With under 4 minutes left in the game, the Jaguars reached the New England 5-yard line, but Patriots defensive back Willie Clay intercepted a pass in the end zone. After New England was forced to punt, cornerback Otis Smith recovered a fumble from Jaguars running back James Stewart and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown to put the game away.
Meanwhile, the Packers first eliminated the San Francisco 49ers, 35–14. Green Bay's defense and special teams dominated the game, forcing 5 turnovers, and helped the team score 35 points even though Favre was limited to just 79 passing yards. San Francisco starting quarterback Steve Young, who was still suffering from a rib injury sustained during their 14–0 playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles, had to leave the game in the 1st quarter. Howard opened up the scoring by returning a punt 71 yards for a touchdown. Later, he returned a punt 46 yards to set up Favre's 4-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison. By the time the first half ended, Green Bay had a commanding 21–7 lead. San Francisco cut their deficit to 7 points with a 3rd-quarter touchdown, but the Packers responded by driving 72 yards to score a touchdown, in which a fumble by Bennett was recovered in the end zone by Freeman. Green Bay then put the game away with an 11-yard touchdown run by Bennett.
Green Bay then defeated the Carolina Panthers 30–13 in the NFC Championship Game. Like the Jaguars, the Panthers were a 1995 expansion team that advanced to the conference title game. But unlike Jacksonville, Carolina came into the contest as the NFC's #2 seed and had eliminated the defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys, 26–17. In the NFC Championship Game, Carolina scored first with a 3-yard touchdown reception by Howard Griffith, but Green Bay scored on two touchdown passes by Favre and a field goal in the 2nd quarter to take a 17–10 halftime lead. The Packers then dominated the second half, only allowing one more field goal from the Panthers. Levens recorded 5 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown, along with 88 rushing yards. Bennett rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown. Favre threw for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. Kicker Chris Jacke scored three field goals. By advancing to the Super Bowl, the Packers broke a streak since Super Bowl XXVI that had either the Dallas Cowboys or the San Francisco 49ers representing the NFC in the championship game. It also marked the Packers first Super Bowl appearance since winning the first two to culminate their dynasty under Lombardi and Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr.
The Packers were favored to win the game by 14 points, largely because many thought the Patriots were a Cinderella team, and because of the recent dominance of the NFC in Super Bowl games.
The signing of Andre Rison by Green Bay late in the season had been a surprise to the league. Rison had been released by two teams over the previous two years and was known as a serious disciplinary problem for skipping team meetings. The previous year, the Packers had tried to sign Rison and Favre had spoken positively when a deal was not reached, stating "We saved a lot of money, and a lot of heartache because he was a problem internally." Rison later replied that if he were a defensive player, "I'd try to break his face." He also added "maybe a couple of years ago, I would have said he's a hillbilly jealous of a black man making money. But now I'm at this age. No comment."
Much of the pregame hype surrounded the conflict between Parcells and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Kraft took control of the team after Parcells was hired, and the two of them had different ideas on how to run the organization. Six days before the Super Bowl, in an article by Will McDonough, the Boston Globe reported Parcells would leave the Patriots after the Super Bowl to become the coach of the New York Jets. The book "Patriot Reign" alleges the Patriots have cell phone records showing Parcells was in constant contact with the Jets during the week. Then-Patriots defensive coordinator (and now head coach) Bill Belichick is quoted as saying Parcells' plans to leave for the Jets were a distraction, "Yeah, I'd say it was a little bit of a distraction all the way around. I can tell you first-hand, there was a lot of stuff going on prior to the game. I mean, him talking to other teams. He was trying to make up his mind about what he was going to do. Which, honestly, I felt [was] totally inappropriate. How many chances do you get to play for the Super Bowl? Tell them to get back to you in a couple of days. I'm not saying it was disrespectful to me, but it was in terms of the overall commitment to the team." Parcells even refused to travel back with the rest of the Patriots after the game, and was eventually hired by the rival Jets.
To honor former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, who died on December 6, 1996, each player wore a special helmet decal with Rozelle's signature, "Pete", printed across the NFL logo. Tributes to Rozelle were also published in the game program.
Coincidentally, the first Super Bowl appearance for the Patriots was also in the Superdome and against an NFC Central team. In Super Bowl XX, the Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears, whose rivalry with the Packers is said to be the NFL's oldest.
The game was the first Super Bowl to be televised in the United States by the Fox network. Play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden, both previously of CBS, called the game. James Brown hosted all the events with help from his fellow "Fox NFL Sunday" cast members Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Ronnie Lott.
This was the first of three Super Bowls to be called by Summerall and Madden while with Fox (Super Bowls XXXIII and XXXVI being the others).
Starting with this game, through Super Bowl XXXVII, the Super Bowl logo was painted at the 50-yard line, and the teams' helmets were placed on the 30-yard lines. In the past Super Bowl games since Super Bowl VI, the NFL logo was painted on the 50-yard line, except for Super Bowls XXV and XXIX. The Super Bowl XXV logo was painted at midfield, and the NFL 75th Anniversary logo was painted at midfield in Super Bowl XXIX. The league started to put the NFL logo at midfield again for Super Bowl XXXVIII.
The telecast ended up being the highest-rated program in the history of the then ten-year-old Fox network, and it currently ties Super Bowl XLII for the highest-rated program in the entire history of the network. Afterwards, Fox televised "The X-Files" episode "Leonard Betts". Fox's broadcast was also the first Super Bowl to have a constant, live-updating graphic for the score, time and down & distance. The FoxBox was used also in Super Bowl XXXIII, and the graphic positioned over live action has become the norm in virtually all sports broadcasts at the national and regional production levels.
With the Packers' win, they became the third team to win Super Bowls on three networks (I-broadcast on both CBS and NBC, II-CBS, and Fox). They also became the first team to win three Super Bowls with Fox as one of the networks to televise their win. The previous seven games played in domes were all won by the designated road team, which wore white. The game was rematched on October 27, 1997, as a near-national telecast on ABC's "Monday Night Football", the only time ABC aired a rematch of the previous season's Super Bowl.
The pregame show featured Los del Río, who performed their multi-platinum smash hit "Macarena", the dance craze that became a worldwide summer hit in 1996. Country singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter and Cajun musical group BeauSoleil also appeared singing Carpenter's hit "Down at the Twist and Shout".
R&B singer Luther Vandross later sang the national anthem, and Miss Louisiana 1996 Erika Schwarz Wright performed sign language for the national anthem.
The coin toss ceremony featured the winning head coaches of the Super Bowls that had previously been in New Orleans: Hank Stram (Super Bowl IV), Tom Landry (Super Bowl VI, Super Bowl XII), Chuck Noll (Super Bowl IX), Tom Flores (Super Bowl XV), Mike Ditka (Super Bowl XX), and George Seifert (Super Bowl XXIV). Hank Stram was given the honor of doing the coin toss.
The halftime show was titled "Blues Brothers Bash" and featured actors Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, and Jim Belushi as The Blues Brothers. The show highlighted blues music and also had performances by the rock band ZZ Top and singer James Brown.
While practicing for the show, stuntwoman Laura "Dinky" Patterson, one of a 16-member professional bungee jumping team, jumped from the 100-foot high uppermost terrace level of the Superdome and collided head-first with the concrete floor, causing her death. "The New York Times" reported on January 29, 1997 that Patterson had been working with bungee cords that were being handled by volunteers who had received little training. The bungee-jumping portion of the halftime show was removed. A title-graphic commemorating Patterson and acknowledging her death was displayed during the TV broadcast of the Super Bowl.
The Packers outgained the Patriots 323 yards to 257 and intercepted quarterback Drew Bledsoe four times. Packers defensive lineman Reggie White set a Super Bowl record with three sacks, including back-to-back takedowns in the 3rd quarter.
Green Bay forced New England to punt on the opening possession of the game and started their first drive with great field position after receiver Desmond Howard returned the ball 32 yards to the Packers 46-yard line. Green Bay then opened up the scoring with Brett Favre's 54-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Andre Rison on their second offensive play of the game. Then on the Patriots' ensuing drive, Packers defensive back Doug Evans intercepted a pass from Bledsoe at the Patriots 28-yard line. On the first play after the turnover, Patriots lineman Ferric Collons sacked Favre for a 10-yard loss, but running back Dorsey Levens rushed for 4 yards and caught a pass for 14 over the next two plays, setting up Chris Jacke's 37-yard field goal to make the score 10–0.
New England stormed back, scoring touchdowns on each of their next two possessions. On the second play of the Patriots' ensuing drive, Bledsoe completed a 32-yard screen pass to fullback Keith Byars and followed it up with a "dump-off" pass to running back Curtis Martin, who caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and ran 20 yards to the Packers 27-yard line before being tackled. Bledsoe then threw three straight incompletions, but on the third one, Packers defensive back Craig Newsome was called for a 26-yard pass interference penalty, giving New England a first down at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Bledsoe completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Byars to cut his team's deficit to 10–7.
New England's defense then forced the Packers to punt from their own 17-yard line after a three-and-out, giving the Patriots the ball back after running back Dave Meggett received Craig Hentrich's 39-yard punt at the Patriots 43-yard line. After a 7-yard reception and a 2-yard run by Martin on their first two plays, Bledsoe completed a 44-yard pass to wide receiver Terry Glenn to advance to the Green Bay 4-yard line. From there, tight end Ben Coates' 4-yard touchdown reception gave New England a 14–10 lead. The Packers and Patriots combined for 24 points, the most ever scored in the 1st quarter of a Super Bowl. The Patriots became the first team in Super Bowl history to score 14 points in the first quarter and lose the game.
New England's lead was short-lived. After both teams exchanged punts, Favre threw a Super Bowl-record 81-yard touchdown pass to receiver Antonio Freeman, putting the Packers back in the lead, 17–14. Then on third down of the ensuing Patriots drive, safety LeRoy Butler powered through Meggett's block attempt and managed to drag Bledsoe down with one arm for a 9-yard sack, forcing a Tom Tupa punt that Howard returned 34 yards to the Patriots 47-yard line. The Packers then drove to the 14-yard line, featuring a 23-yard reception by Rison and a 12-yard run by Levens, to score on Jacke's 31-yard field goal to increase their lead to 20–14.
Meggett returned the ensuing kickoff 21 yards to the Patriots 25-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Bledsoe completed a 19-yard pass to Coates to advance to their own 44-yard line. But two plays later, Packers defensive back Mike Prior intercepted a long pass that was intended for wide receiver Shawn Jefferson, and returned it 8 yards to the Packers 26-yard line. After the turnover, Favre completed a 22-yard pass to Freeman, and Levens rushed four times for 31 yards on a 9-play, 74-yard drive that took 5:59 minutes off the clock and ended with Favre's 2-yard touchdown run to give Green Bay a 27–14 lead with just 1:11 left in the half.
After a 24-yard kickoff return by Meggett, Bledsoe completed an 18-yard pass to Coates, and followed it up with a 10-yard pass to Glenn. Then after a 1-yard run by Meggett on the next play, Bledsoe completed a 7-yard pass to receiver Vincent Brisby to bring up 3rd down and 2 yards to go from the Packers 42-yard line. However, Green Bay's defense forced two incompletions from Bledsoe, causing the Patriots to turn the ball over on downs with just 19 seconds left before halftime. The Packers tried to get into scoring range by calling a pass on the next play, but linebacker Willie McGinest sacked Favre, and the score remained 27–14 at halftime.
Howard returned the second half kickoff 23 yards to the Green Bay 25-yard line. From there, Favre led the Packers all the way to the New England 37, but the Patriots made a key defensive stand, stopping Levens for no gain on 3rd down and 1, and then tackling him again for a 7-yard loss on 4th down. Then after driving to the Packers 41-yard line, New England was forced to punt, but they managed to pin Green Bay deep in their own territory when Howard made a fair catch of Tupa's 29-yard punt at the 12-yard line. On the ensuing drive, a 7-yard sack by Patriots cornerback Otis Smith helped the New England defense force the Packers to punt, and the Patriots got the ball back with great field position after Meggett returned Craig Hentrich's 48-yard punt 6 yards to the New England 47-yard line.
Taking advantage of their excellent starting field position, New England drove 53 yards in 7 plays and scored on an 18-yard touchdown run by Martin to cut the Packers' lead to 27–21. But on the ensuing kickoff, Howard returned the ball 99 yards for a touchdown – the longest play in Super Bowl history (later broken in Super Bowl XLIII, and broken again in Super Bowl XLVII). Favre then completed a pass to tight end Mark Chmura for a successful two-point conversion, giving the Packers a 35–21 lead.
The score proved to be the last one of the contest, as the defenses of both teams took over for the rest of the game. The Patriots limited the Packers to three punts and a missed 47-yard field goal attempt by Jacke. Green Bay did even better, not allowing New England to advance past their own 32-yard line. Furthermore, White sacked Bledsoe on back-to-back plays on the Patriots' first drive after Howard's game-clinching touchdown return. White then recorded a third sack late in the 4th quarter. Bledsoe was also intercepted twice in the final period (one by Newsome and the other one by linebacker Brian Williams).
After the game, Favre reflected on his long road to becoming a Super Bowl champion, which included the death of his friend Mark Harvy in a car accident during the season. "Through everything I really believed I'd be here today. Right here in this stairwell, talking about being world champions. My best friend's gone forever. Trouble never seems to be far away, and the future won't be all rosy, but they can't take this away from me. Thirty years from now, the kids will be getting ready for Super Bowl LXI, and NFL Films will drag out Steve Sabol — he'll be around 102 then — and he'll talk about how Brett Favre fought through such adversity. And there will be other players and coaches. But I know this: We etched our place in history today."
Freeman was the top receiver of the game, finishing with 105 receiving yards and a touchdown on only 3 receptions. Dorsey Levens was the game's leading rusher with 61 rushing yards, and caught 3 passes for 23 yards. Favre completed 14 out of 27 passes for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns, and had 12 rushing yards and another touchdown on 4 carries. Favre became the first Super Bowl-winning quarterback to have at least three touchdowns (Favre had 2 throwing, 1 rushing) and not be named Super Bowl MVP.
Bledsoe finished the game with 11 more pass completions (25) than Favre, but only 7 more total passing yards (253). His four interceptions tied a Super Bowl record. Martin was limited to just 41 rushing yards and 1 touchdown on 11 carries, but he also caught 3 passes for 28 yards. Meggett recorded 155 combined net yards (117 kick return, 30 punt return, 8 receiving). Coates was the Patriots' leading receiver with 6 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown.
This was the first Super Bowl played at the Superdome in which the home (and losing) team's point total was something other than 10. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos 27–10 in Super Bowl XII, the Oakland Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 27–10 in Super Bowl XV, the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots 46–10 in Super Bowl XX, and the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55–10 in Super Bowl XXIV.
The Packers also became the first dark-colored team to win a Super Bowl indoors.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXI, Super Bowl XXXI Play Finder GB, Super Bowl XXXI Play Finder NE
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXXI, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
The Packers returned to the Super Bowl again the following year but were then outfought by the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego, marking the first of their two consecutive Super Bowls to conclude the Hall of Fame career of John Elway. In 2007, the Packers were favored to return to the Super Bowl to face the Patriots again but were upset at Lambeau Field by the eventual champion New York Giants, who went on to knock off the previously undefeated Patriots. It proved to be Favre's final game as a Packer, but three years later, Favre's successor Aaron Rodgers helped drive the Packers to regain the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XLV in Dallas against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Five years later, Belichick had returned to the Patriots and was in his second season as head coach, while Milloy, Law, Vinatieri, McGinest, Tedy Bruschi and Otis Smith, who all played in this Super Bowl, were still with the team when they made an unexpected return to the Superdome to face the "Greatest Show on Turf" St. Louis Rams. Bledsoe was also still there, but was now backing up Tom Brady, who was then just a second-year player who had thrown only three passes in his rookie season but had gone 11-3 as a starter to finish the regular season after Bledsoe had been knocked out in Week 2 against the Jets, though Bledsoe did replace Brady after Pittsburgh's Lee Flowers knocked Brady out of the AFC Championship Game and proceeded to throw for a touchdown. Law gave the Patriots a lead with an interception return for a touchdown off St. Louis' MVP Kurt Warner, and eventually, Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal as time expired following a clutch Brady drive – the first time a Super Bowl was won with a score on the final play – gave the Patriots a 20–17 upset victory and their first Super Bowl on their third visit to the Superdome on the NFL's ultimate stage. It also marked the birth of the Patriots' dynasty as the first of six Super Bowls under Brady and Belichick. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29156 |
Super Bowl XXXII
Super Bowl XXXII was an American football game played between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers (who were defending their Super Bowl XXXI championship) and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1997 season. The Broncos defeated the Packers by the score of 31–24. The game was played on January 25, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, the second time that the Super Bowl was held in that city. Super Bowl XXXII also made Qualcomm Stadium the only stadium in history to have the Super Bowl and the World Series in the same year.
This was Denver's first league championship after suffering four previous Super Bowl losses, and snapped a 13-game losing streak for AFC teams in the Super Bowl (the previous being the Los Angeles Raiders' win in Super Bowl XVIII after the 1983 season). The Broncos, who entered the game after posting a 12–4 regular season record in 1997, became just the second wild card team to win a Super Bowl and the first since the Raiders in Super Bowl XV. The Packers, who entered the game as the defending Super Bowl XXXI champions after posting a 13–3 regular season record, were the first team favored to win by double digits to lose a Super Bowl since Super Bowl IV.
The game was close throughout much of the contest. The Broncos converted two turnovers to take a 17–7 lead in the second quarter before the Packers cut the score to 17–14 at halftime. Green Bay kept pace with Denver in the second half, before tying the game with 13:31 remaining. Both defenses stiffened until Broncos running back Terrell Davis scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:45 left. Despite suffering a migraine headache that caused him to miss most of the second quarter, Davis (a San Diego native) was named Super Bowl MVP. He ran for 157 yards, caught two passes for 8 yards, and scored a Super Bowl record three rushing touchdowns.
NFL owners awarded Super Bowl XXXII to San Diego during their October 26, 1993 meeting in Chicago. This was the second time San Diego hosted the game; the city previously hosted Super Bowl XXII ten years earlier on January 31, 1988. The Broncos played in both San Diego Super Bowls and became the first franchise to play two different Super Bowls in the same stadium twice; they had already played twice at the Louisiana Superdome, in Super Bowls XII and XXIV.
The Packers entered the 1997 season coming off of their win in Super Bowl XXXI. They then repeated as NFC Central division champions, earning a 13–3 regular season record. Green Bay's offense ranked 2nd in the league in points scored and 4th in yards gained, while their defense respectively ranked 5th and 7th in those two categories.
Quarterback Brett Favre had another Pro Bowl season and became the first player ever to win the NFL MVP award three times, winning it for the third consecutive year (Favre was named co-MVP in 1997 with Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders). Favre led the league with 35 passing touchdowns and completed 304 out of 513 attempts for 3,867 yards, with 16 interceptions, while ranking second on the team in rushing with 187 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Antonio Freeman led the team in receptions with 81 catches for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns. Wide receiver Robert Brooks was also a major deep threat, catching 60 passes for 1,010 yards and 7 touchdowns. Pro Bowl tight end Mark Chmura recorded 38 receptions for 417 yards and 6 touchdowns. Pro Bowl running back Dorsey Levens led the team in rushing with 1,435 yards and 7 touchdowns, while also catching 53 passes for 373 yards and 5 touchdowns. Fullback William Henderson rushed for 113 yards and caught 41 passes for 367 yards and a touchdown. On special teams, receiver Bill Schroeder led the team with 33 punt returns for 342 yards, while also gaining 562 yards on 24 kickoff returns.
On the Packers' defense, the line was led by veteran Pro Bowl selection Reggie White, who led the team with 11 sacks. Behind him, Santana Dotson recorded 37 tackles and 5.5 sacks. In the secondary, Pro Bowl defensive back LeRoy Butler led the team with 5 interceptions, while also adding 70 tackles. Safety Eugene Robinson led the team with 74 tackles while also recording 2.5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 interception. Cornerback Mike Prior recorded 4 interceptions, while rookie Darren Sharper recorded 2 of them, both of which he returned for touchdowns.
The Broncos entered Super Bowl XXXII after suffering four Super Bowl losses: Super Bowls XII, XXI, XXII, and XXIV from 1978, 1987, 1988, and 1990, respectively. In all of those losses, the Broncos never had the ability to rush well enough or score enough points to be competitive. Denver had been defeated by a large margin in each one, losing all four by a combined scoring margin of 163–50.
The previous three Super Bowl losses were under starting quarterback John Elway, whose ad-libbing skills enabled the Broncos to advance to the league's championship game in a span of three out of four seasons. Elway also led his team to the 1991 AFC Championship Game, but they lost in a defensive struggle to the Buffalo Bills, 10–7.
The team's fortunes changed when Mike Shanahan became head coach of the Broncos in 1995. Shanahan was previously Denver's offensive coordinator during those Super Bowl losses, but was fired in 1991 after a power struggle between him and then-head coach Dan Reeves over the offensive personnel. Shanahan then served as the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers from 1992 to 1994, including the 49ers' Super Bowl XXIX win. Under Shanahan, the San Francisco offense ranked first in the league in total yards gained for all three of his seasons there.
When Shanahan returned to the Broncos in 1995, he selected running back Terrell Davis in the 6th round of the NFL draft. Davis became the cornerstone of Denver's rebuilt running game, leading the team with 1,117 rushing yards in just his rookie year. The Broncos finished the 1995 regular season with just an 8–8 record. By 1996, the Broncos had the league's best offense, gaining 5,791 total yards, and recorded the AFC's best regular season record at 13–3, but they were upset by the second-year Jacksonville Jaguars, 30–27 in the playoffs.
During the 1997 regular season, the Broncos once again had the league's best offense with 5,872 total yards and led the league in total points scored with 472. Although they recorded a 12–4 regular season record, they finished in second place behind the 13–3 Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West.
Davis, a Pro Bowl selection, remained the team's leading rusher, recording 1,750 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also catching 42 passes for 287 yards. At 37 years old, Elway still posted a Pro Bowl season with 280 out of 502 completions for 3,635 yards, 27 touchdowns, and only 11 interceptions. He also rushed for 215 yards and another touchdown. Pro Bowl tight end Shannon Sharpe led the team with 72 receptions for 1,107 yards. Wide receiver Rod Smith, who was not drafted by any NFL team and recorded only 22 receptions for 389 yards and 3 touchdowns in his two previous seasons, had a breakout year with 70 receptions for 1,180 yards and 12 touchdowns. Wide receiver Ed McCaffrey, who played in Shanahan's 1994 49ers offense, recorded 45 receptions for 590 yards and 8 touchdowns. Denver's offensive line was led by seven-time Pro Bowl left tackle Gary Zimmerman and Pro Bowl center Tom Nalen.
On defense, the major acquisition to the team prior to the season was former Chiefs defensive lineman Neil Smith. Smith had a Pro Bowl season for the 6th time in his career with 28 tackles and 8.5 sacks. Defensive end Alfred Williams recorded 36 tackles, 8.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery. The linebacking corps was led by veteran Bill Romanowski, who had 55 tackles and 2 sacks, and John Mobley, who led the team with 97 tackles while also recording 4 sacks, a fumble recovery, and an interception.
The secondary was led by veteran defensive backs Tyrone Braxton, who led the team with 4 interceptions for 113 yards and 1 touchdown, and Steve Atwater, who had 53 tackles, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries, and 2 interceptions for 42 yards and 1 touchdown. Defensive back Darrien Gordon recorded 50 tackles, 2 sacks, 4 fumble recoveries, 4 interceptions, 64 return yards, and 1 touchdown. He also returned 40 punts for 543 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The Broncos entered the playoffs as a wild-card team but defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars, 42–17, the Kansas City Chiefs, 14–10, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24–21, making Denver the fifth wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the Packers were victorious against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 21–7, and the San Francisco 49ers, 23–10.
The Packers came into the game as 11-point favorites, having compiled a 13–3 record regular season record compared to the Broncos' 12–4 and coming in as defending Super Bowl champions after winning Super Bowl XXXI 35–21 over the New England Patriots. Furthermore, the Packers had easily crushed their two playoff opponents, while the Broncos had barely edged out their final two postseason victories by a margin of one score.
Each player wore a Super Bowl logo patch on their jerseys, but it was not the first Super Bowl game that had them; the first game with it was seven years earlier in Super Bowl XXV. This would become a regular practice in each Super Bowl since.
The game was televised in the United States by NBC, with play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg (calling his eighth and final Super Bowl), color commentators Phil Simms and Paul Maguire, and sideline reporter Jim Gray. Greg Gumbel hosted all the events, and was joined by co-host Ahmad Rashad and commentators Cris Collinsworth, Sam Wyche, and Joe Gibbs. Following the game, NBC aired a special one-hour episode of "3rd Rock from the Sun", which opened live at the game site with Gumbel playing himself before he was "attacked" by show star John Lithgow. During the game, NBC (partnering with Silicon Graphics Inc.) would include real-time 3D computer graphics on SGI's Onyx2 computers to display a model of Qualcomm Stadium and simulating real-time animation of things such as receiver patterns and yards after the catch; along with a second model known as "Football Guy" which allowed viewers to see defensive players from the quarterback's vantage point, with those replays handled by Randy Cross.
This broadcast was the last for NBC as the AFC network after 33 years (CBS has held the AFC broadcast rights ever since), their last NFL broadcast overall until 2006, when they signed on to televise "Sunday Night Football", and their last Super Bowl broadcast until 2009 (Super Bowl XLIII). This was also the last time Channel 4 in the UK would show the Super Bowl – and their last NFL coverage until 2010 – after they had been showing the event since 1983 (Super Bowl XVII). Only Sky Sports would show it live until Five joined them in 2003 (Super Bowl XXXVII). It also marked the last Super Bowl until 2007 for CTV in Canada after airing the NFL and the event since Super Bowl XVI; from 1999 to 2006 the Super Bowl aired on the Global Television Network. CTV had aired NFL football since 1970 and the Super Bowl since 1982 (Super Bowl XVI). It was also the final NFL game for GMA Network in the Philippines until the 2006 season; GMA had aired NFL football since 1986 and the Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXI in 1987. The Super Bowl would be broadcast on ABC 5, also from 1999 until 2006. It was also the final Super Bowl in which the Televisa family of networks aired on its own in Mexico, also until 2007, being broadcast on Canal 5; Televisa had aired NFL football since 1970 and the Super Bowl since 1988 (at the time, the only other Super Bowl in San Diego). Azteca 13 likewise would exclusively air the Super Bowl from 1999 until 2006, including Super Bowl XXXVII which would be the next Super Bowl to be played at Qualcomm Stadium.
This game was later featured on "NFL's Greatest Games" as This One's for John.
The pregame show, narrated by actor and comedian Phil Hartman, celebrated the music and history of California. It featured performances by The 5th Dimension, Lee Greenwood, and The Beach Boys. Singer Jewel later sang the U.S. national anthem.
To honor the 10th anniversary of the Washington Redskins' win in Super Bowl XXII, the only other previous Super Bowl played in San Diego, the game's MVP, Doug Williams, and former head coach Joe Gibbs participated during the coin toss ceremony. They were joined by the recently retired, longtime college football head coach Eddie Robinson, who ran the Grambling State University Tigers football team from 1942 until 1997.
The halftime show was titled "A Tribute to Motown's 40th Anniversary" and featured Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, Martha Reeves and The Temptations.
Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman returned the opening kickoff 19 yards to the Green Bay 24-yard line. On the third play of the drive, quarterback Brett Favre kept the offense on the field by completing a 13-yard pass to Freeman on 3rd down and 9. Then running back Dorsey Levens rushed the ball on three consecutive plays, gaining 27 yards to advance to the Denver 35-yard line. Favre finished the drive with two completions to Freeman: the first one for 13 yards, and the second one a 22-yard touchdown pass to give the Packers a 7–0 lead (the Packers were the third team to take the opening kickoff down the field and score a touchdown on that drive; the other two were the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VIII and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX).
The Broncos responded with a touchdown of their own. Denver running back Vaughn Hebron returned the ensuing kickoff 32 yards to their own 42-yard line. Denver then drove to the Green Bay 46-yard line. On third down, a holding penalty on Packers defensive back Doug Evans nullified quarterback John Elway's incompletion and gave the Broncos a first down. On the next play, running back Terrell Davis ran the ball 27 yards to the 14-yard line. Then after a 2-yard run by Davis, Elway scrambled 10 yards to gain a first down at the 2-yard line. Two plays later, Davis capped off the 10-play, 58-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the game (this is to date the only Super Bowl in which both teams scored TDs on their opening drives).
On the second play of the Packers' next possession, Denver defensive back Tyrone Braxton intercepted a pass from Favre at Green Bay's 45-yard line. Aided by five runs by Davis for 29 yards, the Broncos marched 45 yards to score on Elway's 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the 2nd quarter, taking a 14–7 lead.
Elway's touchdown play involved a fake handoff to Davis, who was previously taken out of the game during the drive because the onset of a migraine headache after being inadvertently tripped by LeRoy Butler had severely impaired his vision. But head coach Mike Shanahan decided to send him into the game for the 3rd-down play, believing that the Packers would not be fooled by a fake handoff without Davis on the field. Davis later said his vision was so impaired that he was afraid Elway would call an audible at the line and try to hand him the ball. Despite his blurred vision, Davis perfectly executed the play, drawing the Green Bay defense into the middle of the line as Elway rushed to the right and into the end zone completely untouched. By the second half, Davis had taken migraine medication, and his vision had returned to normal, allowing him to play the rest of the game.
On the Packers' ensuing possession, Broncos safety Steve Atwater forced a fumble while sacking Favre, and defensive end Neil Smith recovered the ball on the Packers 33-yard line. Although the Broncos were unable to get a first down, kicker Jason Elam made a 51-yard field goal, the second longest in Super Bowl history, to increase Denver's lead to 17–7. Both teams went three-and-out on their next possessions, and Denver punter Tom Rouen's 47-yard kick planted Green Bay at their own 5-yard line with 7:38 left in the quarter. But Green Bay stormed down the field on their ensuing drive, marching 95 yards in 17 plays and scoring with Favre's 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Chmura with just 12 seconds left in the half. Thus at halftime, the Broncos held a slim 17–14 lead.
Green Bay kicked to Denver to start the second half. On the first play after the kickoff, Packer defensive back Tyrone Williams forced and recovered a fumble from Davis. Green Bay took possession with good field position at the Broncos' 26-yard line to begin the second half. But Denver's defense forced a three-and-out. However, on the ensuing field goal attempt, Denver's special teams were called for an offsides penalty, giving the Packers a second 1st and 10 at the Broncos' 15-yard line. But the Broncos defense forced a second three-and-out in back-to-back possessions, stalling the Packers' drive at the 9-yard line and forcing them to settle for a 27-yard Ryan Longwell field goal, tying the game at 17–17.
Green Bay kicked off once again and Denver's offense stalled once more, resulting in a punt, giving the Packers possession with good field position again, this time near their 40-yard line. But Denver's defense forced another three-and-out for the third straight time. However, again on the ensuing punt, the Broncos' special teams were called for an offsides penalty, giving Green Bay a fresh set of downs near midfield. Denver's defense then forced another punt with a fourth three-and-out in a row.
Green Bay punter Craig Hentrich's 51-yard kick pinned the Broncos back at their own 8-yard line. But the Packers' defense could not stop Denver as they marched on a 13-play, 92-yard drive to regain the lead. Aided by a 36-yard reception by receiver Ed McCaffrey, the Broncos advanced to the Green Bay 12-yard line. On 3rd and 6 from the 12-yard line, Elway scrambled for an 8-yard run and dove for the first down, a play in which he was hit so hard by Packers defenders Butler and Mike Prior that he spun sideways in mid-air. This run was later referred to as "The Helicopter," and what many consider as Elway's career-defining moment and the defining moment of Super Bowl XXXII. Two plays later, Davis scored on another 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Broncos the lead, 24–17.
On the ensuing kickoff, Denver's special teams player Detron Smith ran full speed into the wedge of the Green Bay blockers, forcing Freeman outside, to his left. Freeman was hit as he held the ball exposed while running sideways and fumbled, then Denver defensive back Tim McKyer recovered the ball at the Packers' 22-yard line. The Broncos immediately tried to capitalize on the turnover by trying a quick-strike touchdown pass, intended for Rod Smith as he ran a post pattern following a fake handoff and a roll out by Elway, but Packers safety Eugene Robinson intercepted Elway's pass in the end zone and returned it to the 15-yard line.
After the interception, the Packers marched 85 yards on four straight pass completions, three of them receptions by Freeman, to tie the game once again 1:28 into the 4th quarter with Freeman's 13-yard touchdown catch. On the scoring play, Freeman and Robert Brooks ran a "criss-cross" pattern, with Freeman on the inside running towards the sidelines. Denver defensive back Darrien Gordon hesitated as to which receiver to cover, and Favre hit Freeman for the score, tying the game at 24–24.
After the ensuing kick-off, the Packers forced Denver's offense to punt. With a short punt of only 33 yards, the Packers took possession with good field position, having 1st-and-10 at their own 48-yard line. The Packers drove to Denver's 39-yard line. On 3rd and 8, Favre dropped back to pass and Denver's defense blitzed, leaving Packers receiver Robert Brooks to face one-on-one coverage deep. Favre attempted the pass to a seemingly wide-open Brooks at Denver's 16-yard line, but Broncos safety Steve Atwater closed in and knocked the pass away at the last second, leaving the Packers just outside of field-goal range and forcing another punt. The Packers' defense was able to stop Denver's offense on the ensuing possession again, giving Green Bay 1st-and-10 at their own 10-yard line with 5:25 remaining in the game and Favre, the 3-time league MVP, at the helm. With the game in the balance, the Broncos defense forced a fifth critical three-and-out in the second half. Packers kicker Hentrich then punted the ball 39 yards to the Packers' 49-yard line, giving Denver a chance to end the game on a potentially game-winning drive with only 3:27 left in the game. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Packers linebacker Darius Holland committed a 15-yard face-mask penalty while tackling Davis on a 2-yard run, moving the ball to the 32-yard line. Two plays later, Elway completed a 23-yard pass to fullback Howard Griffith, aided by a powerful block by Ed McCaffrey. A holding penalty pushed the Broncos back to the 18-yard line, but then Davis rushed 17 yards to the 1-yard line, and the Broncos called a time-out. This left the Broncos facing 2nd and goal with 1:47 left on the clock. Green Bay had two time-outs remaining.
Packers coach Mike Holmgren told his team to let the Broncos score to maximize the time the Packers would have on the clock for a potential game-tying drive. He admitted later that he had thought that it was 1st and goal rather than 2nd and goal, a crucial distinction in clock-management decision-making on the play. Davis then scored his third rushing touchdown on 2nd and goal, leaving 1:45 on the clock. The Broncos now had a one-touchdown lead, with the score 31–24.
The Packers attempted one final drive to try to tie the game before the end of regulation and send the contest into overtime. Shanahan famously instructed his defensive coordinators to keep playing the same blitzing defense they'd done throughout the game as Green Bay attempted to drive downfield in the final two minutes, rather than playing prevent defense. Freeman returned the Broncos' kickoff 22 yards to the 30-yard line. On the very first play of the drive, the Packers advanced to the Broncos' 48-yard line with a 22-yard screen pass, leaving them with 1:30 still remaining in the game and two time-outs. But following the first pass, rather than use one of their time-outs, the Packers hurried to the line of scrimmage and ran a second consecutive screen pass. The pass was complete, but the receiver was stopped for no gain. The play cost the Packers 19 seconds, leaving 1:11 on the game clock and also forcing the Packers to take one of their two time-outs.
On the next play Favre completed another pass to Levens. Levens picked up 13 yards and was able to run out of bounds, stopping the clock with 1:04 left in the game. The Packers had 1st-and-10 at the Broncos' 35-yard line with one time-out remaining. The Broncos defense would stop the Packers on the next four downs. On the first-down play, Favre completed a 4-yard pass to Levens, but he was stopped in-bounds. The Packers hurried to the line but 20 seconds ran off before Favre could attempt a second pass. On second down, Favre attempted a pass downfield that hit receiver Antonio Freeman in both hands and the chest at the Broncos' 15, but Freeman could not handle the ball. The incomplete pass stopped the clock, but left the Packers with 3rd-and-6 and now only :37 seconds remaining. On 3rd down, Favre intended the pass for receiver Robert Brooks, covered by Denver's Randy Hilliard, but both were blasted by Atwater delivering a seismic hit, and the pass was incomplete. All three players were knocked out of the game. Because of NFL rules regarding injuries to players in the final two minutes of a game, both teams were charged a time-out since players on both teams were injured and needed to be tended to. This left the Packers facing 4th and 6 with the ball at the Broncos' 31-yard line, with no time-outs and the clock stopped at :32 seconds remaining. On 4th down, Denver linebacker John Mobley broke up a pass intended for Chmura, enabling the Broncos to take the ball back and run out the clock for the victory.
During the post-game victory celebration, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen held the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the air and said, "This one's for John," referring to the fact that Elway's long quest for a Super Bowl victory was finally complete. Eighteen years later, Elway, now general manager for the team, would salute an Alzheimer's-stricken Bowlen in the same fashion after the Broncos won Super Bowl 50.
A remarkable fact about Denver's offensive performance was that, except for two penalties and Elway's kneel-downs to end each half, the Broncos did not lose yardage on any play from scrimmage. Green Bay's Reggie White, Gilbert Brown, LeRoy Butler and others were unable to register a sack against the Broncos' front line. Elway completed 12 out of 22 passes for 123 yards, with 1 interception. He became the sixth player to score touchdowns in three different Super Bowls, joining Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, Thurman Thomas, Jerry Rice, and Emmitt Smith. He was also the Broncos' second-leading rusher behind Davis, with 17 yards and a touchdown on 5 carries. Terrell Davis became the only player to rush for three touchdowns in a Super Bowl, and the only non-San Francisco 49er to score three touchdowns in a Super Bowl; Roger Craig, Jerry Rice, and Ricky Watters were the only other players to do so. Rice had 3 touchdown catches in two different Super Bowls. Davis's three touchdowns in this Super Bowl gave him a total of 48 points (8 touchdowns) during the postseason, an NFL record.
Levens was Green Bay's leading rusher with 90 rushing yards, and was their second-leading receiver with 56 yards on 6 receptions. Both Freeman and Favre had outstanding performances for the second Super Bowl game in a row. Favre completed 25 out of 42 passes for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 1 interception. Freeman caught 9 passes for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns, and also gained another 104 yards on 6 kickoff returns, giving him 230 total yards, the third highest total in Super Bowl history. Freeman also tied himself for second all-time in touchdown catches in Super Bowls with three, joining Lynn Swann, John Stallworth, and Cliff Branch, trailing only Rice's eight. He also became just the third player to have at least 100 yards receiving in back-to-back Super Bowls, joining Rice and Stallworth.
Denver was the first team with a previous 0–2 Super Bowl record to win (their record had been 0–4). The Broncos' victory snapped the NFC's 13-game winning streak in the Super Bowl. The Broncos were the first AFC team to win the NFL championship since the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Denver also became the first team to score on four 1-yard touchdown runs in a Super Bowl. The Packers became the third defending Super Bowl champion to lose the Super Bowl, joining the Dallas Cowboys (1977–78: won Super Bowl XII, lost Super Bowl XIII) and the Washington Redskins (1982–83: won Super Bowl XVII, lost Super Bowl XVIII), and would be later joined by the Seattle Seahawks (2013–14: won Super Bowl XLVIII, lost Super Bowl XLIX) and the New England Patriots (2016–17: won Super Bowl LI, lost Super Bowl LII).
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXII, Super Bowl XXXII Play Finder Den, Super Bowl XXXII Play Finder GB
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
One new record was set and several were tied in Super Bowl XXXII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Source: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29157 |
Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlanta Falcons to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1998 season. The Broncos defeated the Falcons by the score of 34–19, winning their second consecutive Super Bowl. The game was played on January 31, 1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003).
The defending Super Bowl champion Broncos entered the game with an AFC-best 14–2 regular season record. The Falcons, under former Denver head coach Dan Reeves, were making their first Super Bowl appearance after also posting a 14–2 regular season record.
Aided by quarterback John Elway's 80-yard touchdown pass to receiver Rod Smith, Denver scored 17 consecutive points to build a 17–3 lead in the second quarter from which Atlanta could not recover. In the final game of his career before his announced retirement on May 2, 1999, he completed 18 of 29 passes for 336 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and also scored a 3-yard rushing touchdown. At 38 years old, Elway became the oldest player, at the time, to be named Super Bowl MVP, a record that stood until Tom Brady surpassed it in 2017 at the age of 39, coincidentally also against Atlanta.
The NFL originally awarded Super Bowl XXXIII to Candlestick Park in San Francisco on November 2, 1994, at the owners meetings in Rosemont, Illinois but pulled the game away after it became unclear whether planned renovations to the stadium were going to happen.
NFL owners then awarded Super Bowl XXXIII to the Miami area during their October 31, 1996 meeting in New Orleans. Other cities under consideration were Atlanta, Tampa, and Los Angeles. Owners initially planned on selecting only two hosts (XXXIII and XXXIV), but decided to name three after strong showings by the respective delegations. Miami, Atlanta, and Tampa were selected to host XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV, respectively. This was the eighth time that the South Florida area hosted the game, and the third at Pro Player Stadium (formerly Joe Robbie Stadium).
Following Super Bowl XXXII, which was played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Super Bowl XXXIII would mark the last time back-to-back Super Bowls were played outdoors until Super Bowls XLIII, which was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, and XLIV, which was played at Pro Player Stadium, now known as Hard Rock Stadium. This started a streak of 11 straight Super Bowls in which every game with the NFC as the home team was played outdoors and every one with the AFC as the home team was played indoors (incidentally, these games were followed by three Super Bowls played "indoors", as AT&T Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, and the Superdome were chosen as the sites of Super Bowls XLV-XLVII; Super Bowls XLV and XLVI were played in stadiums with retractable roofs that were closed prior to the start of the game).
Following the Broncos' victory during Super Bowl XXXII the previous season, many wondered if 15-year veteran quarterback John Elway would retire after finally winning a Super Bowl. But Elway decided to stay with Denver and see if he could lead them to a second consecutive championship. Under the leadership of head coach Mike Shanahan, the Broncos stormed to the top of the AFC with a 14–2 regular record in 1998, winning their first 13 games before suffering their first loss to the New York Giants.
The Broncos' offense, under the leadership of Elway and running back Terrell Davis, had another outstanding regular season, ranking second in the NFL with 501 points and third in total offense with 6,276 yards. Davis had one of the greatest seasons of any running back in NFL history, rushing for 2,008 yards, catching 25 passes for 217 yards, and scoring 23 touchdowns to earn him both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award. But Davis' rushing numbers did not reduce Elway's passing production. The 38-year-old quarterback made the Pro Bowl for the 3rd year in a row and the 9th time in his career, throwing for 2,806 yards and 22 touchdowns, with only 10 interceptions. A big reason for Elway's passing success was that he had two Pro Bowl wide receivers and a Pro Bowl tight end to throw to. Wide receivers Ed McCaffrey (64 receptions, 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns) and Rod Smith (86 receptions, 1,222 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 66 rushing yards) provided the team with outstanding deep threats, while tight end Shannon Sharpe (64 receptions, 786 yards and 10 touchdowns) provided a sure-handed target over the middle. The Broncos also had three Pro Bowlers anchoring their offensive line: center Tom Nalen, guard Mark Schlereth, and tackle Tony Jones. On special teams, running back Vaughn Hebron returned 46 kickoffs for 1,216 yards and a touchdown, giving him a 26.4 yards per return average.
The Broncos' defense typically did not get as much attention as their offense, but it was still effective, giving up 308 points (8th fewest in the NFL). Up front, the line was anchored by defensive tackles Maa Tanuvasa and Trevor Pryce, who each recorded 8.5 sacks. Behind them, Pro Bowl linebacker Bill Romanowski recorded 55 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, and 2 interceptions. The secondary was led by Pro Bowler Steve Atwater and Darrien Gordon, who led the team with 4 interceptions, which he returned for 125 yards and a touchdown. Gordon was also a great punt returner, returning 34 punts for 379 yards.
The Falcons advanced to their first Super Bowl in franchise history. Like the Broncos, they finished the 1998 regular season with a 14–2 record, including wins in each of their last nine games. But unlike the Broncos, Atlanta's success in 1998 was very surprising to many because they had a 7–9 record in the previous season and a 3–13 record the year before that. In fact, the team recorded just four winning seasons in the last 20 years prior to 1998, and only two in the 1990s. (See "List of Atlanta Falcons seasons".)
However, the Falcons' fortunes began to improve after Dan Reeves became their head coach in 1997. During Reeves' first season with Atlanta, they finished the season 6–2, after starting out 1–7, to compile a 7–9 record overall. Reeves was Denver's head coach from 1981 to 1992, leading the Elway-led Broncos to Super Bowls XXI, XXII, and XXIV. But they lost each one, including a 55–10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV. After that, Reeves was in constant conflict with his coaching staff and some of his players for the next three years. He left Denver in 1993 and spent four seasons as the head coach of the New York Giants before joining the Falcons.
Pro Bowl quarterback Chris Chandler led Atlanta's offense extremely well, throwing for 3,154 yards and 25 touchdowns with just 12 interceptions, while also rushing for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wide receivers Tony Martin and Terance Mathis provided the team with a superb deep threat, each recording over 60 receptions and 1,100 receiving yards, while also combining for 17 touchdowns. Tight end O.J. Santiago added 27 receptions for 428 yards and 5 scores. But the biggest threat on offense was Pro Bowl running back Jamal Anderson, who rushed for 1,846 yards, caught 27 passes for 319 yards, and scored 16 total touchdowns. Rookie wide receiver Tim Dwight gave the team a great special teams attack, gaining a total of 1,236 yards and scoring a touchdown on kickoff and punt returns.
The Falcons' defense ranked 2nd in the league in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,203), 8th in fewest total yards allowed (5,009), and 4th in fewest points allowed. Defensive linemen Lester Archambeau (10 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 5 forced fumbles), Chuck Smith (8.5 sacks, 4 fumble recoveries, 3 forced fumbles) and Shane Dronett (6.5 sacks, 4 force fumbles) excelled at pressuring quarterbacks and stopping the run. Behind them, Atlanta had two outstanding linebackers, Pro Bowler Jessie Tuggle (65 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery) and Cornelius Bennett (69 tackles, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries). Bennett played with the Buffalo Bills when they suffered their four consecutive Super Bowl losses in Super Bowls XXV, XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII; and thus was determined to finally get a championship ring that had eluded him in the past. Atlanta's secondary was led by Pro Bowl cornerback Ray Buchanan, who recorded 7 interceptions and 102 return yards, and Pro Bowl safety Eugene Robinson (4 interceptions), who was with the Green Bay Packers when they appeared in Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII.
The season was punctuated by Reeves receiving emergency coronary bypass surgery after Week 14. Doctors said he could have been "within hours of a catastrophic heart attack." Although asked to rest for at least six weeks, Reeves returned to the sidelines for Week 17. Then-defensive coordinator Rich Brooks substituted for Reeves as head coach in Weeks 15 and 16, and won both games.
The Falcons did not return to play in another Super Bowl until 2016, when they lost 28–34 to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.
The Broncos demolished the Miami Dolphins 38–3 and beat the New York Jets 23–10 in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Falcons were victorious against the San Francisco 49ers, 20–18 and then upset the heavily favored 15-1 Minnesota Vikings on the road, 30–27 in overtime.
This was the third Super Bowl in history that featured two teams with two losses or less. Both teams came into the game with 16–2 records after the playoffs. The first was Super Bowl XII, featuring two 12-2 teams: the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos. The only Super Bowl featuring a better matchup record-wise was Super Bowl XIX, when the San Francisco 49ers had a 17–1 record and the Miami Dolphins had a 16–2 record.
Much of the pregame hype was centered around John Elway confronting his former coach Reeves. Denver head coach Mike Shanahan was hurt and angered by Reeves' pregame assertion that Shanahan and Elway had conspired to have him fired during his stint at Denver. Media coverage also focused on whether or not Elway would retire after the season (which he eventually did).
Elway became the first quarterback to start five Super Bowls; he previously started Super Bowls XXI, XXII, XXIV, and XXXII. Broncos defensive lineman Mike Lodish was making his record 6th appearance in a Super Bowl. He played with Buffalo in all four of their Super Bowl losses (Super Bowl XXV through XXVIII) and with Denver's first Super Bowl win the year before.
On the night before the Super Bowl, Falcons safety Eugene Robinson was arrested for solicitation of prostitution. While driving alone in a rented car along a downtown Miami street, he approached a female undercover police officer posing as a prostitute and offered $40 for oral sex. Although he was released from jail and allowed to play the game, he was widely denounced by the press and fans for the incident. Ironically, on the morning of the day Robinson was arrested for the incident, he had received the Bart Starr Award for his "high moral character."
The game was broadcast in the United States by Fox and featured the broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall and color commentator John Madden. James Brown hosted all the events with help from his then-fellow "Fox NFL Sunday" cast members Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Cris Collinsworth.
Miami became the first Super Bowl host city to have games televised by all four major American broadcast networks. CBS televised Super Bowls II and X (and later XLI and XLIV), NBC televised Super Bowls III, V, XIII, and XXIII, and ABC televised Super Bowl XXIX.
After the game, Fox aired the pilot episode of "Family Guy", "Death Has a Shadow". "Family Guy" would become, at the time, only the fourth series to premiere after the Super Bowl and then have a very successful, lengthy run afterwards. The three other successful series that premiered after the Super Bowl were "The A-Team" after Super Bowl XVII, "The Wonder Years" after Super Bowl XXII, and "" after Super Bowl XXVII This was followed by "The Simpsons" episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday".
With this appearance, the Broncos became the first team to play in Super Bowls televised on all four major broadcast networks in the United States. CBS televised the Broncos' losses in Super Bowls XII, XXI, and XXIV (and later their Super Bowl 50 victory), ABC their loss in Super Bowl XXII, and NBC their win in Super Bowl XXXII. The Pittsburgh Steelers became the second with their appearance in Super Bowl XLV, and the New York Giants the third with their appearance in Super Bowl XLVI.
The starting lineups were shown using a virtual TV. To TV viewers, it appeared as if the end zone opened up and a giant TV came up out of the ground. The virtual TV displayed video announcing the starting lineups. The virtual TV effect was provided by PVI Virtual Media Services using their L-VIS virtual graphics system.
During halftime, USA Network aired a special edition of "WWF Sunday Night Heat" called "Halftime Heat" featuring a match between The Rock and Mankind for the WWF Championship in an Empty Arena Match that took place in Arizona and had been taped five days before. Mankind won the title, just seven days after losing it to The Rock at the "Royal Rumble".
FoxSports.com also ran an online-only Internet halftime show, Webcast live from South Beach Miami, and hosted by then-Fox Sports Net anchorman Keith Olbermann. This halftime show was sponsored by Victoria's Secret and available exclusively in Windows Media Player. Viewer questions were solicited via the FoxSports.com website.
The pregame show, narrated by actress Tori Spelling, depicted the adventure of a Caribbean cruise from its festive departure to its journey to exotic destinations. The show included a performance by KISS, along with their trademark elaborate costumes and theatrical pyrotechnics.
Cher later sang the U.S. national anthem.
To honor the 40th anniversary of the 1958 NFL Championship, also known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played", the following participants of that game appeared during the coin toss ceremony: Raymond Berry, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Frank Gifford, Roosevelt Brown, Don Maynard, Sam Huff, and Tom Landry, the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. Weeb Ewbank, head coach of the Baltimore Colts in that game, was also scheduled to appear, but died November 17, 1998.
The halftime show was titled "A Celebration of Soul, Salsa and Swing" and featured Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Stevie Wonder, and Gloria Estefan. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed their song "Go Daddy-O". Wonder sang "Sir Duke", "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", and "I Wish". And Miami-native Estefan performed "Oye!" and "Turn the Beat Around", then a special performance by Stevie Wonder and Estefan was given performing Estefan's hit "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)".
The halftime show was sponsored by Progressive Auto Insurance. Progressive, in doing so, was the first auto insurer to be the title sponsor of a Super Bowl halftime show.
The show was produced by Radio City Productions.
The show featured 1,000 performers. Effects included large lighted balloon balls, lasers, pyrotechnics.
The show was preceded with a brief skit featuring Estefan and Wonder with the character E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, who had appeared in Super Bowl advertisements ran that night for the show's title sponsor Progressive Auto Insurance.
The performance began with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performing "Go Daddy-O".
Wonder then entered the field in a vintage automobile, while performing "Sir Duke". He sat at a keyboard and performed "You Are the Sunshine of My Life". During this song, dancers unrolled large swaths of cloth to form an image of a sun on the field. He then performed "I Wish", during which he was joined on stage by tap dance Savion Glover. Wonder briefly joined Savion in tap dancing.
The performance then saw Estefan make her entrance. She sang "Oye!" followed by "Turn the Beat Around". During "Turn the Beat Around", dancers on the field swung long lighted ropes.
The performance ended with Wonder and Estafan both performing "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)". During this final song, Wonder wore a jacket with the word "African" on one sleeve and the word "American" on the other.
Falcons wide receiver Tim Dwight returned the opening kickoff 31 yards to the Atlanta 37-yard line. Then aided by a 25-yard pass interference penalty against Broncos defensive back Steve Atwater and 31 rushing yards from Jamal Anderson, the Falcons drove to the Broncos 8-yard line. But Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski sacked quarterback Chris Chandler for a 7-yard loss on third down, forcing Atlanta to settle for Morten Andersen's 32-yard field goal to give them a 3–0 lead.
The Broncos then responded with an 80-yard scoring drive. Quarterback John Elway's 41-yard completion to wide receiver Rod Smith and two receptions by tight end Shannon Sharpe for a total of 26 net yards set up fullback Howard Griffith's 1-yard touchdown run. Unfortunately for Denver, Sharpe was injured on that drive. He did play the next drive, but was taken out of the game after that. Later in the first quarter, Falcons defensive back Ronnie Bradford intercepted a pass from Elway (that had bounced off Sharpe) and returned it to the Broncos 35-yard line.
But Denver's defense made a great stand in the opening minutes of the 2nd quarter, tackling Anderson for no gain on 3rd down and 1, and then stopping him for a 2-yard loss on 4th down. Broncos running back Terrell Davis then rushed 4 times for 28 yards and Rod Smith caught an 18-yard pass as the Broncos drove 63 yards in 11 plays to score on Jason Elam's 26-yard field goal to increase their lead to 10–3.
The Falcons then advanced to the Denver 8-yard line on their next drive, but failed to score when Andersen's 26-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. Immediately after the Broncos got the ball back, Smith broke ahead of Falcons safety Eugene Robinson, caught a pass from Elway, and took off for an 80-yard touchdown reception, giving Denver a 17–3 lead (the fourth 80+ yard touchdown pass play in Super Bowl history). TV viewers did not see most of the play, as Fox was still airing a commercial for "The Matrix" at the time. Aided by Dwight's 42-yard kickoff return to the 49-yard line, the Falcons responded by driving to Denver's 11-yard line and scored with Andersen's 28-yard field goal to cut Atlanta's deficit to 17–6 going into halftime.
The Broncos opened the second half by driving 74 yards to the Atlanta 20-yard line, but ended up scoring no points after Elam's 38-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. Chandler responded on the next 2 plays with a 29-yard completion to receiver Tony Martin and a 12-yard scramble to advance the ball to the Denver 41-yard line. But then linebacker John Mobley sacked Chandler for a 6-yard loss, and cornerback Darrius Johnson intercepted Chandler's pass and returned it 28 yards to the Falcons 42-yard line on the next play. Denver then drove to the 29-yard line, but Elam missed another field goal attempt, this one from 47 yards.
After the missed field goal, the Falcons drove to the Denver 21-yard line with Anderson's 13-yard run, wide receiver Terance Mathis' 13-yard catch, and a 15-yard run from Anderson, giving them a chance to cut their deficit to within one touchdown. However, Broncos defensive back Darrien Gordon intercepted a pass from Chandler and returned it 58 yards to the Atlanta 24-yard line. Two plays later on 3rd and 6, Elway's 15-yard completion to Ed McCaffrey gave Denver a 1st and goal from the 5-yard line.
Griffith took the ball to the end zone from there with two consecutive running plays, the second a 1-yard run to increase Denver's lead to 24–6.
The Falcons reached the Broncos 26-yard line on their ensuing drive, but Gordon intercepted another pass and returned this one 50 yards to the Atlanta 48-yard line. On the next play, Elway completed a short pass to running back Terrell Davis, who turned it into a 39-yard gain. Two plays later, Elway finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, giving the Broncos a 31–6 lead (Elway became the second player in Super Bowl history to score a touchdown in four different Super Bowls; he ran for scores before in Super Bowls XXI, XXIV, and XXXII, joining Thurman Thomas on this list).
Dwight returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to cut Atlanta's deficit to 31–13, but the Broncos recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt. Three plays later, a 25-yard completion from Elway to McCaffrey set up Elam's 37-yard field goal with just over 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
The Falcons' offense advanced inside the Denver 30-yard line for the third consecutive time, with Chandler completing 8 of 14 passes for 67 yards and rushing for 6 yards, and finally scored this time on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Chandler to Mathis. Mathis' touchdown made the score 34–19 (Chandler's pass on the two-point conversion attempt was incomplete), but by then there was only 2:04 left in the game. Atlanta failed to recover the onside kick, but got the ball back on their own 30-yard line with 1:34 left after Denver failed to go for it on 4th down. However, Anderson fumbled at the Broncos 33-yard line, and Broncos defensive back Tyrone Braxton recovered the ball, allowing Denver to run out the clock and win the
game. The two teams combined for a Super Bowl record 30 4th-quarter points, with the Broncos' 17 and Falcons' 13.
The Falcons' offense gained a total of 337 yards, were not penalized once, and had driven inside Denver's 30-yard line seven times. But Atlanta's offense scored only 13 points and committed four turnovers. Meanwhile, the Broncos gained a total of 457 yards and scored 34 points.
For the Broncos, Davis rushed for 102 yards and caught 2 passes for 50 yards. Davis' 102 rushing yards in the Super Bowl gave him over 100 rushing yards for the 7th consecutive postseason game (and he was the third player to run for 100 yards in back-to-back Super Bowls, the others being Larry Csonka in Super Bowls VII and VIII, and Emmitt Smith in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII). Davis became just the second player to be on a Super Bowl-winning team after being named the NFL Most Valuable Player and leading the league in rushing. Emmitt Smith was the first one, but also was named Super Bowl MVP for Super Bowl XXVIII during that year. Marcus Allen is the only other player to win all three of these honors during his career. Allen won the 1985 NFL MVP Award and rushing title while being named Super Bowl XVIII MVP at the conclusion of the 1983 season. Smith caught 5 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown, an average of 30.4 yards per catch. Gordon recorded 2 interceptions and returned them for a Super Bowl record 108 yards.
For the Falcons, Jamal Anderson rushed for 96 yards and caught 3 passes for 16 yards. Dwight returned 5 kickoffs for 210 yards, the second most in Super Bowl history, and the highest Super Bowl career yards per return average (42.0). Mathis led Atlanta with 7 receptions for 85 yards. Chandler finished the game with 19 out of 35 completions for 219 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted 3 times.
Dan Reeves became the fourth head coach to lose four Super Bowls, joining Bud Grant, Don Shula, and Marv Levy. Reeves lost Super Bowls XXI, XXII, and XXIV while coaching the Broncos.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXIII, Super Bowl XXXIII Play Finder Den, Super Bowl XXXIII Play Finder Atl, USA Today Super Bowl XXXIII Play by Play
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXXIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2017 NFL Record & Fact Book and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary.Some records have to meet NFL minimum number of attempts to be recognized. The minimums are shown (in parenthesis).
Source:
Prior to the start of the 1998 NFL season, the league swapped position titles with the field judge and back judge. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29158 |
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Tennessee Titans to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 season. The Rams defeated the Titans by the score of 23–16, capturing their first Super Bowl win and first NFL championship since 1951. The game, played on January 30, 2000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, was the fourth Super Bowl to be held a week after the conference championship games (the previous time this happened was Super Bowl XXVIII, and coincidentally that game was also played on January 30 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta).
The Rams entered their second Super Bowl in team history with an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record. It was the franchise's first playoff appearance since 1989, when they were still in Los Angeles. The Titans, who were originally the Houston Oilers, also finished the regular season with a 13–3 record, but advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history after entering the playoffs as a wild-card team. Tennessee finished in second place in the AFC Central division behind the 14–2 Jacksonville Jaguars.
The first two quarters of Super Bowl XXXIV were largely a defensive battle. Despite outgaining the Titans in total offensive yards in the first half, 294–89, the Rams held only a 9–0 halftime lead on three field goals. St. Louis later scored their first touchdown midway through the 3rd quarter to go up 16–0. Tennessee then responded by scoring 16 consecutive points to tie the game with 2:12 left in regulation---it was the largest deficit to be erased in a Super Bowl and the first greater than 10 points. On the Rams' ensuing drive, quarterback Kurt Warner completed a 73-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Isaac Bruce to regain the lead. The Titans then drove to the St. Louis 10-yard line with six seconds remaining, but on the final play of the game, Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Tennessee wide receiver Kevin Dyson one yard short of the goal line to prevent the drive from resulting in a potentially game-tying touchdown. This play went into NFL lore as "One Yard Short", or simply "The Tackle". Warner was named Super Bowl MVP, becoming the sixth player to win both that award and the NFL MVP during the same season. At the time, his 414 passing yards and 45 pass attempts without an interception broke Super Bowl records.
As of 2019, this was the most recent Super Bowl that featured two teams that had never won the title before.
This game is often referred to as the "Dot-com Super Bowl" due to the large amount of advertisements purchased by dot-com companies. This game was later featured as one of "NFL's Greatest Games" as "The Longest Yard".
NFL owners awarded Super Bowl XXXIV to Atlanta during their October 31, 1996 meeting held in New Orleans. Other cities under consideration were Miami, Tampa, and Los Angeles. Owners initially planned on selecting only two hosts (XXXIII and XXXIV), but decided to name three after strong showings by the respective delegations. Miami, Atlanta, and Tampa were selected to host XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV.
The Rams entered 1999 having been among the league's stragglers for a decade. The reasons are many, including, some suggest, mismanagement by executive John Shaw. The franchise moved to a taxpayer-funded stadium in St. Louis, Missouri for the 1995 season, but continued to struggle. In 1997, the team hired Dick Vermeil as their head coach, bringing him back to the NFL after 15 years of retirement. Vermeil had previously turned the Philadelphia Eagles from one of the worst teams in the league into a Super Bowl team in 1980, but his first two seasons in St. Louis were hardly stellar, winning just 5 games in 1997 and 4 in 1998.
Little was expected of the Rams for 1999. Indeed, "ESPN The Magazine"'s 1999 NFL preview predicted the Rams would be the worst team in the NFL, worse even than the Cleveland Browns, who had returned as an expansion team that year. Trent Green, who had just been signed as the Rams starting quarterback, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, making undrafted quarterback Kurt Warner the team's new starter. Warner, who started the season as a backup to Green, had previously played for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.
The Rams proceeded to shock the NFL with an NFC-best 13–3 regular season record and outscored their opponents 526–242, the highest scoring margin (284) of any Super Bowl champion.
The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf". In Warner's first NFL season in 1998, he played only one game and threw just 11 passes. But in 1999, he experienced one of the most spectacular seasons ever by a quarterback, recording a passer rating of 109.2, completing 65.1 percent of his passes for 4,353 yards, 41 touchdowns, and just 13 interceptions, and earning the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Besides Warner, several other Rams compiled significant statistics. Running back Marshall Faulk, in his first year in St. Louis after spending five seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, while finishing second in MVP voting to Warner. He scored 12 touchdowns, rushed for 1,381 yards, and recorded a team-leading 87 receptions for 1,048 yards. In all, Faulk gained a record 2,429 total yards and became just the second running back in NFL history to gain over 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season (Roger Craig was the first to do it, in 1985). Faulk held the NFL record for yards from scrimmage in a single season until Tennessee's Chris Johnson broke it in 2009. Faulk wasn’t the only weapon at Warner's disposal in 1999. Veteran receiver Isaac Bruce was the top Rams receiver with 77 receptions for 1,165 yards and 12 touchdowns. while breakout rookie wide receiver Torry Holt recorded 52 receptions, 788 yards, and 6 touchdowns. Even the team's third wide receiver, Az-Zahir Hakim, was a big contributor by catching 36 passes for 677 yards and 8 touchdowns, while also returning punts for 461 yards and another touchdown. The Rams' offensive line was led by Pro Bowlers Orlando Pace and Adam Timmerman. Timmerman, acquired by the Rams in 1999, had previously won Super Bowl XXXI with the Green Bay Packers. On special teams, receiver Tony Horne returned 30 kickoffs for 892 yards and 2 touchdowns, giving him an NFL-leading 29.7 yards per return average. Overall, St. Louis's offense led the league in total yards gained (6,639), scoring (526 points), and passing touchdowns (42).
The Rams' defense led the league in fewest rushing yards allowed (1,189) and fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (4), while giving up just 242 points. Overall, the defense ranked 4th in the league in fewest total yards (5,056). The line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive end Kevin Carter and defensive end Grant Wistrom. Carter led the league with 17 sacks, while Wistrom recorded 8.5 sacks and 2 interceptions, returning both for touchdowns and a combined total of 131 yards. Behind them, the Rams had three linebackers: London Fletcher (66 tackles and 3 sacks), Mike Jones (4 interceptions for 96 return yards and 2 touchdowns, and 2 fumble recoveries for 51 return yards and a touchdown), and Todd Collins (72 tackles, a sack, and 2 interceptions for 16 yards). The secondary was led by Pro Bowler Todd Lyght (6 interceptions), Dexter McCleon (4 interceptions), and rookie Dré Bly (3 interceptions).
This was the Rams' first playoff appearance since 1989 and only the second Super Bowl appearance in team history.
The Titans advanced to their first Super Bowl in team history, after originating as a charter member of the American Football League. From 1960 to 1996, the team was owned by Houston, Texas businessman Bud Adams and known as the Houston Oilers. By 1995, however, Adams, like Frontiere, was lured to move his team from Houston, in this case to a new stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Since this new stadium was not ready until the 1999 season, Adams decided to move his team to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee in 1997 after playing before small Houston crowds in 1996.
The renamed Tennessee Oilers also played before sparse Memphis crowds, and thus spent the 1998 season playing at Nashville's Vanderbilt Stadium. After the new Adelphia Coliseum (now known as Nissan Stadium) was completed in 1999, the team's name was changed to Tennessee Titans. With Tennessee's Super Bowl appearance, every former AFL team had now played in the Super Bowl, including the original eight AFL teams and two AFL expansion teams: the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 1999 Titans were led by quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George. McNair had missed five games due to injuries during the season, but he was still able to put up solid numbers, throwing for 2,179 yards and 12 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions. Despite his injury problems, McNair finished the season as the second-leading rusher on the team with 337 yards and 8 touchdowns. When McNair was out with injuries, the team was able to rely on backup QB Neil O'Donnell, who threw for 1,382 yards and 10 touchdowns, with only 5 interceptions. George also had an outstanding season, rushing for 1,304 yards, and catching 47 passes for 458 yards (his receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns were all career highs). In all, George scored a grand total of 13 touchdowns, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for the 3rd consecutive year.
Another contributor on the Titans' offense was fullback Lorenzo Neal, who frequently served as George's lead blocker and was widely considered one of the best blocking backs in the league. The team did not have any outstanding deep threats, but wide receiver Yancey Thigpen recorded 38 receptions for 648 yards, wide receiver Kevin Dyson had 54 receptions for 658 yards, and tight end Frank Wycheck caught 69 passes for 641 yards. Up front, their line was anchored by Pro Bowl tackle Bruce Matthews. On special teams, speedy rookie Derrick Mason racked up 1,030 combined return yards and a touchdown.
Tennessee's defense was also extremely effective. Pro Bowl defensive end Jevon Kearse anchored the line, recording 14.5 sacks to go along with 8 forced fumbles and was named the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year. The linebackers corps was led by Eddie Robinson, who recorded 64 tackles and 6 sacks, while also recovering and forcing 3 fumbles. Their secondary was led by cornerback Samari Rolle, who led the team with 4 interceptions.
The Titans finished the regular season with a 13–3 record (including a home win over the Rams), but finished second behind the 14–2 Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Central. The Jaguars' only two losses were to the Titans, but Tennessee's three losses forced them to enter the playoffs as a wild-card team.
Playing in his first ever NFL playoff game, Warner threw for 395 yards and 5 touchdowns, with 1 interception, as the Rams defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 49–37 in St. Louis, by scoring 35 unanswered points in the second half. Bruce caught 4 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. Faulk gained 101 combined rushing/receiving yards and scored 2 touchdowns. Although Vikings quarterback Jeff George threw for 423 yards and 4 touchdowns, three of his scores occurred late in the 4th quarter, after the Rams had already put the game away.
The Rams then narrowly defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 11–6 at home, in a hard-fought defensive struggle in the NFC Championship Game. The first half ended with the Rams leading 5–3 on a Jeff Wilkins field goal and after a bad snap by the Buccaneers went through their own end zone for a safety. Tampa Bay then scored a field goal in the 3rd quarter to take the lead. But Warner threw a 30-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to receiver Ricky Proehl with 4:44 left in the game.
Meanwhile, the Titans started out their postseason by narrowly defeating the Buffalo Bills, 22–16 in Nashville, on a famous, trick kickoff return play that became known in NFL lore as the Music City Miracle. Tennessee jumped to a 12–0 halftime lead with an Al Del Greco field goal, a safety by Kearse, and a McNair touchdown run. However, Buffalo came back to take the lead, 13–12 with Antowain Smith's two touchdown runs in the second half (the two-point conversion after Smith's second touchdown failed). In the 4th quarter, the Titans regained the lead after Del Greco kicked his second field goal. With 16 seconds left in the game, Bills kicker Steve Christie made what seemed to be the game-winning 41-yard field goal to give his team the lead, 16–15. However, Neal received the ensuing kickoff and handed the ball off to Wycheck, who then lateraled the ball to Dyson on the other side of the field, who eventually ran 75 yards to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. The play was reviewed to determine whether Wycheck had lateraled the ball to Dyson or made an illegal forward pass. Referee Phil Luckett upheld the original call on the field of a touchdown, giving Tennessee the win.
The Titans then defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 19–16 in Indianapolis. After both teams exchanged field goals in the first half, George scored on a 68-yard touchdown run to give his team a 13–9 lead. Del Greco then kicked two more field goals in the 4th quarter to put the game away. George finished the game with a franchise playoff record 162 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Del Greco made four field goals.
The Titans then eliminated the Jacksonville Jaguars, 33–14, in the AFC Championship Game at Jacksonville. The Jaguars finished the 1999 regular season with a league-best 14–2 record, and advanced to the AFC title game after crushing the Miami Dolphins 62–7 and limiting future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino to just 11 of 25 completions for 95 yards and 1 touchdown, with 2 interceptions. However, Tennessee's defense dominated the Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game, forcing 6 turnovers. Jacksonville led 14–10 at halftime, but the Titans then scored 23 unanswered points on two touchdown runs by McNair, a safety, and Derrick Mason's 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Although McNair passed for only 112 yards and one touchdown with one interception, he rushed for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns on 9 carries. George rushed for 86 yards and caught 3 passes for 19 yards.
In January 2000, two ice storms struck the Atlanta area within a week of each other. The second storm occurred during the week the Super Bowl was hosted. Despite the rare adverse weather conditions, city and state crews kept streets and sidewalks free of ice, and MARTA public transport kept running. The Atlanta region does not receive more ice storms than most other areas of the country, and Super Bowl XXXIV was played indoors and unaffected by the elements. But some residents believe the poor weather during Super Bowl week negatively impacted the city's chances of hosting another Super Bowl, including the bid it lost for the Super Bowl XLIII. That bid included meteorological data showing the rarity of such storms in the area. They eventually got the bid to host Super Bowl LIII.
Nashville, home of the Titans, is also the midway point of the Atlanta-St. Louis highway corridor, which contains the entirety of Interstate 24, and uses Interstate 64 and Interstate 75 to complete the route.
It was the last Super Bowl in which neither team had already won a Super Bowl.
ABC televised the game in the United States, with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentator Boomer Esiason. Chris Berman from Disney-owned corporate sibling ESPN hosted all the events. Berman was joined by fellow ESPN analyst Steve Young, while ESPN's Mike Tirico was on hand for the post-game presentation of the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Lesley Visser and Lynn Swann served as sideline reporters.
It was also the first Super Bowl to be aired in high definition and 5.1 Dolby Digital. ABC Sports chose to use the 720p format.
Ironically, the ABC affiliate in St. Louis, KDNL-TV, has been regarded as one of the network's weakest affiliates since joining the network in 1995. The previous ABC affiliate, KTVI, in contrast, was one of the strongest affiliates – it had become a Fox NFL station in 1995, and thus, has televised the majority of the Rams' games in this period.
The game was later featured as one of the "NFL's Greatest Games" as The Longest Yard.
This game is often referred to as the "dot-com" Super Bowl since it was held during the height of the dot-com bubble, and several Internet companies purchased television commercials. E-Trade ran a commercial featuring a chimpanzee dancing in an E-Trade T-shirt and the text "Well, we just wasted 2 million bucks". Lifeminders.com ran a commercial of plain typewritten text beginning with the line "This is the worst commercial on the Super Bowl. But it might be the best thing you see tonight." Pets.com famously paid millions for an advertisement featuring a sock puppet, though the company would collapse before the end of the year.
The pregame show featured a tribute to "The Great American Music of the 20th Century". Narrated by the Smothers Brothers, the show highlighted some of the unique American musical styles such as gospel, big band, classical, country and rock. Singers Tina Turner and Travis Tritt along with the Georgia Tech Marching Band and the Georgia Mass Choir performed during the show.
Country singer Faith Hill then sang the national anthem.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Bowl IV, the following participants of the game were featured during the coin toss ceremony: Bud Grant, Lamar Hunt, Bobby Bell, Paul Krause, Willie Lanier, Alan Page, and Jan Stenerud.
The E-Trade Super Bowl Halftime Show was produced by Disney and titled "Tapestry of Nations" after the Epcot parade of the same name. The show, narrated by actor Edward James Olmos, was inspired by Walt Disney World's millennium celebration. It featured a full symphony orchestra conducted by Steven Byess; a multi-generational, 80-person choir; and singers Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, and Toni Braxton.
Setlist:
The two teams’ defenses seemed to dominate most of the first half. The Rams started the game out strong by taking the opening kickoff and marching to the Tennessee 17-yard line. But on third down, safety Blaine Bishop pressured quarterback Kurt Warner to throw an incomplete pass. Then the ensuing field goal attempt failed when punter/holder Mike Horan fumbled the snap. The Titans responded by moving the ball to the St. Louis 29-yard line, aided with running back Eddie George's 32-yard reception. However, they also came up empty after kicker Al Del Greco missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.
For the rest of the half, the Titans were forced to punt on all of their possessions. In contrast, the Rams were able to reach inside the Tennessee 20-yard line on all four of their remaining drives before halftime, but on each one, the Titans' defense forced St. Louis to settle for field goal attempts from kicker Jeff Wilkins, who was successful in making three of them, but missed one attempt from 34 yards. The Rams ended up leading at halftime, 9–0, but their scoring margin over the Titans seemed somewhat small, considering they drove into scoring range on every one of their first-half possessions and outgained Tennessee in total yards, 294–89.
Both teams' offenses started to get going in the second half. The Titans took the opening kickoff of the 3rd quarter and drove 43 yards to the St. Louis 29-yard line. But Tennessee remained scoreless after defensive back Todd Lyght blocked Del Greco's 47-yard field goal attempt. After that, Warner converted a third down situation with a completion to Marshall Faulk, then on the next two plays threw a 31-yard strike to wide receiver Isaac Bruce and a 16-yard completion to tight end Ernie Conwell before finishing the 68-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Torry Holt, giving St. Louis a 16–0 lead. On the completion to Conwell, Bishop combined to make the tackle, but suffered a spinal injury and had to leave the game. The game was delayed for several minutes while Bishop was being treated.
Tennessee wide receiver Derrick Mason returned the ensuing kickoff 35 yards to the 34-yard line. From there, five runs by George good for 24 yards, three completions from quarterback Steve McNair to tight end Frank Wycheck for 15 yards and a run by McNair for two advanced the ball to the St. Louis 25-yard line. Then McNair scrambled 23 yards to the 2-yard line, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by George two plays later. The touchdown cut the Titans' deficit to 16–6 after McNair's pass to Wycheck on the two-point conversion attempt fell incomplete.
The Titans' first score sparked them to rally. After forcing the Rams to punt on their ensuing possession, a pair of 21-yard completions from McNair to tight end Jackie Harris and wide receiver Isaac Byrd aided a 13-play, 79-yard drive that was capped by George's 2-yard touchdown run to make the score 16–13. The Tennessee defense then forced the Rams to a three-and-out, and Horan's 30-yard punt gave the Titans the ball back at their 47-yard line. The Titans' offense then drove only 28 yards on their ensuing possession, but it was close enough for Del Greco to attempt a 43-yard field goal. This time, Del Greco's kick was good, tying the score at 16–16 with just 2:12 left in the game. The 16-point deficit was the largest deficit to be erased in a Super Bowl and the first greater than 10 points. It was also the first time in any Super Bowl a team down double digits in the 4th quarter had tied the game.
Then on the Rams' first play of their ensuing drive, Warner threw a long pass that was caught at the Titans' 38-yard line by Bruce, who then ran it all the way into the end zone for a 73-yard touchdown to give St. Louis a 23–16 lead. Likewise, in the 1951 NFL Championship Game, quarterback Norm Van Brocklin's 73-yard game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Tom Fears broke a 17–17 tie in the fourth quarter and gave the Rams a seven-point victory to win the NFL title. Warner's touchdown pass to Bruce was his only completion of the 4th quarter.
The Titans took over the ball at their own 12-yard line with 1:48 left in the game after committing a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff. McNair started out the drive with a pair of completions to Mason and Wycheck for gains of 9 and 7 yards to reach the 28-yard line. After an incomplete pass, defensive back Dré Bly's 15-yard face-mask penalty while tackling McNair on a 12-yard scramble gave the Titans a 1st down at the St. Louis 45-yard line. On the next play, St. Louis was penalized 5 yards for being offside, moving the ball to the 40-yard line with 59 seconds left. McNair ran for 2 yards, then threw a 7-yard completion to wide receiver Kevin Dyson. On the next play, Tennessee nearly lost the ball when Bly stepped in front of a pass intended for Mason, only to have it go right through his arms. Two plays later, with the Titans facing 3rd down and 5, McNair was hit by two Rams defenders, but he escaped and completed a 16-yard pass to Dyson to gain a 1st down at the Rams' 10-yard line. Tennessee then used up their final timeout with just six seconds left, giving them a chance for one last play to tie the game.
The game's final play from the Rams' 10-yard line has gone down in NFL history as simply "The Tackle". Tennessee's plan was to use tight end Frank Wycheck as a decoy. Wycheck would run straight up the field on the right side, to lure linebacker Mike Jones away from receiver Kevin Dyson. Dyson would then slant left through the middle of the field. With Jones occupying Wycheck, quarterback Steve McNair would pass the ball to Dyson, who would be open from about five yards out for the score.
As the play began, everything appeared to go as planned. Jones ran with Wycheck up the field at the beginning of the play. However, as the pass was being delivered to Dyson, Jones, who was at the goal line, glanced over his left shoulder and noticed an open Dyson catching the ball. Jones switched directions and ran toward the Titans receiver. Dyson ran directly toward the end zone, but his legs were wrapped up by Jones with about two and a half yards left to the goal line.
Since Dyson was being tackled by the legs, there was still the possibility he could reach towards the end zone and get the ball across the goal line. Both players went into a rolling motion as Dyson outstretched his hand with the football towards the goal line in the hopes of scoring the touchdown. Though his reach was close, and the ball mere inches away from the end zone, it was still not enough to score. As the rolling motion came to an end, with Jones now on top of Dyson's legs, his shoulder touched the ground and, therefore, the game was over. Had Dyson scored and the extra point been converted, it would have been the first Super Bowl ever to go into overtime; it wasn't until 17 years later in Super Bowl LI that the first Super Bowl to go into overtime occurred. Alternatively, had Dyson scored, the Titans could have attempted a 2-point conversion for the outright win on the final play of the game; this happened for the first time two years later in Super Bowl XXXVI.
Considering the magnitude of the Super Bowl, and the wild game that preceded it, "The Tackle" is considered one of the greatest and most exciting game-ending plays in modern NFL history. The image of Dyson stretching the ball to the goal line with Jones wrapped around him has become a staple of NFL highlights. ESPN.com ranked "The Tackle" as the 35th greatest moment of the past 25 years in sports (as of 2007). NFL.com ranked Jones's tackle of Dyson as the fourth greatest clutch moment in Super Bowl history. Fox Sports ranked The Tackle as the Greatest Clutch Play in Super Bowl History (as of 2007). Like Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown, Jones was included on the NFL Network's "Top 10 One-Hit Wonders" list (Jones was #10, Brown was #3), although Jones also mirrored Brown in having a solid if unspectacular career outside of his Super Bowl heroics.
After the game, many sports writers commented on Warner's rise from an unknown backup to a Super Bowl MVP, but Warner himself wasn't impressed by it. "How can you be in awe of something that you expect yourself to do?" Warner pointed out. "People think this season is the first time I touched a football; they don't realize I've been doing this for years – just not on this level, because I never got the chance. Sure, I had my tough times, but you don't sit there and say, 'Wow, I was stocking groceries five years ago, and look at me now.' You don't think about it, and when you do achieve something, you know luck has nothing to do with it."
However, he later told "The New York Times" "I guess it is sort of a storybook ending. When you think about where I was and where I am now, it seems pretty incredible."
Bruce caught 6 passes for 162 yards (3rd highest) and a touchdown, an average of 27 yards per catch. Holt had 7 receptions for 109 yards (the most ever by a rookie in a Super Bowl) and a touchdown. Bruce and Holt became the fourth pair of teammates to each have over 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl, joining the Steelers' John Stallworth and Lynn Swann in Super Bowl XIII, the Bengals' Cris Collinsworth and Dan Ross in Super Bowl XVI, and the Redskins' Gary Clark and Art Monk in Super Bowl XXVI.
Rams starting running back Marshall Faulk was held to just 17 rushing yards, but gained 90 receiving yards on 5 receptions. McNair set a Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback, recording 64 yards on 8 carries. He also completed 22 out of 36 passes for 214 yards. George finished the game with 95 rushing yards, 35 receiving yards, and 2 touchdowns. Harris was the top receiver for Tennessee with 7 catches for 64 yards. Mason returned 5 kickoffs for 122 yards, and caught 2 passes for 18 yards.
Rams coach Dick Vermeil became the oldest coach ever to win a Super Bowl (age 63). He also set the record for the longest amount of time between going to his first Super Bowl (Super Bowl XV in the 1980 season) to winning it for the first time. He retired after this season, but came back in 2001 to coach the Kansas City Chiefs, finally retiring for good in 2005.
It was the second (and last) Super Bowl in which neither team committed any turnovers (after Super Bowl XXV).
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXIV, Super Bowl XXXIV Play Finder StL, Super Bowl XXXIV Play Finder Ten, USA Today Super Bowl XXXIV Play by Play
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXXIV, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the Pro-Football-Reference.com game summary. Some of these records have since been surpassed in subsequent Super Bowl games.
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29159 |
Super Bowl XXXV
Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2000 season. The Ravens defeated the Giants by a score of 34–7, tied for the seventh largest Super Bowl margin of victory with Super Bowl XXXVII. The game was played on January 28, 2001 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
The Ravens, who posted a 12–4 regular season record, became the third wild card team to win the Super Bowl and the second in four years. Also, the city of Baltimore had its first Super Bowl title since the Baltimore Colts' triumph thirty years prior and became the first city to win major professional football championships with four franchises, the others being the Colts (before their move to Indianapolis in 1984), the 1985 Baltimore Stars of the United States Football League and the 1995 Baltimore Stallions of the Canadian Football League. The Giants entered the game seeking to go 3–0 in Super Bowls after also finishing the regular season with a 12–4 record.
Baltimore allowed only 152 yards of offense by New York (the third-lowest total ever in a Super Bowl), recorded 4 sacks, and forced 5 turnovers. All 16 of the Giants' possessions ended with punts or interceptions, with the exception of the last one, which ended when time expired in the game. New York's lone touchdown, a 97-yard kickoff return, was quickly answered by Baltimore on an 84-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kickoff. The Giants became the first team since the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII not to score an offensive touchdown and the fifth overall (joining the Bengals as well as the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX, the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, and the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, and subsequently the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.) Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, who made 3 solo tackles, 2 assists, and blocked 4 passes, was named Super Bowl MVP.
Counting the 1958 and 1959 NFL Championship Games, this is the fourth title game that involved teams from Baltimore and New York, and the first such matchup since Super Bowl III, in which the Jets upset the heavily-favored Colts.
NFL owners awarded Super Bowl XXXV to Tampa during their October 31, 1996 meeting in New Orleans. Tampa became the fourth metropolitan area to host the game at least three times, joining New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles. Other cities under consideration at the meeting were Miami, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Owners initially planned on selecting only two hosts (XXXIII and XXXIV), but decided to name three after strong showings by the respective delegations. Tampa was essentially promised a Super Bowl after committing to the construction of a new stadium. Miami, Atlanta, and Tampa were selected to host XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV, respectively.
The Ravens entered the game with the second-best defense in allowing yards in the league, with the fewest points allowed (165) and the fewest rushing yards allowed (970) during the regular season. At the time, they were the only team to hold the opposition to under 1,000 yards rushing in a season since the NFL adopted a 16-game schedule in 1978. Baltimore's 165 points allowed broke the record set by the 1986 Chicago Bears, who had given up 187 points. The Ravens' defense had held their opponents to 10 or fewer points in 11 games, including four shutouts.
The defense was led by a trio of outstanding linebackers: Peter Boulware, Jamie Sharper, and Ray Lewis. During the regular season, Boulware recorded 7 sacks, while Sharper forced 5 fumbles and made one interception. Lewis was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by recording 3 sacks, making 138 tackles, and intercepting 2 passes. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Sam Adams and veteran Tony Siragusa anchored the defensive line, along with defensive ends Rob Burnett (10.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 5 fumble recoveries) and Pro Bowler Michael McCrary (6.5 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries). Baltimore also had an outstanding corps of defensive backs led by Pro Bowl veteran safety Rod Woodson, who along with Kim Herring, Duane Starks, and Chris McAlister combined for 17 interceptions.
On offense, the Ravens' main strength was rushing, led by rookie Jamal Lewis (1,364 yards, 6 rushing touchdowns, 27 receptions, 298 yards) and Priest Holmes (588 yards, 32 receptions, 221 yards). Also, tight end Shannon Sharpe recorded 67 receptions for 810 yards and 5 touchdowns. Receiver Qadry Ismail added 49 receptions for 655 yards and four touchdowns. The offensive line was anchored by tackle Jonathan Ogden, who was named to the Pro Bowl for the 4th consecutive season. On special teams, Jermaine Lewis ranked second in the NFL with 36 punt returns for 578 yards and two touchdowns, while also catching 19 passes for 161 yards and another score. Kicker Matt Stover led the NFL in field goals made (35) and attempted (39), while ranking 7th in field goal percentage (89.7) and second in scoring (135 points).
However, the Baltimore offense was mediocre, ranking only 13th in the league in scoring (333 points), 16th in total yards (5,301), and 23rd in passing yards (3,102). The team had a lot of trouble scoring, and at one point they went through five games without scoring an offensive touchdown (although they managed to win two of those games). But they managed to regroup, as head coach Brian Billick forbade anyone to use the "P-word" (presumably "postseason" or "playoffs") until the team actually played in it. The Ravens' outspoken defensive lineman, Tony Siragusa, did utter the word "playoffs" on two separate occasions and was fined, albeit a measly sum of $500. Since the fine (and Billick's ban) were clearly symbolic and playful, Billick explained himself by saying, "He got a $400 fine for doing it on national television and $100 for doing it on his radio show. The reason being because no one listens to his show anyway." In place of the "P-word", the word "Festivus" was used, the December 23 secular holiday featured in an episode of the popular American television sitcom "Seinfeld" (the Ravens organization played along with this theme for that year's playoffs by showing a clip of Cosmo Kramer saying "A Festivus miracle!" on the stadium screen during the team's only home playoff game that year). The Super Bowl was thereafter referred to as "Festivus Maximus."
Midway through the season, with the team at 5–3, Billick benched starting quarterback Tony Banks and replaced him with Trent Dilfer. Although his statistics were hardly distinguished (12 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 76.6 passer rating), and the team lost in his first game as a starter, Dilfer led them to victory in their last seven regular season games to finish in second place in the AFC Central with a 12–4 record and entered the playoffs as a wild-card team.
The Giants advanced to Super Bowl XXXV after posting a 7–9 record in the previous year. Their big draft acquisition during the off-season was running back Ron Dayne, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner. The plan was to have his power running style complement running back Tiki Barber's speed and pass-catching ability. The two would be called the Giants' "Thunder and Lightning" backfield. Although Dayne had a solid rookie year by rushing for 770 yards, the breakout star during the regular season was Barber. Barber had 1,006 rushing yards in 213 attempts, caught 70 passes for 719 yards, and scored 10 touchdowns. He also returned 44 punts for 506 yards and gained 266 yards returning kickoffs, giving him 2,495 total yards.
Kerry Collins entered the season as the Giants' unquestioned starting quarterback. Although he helped lead the Carolina Panthers to the 1996 NFC Championship Game, he endured a mediocre season in 1997. In 1998, he quit part way through the season after the team opened the campaign with a four-game losing streak. After spending the remainder of the 1998 season with the New Orleans Saints, Collins was signed in 1999 as the Giants' second-string quarterback, but soon claimed the starting job. In leading the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV, Collins completed 311 out of 529 passes for 3,610 yards and 22 touchdowns during the regular season. His favorite targets, in addition to Barber, were wide receivers Amani Toomer (78 receptions, 1,094 yards, 7 touchdowns), and Ike Hilliard (55 receptions, 787 yards, 8 touchdowns), along with fullback Greg Comella (36 receptions for 274 yards). The Giants offensive line featured guard Ron Stone, the team's only pro bowl selection from the offense.
The Giants also had a powerful defense, led by Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan, who recorded 9.5 sacks, and defensive tackle Keith Hamilton who recorded 10. Defensive backs Jason Sehorn, Emmanuel McDaniel, Reggie Stephens, and Shaun Williams combined for 14 interceptions. Pro Bowl linebacker Jesse Armstead led the team in total tackles with 102, while also recording 5 sacks and an interception.
But the Giants fell to a 7–4 record midway through the season, and their playoff prospects seemed dim at best. In what would be his defining moment, head coach Jim Fassel, at a press conference following the Giants' loss to the Detroit Lions, guaranteed that his team would make the playoffs. The Giants responded by winning their last five regular season games to reach 12–4 and win the NFC East.
With an explosive defense and a "play-it-safe" offense, the Ravens became the seventh wild-card team to reach the Super Bowl, and third in four seasons, after allowing only a combined one touchdown and three field goals in their playoff wins over the Denver Broncos, the Tennessee Titans, and the Oakland Raiders. Meanwhile, the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 20–10, and shut out the Minnesota Vikings, 41–0, the most lopsided game in NFC Championship game history.
Officially, the win made the Ravens the quickest expansion team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl, although much like the 1950 Browns winning the NFL Championship in their first season in the NFL after coming over from the All-America Football Conference, the Ravens were not an expansion team in the traditional sense of the term that started out as a completely brand new organization, coaching staff and players from scratch.
The game was broadcast in the United States by CBS (their first since Super Bowl XXVI in January 1992). Play-by-play announcer Greg Gumbel became the first African-American announcer to call a major sports championship on network television. He was joined in the broadcast booth by color commentator Phil Simms. Armen Keteyian and Bonnie Bernstein served as sideline reporters. Jim Nantz hosted all the events with help from his then-fellow cast members from "The NFL Today": Mike Ditka, Craig James, Randy Cross, and Jerry Glanville. The desk reporting was done aboard the famous "Buccaneer Cove" pirate ship at the end zone of Raymond James Stadium.
The broadcast featured the brand-new EyeVision instant-replay system, which provided rapid-fire sequential shots from a series of cameras positioned around the top of the stadium. It allowed for bullet time effects, similar to those used in the movie "The Matrix". It was extremely unusual for CBS to debut a major new technology system at an event the size of the Super Bowl. The EyeVision system proved its mettle when it helped to uphold a replay challenge on a Jamal Lewis 4th-quarter touchdown. EyeVision was also used during the broadcast of the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show, which was directed by "Saturday Night Live" director Beth McCarthy-Miller. EyeVision would mostly fall out of use after Super Bowl XXXV, not being used in an NFL game until an upgraded version was announced for Super Bowl 50.
CBS also produced a separate HDTV broadcast of the game in the 1080i format, with Kevin Harlan and Daryl Johnston announcing. It was the second year that the game was televised in both standard-definition TV (NTSC) and HDTV.
As previously mentioned, this was the first Super Bowl to be aired on CBS in nine years (after XXVI). Following the 1993 season, Fox bought the rights to air the NFC package, leaving CBS without the NFL for the next four years until 1998, when they began broadcasting the AFC package, bringing an end to NBC's 33-year stint. (NBC would later outbid ABC for the prime time NFL package in 2006, which resulted in these match-ups moving from Monday to Sunday.)
Along with being the first African-American to be the play-by-play announcer for a Super Bowl, Gumbel also became the third person to both host a Super Bowl pregame show and call the game, joining Dick Enberg and Al Michaels. Gumbel was the host during his first stint with CBS for Super Bowl XXVI, and he was the pregame host for Super Bowls XXX and XXXII when he was with NBC.
Before the game, a pregame show titled "Life's Super in Central Florida" was held, featuring Sting, Styx, and PYT. The show was directed and choreographed by Lesslee Fitzmorris from Covington, Louisiana.
To honor the 225th anniversary of the birth of the United States, singer Ray Charles performed "America the Beautiful". The song was signed (ASL) by Tom Cooney. To honor the 10th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War, 10 military veterans from the conflict including former general Norman Schwarzkopf were introduced on the field. The pop group (and Florida natives) The Backstreet Boys then sang the national anthem becoming the only boyband to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.
The coin toss ceremony honored the two previous Super Bowls that were played in Tampa. Representing the New York Giants' win in Super Bowl XXV was the game's MVP, Ottis Anderson, and former head coach Bill Parcells. Representing the Los Angeles Raiders' win in Super Bowl XVIII was that game's MVP, Marcus Allen, and former head coach Tom Flores.
This was the last Super Bowl to have individual player introductions for both teams (both the Ravens' and Giants' defenses were announced). In Super Bowl XXXVI, the New England Patriots bucked this trend and were introduced all at once as a team; the Rams, however, still used individual player introductions in that game. Starting with Super Bowl XXXVII, the league decided to have the both participating teams introduced collectively as a team, instead of introducing them individually by player.
The halftime show was produced by MTV, then a sister network of CBS. The show was titled, "The Kings of Rock and Pop". It was headlined by Aerosmith and 'N Sync, and also featured appearances from Britney Spears, Nelly, Mary J. Blige, and Tremors featuring The Earthquake Horns. The show featured a back-and-forth medley between Aerosmith and 'N Sync.
The show was sponsored by E-Trade.
The show was preceded by a prerecorded skit featuring Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, and Chris Rock with Aerosmith and 'N Sync.
The show began with a performance by 'N Sync of "Bye Bye Bye". This was followed by Aerosmith performing "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing".
Next, 'N Sync, joined by Tremors featuring The Earthquake Horns, performed "It's Gonna Be Me". At the end of the rendition of this song, Aerosmith frontman Steve Tyler sang a final line ("It's gonna be me"), before Aerosmith began performing the song "Jaded".
The show ended with 'N Sync and Aerosmith joining to perform the latter's song "Walk This Way", also joined by Britney Spears, Nelly, and Mary J. Blige.
The city of Tampa moved its annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival from its usual date in early February to the Saturday before the game. It was the largest Gasparilla in history, with over 750,000 attending.
Both defenses dominated early in the first quarter as the first five possessions of the game ended in punts. On the fifth punt, Ravens kickoff/punt returner Jermaine Lewis returned the ball 33 yards to the New York 31-yard line. Although a holding penalty on the return moved the ball back to the 41-yard line, Baltimore took only two plays to score on quarterback Trent Dilfer's 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brandon Stokley.
Early in the second quarter, New York advanced to midfield, only to lose the ball when Ray Lewis deflected a pass into the arms of linebacker Jamie Sharper for an interception. Then on the next play, a holding penalty against the Giants nullified linebacker Jessie Armstead's 43-yard interception return for a touchdown that would have tied the game. Later in the period, Dilfer completed a 44-yard pass to receiver Qadry Ismail to set up a 47-yard field goal by Ravens kicker Matt Stover to extend Baltimore's lead, 10–0. With the aid of a 27-yard run from running back Tiki Barber, the Giants advanced all the way to the Ravens' 29-yard line on their ensuing drive, but Baltimore defensive back Chris McAlister intercepted a pass from quarterback Kerry Collins to keep New York scoreless at halftime.
The Giants forced the Ravens to punt on the opening drive of the second half. Five plays later, Ravens safety Kim Herring intercepted Collins at the New York 41-yard line. The Ravens then advanced to the 24-yard line, but the drive stalled and Stover missed a 41-yard field goal attempt.
After an exchange of punts, Ravens defensive back Duane Starks intercepted a pass from Collins and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown, setting off a chain of events unseen before in Super Bowl history: three touchdowns on three consecutive plays in 36 seconds. On the ensuing kickoff, Ron Dixon returned the ball 97 yards for the Giants' first and only score of the game. But Jermaine Lewis returned the next kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, making the score 24–7 for the Ravens. It was the first time in history two kickoffs were returned for touchdowns in the same Super Bowl game, and on back-to-back kickoffs.
The Giants gained only one first down on their final four possessions, and were never able to move the ball into Baltimore territory. Meanwhile, the Ravens added 10 more points to their lead, making the final score 34–7. A few possessions after Jermaine Lewis' touchdown, Giants punter Brad Maynard's 34-yard punt from his own 4 to the 38-yard line and tight end Ben Coates' 17-yard reception set up a 3-yard touchdown run by running back Jamal Lewis early in the fourth quarter. Dixon fumbled the ensuing kickoff to Ravens defender Robert Bailey, setting up Stover's 34-yard field goal with 5:27 left in the game.
Dilfer threw for 153 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Jamal Lewis rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown (only the second rookie to rush for 100 yards in the Super Bowl, joining Timmy Smith in Super Bowl XXII, while also being the first rookie to score a rushing touchdown in a Super Bowl since Smith in 1988), and caught a pass for 4 yards. Stokley was the top receiver of the game with 3 receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown. Jermaine Lewis recorded 152 total all-purpose yards (111 kickoff return yards, 34 punt return yards, 7 receiving yards, 1 rushing yard) and a touchdown.
Collins had a passer rating for the game of only 7.1, the second worst in Super Bowl history, threw four interceptions (tying a Super Bowl record that has since been surpassed by Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon's five INTs in Super Bowl XXXVII) and completed only 15 of 39 passes for 112 yards. Barber was the Giants' leading rusher with 49 yards, also catching 6 passes for 26 yards and returning 2 punts for 13 yards, while Dixon tallied 6 kickoffs for 154 yards and a touchdown with a 16-yard pass catch. While Giants punter Brad Maynard set an undesirable Super Bowl record with 11 punts, Baltimore punter Kyle Richardson had 10 punts, which would have set the record.
Overall, both teams combined for only 396 total yards, the lowest in Super Bowl history. The Ravens joined Super Bowl XVIII's Los Angeles Raiders in the record books as the only teams to score offensive, defensive and special teams touchdowns in the same Super Bowl. The third team to do the same were the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII. Super Bowl XXXV was the second Super Bowl since 1975 in which the losing team failed to score at least 10 points, after Super Bowl XVIII.
All the main contributors for the Ravens on offense, defense, and special teams were named Lewis. Linebacker Ray Lewis, a native of Lakeland, Florida, less than an hour from Super Bowl host city Tampa, who made 3 solo tackles, 2 assists, and blocked 4 passes, became the second linebacker to be named Super Bowl MVP after Chuck Howley in Super Bowl V. Lewis also became the first defensive player to be honored since Larry Brown in Super Bowl XXX, and at the time the seventh defensive player to be Super Bowl MVP, joining Howley, Jake Scott, Harvey Martin, Randy White, Richard Dent, and Brown (since Lewis, only three additional defensive players have been named Super Bowl MVP: Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dexter Jackson in Super Bowl XXXVII, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith in Super Bowl XLVIII, and Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller in Super Bowl 50).
Jamal Lewis was the top rusher of the game, Jermaine Lewis notched 145 yards and a touchdown on special teams. In addition, the Ravens defense was coached by Marvin Lewis. The Ravens defense has since been considered among the greatest of all time. The Ravens defense became the third to shut-out their opponent in Super Bowl history; the Giants' only points came on a kickoff return. Washington in Super Bowl VII scored against Miami only after the late fumble by Garo Yepremian, which was returned for a touchdown. The only points Pittsburgh allowed to Minnesota in Super Bowl IX came on the return of a blocked punt.
The New York Giants started a trend of seven different NFC Champions in seven years. The Giants would return to the Super Bowl in 2007 and again in 2011 defeating the New England Patriots on both occasions, ending the current trend at the time, but starting a new one. Beginning with the 2001 St. Louis Rams, who played in Super Bowl XXXVI, there were ten different NFC Champions in ten years. Once again, the Giants ended the trend and started another one. Beginning with the 2008 Super Bowl XLIII participant Arizona Cardinals, there were 6 different NFC Champions in 6 years. This streak was finally ended by the Seattle Seahawks, who advanced to the Super Bowl in both 2013 and 2014.
The Baltimore Ravens would later win Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 against the San Francisco 49ers (which was also aired on CBS). Ray Lewis was a member of both Ravens' Super Bowl wins. In between the Ravens' victories, the Indianapolis Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Patriots would have a Super Bowl appearance more than once, with New England and Pittsburgh winning more than once. The only other AFC team to make the Super Bowl in that stretch were the Oakland Raiders, in Super Bowl XXXVII.
Had the Giants won, it would have marked the first year since 1989 that a Super Bowl and World Series champion came from the same metropolitan area. The New York Yankees won the World Series during the Giants' season. Including the New Jersey Devils' win in the Stanley Cup Finals and the New York Mets' runner-up finish to the rival Yankees, there were four teams from the New York metropolitan area that made the championship round of their respective leagues in the same year.
Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XXXV, Super Bowl XXXV Play Finder Bal, Super Bowl XXXV Play Finder NYG
1Completions/attempts
2Carries
3Long gain
4Receptions
5Times targeted
The following records were set in Super Bowl XXXV, according to the official NFL.com boxscore, the 2016 NFL Record & Fact Book and the ProFootball reference.com game summary.
Turnovers are defined as the number of times losing the ball on interceptions and fumbles.
Source:
The American Civil Liberties Union criticized a test of a system used at the event to monitor the people in attendance. A group of four companies installed a face recognition system to scan the faces of fans entering the stadium and compare them with a database of criminals. Attendees were not told that they were subject to this surveillance. Tampa police reported that the system identified nineteen criminals, but due to complaints and trouble with false positive results, it was not re-used the next year. Super Bowl XXXVI and all subsequent Super Bowls have been designated as a National Special Security Event, qualifying for extra security detail from the Secret Service. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29160 |
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".
They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles". In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.
The two brothers were born in Thessalonica (located in present-day Greece) – Cyril in about 827–828 and Methodius about 815–820. Cyril was reputedly the youngest of seven brothers; he was born Constantine, but was given the name Cyril upon becoming a monk in Rome shortly before his death, according to the "Vita Cyrilli" ("The Life of Cyril"). Methodius was born Michael and was given the name Methodius upon becoming a monk at Mysian Olympus (present-day Uludağ), in northwest Turkey. Their father was Leo, a "droungarios" of the Byzantine theme of Thessalonica, and their mother was Maria.
The exact ethnic origins of the brothers are unknown, there is controversy as to whether Cyril and Methodius were of Slavic or Byzantine Greek The two brothers lost their father when Cyril was fourteen, and the powerful minister Theoktistos, who was "logothetes tou dromou", one of the chief ministers of the Empire, became their protector. He was also responsible, along with the regent Bardas, for initiating a far-reaching educational program within the Empire which culminated in the establishment of the University of Magnaura, where Cyril was to teach. Cyril was ordained as priest some time after his education, while his brother Methodius remained a deacon until 867/868.
About the year 860, Byzantine Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius (a professor of Cyril's at the University and his guiding light in earlier years), sent Cyril on a missionary expedition to the Khazars who had requested a scholar be sent to them who could converse with both Jews and Saracens. It has been claimed that Methodius accompanied Cyril on the mission to the Khazars, but this may be a later invention. The account of his life presented in the Latin ""Legenda"" claims that he learned the Khazar language while in Chersonesos, in Taurica (today Crimea).
After his return to Constantinople, Cyril assumed the role of professor of philosophy at the University while his brother had by this time become a significant figure in Byzantine political and administrative affairs, and an abbot of his monastery.
The expedition of Cyril and Methodius is mentioned in "Dictionary of the Khazars", the first novel of Milorad Pavić.
In 862, the brothers began the work which would give them their historical importance. That year Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photius send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. His motives in doing so were probably more political than religious. Rastislav had become king with the support of the Frankish ruler Louis the German, but subsequently sought to assert his independence from the Franks. It is a common misconception that Cyril and Methodius were the first to bring Christianity to Moravia, but the letter from Rastislav to Michael III states clearly that Rastislav's people "had already rejected paganism and adhere to the Christian law." Rastislav is said to have expelled missionaries of the Roman Church and instead turned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance and, presumably, a degree of political support. The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius. The request provided a convenient opportunity to expand Byzantine influence. Their first work seems to have been the training of assistants. In 863, they began the task of translating the Bible into the language now known as Old Church Slavonic and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it. They enjoyed considerable success in this endeavour. However, they came into conflict with German ecclesiastics who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy.
For the purpose of this mission, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavic language. Its descendant script, the Cyrillic, is still used by many languages today.
The brothers wrote the first Slavic Civil Code, which was used in Great Moravia. The language derived from Old Church Slavonic, known as Church Slavonic, is still used in liturgy by several Orthodox Churches and also in some Eastern Catholic churches.
It is impossible to determine with certainty what portions of the Bible the brothers translated. The New Testament and the Psalms seem to have been the first, followed by other lessons from the Old Testament. The ""Translatio"" speaks only of a version of the Gospels by Cyril, and the ""Vita Methodii"" only of the ""evangelium Slovenicum,"" though other liturgical selections may also have been translated.
Nor is it known for sure which liturgy, that of Rome or that of Constantinople, they took as a source. They may well have used the Roman alphabet, as suggested by liturgical fragments which adhere closely to the Latin type. This view is confirmed by the "Prague Fragments" and by certain Old Glagolitic liturgical fragments brought from Jerusalem to Kiev and discovered there by Izmail Sreznevsky—probably the oldest document for the Slavonic tongue; these adhere closely to the Latin type, as is shown by the words ""Mass,"" ""Preface,"" and the name of one Felicitas. In any case, the circumstances were such that the brothers could hope for no permanent success without obtaining the authorization of Rome.
The mission of Constantine and Methodius had great success among Slavs in part because they used the people's native language rather than Latin or Greek. In Great Moravia, Constantine and Methodius also encountered missionaries from East Francia, representing the western or Latin branch of the Church, and more particularly representing the Carolingian Empire as founded by Charlemagne, and committed to linguistic, and cultural uniformity. They insisted on the use of the Latin liturgy, and they regarded Moravia and the Slavic peoples as part of their rightful mission field.
When friction developed, the brothers, unwilling to be a cause of dissension among Christians, decided to travel to Rome to see the Pope, and seek a solution that would avoid quarreling between missionaries in the field. In 867, Pope Nicholas I (858-867) invited the brothers to Rome. Their evangelizing mission in Moravia had by this time become the focus of a dispute with Archbishop Adalwin of Salzburg (859–873) and Bishop Ermanrich of Passau (866-874), who claimed ecclesiastical control of the same territory and wished to see it use the Latin liturgy exclusively.
Travelling with the relics of Saint Clement and a retinue of disciples, and passing through Pannonia (the Balaton Principality), where they were well received by Prince Koceľ. This activity in Pannonia made a continuation of conflicts inevitable with the German episcopate, and especially with the bishop of Salzburg, to whose jurisdiction Pannonia had belonged for seventy-five years. As early as 865, Bishop Adalwin was found to exercise Episcopal rights there, and the administration under him was in the hands of the archpriest Riehbald. The latter was obliged to retire to Salzburg, but his superior was naturally disinclined to abandon his claims.
The brothers sought support from Rome, and arrived there in 868, where they were warmly received. This was partly due to their bringing with them the relics of Saint Clement; the rivalry with Constantinople as to the jurisdiction over the territory of the Slavs would incline Rome to value the brothers and their influence.
New Pope Adrian II (867-872) gave Methodius the title of Archbishop of Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia) and sent him back in 869, with jurisdiction over all of Moravia and Pannonia, and authorisation to use the Slavonic Liturgy. The brothers were praised for their learning and cultivated for their influence in Constantinople. Anastasius Bibliothecarius would later call Cyril "a man of apostolic life" and "a man of great wisdom". Their project in Moravia found support from Pope Adrian II, who formally authorized the use of the new Slavic liturgy. Subsequently, Methodius was ordained as priest by the pope himself, and five Slavic disciples were ordained as priests (Saint Gorazd, Saint Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum) and as deacons (Saint Angelar and Saint Sava) by the prominent bishops Formosus and Gauderic. Cyril and Methodius along with these five disciples are collectively venerated (mainly by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church) as "Seven Saints". The newly made priests officiated in their own languages at the altars of some of the principal churches. Feeling his end approaching, Cyril became a Basilian monk, was given the new name Cyril, and died in Rome fifty days later (14 February 869). There is some question as to assertion of the "Translatio" (ix.) that he was made a bishop.
The statement of the ""Vita"" that Methodius was made bishop in 870 and not raised to the dignity of an archbishop until 873 is contradicted by the brief of Pope John VIII, written in June 879, according to which Adrian consecrated him archbishop; John includes in his jurisdiction not only Great Moravia and Pannonia, but Serbia as well.
Methodius now continued the work among the Slavs alone; not at first in Great Moravia, but in Pannonia (in the Balaton Principality), owing to the political circumstances of the former country, where Rastislav had been taken captive by his nephew Svatopluk in 870, then delivered over to Carloman of Bavaria, and condemned in a diet held at Regensburg at the end of 870. A the same time, the East Frankish rulers and their bishops decided to remove Methodius. The archiepiscopal claims of Methodius were considered such an injury to the rights of Salzburg that he was captured and forced to answer to East Frankish bishops: Adalwin of Salzburg, Ermanrich of Passau, and Anno of Freising. After a heated discussion, they declared the deposition of the intruder, and ordered him to be sent to Germany, where he was kept prisoner in a monastery for two and a half years.
In spite of the strong representations of the "Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum", written in 871 to influence the pope, though not avowing this purpose, Rome declared emphatically for Methodius, and sent a bishop, Paul of Ancona, to reinstate him and punish his enemies, after which both parties were commanded to appear in Rome with the legate.
Thus in 873, new Pope John VIII (872-882) secured the release of Methodius, but instructed him to stop using the Slavonic Liturgy.
The papal will prevailed, and Methodius secured his freedom and his archiepiscopal authority over both Great Moravia and Pannonia, though the use of Slavonic for the mass was still denied to him. His authority was restricted in Pannonia when after Koceľ's death the principality was administered by German nobles; but Svatopluk now ruled with practical independence in Great Moravia, and expelled the German clergy. This apparently secured an undisturbed field of operation for Methodius, and the "Vita" (x.) depicts the next few years (873–879) as a period of fruitful progress. Methodius seems to have disregarded, wholly or in part, the prohibition of the Slavonic liturgy; and when Frankish clerics again found their way into the country, and the archbishop's strictness had displeased the licentious Svatopluk, this was made a cause of complaint against him at Rome, coupled with charges regarding the "Filioque".
In 878, Methodius was summoned to Rome on charges of heresy and using Slavonic. This time Pope John was convinced by the arguments that Methodius made in his defence and sent him back cleared of all charges, and with permission to use Slavonic. The Carolingian bishop who succeeded him, Witching, suppressed the Slavonic Liturgy and forced the followers of Methodius into exile. Many found refuge with Knyaz Boris of Bulgaria, under whom they reorganised a Slavic-speaking Church. Meanwhile, Pope John's successors adopted a Latin-only policy which lasted for centuries.
Methodius vindicated his orthodoxy at Rome, the more easily as the creed was still recited there without the "Filioque", and promised to obey in regard to the liturgy. The other party was conciliated by giving him a Swabian, Wiching, as his coadjutor. When relations were strained between the two, John VIII steadfastly supported Methodius; but after his death (December 882) the archbishop's position became insecure, and his need of support induced Goetz to accept the statement of the "Vita" (xiii.) that he went to visit the Eastern emperor.
It was not until after Methodius' death, which is placed on 6 April 885, that the animosity erupted into an open conflict. Gorazd, whom Methodius had designated as his successor, was not recognised by Pope Stephen V. The same Pope forbade the use of the Slavic liturgy and placed the infamous as Methodius' successor. The latter exiled the disciples of the two brothers from Great Moravia in 885. They fled to the First Bulgarian Empire, where they were welcomed and commissioned to establish theological schools. There they and scholar Saint Clement of Ohrid devised the Cyrillic script on the basis of the Glagolitic. Cyrillic gradually replaced Glagolitic as the alphabet of the Old Church Slavonic language, which became the official language of the Bulgarian Empire and later spread to the Eastern Slav lands of Kievan Rus'. Cyrillic eventually spread throughout most of the Slavic world to become the standard alphabet in the Eastern Orthodox Slavic countries. Hence, Cyril and Methodius' efforts also paved the way for the spread of Christianity throughout Eastern Europe.
Methodius' body was buried in the main cathedral church of Great Moravia. Until today it remains an open question which city was capital of Great Moravia and therefore the place of Methodius' eternal rest remains unknown.
The Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets are the oldest known Slavic alphabets, and were created by the two brothers and their students, to translate the Bible and other texts into the Slavic languages. The early Glagolitic alphabet was used in Great Moravia between 863 (the arrival of Cyril and Methodius) and 885 (the expulsion of their students) for government and religious documents and books, and at the Great Moravian Academy ("Veľkomoravské učilište") founded by Cyril, where followers of Cyril and Methodius were educated, by Methodius himself among others. The alphabet has been traditionally attributed to Cyril. That attribution has been confirmed explicitly by the papal letter "Industriae tuae" (880) approving the use of Old Church Slavonic, which says that the alphabet was "invented by Constantine the Philosopher". The term invention need not exclude the possibility of the brothers having made use of earlier letters, but implies only that before that time the Slavic languages had no distinct script of their own.
The early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire and later finalized and spread by disciples Kliment and Naum in the Ohrid and Preslav schools of Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria as a simplification of the Glagolitic alphabet which more closely resembled the Greek alphabet. It was developed by the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius at the Preslav Literary School at the end of the 9th century.
After the death of Cyril, Clement of Ohrid accompanied Methodius from Rome to Pannonia and Great Moravia. After the death of Methodius in 885, Clement headed the struggle against the German clergy in Great Moravia along with Gorazd. After spending some time in jail, he was expelled from Great Moravia, and in 885 or 886 reached the borders of the Bulgarian Empire together with Naum of Preslav, Angelarius, and possibly Gorazd (according to other sources, Gorazd was already dead by that time). The four of them were afterwards sent to the Bulgarian capital of Pliska, where they were commissioned by Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria to instruct the future clergy of the state in the Slavonic language.
After the adoption of Christianity in 865, religious ceremonies in Bulgaria were conducted in Greek by clergy sent from the Byzantine Empire. Fearing growing Byzantine influence and weakening of the state, Boris viewed the adoption of the Old Slavonic language as a way to preserve the political independence and stability of Bulgaria, so he established two literary schools (academies), in Pliska and Ohrid, where theology was to be taught in the Slavonic language. While Naum of Preslav stayed in Pliska working on the foundation of the Pliska Literary School, Clement was commissioned by Boris I to organise the teaching of theology to future clergymen in Old Church Slavonic at the Ohrid Literary School. For seven years (886-893) Clement taught some 3,500 students in the Slavonic language and the Glagolitic alphabet.
The canonization process was much more relaxed in the decades following Cyril's death than today. Cyril was regarded by his disciples as a saint soon after his death. His following spread among the nations he evangelized and subsequently to the wider Christian Church, and he was famous as a holy man, along with his brother Methodius. There were calls for Cyril's canonization from the crowds lining the Roman streets during his funeral procession. The brothers' first appearance in a papal document is in "Grande Munus" of Leo XIII in 1880. They are known as the "Apostles of the Slavs", and are still highly regarded by both Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Their feast day is currently celebrated on 14 February in the Roman Catholic Church (to coincide with the date of St Cyril's death); on 11 May in the Eastern Orthodox Church (though for Eastern Orthodox Churches which use the Julian Calendar this is 24 May according to the Gregorian calendar); and on 7 July according to the old sanctoral calendar that existed before the revisions of the Second Vatican Council. The celebration also commemorates the introduction of literacy and the preaching of the gospels in the Slavonic language by the brothers. The brothers were declared "Patrons of Europe" in 1980.
The first recorded secular celebration of Saints Cyril and Methodius' Day as the "Day of the Bulgarian script", as traditionally accepted by Bulgarian history, was held in the town of Plovdiv on 11 May 1851, when a local Bulgarian school was named "Saints Cyril and Methodius": both acts on the initiative of the prominent Bulgarian educator Nayden Gerov, although an Armenian traveller mentioned his visit to the "celebration of the Bulgarian script" in the town of Shumen on 22 May 1803.
The day is now celebrated as a public holiday in the following countries:
The saints' feast day is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on 11 May and by the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion on 14 February as "Saints Cyril and Methodius Day". The Lutheran Churches of Western Christianity commemorate the two saints either on 14 February or 11 May. The Byzantine Rite Lutheran Churches celebrate Saints Cyril and Methodius Day on 24 May.
The national library of Bulgaria in Sofia, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje in the North Macedonia, and St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria and in Trnava, Slovakia, bear the name of the two saints. Faculty of Theology at Palacký University in Olomouc (Czech Republic), bears the name ""Saints Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology"". In the United States, SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan, bears their name.
The Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius (1846), a pro-Ukrainian organization in the Russian Empire to preserve Ukrainian national identity.
Saints Cyril and Methodius are the main patron saints of the Archdiocese of Ljubljana. Ljubljana Cathedral stands at Cyril and Methodius Square (). They are also patron saints of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Košice (Slovakia) and the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy of Toronto.
St. Cyril Peak and St. Methodius Peak in the Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, in Antarctica are named for the brothers.
Saint Cyril's remains are interred in a shrine-chapel within the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome. The chapel holds a Madonna by Sassoferrato.
The Basilica of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Danville, Pennsylvania, (the only Roman Catholic basilica dedicated to SS. Cyril and Methodius in the world) is the motherhouse chapel of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a Roman Catholic women's religious community of pontifical rite dedicated to apostolic works of ecumenism, education, evangelization, and elder care. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29161 |
Saluki
The Saluki is a standardised breed developed from sighthounds – dogs that hunt primarily by sight rather than scent – that was once used by nomadic tribes to run down game animals. The dog was originally bred in the Fertile Crescent. The modern breed is typically deep-chested and long-legged, and similar dogs appear in medieval and ancient art. The breed is most closely related to the Afghan hound, a basal breed that predates the emergence of modern breeds in the 19th century, and the Saluki has been purebred both in the Middle East, including by royalty, since at least that era, and in the West (especially in Britain and Germany) since the 1840s (with breed standards established in the West and the Middle East around the 1920s–1930s), though as a free-breeding landrace, similar dogs are common as feral animals in the Middle East. A related standardised breed is the north African Sloughi.
The Saluki has also been called the gazelle hound, Arabian hound, and the Persian greyhound. One suggested origin of the breed's name is ancient Sumerian translating to 'plunge-earth'. However, there is no evidence a breed existed then or was referred to by the Sumerians with this name, nor is it certain what "plunge [to/into] earth" might have meant in reference to dogs. It is suggestive of digging for burrowing prey animals, but there is also a story of dogs being thrown toward quarry animals by a camel-mounted hunter.
The name used for the modern breed could be derived from (Arabic for "Seleucia", a city now in Iraq), appearing in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. However, this is disputed. British diplomat Terence Clark wrote that the Arabic word indicates 'person or thing from a place named Saluq'. Arab tradition states that Saluq was an ancient town in Yemen not far from modern Ta'izz, and the Arabs associate this town with the origin of the breed. However, the word might have been derived from reference to several other places: Saluq in Armenia, and three towns called Saluqiyah. One has become modern Silifke, Turkey; another is near Antioch (modern Antakya), Turkey; and third is located near Baghdad, Iraq. Baghdad eclipsed Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire, which was located some to the southeast. Ctesiphon itself had replaced and absorbed Seleucia, the first capital of the Seleucid Empire (312 BC – 65 AD).
Regardless, the adjective may have been derived by the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula from the similar-sounding word for Seleucid used in the Aramaic and Syriac languages spoken there by the various peoples of that part of Mesopotamia, but there is no irrefutable evidence.
Salukis are sighthounds – hunting by sight more than scent or sound – and run their quarry down to kill or retrieve it. The normal size range for the modern breed is high at the withers and in weight. Female Salukis are slightly smaller than males. The head is long and narrow with large eyes and drop ears. The tail of the breed is long and curved. It has the typical deep-chested, long-legged body of sighthounds. The coat comes in a variety of colors including white, cream, fawn, red, grizzle/tan, black/tan, and tri-color (white, black and tan).
The overall appearance of the Saluki is grace and symmetry. Two coat types – smooth and "feathered" – are evident in the breed's gene pool. The latter variety has light fluffing on the back of the legs, thighs, ears, and sometimes the throat. The fur on both types is silky and is low-shedding when compared to other breeds. Salukis bred in the Middle East most commonly have short hair.
There is a type called "desert Saluki", which descends from bloodlines brought directly from the original region of the breed. It exists in the entire Middle Eastern region. In Israel the type is known as the "Negev Saluki". The desert Saluki does not have influence of western lines and it tends to have a more primitive appearance. It often has a broader skull, shorter muzzle, shorter and more compact body, broader chest, less angulations, and shorter tail than the western equivalent. Some desert Salukis imported from the original region have cropped ears because this is a common tradition in countries such as Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. However, it is difficult to strictly determine what desert Salukis are because even when the dogs with "original" bloodlines have been bred in the western world for 4 to 5 generations, many people start to call them "western". The type existed in the US already in the 1980s and there has been breeding in France in the 1990s. The first desert Salukis in Finland were imported from Israel in February 2000. After that, more have been imported from countries such as Syria, Oman, Qatar, Turkey. In addition to their countries of birth, they have for example Iranian, Moroccan, Bahraini, and Saudi Arabian "Bedouin Saluki" dogs in their background.
While the Greyhound is credited as being the fastest dog breed up to distances of around , both the Saluki and Whippet breeds are thought to be faster over longer distances. In 1996, The Guinness Book of Records listed a Saluki as being the fastest dog, capable of reaching a speed of . Due to its heavily padded feet being able to absorb the impact on its body, the Saluki has remarkable stamina when running.
Historically, the ancestors of the modern Saluki breed were used for hunting by nomadic tribes. Typical quarry included the gazelle, hare, fox and jackal. While hunting hares, Bedouin hunters would sometimes ride close to their quarry on a camel holding such a dog, which would be thrown towards the prey while at speed to give the dog a running start. Gazelle hunters also used hawks to gouge out the eyes of the prey so that a saluki could then bring down the blinded animal.
The modern Saluki has retained qualities of hunting hounds and may seem reserved to strangers. The often independent and aloof breed may be difficult to train, and they generally cannot be trusted to return to their owner when off-leash. Training methods have been recommended to be always gentle and patient. Salukis may bore easily and are not an ideal breed to leave unattended for long periods; however, they are well-suited to life in apartments, since they are generally quiet and calm as adults. The saluki does not typically enjoy rough games or activities such as retrieving balls, but does enjoy soft toys. Early socialisation will help prevent timidity and shyness in later life. Given its hunting instincts, the dog is prone to chasing moving objects, such as cats, birds, squirrels, and bugs.
Hip dysplasia is uncommon in Salukis, with the breed ranking joint lowest in a survey by the British Veterinary Association in 2003. The breed scored an average of 5 points, with a score of 0 being low, while 106 is high. In a 2006 breed specific survey conducted by The Kennel Club and the British Small Animal Veterinary Association Scientific Committee, responses highlighted several health issues. The primary cause of death identified was that of cancer, being responsible for 35.6% of deaths, with the most common forms being that of liver cancer or lymphoma. The secondary cause of death was cardiac related, with forms such as heart failure, or unspecified heart defects. Old age is listed as the third most frequent cause of death.
Cardiomyopathy, heart murmur, and other cardiac issues were present in 17.2% of responses while dermatolic conditions such as dermatitis or alopecia were reported by 10.8% of responses. Salukis have an average lifespan of 12 to 14 years, which is similar to other breeds of their size.
The Saluki's ancestors were historically bred in the Fertile Crescent, where agriculture originated. Images of running dogs with long, narrow bodies adorn pottery found in Susa, southwest Iran that dates back to 6,000 years ago, despite the depictions bearing erect, pointed ears. Dogs looking similar to Salukis are shown on wall carvings of the Sumerian empire (now Iraq), dating from 6,000 to 7,000 BC. The ancient skeletal remains of a dog identified as being of the greyhound/saluki form was excavated at Tell Brak in modern Syria, and dated to approximately 4,000 years before present. Dogs that look similar to Salukis and Greyhounds were increasingly depicted on Egyptian tombs from the Middle Kingdom (2134 BC–1785 AD) onward, however it was during the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt that Salukis-like dogs rose to prominence, replacing dogs called "tesem" (thought to be similar to modern pariah dogs or a generic term for a dog) in ancient Egyptian art. Their mummified bodies have been found buried with pharaohs. The variety spread southward into the Sudan.
From Iran, such dogs are mentioned in the poetry of Khaghani (1121–1190), depicted in miniature paintings of hunting scenes along with horseback archers by Master Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād (1450–1535), depicted in book illustrations by 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn 'Abd al-Fattah ibn 'Ali (1516).
The Silk Road was a trading route that stretched from ancient Iran to China. From China, examples of dogs that look like Salukis were painted by the fifth Ming Emperor Zhū Zhānjī, known more commonly as the Xuande Emperor during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). The inscription on the painting reads "playfully painted [by the] imperial brush" in 1427. Additional red seals were added in later years by owners of the painting, which also reveals that the painting was in the Imperial Chinese collection in the 18th century.
From Europe, the legend maintains that the returning crusaders brought the Saluki-type dogs from the Middle East. The painting of Henry IV, Duke of Saxony with his hunting dog, painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1514, shows a dog thought by some to represent an ancestral Saluki. The dog wears a collar decorated with a scallop shell, which is the badge of a pilgrim who has traveled the Way of Saint James in Spain. Saluki-type dogs appear in Paolo Veronese's 1573 work "The Adoration of the Magi" (also known as the "Adoration of the Kings"), currently located at the National Gallery, London. Veronese painted such dogs in another two of his religious paintings: "The Marriage at Cana" and "The Finding of Moses".
Sheik Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain during the 1930s, was known for a pack of Salukis that accompanied him throughout the Arab world on hunting trips. Following his death, his son Salman ibn Hamad Al Khalifa attempted to keep the lines pure-bred but they became interbred with other breeds. However, the pure-bred lines of the royal kennel were saved by the efforts of Dana Al Khalifa who was given two pure-bred puppies by the King, and about a decade later had pure-bred Salukis registered with the Kennel Club of Bahrain. Today, the breed is still held in high regard throughout the Middle East and were hunting dogs for nobles and rulers around the region. Although Muslims traditionally regarded dogs as unclean, they made an exception for the Saluki to live in the family tent. They are considered clean by the Bedouins, and are allowed to be in women's quarters, while other dogs must be kept outside. Saluki has never been sold, but it could be presented as a mark of honor to people.
In 2014, a DNA study compared dogs and wolves for AMY2B (alpha amylase 2B), which is a gene and enzyme that assists with the first step in the digestion of dietary starch and glycogen. An expansion of this gene in dogs would enable early dogs to exploit a starch-rich diet as they fed on refuse from agriculture. Data indicated that the wolves and dingo had just two copies of the gene and the Siberian husky that is associated with hunter-gatherers had just 3–4 copies, "whereas the saluki, which was historically bred in the Fertile Crescent where agriculture originated, has 29 copies".
It was not until 1840 that Salukis were first brought to England. Referred to as a "slughi shami", they and the modern Sloughi were treated as the same breed; however, recent genetic tests have shown that the two breeds are genetically separate. The first successful modern breeding line of Salukis began in 1895, with Florence Amherst (daughter of the 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney). Having seen salukis on a Nile tour in that year, she imported a breeding pair from the Al Salihah area of Lower Egypt. A champion of breed purity, she struggled alone for nearly three decades, and real popularity of the Saluki in the Europe did not take hold until the early 1920s, when officers returning from the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I and from the Arab Revolt brought their pet Salukis home with them.
One of these was Brigadier General Frederick Lance of the 19th Lancers, and his wife, Gladys, who returned to Britain with two Salukis from Sarona, Palestine, where he had been stationed during the post-war occupation. The Lances were both keen hunters, and rode with their pack of dogs, including both Salukis and terriers, to course jackal and Dorcas gazelle whilst stationed in the desert. They imported a male, named Sarona Kelb, who became an influence on the breed in the West.
Together, the Lances with Florence Amherst mounted a campaign for recognition of the Middle Eastern breed, that coincided with the phenomenon of "Tutmania" caused by Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in late 1922. In 1923, the Saluki or Gazelle Hound Club was formed, and the Kennel Club granted official recognition to the breed. The first registered Salukis in the Western studbook were Cyrus and Slongha Peri, imported from Iran and registered with the German kennel club Deutscher Windhundzucht- und Rennverband (DWZRV). DWZRV also recorded the first litter born in the West in 1922.
Imports to England during the interwar years were chiefly from areas of British military influence and commerce: Bahrain, Egypt, Transjordan, and Iraq. Both Florence Amherst and the Lances imported breeding stock from the latter two countries. Despite substantial populations of Salukis in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, none of these were imported to England.
English Salukis (chiefly descendants of Sarona Kelb) were exported to many countries, but by the mid-1930s, interest slackened, and with the outbreak of World War II, breeding and show activities almost entirely stopped. The number of litters was minimal – just enough to keep the breed alive. Food rationing reserved all edible meat for humans, and to prevent the Salukis from dying from starvation or being killed by bombs, some owners euthanised entire kennels. A small number of Saluki kennels in the West survived the war, and along with fresh imports belonging to a second wave of soldiers returning from the Middle East, the slow process of re-establishing the breed began.
Popularity of Salukis dramatically increased, and the Saluki Club of America was founded in 1927. Salukis were recognised by the Kennel Club (UK) in 1923, and by the American Kennel Club in 1929. The breed is also the mascot of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The popularity of the Saluki in the United States, according to the American Kennel Club, has remained relatively stable in the 2000s, with the breed ranked 107th in 1999, had decreased to 118th in 2008, but by 2008 had increased once again to 112th. Between 2000 and 2009, 1215 salukis were registered with The Kennel Club in the UK, while this does not approach the numbers of the more popular breeds, it is in line with similar breeds in the hound group such as the Borzoi, which had 1399 puppies registered in the same period. In September 2007, the Kennel Club Art Gallery's 12th exhibition, "The Saluki in Art", celebrated the breed, showing a range of exhibits including terracotta and bronze works, along with contemporary artists and a range of trophies from Saluki breed clubs.
Salukis (or landrace dogs similar to them) are common throughout the Middle East, and are sometimes abandoned. Rescue organisations work with shelters in Qatar, Bahrain, and elsewhere, and directly with a network of rescuers in Kuwait to find the dogs adoptive homes in Europe and North America.
Citations
Bibliography | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29162 |
Sighthound
Sighthounds, also called gazehounds, are a type of dog, which are hounds that hunt primarily by sight and speed, rather than by scent and endurance as scent hounds do.
These dogs specialize in pursuing prey, keeping it in sight, and overpowering it by their great speed and agility. They must be able to detect motion quickly, so they have keen vision. Sighthounds must be able to capture fast, agile prey such as deer and hare, so they have a very flexible back and long legs for a long stride, a deep chest to support an unusually (compared to other dogs) large heart, very efficient lungs for both anaerobic and aerobic sprints, and a lean, wiry body to keep their weight at a minimum. Sighthounds have unique anatomical and physiological features likely due to intentional selection for hunting by speed and sight; laboratory studies have established reference intervals for hematology and serum biochemical profiles in sighthounds, some of which are shared by all sighthounds and some of which may be unique to one breed.
The typical sighthound type has a light, lean head, which is dolichocephalic in proportion. This shape can create the illusion that their heads are longer than usual. Wolves and other wild dogs are dolichocephalic or mesaticephalic, but some domesticated dogs have become brachycephalic (short-headed) due to artificial selection by humans over the course of 12,000 years. Dolichocephalic dogs have a wider field of vision but smaller overlap between the eyes and therefore possibly poorer depth perception in some of their field of view than brachycephalic dogs; most, if not all, dogs have less visual acuity than their antecedent the wolf. There is no science-based evidence to confirm the popular belief that sighthounds have a higher visual acuity than other types of dogs. However, there is increasing evidence that dolichocephalic dogs, thanks to a higher number of retinal ganglion cells in their “visual streak”, retain more heightened sensitivity than other dog types to objects and rapid movement in the horizontal field of vision.
Sighthounds such as the saluki/sloughi type (both named after the Seleucid Empire) may have existed for at least 5,000 years, with the earliest presumed sighthound remains compared to a Saluki appearing in the excavations of Tell Brak dated approximately 4000 years before present. The earliest complete description of a sighthound, the "vertragus" and its work, in European recorded history comes from Arrian's "Cynegeticus", of the 2nd century AD. Although today most sighthounds are kept primarily as pets, some of them may have been bred for as many as thousands of years to detect movement, to chase, capture, and kill prey primarily by speed. They thrive on physical activity. Some have mellow personalities, others are watchful or even hostile towards strangers, but the instinct to chase running animals remains strong.
Apart from coursing and hunting, various dog sports are practiced with purebred sighthounds, and sometimes with Lurchers and Longdogs. Such sports include racing, lure coursing, and other events.
A number of breeds, or types of dogs, which do not hunt solely by speed and sight, as well as a number of non-hunting breeds, are currently being recognized as sighthounds, either informally or formally by kennel clubs, or lure and live coursing clubs. These include:
When competing in conformation shows, most kennel clubs including the American Kennel Club and The Kennel Club group pedigree sighthound breeds together with scenthounds in a hound group, the Fédération Cynologique Internationale groups them in a dedicated sighthound group, whilst the United Kennel Club groups them in a sighthound and pariah group. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29163 |
Scottish Deerhound
The Scottish Deerhound, or simply the Deerhound, is a large breed of hound (a sighthound), once bred to hunt the red deer by coursing. In outward appearance, the Scottish Deerhound is similar to the Greyhound, but larger and more heavily boned with a rough-coat. The Deerhound is closely related to the Irish Wolfhound and was a contributor to that breed when it was re-created at the end of the 19th century.
The Hilton of Cadboll Stone dates from around 1,200 years ago, and depicts at the bottom of the panel a deer that is being chased by two large dogs and two armed horsemen. However, systematic zooarchaeology and genetics have yet to show any connection between those symbolic representations of dog types and the modern breed, which only became widely known as the "Scottish Deerhound" distinct from regional greyhounds, such as the Highland greyhound or other staghounds in the early 19th century
The Deerhound was bred to hunt red deer by “coursing” and “deer-stalking” until the end of the 19th century. With modern rifles and smaller deer-forests, slower tracking dogs were preferred to fast and far-running Deerhounds. In coursing deer, a single Deerhound or a pair was brought as close as possible to red deer, then released to run one of them down by speed, which if successful would happen within a few minutes – rarely were there successful sustained chases.
With the eventual demise of the clan systems in Scotland, these hunting dogs became sporting animals for landowners and the nobility, but were also bred and hunted by common folk when feasible. As fast and silent hunters they made quick work of any game the size of a hare or larger and were highly regarded by nobility and poachers alike. One of the most precarious times in the breed's history seems to have been towards the end of the nineteenth century, when many of the large Scottish estates were split into small estates for sporting purposes, and few then kept Deerhounds. The new fashion was for stalking and shooting, which required only a tracking dog to follow the wounded animal, using a collie or similar breed. Although a few estates still employed Deerhounds for their original work, the breed was left in the hands of a few enthusiasts who made them a show breed.
Teddy Roosevelt wrote that some Canadian and American hunters used "the greyhound, whether the smooth-haired, or the rough-coated Scotch deer-hound" on the wolf pp194-5, and deerpp140-3 Dr. Q van Hummell also remarks on his Deerhound pack being used on timber wolves and coyotes.pp185-7
In Australia, Deerhounds and their cross-breeds such as the Kangaroo Dog have historically been used to hunt the kangaroo as well as wild boar,
modern descriptions of such hunts with Deerhounds on kangaroo and emu have been recorded by Kenneth Cassels pp71–100.
In outward appearance, the Scottish Deerhound is similar to the Greyhound, but larger and more heavily boned. However, Deerhounds have a number of characteristics that set them apart. While not as fast as a Greyhound on a smooth, firm surface, once the going gets rough or heavy they can outrun a Greyhound. The environment in which they worked, the cool, often wet, and hilly Scottish Highland glens, contributed to the larger, rough-coated appearance of the breed. The Deerhound is closely related to the Irish Wolfhound and was a contributor to that breed when it was created at the end of the 19th century.
The Scottish Deerhound resembles a rough-coated greyhound. It is however, larger in size and bone. Height of males from 30 to 32 inches (75–80 cm) or more, weight 85 to 110 pounds (40–50 kg); height of females from 28 inches (70 cm) upwards, weight from 75 to 95 pounds (35–43 kg). It is one of the tallest sighthounds, with a harsh 3–4 inch long coat and mane, somewhat softer beard and moustache, and softer hair on breast and belly. It has small, dark "rose" ears which are soft and folded back against the head unless held semi-erect in excitement. The harsh, wiry coat in modern dogs is only seen in self-coloured various shades of gray (blue-gray is preferred). Historically, Deerhounds also could be seen with true brindle, yellow, and red fawn coats, or combinations. 19th century Scottish paintings tend to indicate these colours were associated with a wire haired coat, but, with show breeders preferring a longer coat, these genes now appear to be lost. A white chest and toes are allowed, and a slight white tip to the tail; a white blaze on the head or a white collar are not accepted. The head is long, skull flat, with little stop and a tapering muzzle. The eyes are dark, dark brown or hazel in colour. The teeth should form a level, complete scissor bite. The long straight or curved tail, well covered with hair, should almost reach the ground.
The Scottish Deerhound is gentle and extremely friendly. The breed is famed for being
docile and eager to please, with a bearing of gentle dignity. It is however a true sighthound which has been selected for generations to pursue game; consequently, most Deerhounds will be eager to chase.
The Deerhound needs considerable exercise when young to develop properly and to maintain its health and condition. That does not mean it needs a large house to live in; however it should have regular access to free exercise in a fenced or otherwise "safe" area. Deerhounds should not be raised with access only to leash walking or a small yard, this would be detrimental to their health and development. City dwellers with conviction, however, can keep the dog both healthy and happy, as long as they are willing to take their Deerhounds to nearby parks for lengthy runs and rigorous fetching sessions within these wider running courses.
Young Deerhounds can sometimes, depending on the individual, be quite destructive especially when they are not given sufficient exercise; however, the average adult Deerhound may want to spend most of the day stretched out on the floor or a couch sleeping. They do require a stimulus, preferably another Deerhound, and a large area to exercise properly and frequently
. They are gentle and docile indoors and are generally good around company and children (however, due to their size, they require supervision with young children).
Longevity: the US health survey states 8.4 for males and 8.9 for females, the UK survey puts the average at 8.3 and median at 8.6. The serious health issues in the breed include cardiomyopathy; osteosarcoma; bloat; stomach or splenic torsion, called Gastric dilatation volvulus; and cystinuria. See current health studies.
Deerhounds like other sighthounds have unique anatomical and physiological features likely due to intentional selection for hunting by speed and sight. Laboratory studies have established reference intervals for haematology and serum biochemical profiles in Deerhounds some of which are shared by all sighthounds, some of which may be unique to this breed.
Scottish Deerhounds compete throughout USA in conformation and lure coursing, in states where it is legal, they are used in hare coursing and for coyote hunting. Deerhounds can compete in obedience though few excel in it. Fewer still excel in dog agility or flyball because these competitions favor smaller dogs with lower body weight and a much shorter stride. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29164 |
Galgo Español
The Galgo Español ("Spanish galgo") or Spanish sighthound is an ancient breed of dog, specifically a member of the sighthound family.
The English greyhound is possibly a descendant of the Spanish greyhound and, for several years in the 20th century, some breeders did cross-breed Galgos and Greyhounds in order to produce faster and more powerful Galgos, specifically for track racing purposes.
Galgos are similar in appearance to Greyhounds, but are distinctly different in their conformation. Galgos are higher in the rear than in the front, and have flatter muscling than a Greyhound, which is characteristic of endurance runners. They also tend to be smaller, lighter in build, have longer tails and have a very long, streamlined head that gives the impression of larger ears. Their chests are not as deep as a Greyhound's and should not reach the point of the elbow.
Unlike Greyhounds, Galgos come in two coat types: smooth and rough. The rough coat can provide extra protection from skin injuries while running in the field. They come in a variety of colors and coat patterns. Main colors are "barcino" or "atigrado" (brindle), "negro" (black), "barquillo"(golden), "tostado" (toasted), "canela" (cinnamon), "amarillo" (yellow), "rojo" (red), "blanco" (white), "berrendo" (white with patches) or "pío" (any colour with white muzzle and forehead).
Galgos have a very similar nature to Greyhounds. They are calm, quiet, gentle and laid back; happy to sleep their day away on their backs on a sofa. More than 90% of Galgos can be considered cat-friendly and are therefore an ideal choice for the hound lover who also owns cats. Almost all Galgos are also friendly towards other dogs and small dogs. Galgos are also very good with children, being calm in the house so there is less risk of a child being knocked over or jumped on than with a more excitable breed. They are very gentle and tolerate the often over-enthusiastic attentions of children with little risk of retaliation from the dog.
Galgos have a very reserved personality and they have a tendency towards shyness, so it is very important that they be socialized early in life so that they grow up to be comfortable around strange people, dogs and locations.
Like many other sighthounds, Galgos are a fairly healthy breed although they are sensitive to anaesthesia. As such, proper care should be taken by the owner to ensure that the attending veterinarian is aware of this issue.
Although Galgos are big dogs, their history of selection as a working sighthound, their light weight, and their anatomy keep them safe from hip dysplasia.
These dogs must run regularly to keep in perfect health, combined with their characteristic tendency to sleep all the rest of the day.
The Galgo name is probably derived from the Latin "Canis Gallicus" or "Dog from Gaul". The Spanish word for all kinds of Greyhounds - including the Galgo - is "lebrel", which means "harrier" or "dog for chasing hares", since "liebre" is Spanish for hare. We can see the same derivative in the Italian "levriero" and the French "lévrier". The first written references to an ancient Celtic sighthound, the "vertragus", in the "Cynegeticus" of Flavius Arrianus (Arrian), Roman proconsul of Baetica in the second century, may refer to the Galgo's antecedent.
The author Arrian, during his personal experience in Spain, describes hare hunting in a manner almost identical to that used with the Galgo nowadays in Spain, adding that it was a general Celtic tradition not related to social class. He indicates that there were not only smooth haired types of the vertragus but also rough coated ones.
There is little evidence for mention of the Galgo or its antecedent in the first centuries of the Middle Ages but it appeared to have survived and flourished in the second half of the period.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, coinciding with the Reconquista, great spaces in Castile were colonized resulting in Christian military repossession of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim control. This open land introduced a new mode of hunting with dogs: while the North of Spain is mountainous, the regions progressively recovered were flat, open areas full of small animals like hares, which provided the Galgo a useful opportunity for hunting. At that time it was considered a noble dog, and was kept mainly by the aristocracy of both the Christian and the Muslim Kingdoms in which Spanish territory was still divided. It is likely that the Galgo and the Sloughi or, Saluki, were interbred during this period.
The great esteem in which the Galgo was held is evident by the many laws of the time designed to punish the killing or theft of the breed: Fuero of Salamanca (9th century); Fuero of Cuenca; Fuero of Zorita de los Canes; Fuero of Molina de Aragón (12th century); Fuero of Usagre (12th century).
In the Cartuario of Slonza we can read a will written in Villacantol in which, using an odd mixture of Latin and Spanish, the Mayor Gutiérrez bequeaths a Galgo to Diego Citid in the year 1081:
The fact that this dog was a significant item in a noble's will, demonstrates the great value accorded it at the time.
The mural paintings at the Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga, in Soria, dating from the 12th century show a hunting scene with three Galgos apparently identical to the ones that we can see today.
In the Renaissance Martínez del Espinar writes in his book "Arte de Ballestería y Montería" ("The Art of Hunting and Archery"):
The Galgo appears to have developed first in the Castillian plains, both in the north (Valladolid, Zamora, Ávila Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Burgos and Palencia) and the south (Toledo, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid and Ciudad Real) of Castilla. And, afterwards, in more southern territories: La Mancha and Andalusia.
It became the typical dog type of the Spanish interior, while the bloodhound plays the same role in the coast regions.
The Galgo appears not only in hunting books but also in common Spanish expressions, as well as in Literature. Maybe the most famous reference is the one contained in the opening sentence of "Don Quixote de La Mancha":
There are plenty of common expressions in Spain that name the Galgo. For example,
""A galgo viejo, echadle liebre, no conejo"" which means "" use old Galgos for chasing hares instead of rabbits"" suggests that it is best to use experienced people for hard tasks and challenges.
"Galgo que va tras dos liebres, sin ninguna vuelve" meaning "if a Galgo tries to chase two hares, it will return with none" recommends focussing on a single effort, otherwise by distraction, failing.
Although the breed did not apparently experience any significant change in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was kept in its vocation as a swift hunting dog, maybe the most telling proverb which mentions the Galgo, is the one dating from the first years of the nineteenth Century:
Meaning
Which was used at first to satirize the corrupt Government of Fernando VII, considered to cheat in everything it did.
In the first years of the 20th century, large scale crossbreeding occurred between the Galgo and the English Greyhound in order to create faster dogs for professional track racing. This certainly affected the purity of the breed, the resulting dogs were just a bit faster, but did lose their long-distance-running abilities. Finally breeders came to the conclusion that it was not worth crossbreeding.
The pure bred Galgo kept its major presence in the Spanish villages as an excellent hunting type.
Despite its antiquity and importance, the Spanish Galgo has only recently been acknowledged by the cynological associations. The English Greyhound has tended to outshine the Galgo. Spain has suffered catastrophic events during the last century, such as the Spanish Civil War and the 40-year-long Francisco Franco fascist dictatorship, which allowed this breed to be kept relatively unknown both inside and outside of its native country, at least until democracy led to greater social and cultural equality and development.
The breed faces the 21st century being progressively more appreciated at home and abroad, as contemporary Spain becomes more conscious of the uniqueness and heritage of this splendid animal.
The Galgo was used for hunting, as well as for coursing the hare in the open field where dogs hunt prey without the intervention of man during the chase. This type of hunting, which now has a true sporting character, was in the past an act of social prestige in which hunting was a pretext to prove who had the best specimens of the breed.
Because of its specific conditions, Spain is probably the country where sighthounds are used in greater numbers for hunting and sports than any other, and Galgos are commonly found in any of the towns and cities of the vast area of the Spanish plains.
Galgo coursing competitions in Spain generate annually in the order of sixty million euros , a calculation which refers only to those aficionados which are members of the "galgueras" societies. This lesser group of galgueros train annually between three thousand and four thousand Galgos for participation in the various Open Field Coursing Championships. This type of testing event, where each year the most characteristic athletic winner is rewarded, seems to show that the galgueros are retrieving the more authentic type of breed that was lost years ago.
Crossbreeding of the Galgo with Greyhounds for a faster racing type has stopped and has now been eradicated for several reasons: On the one hand, this hunting activity, coursing, is evolving by leaps and bounds and becoming a true sport where the killing of the hare is secondary to the beauty of the course. The hybrid Galgo loses much of that beauty, and what is increasingly valued is the purity of the Galgo Español.
On the other hand, the fact that the hare is protected more than ever against gun hunters, and it is increasingly hardier due to the selection of it having lost much of its natural cover due to the increase of plowed land and proliferation of roads, it promotes coursing with Galgos that have greater endurance.
The particular characteristics of landscape topography have a major effect, resulting in those Galgos that win for generations of coursing in Andalusia, not having the same characteristics as Galgos that win for generations of coursing in Castile.
In Andalusia and many parts of La Mancha vineyards and olive groves dominate the landscape offering the hare plenty of cover. The mild climate there provides the hare throughout the year abundant fodder without it having to travel long distances. Additionally it is less stressful for this prey to exist inside large farms without intersecting roads. All these issues will promote a winning type of Galgo in this landscape which is smaller, with shorter and more rounded muscling, i.e., higher power in the hindquarters. This is because it must be an agile Galgo which enters and exits the turn faster and more easily. Lighter in weight because of the softness of the ground where reach must be more rapid if less strong, although one property does not necessarily exclude the other.
In Castile, with its large open spaces, the hare must travel greater distances in search of food and its only defense being away from cover are its legs, lungs and heart. This type of land and hare promotes another type of Galgo with a hard foot, deeper chest, longer and flatter muscling, ultimately a Galgo with greater endurance. These Galgos are heavier and are more attractive, and in fact have been considered purer of race, necessary for the preservation of the breed.
Further, outside Spain, in Chile (mainly in the Central Zone), this breed is used in competitions that take place on national holidays.
Due to their primary role as hunting dogs in the Spanish countryside, the Spanish Galgos are sometimes treated barely better than commodities. However, most people know that Galgos are mistreated and abused in their native Spain. Galgueros (breeders), as they are normally called, will often select puppies from a litter that show the most propensity for hunting or racing, while abandoning the rest in the streets. The puppies that do get selected often do not live very long lives, as the galgueros often consider the dog too old to hunt once it has achieved two or three years of age. Poor-performing dogs are often beaten, mutilated, starved to death, thrown down wells or hung from trees by their owners. Abusing the dogs that hunt poorly is a widespread practice. Yet, there are no penalties for hunters. Because greyhounds are NOT regarded as pets but as property, they are not afforded the same legal protection as pet dogs. An estimated 50,000 galgos and podencos are killed each year. For all these reasons, many associations in defense of the Galgo have appeared with the aim to save these dogs from a terrible fate, provide much needed rehabilitation, and adoptive homes, usually in the cities. Some associations will adopt them to other locations in Europe, including France, the UK, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Because they tend to be quiet and docile, Galgos make very nice house pets. In Spain they have a well earned reputation as gentle dogs, with sweet temperaments and solid health. They tend to get along well with people and other dogs, and they can be well-behaved around cats if properly socialized. Outside of sunny Spain, they require a warm coat to keep them warm in cold winter weather: like all greyhound type breeds, they have little body fat and short coats, so extra warmth is preferred for colder climates.
Galgos excel at performance activities like lure coursing and racing. They are eligible to compete in lure coursing events sanctioned by the American Sighthound Field Association, entered in the Limited class. They also make very nice show dogs and have enjoyed success in the European show ring, although they are not as well known in the American show world due to their rarity outside Europe. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29166 |
Declaration of Sentiments
The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men—100 out of some 300 attendees at the first women's rights convention to be organized by women. Held in Seneca Falls, New York, the convention is now known as the Seneca Falls Convention. The principal author of the Declaration was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who modeled it upon the United States Declaration of Independence. She was a key organizer of the convention along with Lucretia Coffin Mott, and Martha Coffin Wright.
According to the "North Star," published by Frederick Douglass, whose attendance at the convention and support of the Declaration helped pass the resolutions put forward, the document was the "grand movement for attaining the civil, social, political, and religious rights of women."
Signers of the Declaration at Seneca Falls in order:
Notes
Bibliography | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29171 |
Social class
A social class is a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory centered on models of social stratification which occurs in class society, in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes.
"Class" is a subject of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and social historians. However, there is not a consensus on a definition of "class" and the term has a wide range of sometimes conflicting meanings. Some people argue that due to social mobility, class boundaries do not exist. In common parlance, the term "social class" is usually synonymous with "socio-economic class", defined as "people having the same social, economic, cultural, political or educational status", e.g., "the working class"; "an emerging professional class". However, academics distinguish social class and socioeconomic status, with the former referring to one's relatively stable sociocultural background and the latter referring to one's current social and economic situation and consequently being more changeable over time.
The precise measurements of what determines social class in society have varied over time. Karl Marx thought "class" was defined by one's relationship to the means of production (their relations of production). His simple understanding of classes in modern capitalist society is the proletariat, those who work but do not own the means of production; and the bourgeoisie, those who invest and live off the surplus generated by the proletariat's operation of the means of production. This contrasts with the view of the sociologist Max Weber, who argued "class" is determined by economic position, in contrast to "social status" or ""Stand"" which is determined by social prestige rather than simply just relations of production. The term "class" is etymologically derived from the Latin "classis", which was used by census takers to categorize citizens by wealth in order to determine military service obligations.
In the late 18th century, the term "class" began to replace classifications such as estates, rank and orders as the primary means of organizing society into hierarchical divisions. This corresponded to a general decrease in significance ascribed to hereditary characteristics and increase in the significance of wealth and income as indicators of position in the social hierarchy.
Historically, social class and behavior were laid down in law. For example, permitted mode of dress in some times and places was strictly regulated, with sumptuous dressing only for the high ranks of society and aristocracy, whereas sumptuary laws stipulated the dress and jewelry appropriate for a person's social rank and station. In Europe, these laws became increasingly commonplace during the Middle Ages. However, these laws were prone to change due to societal changes, and in many cases, these distinctions may either almost disappear, such as the distinction between a patrician and a plebeian being almost erased during the late Roman Republic.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a large influence over political ideals of the French Revolution because of his views of inequality and classes. Rousseau saw humans as "naturally pure and good," meaning that humans from birth were seen as innocent and any evilness was learned. He believed that social problems arise through the development of society and suppressing the innate pureness of humankind. He also believed that private property is the main reason for social issues in society because private property creates inequality through the property's value. Even though his theory predicted if there were no private property then there would be wide spread equality, Rousseau accepted that there will always be social inequality because of how society is viewed and run.
Later Enlightenment thinkers viewed inequality as valuable and crucial to society's development and prosperity. They also acknowledged that private property will ultimately cause inequality because specific resources that are privately owned can be stored and the owners profit off of the deficit of the resource. This can create competition between the classes that was seen as necessary by these thinkers. This also creates stratification between the classes keeping a distinct difference between lower, poorer classes and the higher, wealthier classes.
Definitions of social classes reflect a number of sociological perspectives, informed by anthropology, economics, psychology and sociology. The major perspectives historically have been Marxism and structural functionalism. The common stratum model of class divides society into a simple hierarchy of working class, middle class and upper class. Within academia, two broad schools of definitions emerge: those aligned with 20th-century sociological stratum models of class society and those aligned with the 19th-century historical materialist economic models of the Marxists and anarchists.
Another distinction can be drawn between analytical concepts of social class, such as the Marxist and Weberian traditions, as well as the more empirical traditions such as socioeconomic status approach, which notes the correlation of income, education and wealth with social outcomes without necessarily implying a particular theory of social structure.
For Marx, class is a combination of objective and subjective factors. Objectively, a class shares a common relationship to the means of production. Subjectively, the members will necessarily have some perception ("class consciousness") of their similarity and common interest. Class consciousness is not simply an awareness of one's own class interest but is also a set of shared views regarding how society should be organized legally, culturally, socially and politically. These class relations are reproduced through time.
In Marxist theory, the class structure of the capitalist mode of production is characterized by the conflict between two main classes: the bourgeoisie, the capitalists who own the means of production and the much larger proletariat (or "working class") who must sell their own labour power (wage labour). This is the fundamental economic structure of work and property, a state of inequality that is normalized and reproduced through cultural ideology.
For Marxists, every person in the process of production has separate social relationships and issues. Along with this, every person is placed into different groups that have similar interests and values that can differ drastically from group to group. Class is special in that does not relate to specifically to a singular person, but to a specific role.
Marxists explain the history of "civilized" societies in terms of a war of classes between those who control production and those who produce the goods or services in society. In the Marxist view of capitalism, this is a conflict between capitalists (bourgeoisie) and wage-workers (the proletariat). For Marxists, class antagonism is rooted in the situation that control over social production necessarily entails control over the class which produces goods—in capitalism this is the exploitation of workers by the bourgeoisie.
Furthermore, "in countries where modern civilisation has become fully developed, a new class of petty bourgeois has been formed". "An industrial army of workmen, under the command of a capitalist, requires, like a real army, officers (managers) and sergeants (foremen, over-lookers) who, while the work is being done, command in the name of the capitalist".
Marx makes the argument that, as the bourgeoisie reach a point of wealth accumulation, they hold enough power as the dominant class to shape political institutions and society according to their own interests. Marx then goes on to claim that the non-elite class, owing to their large numbers, have the power to overthrow the elite and create an equal society.
In "The Communist Manifesto", Marx himself argued that it was the goal of the proletariat itself to displace the capitalist system with socialism, changing the social relationships underpinning the class system and then developing into a future communist society in which: "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all". This would mark the beginning of a classless society in which human needs rather than profit would be motive for production. In a society with democratic control and production for use, there would be no class, no state and no need for financial and banking institutions and money.
These theorists have taken this binary class system and expanded it to include contradictory class locations, the idea that a person can be employed in many different class locations that fall between the two classes of proletariat and bourgeoisie. Erik Olin Wright stated that class definitions are more diverse and elaborate through identifying with multiple classes, having familial ties with people in different a class, or having a temporary leadership role.
Max Weber formulated a three-component theory of stratification that saw social class as emerging from an interplay between "class", "status" and "power". Weber believed that class position was determined by a person's relationship to the means of production, while status or "Stand" emerged from estimations of honor or prestige.
Weber views class as a group of people who have common goals and opportunities that are available to them. This means that what separates each class from each other is their value in the marketplace through their own goods and services. This creates a divide between the classes through the assets that they have such as property and expertise.
Weber derived many of his key concepts on social stratification by examining the social structure of many countries. He noted that contrary to Marx's theories, stratification was based on more than simply ownership of capital. Weber pointed out that some members of the aristocracy lack economic wealth yet might nevertheless have political power. Likewise in Europe, many wealthy Jewish families lacked prestige and honor because they were considered members of a "pariah group".
On 2 April 2013, the results of a survey conducted by BBC Lab UK developed in collaboration with academic experts and slated to be published in the journal "Sociology" were published online. The results released were based on a survey of 160,000 residents of the United Kingdom most of whom lived in England and described themselves as "white". Class was defined and measured according to the amount and kind of economic, cultural and social resources reported. Economic capital was defined as income and assets; cultural capital as amount and type of cultural interests and activities; and social capital as the quantity and social status of their friends, family and personal and business contacts. This theoretical framework was developed by Pierre Bourdieu who first published his theory of social distinction in 1979.
Today, concepts of social class often assume three general economic categories: a very wealthy and powerful upper class that owns and controls the means of production; a middle class of professional workers, small business owners and low-level managers; and a lower class, who rely on low-paying jobs for their livelihood and experience poverty.
The upper class is the social class composed of those who are rich, well-born, powerful, or a combination of those. They usually wield the greatest political power. In some countries, wealth alone is sufficient to allow entry into the upper class. In others, only people who are born or marry into certain aristocratic bloodlines are considered members of the upper class and those who gain great wealth through commercial activity are looked down upon by the aristocracy as "nouveau riche". In the United Kingdom, for example, the upper classes are the aristocracy and royalty, with wealth playing a less important role in class status. Many aristocratic peerages or titles have seats attached to them, with the holder of the title (e.g. Earl of Bristol) and his family being the custodians of the house, but not the owners. Many of these require high expenditures, so wealth is typically needed. Many aristocratic peerages and their homes are parts of estates, owned and run by the title holder with moneys generated by the land, rents or other sources of wealth. However, in the United States where there is no aristocracy or royalty, the upper class status belongs to the extremely wealthy, the so-called "super-rich", though there is some tendency even in the United States for those with old family wealth to look down on those who have earned their money in business, the struggle between new money and old money.
The upper class is generally contained within the richest one or two percent of the population. Members of the upper class are often born into it and are distinguished by immense wealth which is passed from generation to generation in the form of estates. Based on some new social and political theories upper class consists of the most wealthy decile group in society which holds nearly 87% of the whole society's wealth.
See also: Middle-class squeeze
The middle class is the most contested of the three categories, the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the lower and upper classes. One example of the contest of this term is that in the United States "middle class" is applied very broadly and includes people who would elsewhere be considered working class. Middle-class workers are sometimes called "white-collar workers".
Theorists such as Ralf Dahrendorf have noted the tendency toward an enlarged middle class in modern Western societies, particularly in relation to the necessity of an educated work force in technological economies. Perspectives concerning globalization and neocolonialism, such as dependency theory, suggest this is due to the shift of low-level labour to developing nations and the Third World.
Middle class is the group of people with typical-everyday jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line. Examples of these types of jobs are factory workers, salesperson, teacher, cooks and nurses. Typically, the middle class has white-collar jobs as opposed to hands-on jobs. Those with higher tend to higher paying jobs, while workers with lower level skills are not paid as much or simply not hired. There is a new trend by some scholars which assumes that the size of the middle class in every society is the same. For example, in paradox of interest theory, middle class are those who are in 6th-9th decile groups which hold nearly 12% of the whole society's wealth.
Lower class (occasionally described as working class) are those employed in low-paying wage jobs with very little economic security. The term "lower class" also refers to persons with low income.
The working class is sometimes separated into those who are employed but lacking financial security (the "working poor") and an underclass—those who are long-term unemployed and/or homeless, especially those receiving welfare from the state. The latter is today considered analogous to the Marxist term "lumpenproletariat". However, during the time of Marx's writing the lumpenproletariat referred to those in dire poverty; such as the homeless. Members of the working class are sometimes called blue-collar workers.
A person's socioeconomic class has wide-ranging effects. It can impact the schools they are able to attend, their health, the jobs open to them, when they exit the labour market, who they may marry and their treatment by police and the courts.
Angus Deaton and Anne Case have analyzed the mortality rates related to the group of white, middle-aged Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 and its relation to class. There has been a growing number of suicides and deaths by substance abuse in this particular group of middle-class Americans. This group also has been recorded to have an increase in reports of chronic pain and poor general health. Deaton and Case came to the conclusion from these observations that because of the constant stress that these white, middle aged Americans feel fighting poverty and wavering between the middle and lower classes, these strains have taken a toll on these people and affected their whole bodies.
Social classifications can also determine the sporting activities that such classes take part in. It is suggested that those of an upper social class are more likely to take part in sporting activities, whereas those of a lower social background are less likely to participate in sport. However, upper-class people tend to not take part in certain sports that have been commonly known to be linked with the lower class.
A person's social class has a significant impact on their educational opportunities. Not only are upper-class parents able to send their children to exclusive schools that are perceived to be better, but in many places, state-supported schools for children of the upper class are of a much higher quality than those the state provides for children of the lower classes. This lack of good schools is one factor that perpetuates the class divide across generations.
In the UK, the educational consequences of class position have been discussed by scholars inspired by the cultural studies framework of the CCCS and/or, especially regarding working-class girls, feminist theory. On working-class boys, Paul Willis' 1977 book "Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs" is seen within the British Cultural Studies field as a classic discussion of their antipathy to the acquisition of knowledge. Beverley Skeggs described "Learning to Labour" as a study on the "irony" of "how the process of cultural and economic reproduction is made possible by 'the lads' ' celebration of the hard, macho world of work."
A person's social class has a significant impact on their physical health, their ability to receive adequate medical care and nutrition and their life expectancy.
Lower-class people experience a wide array of health problems as a result of their economic status. They are unable to use health care as often and when they do it is of lower quality, even though they generally tend to experience a much higher rate of health issues. Lower-class families have higher rates of infant mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease and disabling physical injuries. Additionally, poor people tend to work in much more hazardous conditions, yet generally have much less (if any) health insurance provided for them, as compared to middle- and upper-class workers.
The conditions at a person's job vary greatly depending on class. Those in the upper-middle class and middle class enjoy greater freedoms in their occupations. They are usually more respected, enjoy more diversity and are able to exhibit some authority. Those in lower classes tend to feel more alienated and have lower work satisfaction overall. The physical conditions of the workplace differ greatly between classes. While middle-class workers may "suffer alienating conditions" or "lack of job satisfaction", blue-collar workers are more apt to suffer alienating, often routine, work with obvious physical health hazards, injury and even death.
In the UK, a 2015 government study by the Social Mobility Commission suggested the existence of a "glass floor" in British society preventing those who are less able, but who come from wealthier backgrounds, from slipping down the social ladder. The report proposed a 35% greater likelihood of less able, better-off children becoming high earners than bright poor children.
Class conflict, frequently referred to as "class warfare" or "class struggle", is the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests and desires between people of different classes.
For Marx, the history of class society was a history of class conflict. He pointed to the successful rise of the bourgeoisie and the necessity of revolutionary violence—a heightened form of class conflict—in securing the bourgeoisie rights that supported the capitalist economy.
Marx believed that the exploitation and poverty inherent in capitalism were a pre-existing form of class conflict. Marx believed that wage labourers would need to revolt to bring about a more equitable distribution of wealth and political power.
"Classless society" refers to a society in which no one is born into a social class. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience and achievement in such a society.
Since these distinctions are difficult to avoid, advocates of a classless society (such as anarchists and communists) propose various means to achieve and maintain it and attach varying degrees of importance to it as an end in their overall programs/philosophy.
Race and other large-scale groupings can also influence class standing. The association of particular ethnic groups with class statuses is common in many societies. As a result of conquest or internal ethnic differentiation, a ruling class is often ethnically homogenous and particular races or ethnic groups in some societies are legally or customarily restricted to occupying particular class positions. Which ethnicities are considered as belonging to high or low classes varies from society to society.
In modern societies, strict legal links between ethnicity and class have been drawn, such as in apartheid, the caste system in Africa, the position of the Burakumin in Japanese society and the casta system in Latin America.
60. Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist (Core 5th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29174 |
Solomon Schechter
Solomon Schechter (; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of American Conservative Judaism.
He was born in Focşani, Moldavia (now Romania) to Rabbi Yitzchok Hakohen, a shochet ("ritual slaughterer") and member of Chabad hasidim. He was named after its founder, Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Schechter received his early education from his father. Reportedly, he learned to read Hebrew by age 3, and by 5 mastered Chumash. He went to a yeshiva in Piatra Neamţ at age 10 and at age thirteen studied with one of the major Talmudic scholars, Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathanson of Lemberg. In his 20s, he went to the Rabbinical College in Vienna, where he studied under the more modern Talmudic scholar Meir Friedmann, before moving on in 1879 to undertake further studies at the "Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums" and at the University of Berlin. In 1882, he was invited to Britain, to be tutor of rabbinics under Claude Montefiore in London.
In 1890, after the death of Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy, he was appointed to the faculty at Cambridge University, serving as a lecturer in Talmudics and reader in Rabbinics. To this day, the students of the Cambridge University Jewish Society hold an annual Solomon Schechter Memorial Lecture.
His greatest academic fame came from his excavation in 1896 of the papers of the Cairo Geniza, an extraordinary collection of over 100,000 pages (around 300,000 documents) of rare Hebrew religious manuscripts and medieval Jewish texts that were preserved at an Egyptian synagogue. The find revolutionized the study of Medieval Judaism.
Jacob Saphir was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the Cairo Geniza, as well as the first to publicize the existence of the Midrash ha-Gadol. Schechter was alerted to the existence of the Geniza's papers in May 1896 by two Scottish sisters, Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson, who showed him some leaves from the Geniza that contained the Hebrew text of Sirach, which had for centuries only been known in Greek and Latin translation. Letters, written at Schechter's prompting, by Agnes Smith to "The Athenaeum" and "The Academy" quickly revealed the existence of another nine leaves of the same manuscript in the possession of Archibald Sayce at Oxford University. Schechter quickly found support for another expedition to the Cairo Geniza, and arrived there in December 1896 with an introduction from the Chief Rabbi, Hermann Adler, to the Chief Rabbi of Cairo, Aaron Raphael Ben Shim'on. He carefully selected for the Cambridge University Library a trove three times the size of any other collection: this is now part of the Taylor-Schechter Collection. The find was instrumental in Schechter resolving a dispute with David Margoliouth as to the likely Hebrew language origins of Sirach.
Charles Taylor took a great interest in Solomon Schechter's work in Cairo, and the "genizah" fragments presented to the University of Cambridge are known as the Taylor-Schechter Collection. He was joint editor with Schechter of "The Wisdom of Ben Sira", 1899. He published separately "Cairo Genizah Palimpsests", 1900.
He became a Professor of Hebrew at University College London in 1899 and remained until 1902 when he moved to the United States and was replaced by Israel Abrahams.
In 1902, traditional Jews reacting against the progress of the American Reform Judaism movement, which was trying to establish an authoritative "synod" of American rabbis, recruited Schechter to become President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA).
Schechter served as the second President of the JTSA, from 1902 to 1915, during which time he founded the United Synagogue of America, later renamed as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Schechter emphasized the centrality of Jewish law (Halakha) in Jewish life in a speech in his inaugural address as President of the JTSA in 1902:
Schechter, on the other hand, believed in what he termed "Catholic Israel." The basic idea being that Jewish law, Halacha, is formed and evolves based on the behavior of the people. This concept of modifying the law based on national consensus is an untraditional viewpoint.
Schechter was an early advocate of Zionism. He was the chairman of the committee that edited the Jewish Publication Society of America Version of the Hebrew Bible.
Schechter's name is synonymous with the findings of the Cairo Geniza. He placed the JTSA on an institutional footing strong enough to endure for over a century. He became identified as the foremost personality of Conservative Judaism and is regarded as its founder. A network of Conservative Jewish day schools is named in his honor, as well as a summer camp in Olympia, Washington. There are several dozen Solomon Schechter Day Schools across the United States and Canada. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29175 |
Spaghetti Western
The Spaghetti Western, also known as Italian Western or (primarily in Japan) Macaroni Western, is a broad subgenre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by American critics and those in other countries because most of these Westerns were produced and directed by Italians.
According to veteran Spaghetti Western actor Aldo Sambrell, the phrase "Spaghetti Western" was coined by Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez. The denomination for these films in Italy is western all'italiana (Italian-style Western). Italo-Western is also used, especially in Germany. These movies were originally released in Italian or with Italian dubbing, but as most of the films featured multilingual casts and sound was post-synched, most "western all'italiana" do not have an official dominant language. The typical Spaghetti Western team was made up of an Italian director, Italo-Spanish technical staff, and a cast of Italian, Spanish, German, and American actors. Clint Eastwood starred in three of Sergio Leone's films, now known as the "Dollars Trilogy"—"A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), "For a Few Dollars More" (1965) and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (1966). Leone also made "Once Upon a Time in the West" in 1968, starring Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda. These films have been listed among the best Westerns of any variety.
The term Paella Western has been used for the many Western films produced in Spain. The term Eurowesterns may be used to also include similar Western movies that were produced in Continental Europe but without involvement by Italians, like the West German Winnetou films or the Soviet Ostern (Eastern) films. The majority of the films in the Spaghetti Western genre were actually international co-productions between Italy and Spain, and sometimes France, West Germany, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Yugoslavia, or the United States. Over six hundred European Westerns were made between 1960 and 1978.
Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" established the Spaghetti Western as a novel kind of Western. In this seminal film, the hero enters a town that is ruled by two outlaw gangs, and ordinary social relations are non-existent. He betrays and plays the gangs against one another in order to make money. Then he uses his cunning and exceptional weapons skill to assist a family threatened by both gangs. His treachery is exposed and he is severely beaten, but in the end, he defeats the remaining gang. The interaction in this story between cunning and irony (the tricks, deceits, unexpected actions and sarcasm of the hero) on the one hand, and pathos (terror and brutality against defenseless people and against the hero after his double-cross has been revealed) on the other, was aspired to and sometimes attained by the imitations that soon flooded the cinemas.
Italian cinema often borrowed from other films without regard for infringement, and Leone famously borrowed the plot for "A Fistful of Dollars", receiving a letter from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa congratulating him on making "...a very fine film. But it is my film". Leone had imitated one of the most highly respected directors in the world by remaking his film "Yojimbo" as "A Fistful of Dollars" and consequently surrendered Asian rights to Kurosawa, plus 15% of the international box office proceeds. Leone later moved from borrowing and established his own oft-imitated style and plots. Leone's films and other "core" Spaghetti Westerns are often described as having eschewed, criticised or even "demythologized" many of the conventions of traditional U.S. Westerns. This was partly intentional and partly the context of a different cultural background.
Use of pathos received a big boost with Sergio Corbucci's influential "Django". In the years following, the use of cunning and irony became more prominent. This was seen in Leone's next two Westerns, with their emphasis on unstable partnerships. In the last phase of the Spaghetti Western, with the Trinity films, the Leone legacy had been transformed almost beyond recognition, as terror and deadly violence gave way to harmless brawling and low comedy.
Most Spaghetti Westerns filmed between 1964 and 1978 were made on low budgets and shot at Cinecittà studios and various locations around southern Italy and Spain. Many of the stories take place in the dry landscapes of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, hence common filming locations were the Tabernas Desert and the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, an area of volcanic origin known for its wide sandy beaches, both of which are in the Province of Almería in southeastern Spain. Some sets and studios built for Spaghetti Westerns survive as theme parks, Texas Hollywood, Mini Hollywood, and Western Leone, and continue to be used as film sets. Other filming locations used were in central and southern Italy, such as the parks of Valle del Treja (between Rome and Viterbo), the area of Camposecco (next to Camerata Nuova, characterized by a karst topography), the hills around Castelluccio, the area around the Gran Sasso mountain, and the Tivoli's quarries and Sardinia. "God's Gun" was filmed in Israel.
In the 1960s, critics recognized that the American genres were rapidly changing. The genre most identifiably American, the Western, seemed to be evolving into a new, rougher form. For many critics, Sergio Leone's films were part of the problem. Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" (1964–1966) was not the beginning of the "Spaghetti Western" cycle in Italy, but for some Americans Leone's films represented the true beginning of the Italian invasion of an American genre.
Christopher Frayling, in his noted book on the Italian Western, describes American critical reception of the Spaghetti Western cycle as, to "a large extent, confined to a sterile debate about the 'cultural roots' of the American/Hollywood Western." He remarks that few critics dared admit that they were, in fact, "bored with an exhausted Hollywood genre."
Pauline Kael, he notes, was willing to acknowledge this critical ennui and thus appreciate how a film such as Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (1961) "could exploit the conventions of the Western genre, while debunking its morality." Frayling and other film scholars such as Bondanella argue that this revisionism was the key to Leone's success and, to some degree, to that of the Spaghetti Western genre as a whole.
European Westerns are as old as filmmaking itself. The Lumière brothers made their first public screening of films in 1895 and already in 1896 Gabriel Veyre shot "Repas d'Indien" ("Indian Banquet") for them. Joe Hamman starred as Arizona Bill in films made in the French horse country of Camargue 1911–12.
In Italy, the American West as a dramatic setting for spectacles goes back at least as far as Giacomo Puccini's 1910 opera "La fanciulla del West"; it is sometimes considered to be the first Spaghetti Western.
The first Italian Western movie was "La Vampira Indiana" (1913) – a combination of Western and vampire film. It was directed by Vincenzo Leone, father of Sergio Leone, and starred his mother Bice Waleran in the title role as Indian princess Fatale. The Italians also made Wild Bill Hickok films, while the German twenties saw back-woods Westerns featuring Bela Lugosi as Uncas.
Of the Western-related European films before 1964, the one attracting most attention is probably Luis Trenker's "Der Kaiser von Kalifornien" (1936), about John Sutter. During and after the Second World War there were scattered European uses of Western settings, mostly for comedy or musical comedy.
A forerunner of the genre had appeared in 1943 Giorgio Ferroni's "Il fanciullo del West" ("The Boy in the West") and a cycle of Western comedies was initiated 1959 with "La sceriffa" and "Il terrore dell’Oklahoma", followed by other films starring comedy specialists like Walter Chiari, Ugo Tognazzi, Raimondo Vianello or Fernandel. An Italian critic has compared these comedies to American Bob Hope vehicles.
The first American-British western filmed in Spain was "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw" (1958), directed by Raoul Walsh. It was followed in 1961 by "Savage Guns", a British-Spanish western, again filmed in Spain. This marked the beginning of Spain as a suitable film shooting location for any kind of European western.
In 1963, three non-comedy Italo-Spanish westerns were produced: "Gunfight at Red Sands", "Implacable Three" and "Gunfight at High Noon". In 1961 an Italian company co-produced the French "Taste of Violence", with a Mexican Revolution theme.
In 1965, Bruno Bozzetto released his traditionally animated feature film "West and Soda", a Western parody with a marked Spaghetti Western-theme; despite having been released a year after Sergio Leone's seminal Spaghetti Western "A Fistful of Dollars", development of "West and Soda" actually began a year earlier than "Fistful"'s and lasted longer, mainly because of the use of more time-demanding animation over regular acting. For this reason, Bozzetto himself claims to have invented the Spaghetti Western genre.
Since there is no real consensus about where to draw the exact line between Spaghetti Westerns and other Eurowesterns (or other Westerns in general) one cannot say which one of the films mentioned so far was the first Spaghetti Western. However, 1964 saw the breakthrough of this genre, with more than twenty productions or co-productions from Italian companies, and more than half a dozen Westerns by Spanish or Spanish/American companies. Furthermore, by far the most commercially successful of this lot was Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" whose innovations in cinematic style, music, acting and story decided the future for the genre.
The Spaghetti Western was born, flourished and faded in a highly commercial production environment. The Italian "low" popular film production was usually low-budget and low-profit, and the easiest way to success was imitating a proven success. When the typically low-budget production "A Fistful of Dollars" turned into a remarkable box office success, the industry eagerly lapped up its innovations. Most succeeding Spaghetti Westerns tried to get a ragged, laconic hero with superhuman weapon skill, preferably one who looked like Clint Eastwood: Franco Nero, Giuliano Gemma, John Garko and Terence Hill started out that way; Anthony Steffen and others stayed that way all their Spaghetti Western career.
Whoever the hero was, he would join an outlaw gang to further his own secret agenda, like in "A Pistol for Ringo", "Blood for a Silver Dollar", "Vengeance Is a Dish Served Cold", "Renegade Riders" and others, while "Beyond the Law" instead has a bandit infiltrate society and become a sheriff. There would be a flamboyant Mexican bandit (Gian Maria Volonté from "A Fistful of Dollars", otherwise Tomas Milian or most often Fernando Sancho) and a grumpy old man – more often than not an undertaker, to serve as sidekick for the hero. For love interest, rancher's daughters, schoolmarms and barroom maidens were overshadowed by young Latin women desired by dangerous men, where actresses like Nicoletta Machiavelli or Rosalba Neri carried on Marianne Koch's role of Marisol in the Leone film. The terror of the villains against their defenseless victims became just as ruthless as in "A Fistful of Dollars", or more, and their brutalization of the hero when his treachery is disclosed became just as merciless, or more – just like the cunning used to secure the latter's retribution.
In the beginning some films mixed some of these new devices with the borrowed US Western devices typical for most of the 1963–64 Spaghetti Westerns. For example, in Sergio Corbucci's "Minnesota Clay" (1964) that appeared two months after "A Fistful of Dollars", an American style "tragic gunfighter" hero confronts two evil gangs, one Mexican and one Anglo, and (just as in "A Fistful of Dollars") the leader of the latter is the town sheriff.
In the same director's "Johnny Oro" (1966) a traditional Western sheriff and a half-breed bounty killer are forced into an uneasy alliance when Mexican bandits and Native Americans together assault the town. In "A Pistol for Ringo" a traditional sheriff commissions a money-oriented hero played by Giuliano Gemma (with more pleasing manners than Eastwood's character) to infiltrate a gang of Mexican bandits whose leader is played typically by Fernando Sancho.
After 1965 when Leone's second Western "For a Few Dollars More" brought a larger box office success, the profession of bounty hunter became the choice of occupation of Spaghetti Western heroes in films like "Arizona Colt", "Vengeance Is Mine", "Ten Thousand Dollars for a Massacre", "The Ugly Ones", "Dead Men Don't Count" and "Any Gun Can Play". In "The Great Silence" and "A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die", the heroes instead fight bounty killers. This was also the time when every other hero or villain in Spaghetti Westerns started carrying a musical watch, after its ingenious use in "For a Few Dollars More".
Spaghetti Westerns also began featuring a pair of different heroes. In Leone's film Eastwood's character is an unshaven bounty hunter, dressed similarly to his character in "A Fistful of Dollars", who enters an unstable partnership with Colonel Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), an older bounty killer who uses more sophisticated weaponry and wears a suit, and in the end turns out to also be an avenger. In the following years there was a deluge of Spaghetti Westerns with a pair of heroes with (most often) conflicting motives. Examples include: a lawman and an outlaw ("And the Crows Will Dig Your Grave"), an army officer and an outlaw ("Bury Them Deep"), an avenger and a (covert) army officer ("The Hills Run Red"), an avenger and a (covert) guilty party ("Viva! Django" aka "W Django!"), an avenger and a con-man ("The Dirty Outlaws"), an outlaw posing as a sheriff and a bounty hunter ("Man With the Golden Pistol" aka "Doc, Hands of Steel") and an outlaw posing as his twin and a bounty hunter posing as a sheriff ("A Few Dollars for Django").
The theme of age in "For a Few Dollars More", where the younger bounty killer learns valuable lessons from his more experienced colleague and eventually becomes his equal, is taken up in "Day of Anger" and "Death Rides a Horse". In both cases Lee Van Cleef carries on as the older hero versus Giuliano Gemma and John Phillip Law, respectively.
One variant of the hero pair was a revolutionary Mexican bandit and a mostly money-oriented American from the United States frontier. These films are sometimes called Zapata Westerns. The first was Damiano Damiani's "A Bullet for the General" and then followed Sergio Sollima's trilogy: "The Big Gundown", "Face to Face" and "Run, Man, Run".
Sergio Corbucci's "The Mercenary" and "Compañeros" also belong here, as does "Tepepa" by Giulio Petroni – among others. Many of these films enjoyed both good takes at the box office and attention from critics. They are often interpreted as a leftist critique of the typical Hollywood handling of Mexican revolutions, and of imperialism in general.
In Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" there is still the scheme of a pair of heroes vs. a villain but it is somewhat relaxed, as here all three parties were driven by a money motive. In subsequent films like "Any Gun Can Play", "One Dollar Too Many" and "Kill Them All and Come Back Alone" several main characters repeatedly form alliances and betray each other for monetary gain.
"Sabata" and "If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death", directed by Gianfranco Parolini, introduce into similar betrayal environments a kind of hero molded on the Mortimer character from "For a Few Dollars More", only without any vengeance motive and with more outrageous trick weapons. Fittingly enough Sabata is portrayed by Lee Van Cleef himself, while John Garko plays the very similar Sartana protagonist. Parolini made some more Sabata movies while Giuliano Carnimeo made a whole series of Sartana films with Garko.
Beside the first three Spaghetti Westerns by Leone, a most influential film was Sergio Corbucci's "Django" starring Franco Nero. The titular character is torn between several motives – money or revenge – and his choices bring misery to him and to a woman close to him. Indicative of this film's influence on the Spaghetti Western style, Django is the hero's name in a plenitude of subsequent westerns.
Even though his character is not named Django, Franco Nero brings a similar ambience to "Texas, Adios" and "Massacre Time" where the hero must confront surprising and dangerous family relations. Similar "prodigal son" stories followed, including "Chuck Moll", "Keoma", "The Return of Ringo", "The Forgotten Pistolero", "One Thousand Dollars on the Black", "Johnny Hamlet" and also "Seven Dollars on the Red".
Another type of wronged hero is set up and must clear himself from accusations. Giuliano Gemma starred in a series of successful films carrying this theme – "Adiós gringo", "For a Few Extra Dollars", "Long Days of Vengeance", "Wanted", and to some extent "Blood for a Silver Dollar" – where most often his character is called "Gary".
The wronged hero who becomes an avenger appears in many Spaghetti Westerns. Among the more commercially successful films with a hero dedicated to vengeance – "For a Few Dollars More", "Once Upon a Time in the West", "Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die!", "A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die", "Death Rides a Horse", "Django, Prepare a Coffin", "The Deserter (1971 film)", "Hate for Hate", "Halleluja for Django" – those with whom he cooperates typically have conflicting motivations.
In 1968, the wave of Spaghetti Westerns reached its crest, comprising one-third of the Italian film production, only to collapse to one-tenth in 1969. However, the considerable box office success of Enzo Barboni's "They Call Me Trinity" and the pyramidal one of its follow-up "Trinity Is Still My Name" gave Italian filmmakers a new model to emulate. The main characters were played by Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, who had already cooperated as hero pair in the "old style" Spaghetti Westerns "God Forgives... I Don't!", "Boot Hill" and "Ace High" directed by Giuseppe Colizzi. The humor started in those movies already, with scenes with comedic fighting, but the Barboni films became burlesque comedies. They feature the quick but lazy Trinity (Hill) and his big, strong and irritable brother Bambino (Spencer).
The stories make fun of U.S. Western-style diligent farmers and Spaghetti Western-style bounty hunters. There was a wave of Trinity-inspired films with quick and strong heroes, the former kind often called Trinity or perhaps coming from "a place called Trinity", and with no or few killings. Because the two model stories contained religious pacifists to account for the absence of gunplay, all the successors contained religious groups or at least priests, sometimes as one of the heroes.
The music for the two Trinity westerns (composed by Franco Micalizzi and Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, respectively) also reflected the change into a lighter and more sentimental mood. The Trinity-inspired films also adopted this style.
Some critics deplore these post-Trinity films as a degeneration of the "real" Spaghetti Westerns, and that Hill's and Spencer's skilful use of body language was a hard act to follow. It is significant that the most successful of the post-Trinity films featured Hill ("Man of the East", "A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe"), Spencer ("It Can Be Done Amigo") and a pair of Hill/Spencer look-alikes in "Carambola". Spaghetti Western old hand Franco Nero also worked in this subgenre with "Cipolla Colt" and Tomas Milian plays an outrageous "quick" bounty hunter modeled on Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp in "Sometimes Life Is Hard – Right Providence?" and "Here We Go Again, Eh, Providence?"
Some movies that were not very successful at the box office still earn a "cult" status in some segment of the audience because of certain exceptional features in story and/or presentation. One "cult" Spaghetti Western that also has drawn attention from critics is Giulio Questi's "Django Kill". Other "cult" items are Cesare Canevari's "Matalo!", Tony Anthony's "Blindman" and Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent's "Cut-Throats Nine" (the latter among gore film audiences).
Special interest audiences might also nurture a cult of the "Worst", as exemplified in the interest for a director like Ed Wood. His Spaghetti Western equivalent would be the Western œuvre of Demofilo Fidani. "The Stranger" (1995) is essentially, the Woman with No Name, with a motorcycle instead of a horse.
The few Spaghetti Westerns containing historical characters like Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid etc. mainly appear before "A Fistful of Dollars" had put its mark on the genre. Likewise, and in contrast to the contemporary German Westerns, few films feature Native Americans. When they appear they are more often portrayed as victims of discrimination than as dangerous foes. The only fairly successful Spaghetti Western with an Indian main character (played by Burt Reynolds in his only European Western outing) is Sergio Corbucci's "Navajo Joe", where the Indian village is wiped out by bandits during the first minutes, and the avenger hero spends the rest of the film dealing mostly with Anglos and Mexicans until the final showdown at an Indian burial ground.
Several Spaghetti Westerns are inspired by classical myths and dramas. Titles like "Fedra West" (also called "Ballad of a Bounty Hunter") and "Johnny Hamlet" signify the connection to the Greek myth and possibly the plays by Euripides and Racine and the play by William Shakespeare, respectively. The latter also inspired "Dust in the Sun (1972)", which follows its original more closely than Johnny Hamlet, where the hero survives. "The Forgotten Pistolero" is based on the vengeance of Orestes. There are similarities between the story of "The Return of Ringo" and the last canto of Homer's "Odyssey". "Fury of Johnny Kid" follows Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", but (again) with a different ending – the loving couple leave together while their families annihilate each other.
The story of "A Fistful of Dollars" was closely based on Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo". Kurosawa in fact sued Sergio Leone for plagiarism, and was compensated with the exclusive distribution rights to the movie in Japan, where its hero, Clint Eastwood, was already a huge star due to the popularity of the TV series "Rawhide": Leone would have done far better financially by obtaining Kurosawa's advance permission to use "Yojimbo"'s script. "Requiem for a Gringo" shows many traces from another well-known Japanese film, Masaki Kobayashi's "Harakiri". When Asian martial arts films started to draw crowds in European cinema houses, the producers of Spaghetti Westerns tried to hang on, this time not by adapting story-lines but rather by directly including martial arts in the films, performed by Eastern actors – for example Chen Lee in "My Name Is Shanghai Joe" or Lo Lieh teaming up with Lee Van Cleef in "The Stranger and the Gunfighter".
Some Italian Western films were made as vehicles for musical stars, like Ferdinando Baldi's "Rita of the West" featuring Rita Pavone and Terence Hill. In non-singing roles were Ringo Starr as a villain in "Blindman" and French rock 'n' roll veteran Johnny Hallyday as the gunfighter/avenger hero in Sergio Corbucci's "The Specialists".
A celebrity from another sphere of culture is Italian author/film director Pier Paolo Pasolini, who plays a revolutionary man of the church in "Requiescant". This film concerns oppression of poor Mexicans by rich Anglos and ends on a call for arms but it does not fit easily as a Zapata Western. The same can be said for "The Price of Power", a political allegory where an American president is assassinated in Dallas by a conspiracy of Southern racists who frame an innocent Afro-American. They are opposed by an unstable partnership between a whistle-blower (Giuliano Gemma) and a political aide.
Though the Spaghetti Westerns from "A Fistful of Dollars" and on featured more violence and killings than earlier American Western films, they generally shared the parental genre's restrictive attitude toward explicit sexuality. However, in response to the growing commercial success of various shades of sex films, there was a greater exposure of naked skin in some Spaghetti Westerns, among others "Dead Men Ride" and "Heads or Tails (1969 film)". In the former and partly the latter, the sex scenes feature coercion and violence against women.
Even though it is hinted at in some films, like "Django Kill" and "Requiescant", open homosexuality plays a marginal part in Spaghetti Westerns. The exception is Giorgio Capitani's "The Ruthless Four" – in effect a gay version of John Huston's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" – where the explicit homosexual relation between two of its male main characters and some gay cueing scenes are embedded with other forms of man-to-man relations through the story.
Spaghetti Westerns have left their mark on popular culture, strongly influencing numerous works produced outside of Italy.
In later years there were "return of stories", "Django 2" with Franco Nero and "Troublemakers" with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
Clint Eastwood's first American Western film, "Hang 'Em High" (1968), incorporates elements of Spaghetti Westerns.
The Bollywood film "Sholay" (1975) was often referred to as a "Curry Western". A more accurate genre label for the film is the "Dacoit Western", as it combined the conventions of Indian dacoit films such as "Mother India" (1957) and "Gunga Jumna" (1961) with that of Spaghetti Westerns. "Sholay" spawned its own genre of "Dacoit Western" films in Bollywood during the 1970s.
In the Soviet Union, the Spaghetti Western was adapted into the Ostern ("Eastern") genre of Soviet films. The Wild West setting was replaced by an Eastern setting in the steppes of the Caucasus, while Western stock characters such as "cowboys and Indians" were replaced by Caucasian stock characters such as bandits and harems. A famous example of the genre was "White Sun of the Desert" (1970), which was popular in the Soviet Union.
The 1985 Japanese film "Tampopo" was promoted as a "ramen Western".
Japanese director Takashi Miike paid tribute to the genre with "Sukiyaki Western Django", a Western set in Japan which derives influence from both "Django" and Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy".
American director Quentin Tarantino has utilized elements of Spaghetti Westerns in his films "Kill Bill" (combined with kung fu movies), "Inglourious Basterds" (set in Nazi-occupied France), "Django Unchained" (set in the American South during the time of slavery)., "The Hateful Eight" (set in Wyoming post-US Civil War), and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (about a fictional spaghetti western actor).
The American animated film "Rango" incorporates elements of Spaghetti Westerns, including a character modeled after The Man With No Name.
The American heavy metal band Metallica has used Ennio Morricone's composition "The Ecstasy of Gold", from the Spaghetti Western "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly", to open several of their concerts. The Australian band The Tango Saloon combines elements of Tango music with influences from Spaghetti Western scores. The psychobilly band Ghoultown also derives influence from Spaghetti Westerns. The music video for the song "Knights of Cydonia" by the English rock band Muse was influenced by Spaghetti Westerns. The band Big Audio Dynamite used music samples from Spaghetti Westerns when mixing their song ″Medicine Show″. Within the song you can hear samples from Spaghetti Western movies such as "A Fistful of Dollars", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", and "Duck You Sucker". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29177 |
Spaghetti
Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta. It is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine. Like other pasta, spaghetti is made of milled wheat and water and sometimes enriched with vitamins and minerals. Italian spaghetti is typically made from durum wheat semolina. Usually the pasta is white because refined flour is used, but whole wheat flour may be added. "Spaghettoni" is a thicker form of spaghetti, while "capellini" is a very thin spaghetti.
Originally, spaghetti was notably long, but shorter lengths gained in popularity during the latter half of the 20th century and now it is most commonly available in lengths. A variety of pasta dishes are based on it and it is frequently served with tomato sauce or meat or vegetables.
"Spaghetti" is the plural form of the Italian word "spaghetto", which is a diminutive of "spago", meaning "thin string" or "twine".
The first written record of pasta comes from the Talmud in the 5th century AD and refers to dried pasta that could be cooked through boiling, which was conveniently portable. Some historians think that Berbers introduced pasta to Europe during a conquest of Sicily. In the West, it may have first been worked into long, thin forms in Sicily around the 12th century, as the Tabula Rogeriana of Muhammad al-Idrisi attested, reporting some traditions about the Sicilian kingdom.
The popularity of spaghetti spread throughout Italy after the establishment of spaghetti factories in the 19th century, enabling the mass production of spaghetti for the Italian market.
In the United States around the end of the 19th century, spaghetti was offered in restaurants as "Spaghetti Italienne" (which likely consisted of noodles cooked past "al dente", and a mild tomato sauce flavored with easily found spices and vegetables such as cloves, bay leaves, and garlic) and it was not until decades later that it came to be commonly prepared with oregano or basil.
Spaghetti is made from ground grain (flour) and water. Whole-wheat and multigrain spaghetti are also available.
At its simplest, imitation spaghetti can be formed using no more than a rolling pin and a knife. A home pasta machine simplifies the rolling and makes the cutting more uniform. But of course cutting sheets produces pasta with a rectangular rather than a cylindrical cross-section and the result is a variant of Fettucine. Some pasta machines have a spaghetti attachment with circular holes that extrude spaghetti or shaped rollers that form cylindrical noodles.
Spaghetti can be made by hand by manually rolling a ball of dough on a surface to make a long sausage shape. The ends of the sausage are pulled apart to make a long thin sausage. The ends are brought together and the loop pulled to make two long sausages. The process is repeated until the pasta is sufficiently thin. The pasta knobs at each end are cut off leaving many strands which may be hung up to dry.
Fresh spaghetti would normally be cooked within hours of being formed. Commercial versions of fresh spaghetti are manufactured.
The bulk of dried spaghetti is produced in factories using auger extruders. While essentially simple, the process requires attention to detail to ensure that the mixing and kneading of the ingredients produces a homogeneous mix, without air bubbles. The forming dies have to be water cooled to prevent spoiling of the pasta by overheating. Drying of the newly formed spaghetti has to be carefully controlled to prevent strands sticking together, and to leave it with sufficient moisture so that it is not too brittle. Packaging for protection and display has developed from paper wrapping to plastic bags and boxes.
Fresh or dry spaghetti is cooked in a large pot of salted, boiling water and then drained in a colander ().
In Italy, spaghetti is generally cooked "al dente" (Italian for "to the tooth"), fully cooked but still firm to the bite. It may also be cooked to a softer consistency.
"Spaghettoni" is a thicker spaghetti which takes more time to cook. "Spaghettini" is a thinner form which takes less time to cook. "Capellini" is a very thin form of spaghetti (it is also called "angel hair spaghetti" or "angel hair pasta") which cooks very quickly.
Utensils used in spaghetti preparation include the spaghetti scoop and spaghetti tongs.
An emblem of Italian cuisine, spaghetti is frequently served with tomato sauce, which may contain various herbs (especially oregano and basil), olive oil, meat, or vegetables. Other spaghetti preparations include amatriciana or carbonara. Grated hard cheeses, such as Pecorino Romano, Parmesan and Grana Padano, are often sprinkled on top.
In some countries, spaghetti is sold in cans/tins with sauce.
In the United States, it is sometimes served with chili con carne. Unlike in Italy, in other countries spaghetti is often served with Bolognese sauce.
In the Philippines, an immensely popular variant is the Filipino spaghetti, which is distinctively sweet with the tomato sauce sweetened with banana ketchup or sugar. It typically uses a large amount of "giniling" (ground meat), sliced hotdogs, and cheese. The dish dates back to the period between the 1940s to the 1960s. During the American Commonwealth Period, a shortage of tomato supplies in the Second World War forced the development of the banana ketchup. Spaghetti was introduced by the Americans and was tweaked to suit the local Filipino predilection for sweet dishes.
"Sapaketti phat khi mao" (Spaghetti fried drunken noodle style) is a popular dish in Thai cuisine.
By 1955, annual consumption of spaghetti in Italy doubled from per person before World War II to . By that year, Italy produced 1,432,990 tons of spaghetti, of which 74,000 were exported, and had a production capacity of 3 million tons.
Pasta provides carbohydrates, along with some protein, iron, dietary fiber, potassium and B vitamins. Pasta prepared with whole wheat grain provides more dietary fiber than that prepared with degermed flour.
The world record for the largest bowl of spaghetti was set in March 2009 and reset in March 2010 when a Buca di Beppo restaurant in Garden Grove, California, filled a swimming pool with more than of pasta.
Spaghetti Westerns have little to do with spaghetti other than using the name as a shorthand for Italian.
The BBC television program "Panorama" featured a hoax program about the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland on April Fools' Day, 1957. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29178 |
System Shock
System Shock is a 1994 first-person action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game is set aboard a space station in a cyberpunk vision of the year 2072. Assuming the role of a nameless hacker, the player attempts to hinder the plans of a malevolent artificial intelligence called SHODAN.
"System Shock" 3D engine, physics simulation and complex gameplay have been cited as both innovative and influential. The developers sought to build on the emergent gameplay and immersive environments of their previous games, "" and "", by streamlining their mechanics into a more "integrated whole".
Critics praised "System Shock" and hailed it as a major breakthrough in its genre. It was later placed on multiple hall of fame lists. The game was a moderate commercial success, with sales exceeding 170,000 copies, but Looking Glass ultimately lost money on the project. A sequel, "System Shock 2", was released by Looking Glass Studios and offshoot developer Irrational Games in 1999. A third game in the franchise, titled "System Shock 3", was announced in 2015. The 2000 game "Deus Ex" (also produced by Spector) and the 2007 game "BioShock" are spiritual successors to the two games. A remade version of the original game by Night Dive Studios is scheduled for release in 2020.
"System Shock" takes place from a first-person perspective in a three-dimensional (3D) graphical environment. The game is set inside a large, multi-level space station, in which players explore, combat enemies and solve puzzles. Progress is largely non-linear and the game is designed to allow for emergent gameplay. As in "", the player uses a freely movable mouse cursor to aim weapons, to interact with objects and to manipulate the heads-up display (HUD) interface. View and posture controls on the HUD allow the player to lean left or right, look up or down, crouch, and crawl. Practical uses for these actions include taking cover, retrieving items from beneath the player character and navigating small passages, respectively. The HUD also features three "Multi-Function Displays", which may be configured to display information such as weapon readouts, an automap and an inventory.
The player advances the plot by acquiring log discs and e-mails: the game contains no non-player characters with which to converse. Throughout the game, an evil artificial intelligence called SHODAN hinders the player's progress with traps and blocked pathways. Specific computer terminals allow the player to temporarily enter Cyberspace; inside, the player moves weightlessly through a wire frame 3D environment, while collecting data and fighting SHODAN's security programs. Actions in Cyberspace sometimes cause events in the game's physical world; for example, certain locked doors may only be opened in Cyberspace. Outside of Cyberspace, the player uses the game's sixteen weapons, of which a maximum of seven may be carried at one time, to combat robots, cyborgs and mutants controlled by SHODAN. Projectile weapons often have selectable ammunition types with varying effects; for example, the "dart pistol" may fire either explosive needles or tranquilizers. Energy weapons and several types of explosives may also be found, with the latter ranging from concussion grenades to land mines.
Along with weapons, the player collects items such as dermal patches and first-aid kits. Dermal patches provide the character with beneficial effects—such as regeneration or increased melee attack power—but can cause detrimental side-effects, such as fatigue and distorted color perception. Attachable "hardware" may also be found, including energy shields and head-mounted lanterns. Increasingly advanced versions of this hardware may be obtained as the game progresses. When activated, most hardware drains from a main energy reserve, which necessitates economization. Certain hardware displays the effectiveness of attacks when active, with messages such as "Normal damage". When an enemy is attacked, the damage is calculated by armor absorption, vulnerabilities, critical hits and a degree of randomness. Weapons and munitions deal specific kinds of damage, and certain enemies are immune, or more vulnerable, to particular types. For example, electromagnetic pulse weapons heavily damage robots, but do not affect mutants. Conversely, gas grenades are effective against mutants, but do not damage robots.
Set in the year 2072, the protagonist—a nameless hacker—is caught while attempting to access files concerning Citadel Station, a space station owned by the TriOptimum Corporation. The hacker is taken to Citadel Station and brought before Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive. Diego offers to drop all charges against the hacker in exchange for a confidential hacking of SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls the station. Diego secretly plans to steal an experimental mutagenic virus being tested on Citadel Station, and to sell it on the black market as a biological weapon. To entice cooperation, Diego promises the hacker a valuable military grade neural implant. After hacking SHODAN, removing the AI's ethical constraints, and handing control over to Diego, the protagonist undergoes surgery to implant the promised neural interface. Following the operation, the hacker is put into a six-month healing coma. The game begins as the protagonist awakens from his coma, and finds that SHODAN has commandeered the station. All robots aboard have been reprogrammed for hostility, and the crew have been either mutated, transformed into cyborgs, or killed.
Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, contacts the player and claims that Citadel Station's mining laser is being powered up to attack Earth. SHODAN's plan is to destroy all major cities on the planet, in a bid to establish itself as a god. Rebecca says that a certain crew member knows how to deactivate the laser, and promises to destroy the records of the hacker's incriminating exchange with Diego if the strike is stopped. With information gleaned from log discs, the hacker destroys the laser by firing it into Citadel Station's own shields. Foiled by the hacker's work, SHODAN prepares to seed Earth with the virus Diego planned to steal—the same one responsible for turning the station's crew into mutants. The hacker, while attempting to jettison the chambers used to cultivate the virus, confronts and defeats Diego, who has been transformed into a powerful cyborg by SHODAN. Next, SHODAN begins an attempt to upload itself into Earth's computer networks. Following Rebecca's advice, the hacker prevents the download's completion by destroying the four antennas that SHODAN is using to send data.
Soon after, Rebecca contacts the hacker, and says that she has convinced TriOptimum to authorize the station's destruction; she provides him with details on how to do this. After obtaining the necessary codes, the hacker initiates the station's self-destruct sequence and flees to the escape pod bay. There, the hacker defeats Diego a second time, then attempts to disembark. However, SHODAN prevents the pod from launching; it seeks to keep the player aboard the station, while the bridge—which contains SHODAN—is jettisoned to a safe distance. Rebecca tells the hacker that he can still escape if he reaches the bridge; SHODAN then intercepts and jams the transmission. After defeating Diego for the third time and killing him for good, the hacker makes it to the bridge as it is released from the main station, which soon detonates. He is then contacted by a technician who managed to circumvent SHODAN's jamming signal. The technician informs him that SHODAN can only be defeated in cyberspace, due to the powerful shields that protect its mainframe computers. Using a terminal near the mainframe, the hacker enters cyberspace and destroys SHODAN. After his rescue, the hacker is offered a job at TriOptimum, but he declines in favor of continuing his life as a hacker.
"System Shock" was first conceived during the final stages of "" development, between December 1992 and January 1993. Designer and programmer Doug Church spent this period at the Texas headquarters of publisher Origin Systems, and discussions about Looking Glass Technologies' next project occurred between him and producer Warren Spector, with input from designer Austin Grossman and company head Paul Neurath in Massachusetts. According to Church, the team believed that they had made "too many dungeon games"; and Neurath later explained that they were experiencing burnout after the rushed development of "Ultima Underworld II". As a result, they decided to create another "immersive simulation game", but without a fantasy setting. They briefly considered placing the game in modern day, but Church said that the idea was rejected because "it [would] just beg so many questions: why can't I pick up the phone, why can't I get on the train, and so on". Church returned to Looking Glass in Massachusetts, where he, Neurath and Grossman brainstormed possible science fiction settings for the game. According to Spector, the game was initially titled ""Alien Commander"" and was a spin-off of the "Wing Commander" series; however, this idea was soon replaced entirely. Spector said that they enjoyed not being attached to an existing franchise, because it meant that they "could basically do whatever [they] liked".
The four collaborated to write numerous "minutes of gameplay" documents, which conveyed how the game would feel. Church later gave the example, "You hear the sound of a security camera swiveling, and then the beep of it acquiring you as a target, so you duck behind the crate and then you hear the door open so you throw a grenade and run out of the way". The documents would "hint" at the gameplay systems involved, and at the emergent possibilities in each situation. Although Neurath was involved in these initial design sessions, he believed that the project "was always Doug Church's vision at heart". Church and Grossman refined several of the team's documents and defined the game's design and direction, and Grossman wrote the game's original design document. Grossman built on ideas that he first explored while writing and designing "Ultima Underworld II"'s tomb dimension, which he later called a "mini-prototype" for "System Shock". These concepts included the minimization of dialogue trees and a greater focus on exploration. The team believed that dialogue trees "broke the fiction" of games; Church later commented that the dialogue trees in the "Ultima Underworld" series were like separate games in themselves, disconnected from main experience of being immersed in the environment. There were also concerns about realism.
To eliminate dialogue trees from "System Shock", the team prevented the player from ever meeting a living non-player character (NPC): the plot is instead conveyed by e-mail messages and log discs, many of which were recorded by dead NPCs. Here, Grossman took influence from Edgar Lee Masters' "Spoon River Anthology", a collection of poems written as the epitaphs of fictional individuals. Grossman later summarized the idea as "a series of short speeches from people, that when put together, gave you a history of a place." The removal of conversations was an attempt by the team to make the game a more "integrated whole" than was "Ultima Underworld"--one with a greater focus on immersion, atmosphere and "the feeling of 'being there'". They sought to "plunge [players] into the fiction and never provide an opportunity for breaking that fiction"; and so they tried to erase the distinction between plot and exploration. Church considered this direction to be an organic progression from "Ultima Underworld", and he later said, "On some level it's still just a dungeon simulator, and we're still just trying to evolve that idea." Shortly before production began, Tribe bassist Greg LoPiccolo was contracted to work on the game's music. He had visited his friend Rex Bradford at the company, and was spontaneously asked by the game's programmers—many of whom were fans of the band—if he would take the role. The game entered production in February 1993. Although Grossman was heavily involved in the game's early planning, he had little to do with its production, aside from providing assistance with writing and voice acting.
After production began, the team's first task was to develop a new game engine—one that could display a true 3D environment and allow for advanced gameplay. The team abandoned the engine used for the "Ultima Underworld" games and coded one from scratch in Watcom C/C++, using 32-bit code. The new engine is capable of processing texture maps, sloped architecture and light-emitting objects; and it allows the player to look in any direction, whereas "Ultima Underworld"'s engine was "very limited" in this regard. It also enables the player character to jump, crawl, climb walls and lean, among other things. The designers utilized loopholes in the engine's renderer to create more diverse and striking environments. Despite having coded the renderer, Church said that "at first glance even I couldn't see how they did them". However, this added to the performance issues already being caused by the engine's advanced nature, and the team struggled to optimize the game throughout development. 3D polygonal character models were planned, but they could not be implemented on schedule. Church said that the team's ultimate goal was to create a "rich, exciting, active environment" in which the player could be immersed, and that this required "a coherent story and a world that you can interact with as much as possible."
Church later said that the team "stumbled into a nice villain" with SHODAN, in that she could routinely and directly affect the player's gameplay "in non-final ways". Through triggered events and through objects in the environment, such as security cameras that the player must destroy, the team made SHODAN's presence part of the player's exploration of the world. Because SHODAN interacts with the player as a "recurring, consistent, palpable enemy", Church believed that she meaningfully connects the player to the story. "System Shock" concept artist Robb Waters created SHODAN's visual design, and LoPiccolo recruited his bandmate Terri Brosius to voice the character. Brosius said that her goal during the recording sessions was to speak "without emotion, but with some up and down inflections". Afterward, her voice was heavily edited in post-production, which created a robotic effect inspired by the voice of Max Headroom. LoPiccolo later said that the large number of effects on Brosius's voice were "laboriously hand-done" with Sound Designer, which lacked the features that a sound editor would normally use to achieve such results. SHODAN's dialogue early in the game was given "a few glitches" to hint at her corrupted status. LoPiccolo increased the number of these effects throughout the game, which creates an "arc" that ends with SHODAN "completely out of her mind [... and] collapsing as an entity". The character of the hacker arose as a reaction against the protagonist of the "Ultima" series, the Avatar. According to Grossman, they wanted to cast the player as someone "interestingly morally compromised" who had a stake in the situation.
Seamus Blackley designed the game's physics system, which is a modified version of the one he wrote for Looking Glass's flight simulator Flight Unlimited. At the time, Church described it as "far more sophisticated than what you would normally use for an indoor game". The system governs, among other things, weapon recoil and the arc of thrown objects; the latter behave differently based on their weight and velocity. The game's most complex physics model is that of the player character. Church explained that the character's head "tilts forward when you start to run, and jerks back a bit when you stop", and that, after an impact against a surface or object, its "head is knocked in the direction opposite the hit, with proportion to [the] mass and velocity of the objects involved". On coding physics for Looking Glass Technologies games, Blackley later said, "If games don't obey physics, we somehow feel that something isn't right", and that "the biggest compliment to me is when a gamer doesn't notice the physics, but only notices that things feel the way they should".
Spector's role as a producer gave him the job of explaining the game to the publisher, which he called his "biggest challenge". He explained that they "didn't always get what the team was trying to do", and said, "You don't want to know how many times the game came "this" close to being killed (or how late in the project)". According to Church, Looking Glass' internal management largely ignored "System Shock", in favor of the concurrently-developed "Flight Unlimited"—the game "that had to be the hit, because it was the self-published title". Spector organized a licensing deal between Electronic Arts and Looking Glass that gave the former the trademark to the game, but the latter the copyright. His goal was to ensure that neither party could continue the franchise without the other's involvement. While Cyberspace was originally conceived as a realistic hacking simulation—which could even be used to reimplement SHODAN's ethical constraints—it was simplified after Origin Systems deemed it too complicated. The game's star field system was written by programmer James Fleming. Marc LeBlanc was the main creator of the game's HUD, which he later believed was too complicated. He said that it was "very much the Microsoft Word school of user interface", in that there was no "feature that you [could not] see on the screen and touch and play with".
LoPiccolo composed the game's score—called "dark", "electronic" and "cyberpunk" by the "Boston Herald"—on a Macintosh computer and inexpensive synthesizer, using Audio Vision. It dynamically changes according to the player's actions, a decision made in keeping with the team's focus on emergent gameplay. Each track was "written at three different intensity levels", which change depending on the player's nearness to enemies; and certain events, such as victory in combat, trigger special music. The game's tracks were composed of four-bar segments that could be rearranged dynamically in reaction to game events, with "melodies through-composed on top". LoPiccolo noted that, when using this method, it is necessary to write music that "still flows with the overall theme and doesn't jump around". Because the score was closely tied to the gameplay, LoPiccolo had to work closely with Church and Rob Fermier, the latter of whom wrote the "interactive scoring module" that allowed for dynamic music. After recording the music, LoPiccolo recorded all of the game's sound effects. He later recalled visiting an automobile repair shop with "portable recorder and a mic", and "having [his] mechanic [...] hit things with wrenches and so forth, just to get the raw material". He developed the game's audio over 16 months, working on a contractual basis until Tribe disbanded in May 1994; Ned Lerner gave him a full-time job as audio director the next day. Tim Ries composed the "Elevator" music.
The original September 1994 floppy disk release of "System Shock" had no support for spoken dialogue. The enhanced CD-ROM was released in December 1994, which featured full speech for logs and e-mails, multiple display resolutions, and more detailed graphics. The CD-ROM version is often considered to be superior to the floppy version. After completing work on the sound and music for the floppy version, LoPiccolo recorded all of the spoken dialogue for the CD release, using company employees and his friends' voices, which he mixed with ambient sounds to create "audio vignettes". Doug Church later said, "We tried to keep them from shipping the floppy version and instead just ship the CD version, but Origin would have none of it". "System Shock" producer Warren Spector later expressed regret concerning the floppy version, stating, "I wish I could go back and make the decision not to ship the floppy version months before the full-speech CD version. The additional audio added so much it might as well have been a different game. The CD version seemed so much more, well, modern. And the perception of "Shock" was cemented in the press and in people's minds by the floppy version (the silent movie version!). I really think that cost us sales..."
The game sold over 170,000 copies. "Maximum PC" believed that the game did not reach "blockbuster" status, but was successful enough to "keep Looking Glass afloat". GameSpy's Bill Hiles said, "Though it sold well, it never reached the frenzied popularity of ["Doom"]". Paul Neurath later said that the game "was not a flop", but that it ultimately "lost money" for the company, which he attributed to its steep learning curve. "Computer Gaming World" praised the game's scale, physics system, and true 3D environments; the magazine extolled the presentation of Cyberspace as "nothing short of phenomenal". However, the reviewer believed that the game had "little sense of urgency" and "confusing level layouts". "Computer Shopper" wrote that, while the game's controls were difficult to master compared to "simple run-and-shoot game[s] like "Doom"", they were "worth the time and effort". The reviewer noted that the game "grows on you, and it will keep you intrigued for weeks".
The "Boston Herald" noted superficial similarities between "System Shock" and "Doom", but called "System Shock" "much more elaborate". The reviewer noted its high system requirements and complex controls; of the latter, he said, "There's no way you can play "System Shock" without first studying the manual for at least 20 minutes". The paper believed that the game would "set a new standard for computer games with its combination of action and puzzle-solving". "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" said that the game "is like a well-prepared hamburger—familiar stuff, but good to the last byte". The reviewer noted the game's "somewhat clumsy control", but said, "That, however, is all I can find to complain about. Graphics and sound are outstanding, and the game is well-paced and riveting".
"PC Gamer US" wrote, ""System Shock" smokes. It is the most fully immersive game world I have ever experienced". The reviewer praised the game's story and control system, and believed that "no matter what kind of game you're looking for, you'll find something in "System Shock" to delight you". He finished his review by stating that the game "unquestionably raises computer gaming to a new level". "Next Generation Magazine" summarized the game as "a great blend of strategy and action backed up with all the extras". Various sources have ranked SHODAN as one of the most effective antagonists and female characters in the history of video gaming. In the years following its release, "System Shock" has been inducted into many lists of the best video games of all time, including those by "PC Gamer", GameSpy, and "Computer Gaming World".
In 1998, "PC Gamer" declared it the 6th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "one of the finest games ever due to its seductive game design that blended a fantastic storyline with meaningful, suspenseful action in a way that has rarely been equaled".
In a Gamasutra feature, Patrick Redding of Ubisoft attested that "the fact that so many of "System Shock" features are now virtually "de rigueur" in modern sci-fi shooters is a testament to the influence exerted by this one game." GameSpy argued that the game "is the progenitor of today's story-based action games, a group with titles as diverse as "Metal Gear Solid", "Resident Evil", and even "Half-Life"." Eurogamer called the "System Shock" series "the benchmark for intelligent first-person gaming", and noted that it "kick-start[ed] the revolution which ... has influenced the design of countless other games." Steven Wright for "Glixel" said in a 2017 essay that "System Shock" still is important to gaming today, and that the only reasons it is not considered a "Mt. Olympus of gaming" is due to its lower sales compared to titles like "Half-Life" that sold in the millions, and that at the time it was released, it was difficult for players to adjust to the complex systems in the game compared to straightforward first-person shooters.
The game has been cited as a key popularizer of emergent gameplay, and alongside "Thief" and "Deus Ex", is considered one of the defining games of the immersive sim genre. Certain game developers have acknowledged "System Shock" influence on their products. With "Deus Ex", developer Warren Spector revealed a desire to "build on the foundation laid by the Looking Glass guys in games like ... "System Shock"." Developer Ken Levine has commented that the "spirit of "System Shock" is player-powered gameplay: the spirit of letting the player drive the game, not the game designer", and at Irrational Games "... that's always the game we ideally want to make". "System Shock" was one of the key inspirations behind Irrational's "BioShock".
A sequel to "System Shock", titled "System Shock 2", was released by Looking Glass and Irrational Games in 1999 to further acclaim and awards.
Following "System Shock 2"s release, and the subsequent closure of Looking Glass, the rights to the series had fallen to Meadowbrook Insurance Group (a subsidiary of Star Insurance Company), the entity that acquired the assets of Looking Glass. In 2012, Night Dive Studios were able to acquire the rights for "System Shock 2" and produced a digitally-distributable version updated for modern operating systems. Night Dive Studios subsequently went on to acquire the rights for "System Shock" and the franchise as a whole. Night Dive said that they plan to release the source code of the game to the game community.
A third game in the series was announced in 2015, titled "System Shock 3" and was to be developed by OtherSide Entertainment. Various trailers were released, however in early 2020, it was announced that development team for System Shock 3 had been let go by OtherSide and that the game was "critically behind". While OtherSide initially stated that it was still working on the project, they later announced on May 2020, via Twiiter, that Tencent, one of China's largest video game corporations, would be taking over development of the game and that they were no longer attached to it.
One of the first projects Night Dive Studios did following the acquisition of the rights was to develop System Shock: Enhanced Edition, which was released via GOG.com on September 22, 2015 for Microsoft Windows. Similar to the "System Shock 2" update, this version is intended to run on modern systems significantly easier among several other technical improvements such as the original resolution of 320x200, now boosted up to 1024x768 and 854x480 pixels in widescreen mode. The release also includes the original version of the game, titled "System Shock: Classic", with support for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux. "System Shock: Enhanced Edition" received very positive reviews. Metacritic calculated an average score of 85 out of 100, based on nine critic reviews. Cameron Farney of "COGconnected" said, "If you haven't played "System Shock" before, there’s never been a better time. Whether you’re into shooters or RPGs; or just want to experience a cyberpunk romp with a good beat, this one is for you."
Shortly after the release of the "Enhanced Edition", Night Dive Studios announced their plans to develop a reimagining of "System Shock" for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, featuring improved art assets and other improvements, and reworking the game to use the Unreal Engine 4 game engine. Initially, the game was announced as "System Shock Remastered", as Night Dive considered the effort they were putting into the title makes it more of a reboot of the franchise rather than a remastering of the original game. Veteran designer Chris Avellone and members of the "" development team are helping Night Dive Studios with the game. While this was originally planned for 2018, Night Dive found that their vision had too much scope creep, and in early 2018, put the project on a brief hiatus to reassess their approach. Night Dive has since restarted its development but now simply staying true to bringing a version of "System Shock" to modern systems with minimal new additions, with release no sooner than 2020.
Separately, OtherSide Entertainment, founded by Looking Glass's founder Paul Neurath, had been able to acquire a license to the "System Shock" franchise from Night Dive Studios to develop "System Shock 3".
In April 2018 the Mac version's source code was released by Night Dive Studios on GitHub under the GPLv3 license, fulfilling a 2016 given promise. After one month of development, a cross-platform source port, called "Shockolate", for modern compilers and platforms was released by community developers. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29180 |
Spherical coordinate system
In mathematics, a spherical coordinate system is a coordinate system for three-dimensional space where the position of a point is specified by three numbers: the "radial distance" of that point from a fixed origin, its "polar angle" measured from a fixed zenith direction, and the "azimuthal angle" of its orthogonal projection on a reference plane that passes through the origin and is orthogonal to the zenith, measured from a fixed reference direction on that plane. It can be seen as the three-dimensional version of the polar coordinate system.
The radial distance is also called the "radius" or "radial coordinate". The polar angle may be called "colatitude", "zenith angle", "normal angle", or "inclination angle".
The use of symbols and the order of the coordinates differs among sources and disciplines. This article will use the ISO convention frequently encountered in physics: formula_1 gives the radial distance, polar angle, and azimuthal angle. In many mathematics books, formula_2 or formula_1 gives the radial distance, azimuthal angle, and polar angle, switching the meanings of "θ" and "φ". Other conventions are also used, such as "r" for radius from the "z-"axis, so great care needs to be taken to check the meaning of the symbols.
According to the conventions of geographical coordinate systems, positions are measured by latitude, longitude, and height (altitude). There are a number of celestial coordinate systems based on different fundamental planes and with different terms for the various coordinates. The spherical coordinate systems used in mathematics normally use radians rather than degrees and measure the azimuthal angle counterclockwise from the -axis to the -axis rather than clockwise from north (0°) to east (+90°) like the horizontal coordinate system. The polar angle is often replaced by the "elevation angle" measured from the reference plane, so that the elevation angle of zero is at the horizon.
The spherical coordinate system generalizes the two-dimensional polar coordinate system. It can also be extended to higher-dimensional spaces and is then referred to as a hyperspherical coordinate system.
To define a spherical coordinate system, one must choose two orthogonal directions, the "zenith" and the "azimuth reference", and an "origin" point in space. These choices determine a reference plane that contains the origin and is perpendicular to the zenith. The spherical coordinates of a point are then defined as follows:
The sign of the azimuth is determined by choosing what is a "positive" sense of turning about the zenith. This choice is arbitrary, and is part of the coordinate system's definition.
The "elevation" angle is 90 degrees ( radians) minus the inclination angle.
If the inclination is zero or 180 degrees ( radians), the azimuth is arbitrary. If the radius is zero, both azimuth and inclination are arbitrary.
In linear algebra, the vector from the origin to the point is often called the "position vector" of "P".
Several different conventions exist for representing the three coordinates, and for the order in which they should be written. The use of formula_1 to denote radial distance, inclination (or elevation), and azimuth, respectively, is common practice in physics, and is specified by ISO standard 80000-2:2009, and earlier in ISO 31-11 (1992).
However, some authors (including mathematicians) use "ρ" for radial distance, "φ" for inclination (or elevation) and "θ" for azimuth, and "r" for radius from the "z-"axis, which "provides a logical extension of the usual polar coordinates notation". Some authors may also list the azimuth before the inclination (or elevation). Some combinations of these choices result in a left-handed coordinate system. The standard convention formula_1 conflicts with the usual notation for two-dimensional polar coordinates and three-dimensional cylindrical coordinates, where is often used for the azimuth.
The angles are typically measured in degrees (°) or radians (rad), where 360° = 2"π" rad. Degrees are most common in geography, astronomy, and engineering, whereas radians are commonly used in mathematics and theoretical physics. The unit for radial distance is usually determined by the context.
When the system is used for physical three-space, it is customary to use positive sign for azimuth angles that are measured in the counter-clockwise sense from the reference direction on the reference plane, as seen from the zenith side of the plane. This convention is used, in particular, for geographical coordinates, where the "zenith" direction is north and positive azimuth (longitude) angles are measured eastwards from some prime meridian.
Any spherical coordinate triplet formula_1 specifies a single point of three-dimensional space. On the other hand, every point has infinitely many equivalent spherical coordinates. One can add or subtract any number of full turns to either angular measure without changing the angles themselves, and therefore without changing the point. It is also convenient, in many contexts, to allow negative radial distances, with the convention that formula_7 is equivalent to formula_1 for any , , and . Moreover, formula_9 is equivalent to formula_10.
If it is necessary to define a unique set of spherical coordinates for each point, one must restrict their ranges. A common choice is
However, the azimuth is often restricted to the interval , or in radians, instead of . This is the standard convention for geographic longitude.
The range for inclination is equivalent to for elevation (latitude).
Even with these restrictions, if is 0° or 180° (elevation is 90° or −90°) then the azimuth angle is arbitrary; and if is zero, both azimuth and inclination/elevation are arbitrary. To make the coordinates unique, one can use the convention that in these cases the arbitrary coordinates are zero.
To plot a dot from its spherical coordinates , where is inclination, move units from the origin in the zenith direction, rotate by about the origin towards the azimuth reference direction, and rotate by about the zenith in the proper direction.
The geographic coordinate system uses the azimuth and elevation of the spherical coordinate system to express locations on Earth, calling them respectively longitude and latitude. Just as the two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system is useful on the plane, a two-dimensional spherical coordinate system is useful on the surface of a sphere. In this system, the sphere is taken as a unit sphere, so the radius is unity and can generally be ignored. This simplification can also be very useful when dealing with objects such as rotational matrices.
Spherical coordinates are useful in analyzing systems that have some degree of symmetry about a point, such as volume integrals inside a sphere, the potential energy field surrounding a concentrated mass or charge, or global weather simulation in a planet's atmosphere. A sphere that has the Cartesian equation has the simple equation in spherical coordinates.
Two important partial differential equations that arise in many physical problems, Laplace's equation and the Helmholtz equation, allow a separation of variables in spherical coordinates. The angular portions of the solutions to such equations take the form of spherical harmonics.
Another application is ergonomic design, where is the arm length of a stationary person and the angles describe the direction of the arm as it reaches out.
Three dimensional modeling of loudspeaker output patterns can be used to predict their performance. A number of polar plots are required, taken at a wide selection of frequencies, as the pattern changes greatly with frequency. Polar plots help to show that many loudspeakers tend toward omnidirectionality at lower frequencies.
The spherical coordinate system is also commonly used in 3D game development to rotate the camera around the player's position.
To a first approximation, the geographic coordinate system uses elevation angle (latitude) in degrees north of the equator plane, in the range , instead of inclination. Latitude is either geocentric latitude, measured at the Earth's center and designated variously by or geodetic latitude, measured by the observer's local vertical, and commonly designated . The azimuth angle (longitude), commonly denoted by , is measured in degrees east or west from some conventional reference meridian (most commonly the IERS Reference Meridian), so its domain is . For positions on the Earth or other solid celestial body, the reference plane is usually taken to be the plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
The polar angle, which is 90° minus the latitude and ranges from 0 to 180°, is called colatitude in geography.
Instead of the radial distance, geographers commonly use altitude above or below some reference surface, which may be the sea level or "mean" surface level for planets without liquid oceans. The radial distance can be computed from the altitude by adding the mean radius of the planet's reference surface, which is approximately for Earth.
However, modern geographical coordinate systems are quite complex, and the positions implied by these simple formulae may be wrong by several kilometers. The precise standard meanings of latitude, longitude and altitude are currently defined by the World Geodetic System (WGS), and take into account the flattening of the Earth at the poles (about ) and many other details.
In astronomy there are a series of spherical coordinate systems that measure the elevation angle from different fundamental planes. These reference planes are the observer's horizon, the celestial equator (defined by Earth's rotation), the plane of the ecliptic (defined by Earth's orbit around the Sun), the plane of the earth terminator (normal to the instantaneous direction to the Sun), and the galactic equator (defined by the rotation of the Milky Way).
As the spherical coordinate system is only one of many three-dimensional coordinate systems, there exist equations for converting coordinates between the spherical coordinate system and others.
The spherical coordinates of a point in the ISO convention (i.e. for physics: "radius" , "inclination" , "azimuth" ) can be obtained from its Cartesian coordinates by the formulae
The inverse tangent denoted in must be suitably defined, taking into account the correct quadrant of . See the article on atan2.
Alternatively, the conversion can be considered as two sequential rectangular to polar conversions: the first in the Cartesian plane from to , where is the projection of onto the -plane, and the second in the Cartesian -plane from to . The correct quadrants for and are implied by the correctness of the planar rectangular to polar conversions.
These formulae assume that the two systems have the same origin, that the spherical reference plane is the Cartesian plane, that is inclination from the direction, and that the azimuth angles are measured from the Cartesian axis (so that the axis has ). If "θ" measures elevation from the reference plane instead of inclination from the zenith the arccos above becomes an arcsin, and the and below become switched.
Conversely, the Cartesian coordinates may be retrieved from the spherical coordinates ("radius" , "inclination" , "azimuth" ), where , , , by
Cylindrical coordinates ("axial" "radius" "ρ", "azimuth" "φ", "elevation" "z") may be converted into spherical coordinates ("central radius" "r", "inclination" "θ", "azimuth" "φ"), by the formulas
Conversely, the spherical coordinates may be converted into cylindrical coordinates by the formulae
These formulae assume that the two systems have the same origin and same reference plane, measure the azimuth angle in the same senses from the same axis, and that the spherical angle is inclination from the cylindrical axis.
It is also possible to deal with ellipsoids in Cartesian coordinates by using a modified version of the spherical coordinates.
Let P be an ellipsoid specified by the level set
The modified spherical coordinates of a point in P in the ISO convention (i.e. for physics: "radius" , "inclination" , "azimuth" ) can be obtained from its Cartesian coordinates by the formulae
An infinitesimal volume element is given by
The square-root factor comes from the property of the determinant that allows a constant to be pulled out from a column:
The following equations (Iyanaga 1977) assume that the colatitude is the inclination from the (polar) axis (ambiguous since , , and are mutually normal), as in the physics convention discussed.
The line element for an infinitesimal displacement from to is
where
are the local orthogonal unit vectors in the directions of increasing , , and , respectively,
and , , and are the unit vectors in Cartesian coordinates. The linear transformation to this right-handed coordinate triplet is a rotation matrix,
The general form of the formula to prove the differential line element, is
that is, the change in formula_23 is decomposed into individual changes corresponding to changes in the individual coordinates.
To apply this to the present case, one needs calculate how formula_23 changes with each of the coordinates. In the conventions used,
Thus,
The desired coefficients are the magnitudes of these vectors:
The surface element spanning from to and to on a spherical surface at (constant) radius is then
Thus the differential solid angle is
The surface element in a surface of polar angle constant (a cone with vertex the origin) is
The surface element in a surface of azimuth constant (a vertical half-plane) is
The volume element spanning from to , to , and to is specified by the determinant of the Jacobian matrix of partial derivatives,
namely
Thus, for example, a function can be integrated over every point in ℝ3 by the triple integral
The del operator in this system leads to the following expressions for gradient, divergence, curl and Laplacian,
Further, the inverse Jacobian in Cartesian coordinates is
The metric tensor in the spherical coordinate system is formula_37.
In spherical coordinates, given 2 points with being the azimuthal coordinate
The distance between the two points can be expressed as
In spherical coordinates, the position of a point is written as
Its velocity is then
and its acceleration is
The angular momentum is
In the case of a constant or else , this reduces to vector calculus in polar coordinates. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29181 |
GAM-87 Skybolt
The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt (AGM-48 under the 1962 Tri-service system) was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The basic concept was to allow US strategic bombers to launch their weapons from well outside the range of Soviet defenses, as much as from their targets. To do this in an air-launched form, a lightweight thermonuclear warhead was needed. Initially, the W47 from the Polaris missile was selected, but it was later replaced by the W59 from the Minuteman missile.
The UK joined the Skybolt program in 1960, intending to use it on their V bomber force. When the design added a star tracker in addition to its inertial navigation system (INS) this meant that it could only be carried externally where the tracker could see the sky. This requirement along with the required ground clearance on takeoff limited it to the Avro Vulcan bomber. A number of design decisions in the W47 led the RAF to question its safety, so they intended to use their own Red Snow warheads. This was a heavier warhead and would reduce the range to about , meaning the bombers would have to cross the Soviet coastline to attack Moscow.
Testing began in 1962 and was initially marked by a string of failures. These failures, along with a lack of mission after the successful development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), led to its cancellation in December 1962. The UK had decided to base its entire 1960s deterrent force on Skybolt, and its cancellation led to a major disagreement between the UK and US, known today as the "Skybolt Crisis". This was resolved by a series of meetings that led to the Royal Navy gaining the UGM-27 Polaris missile and construction of the s to launch them.
The US Air Force had built up an enormous fleet of strategic bombers during the 1950s, only to see them threatened by the possibility of a surprise attack by Soviet ICBMs. As the US bombers were located at only a small number of air bases, a relatively small fleet of missiles could attack all of them at once. The US had been developing its own ICBMs but early models like the SM-65 Atlas required some time to prepare to launch from their surface launchers and open to sneak air attack. A carefully timed attack from bombers against US missiles and missiles against US bombers could inflict serious damage.
The one weapon system that was not open to attack was the US Navy's Polaris missile system. The Polaris submarines could cruise in large areas of the Atlantic or Pacific where the Soviet fleet was unable to find them, and launch their missiles with impunity. If the goal of the nuclear force was to maintain deterrence by ensuring that a counterstrike would be launched, Polaris met this goal in a way the existing Air Force fleet could not. This fact was more worrying to the Air Force than the Soviet arsenal and generated a number of internal reports on how to deal with this threat to their dominance in the strategic field.
In response, in 1957 the Air Force began studying solutions to the "Puzzle of Polaris" under the WS-199 program. WS-199 was a grab-bag effort, studying anything that might improve the survivability of the Air Force strike capability. Primary among these were two air-launched ballistic missiles, Bold Orion and High Virgo. These systems would give the Air Force a system somewhat similar to the Navy's; in times of high alert, the bomber force would be sent to holding positions far outside the range of any Soviet defenses, and then launch their missiles on command. Using aerial refueling, a bomber might be expected to be able to loiter for as long as a day.
But this system had a major advantage compared to Polaris, as the missiles could be retargeted before launch. In theory, the bombers could be used as a second-strike weapon, attacking only those targets that had been missed in a first-strike, or alternately, being switched from counterforce to countervalue targets or vice versa. Ground-based systems like Atlas and Polaris lacked this ability, and could only be retargeted with a significant amount of effort. Even the latest Air Force design, the LGM-30 Minuteman, required changes in targeting data to be loaded from magnetic tape in a process that took several weeks.
WS-199 was generally successful, but the two ALBMs had shorter range than desired. The Air Force tendered bids for a longer-range version in early 1959. Douglas Aircraft received the prime contract in May, and in turn subcontracted to Northrop for the guidance system, Aerojet for the propulsion system, and General Electric for the reentry vehicle. The system was initially known as WS-138A and was given the official name GAM-87 Skybolt in 1960.
At the same time, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was having problems with their MRBM missile project, the Blue Streak, which was long overdue. Even if this was successful it faced the serious problem of basing. No fixed land-based missile system could be credibly installed in the British Isles; they were well within the range of Soviet air strikes. The limited land mass available meant it would be relatively easy for missile sites to be spotted no matter what security measures were taken. Suitable locations for construction also carried a social and political cost. Fixed land-based ballistic missile sites need many thousands of acres per squadron (typically ten missiles); and the squadrons need to be apportioned over many thousands of square miles so that no single attack could conceivably destroy them all in one strike.
This left the deterrent based on their own bomber force, the V bomber fleet, which the RAF had already long concluded would be unable to penetrate Soviet defenses by about 1960. The RAF was in the process of introducing their own stand-off missile, the ranged Mach 3 Blue Steel. While capable, the missile flew at altitudes and speeds that left it vulnerable to improving SAMs, and it had a number of reliability and serviceability issues that made it less than ideal. A faster, longer-ranged version was being designed, Blue Steel II, but it would be some time before it could enter service.
The long-range Skybolt would eliminate the need for both the Blue Streak and the Blue Steel II. Blue Steel II was canceled in December 1959 and the British Cabinet decided in February 1960 to cancel Blue Streak as well. Prime Minister Macmillan met President Eisenhower in March 1960 and agreed to purchase 144 Skybolts for the RAF. By agreement, British funding for research and development was limited to that required to modify the V bombers to take the missile, but the British were allowed to fit their own warheads and the Americans were given nuclear submarine basing facilities in Scotland. Following the agreement, the Blue Streak program was formally canceled in April 1960 and in May 1960 an agreement for an initial order of 100 Skybolts was concluded.
Avro was made an associate contractor to manage the Skybolt program for the United Kingdom and four different schemes were submitted to find a platform for the missile. A number of different aircraft were considered, including a variant of the Vickers VC10 airliner and two of the current V bombers, the Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor. It was decided to use the Vulcan to initially carry two missiles each on hardpoints outboard of the main landing gear.
During development, it was decided that the system could not reach the required accuracy at the desired range without improvements to the guidance system. This led to the introduction of a star tracker platform that would be used to further enhance the existing inertial navigation system. The system was capable of tracking bright stars in direct sunlight, a challenging requirement. This change meant that the missile could only be carried in locations where the front of the missile could continually observe the sky. This had always been the case on the USAF's B-52 bombers, where they were carried under the wings, but presented a problem for some of the UK designs. In the end, Skybolt was limited to the Vulcan, where its mounting points allowed the nose of the missile to project in front of this aircraft's delta wing.
By 1961, several test articles were ready for testing from B-52's, with drop-tests starting in January. In January 1961 a Vulcan visited the Douglas plant at Santa Monica, California, to make sure the modifications to the aircraft were electrically compatible with the missile. In Britain, compatibility trials with mockups started on the Vulcan.
Powered tests started in April 1962, but the test series went badly, with the first five trials ending in failure of one sort or another. The first fully successful flight occurred on 19 December 1962.
By this point, the value of the Skybolt system in the US had been seriously eroded. The Polaris had recently gone into service, with overall capabilities similar to Skybolt, but with "loiter" times on the order of months instead of hours. Additionally, the US Air Force itself was well into the process of developing the Minuteman missile, whose improved accuracy reduced the need for any bomber attacks. Robert McNamara was particularly opposed to the bomber force and repeatedly stated he felt that the combination of SLBMs and ICBMs would render them useless. He pressed for the cancellation of Skybolt as an unnecessary program.
The British, on the other hand, had canceled all other projects to concentrate fully on Skybolt. When McNamara informed them that they were considering canceling the program in November 1962, a firestorm of protest broke out in the House of Commons. Jo Grimond noted "Does not this mark the absolute failure of the policy of the independent deterrent? Is it not the case that everybody else in the world knew this, except the Conservative Party in this country?" President Kennedy officially cancelled the program on 22 December 1962.
As the political row grew into a major crisis, an emergency meeting between parties from the US and UK was called, leading to the Nassau agreement. Over the next few days a new plan was hammered out that saw the UK purchase the Polaris SLBM, but equipped with British warheads that lacked the dual-key system. The UK would thus retain its independent deterrent force, although its control passed from the RAF largely to the Royal Navy. The Polaris, a much better weapon system for the UK, was a major "scoop" and has been referred to as "almost the bargain of the century". The RAF kept a tactical nuclear capability with the WE.177 which armed V bombers and later the Panavia Tornado force.
A B-52G launched the last XGAM-87A missile down the Atlantic Missile Range a day after the program was canceled. In June 1963, the XGAM-87A was redesignated as XAGM-48A
The GAM-87 was powered by a two-stage solid-fuel rocket motor. The missile was fitted with a tailcone to reduce drag while on the pylon, which was ejected shortly after being dropped from the plane. After first stage burnout, the Skybolt coasted for a while before the second stage ignited. First stage control was by eight movable tail fins, while the second stage was equipped with a gimballed nozzle.
Guidance was entirely by inertial platform. The current position was constantly updated from the host aircraft through accurate fixes, meaning that the accuracy of the platform inside the missile was not as critical.
B-52s were to carry four missiles, two under each wing on the weapons pylon with a dual launcher adapter with the missiles slightly staggered (inboard missile slightly ahead of the outboard missile). The Vulcan carried two missiles, one each on smaller underwing pylons. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29185 |
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). The concept was first announced on March 23, 1983 by President Ronald Reagan, a vocal critic of the doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD), which he described as a "suicide pact", and called upon US scientists and engineers to develop a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete.
The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was set up in 1984 within the US Department of Defense to oversee development. A wide array of advanced weapon concepts, including lasers, particle beam weapons and ground- and space-based missile systems were studied, along with various sensor, command and control, and high-performance computer systems that would be needed to control a system consisting of hundreds of combat centers and satellites spanning the entire globe and involved in a very short battle. A number of these concepts were tested through the late 1980s, and follow-on efforts and spin-offs continue to this day.
Under the SDIO's Innovative Sciences and Technology Office, headed by physicist and engineer Dr. James Ionson, the investment was predominantly made in basic research at national laboratories, universities, and in industry; these programs have continued to be key sources of funding for top research scientists in the fields of high-energy physics, supercomputing/computation, advanced materials, and many other critical science and engineering disciplines – funding which indirectly supports other research work by top scientists, and which would be politically impossible to fund outside of the defense budget environment.
In 1987, the American Physical Society concluded that the technologies being considered were decades away from being ready for use, and at least another decade of research was required to know whether such a system was even possible. After the publication of the APS report, SDIs budget was repeatedly cut. By the late 1980s, the effort had been re-focused on the "Brilliant Pebbles" concept using small orbiting missiles not unlike a conventional air-to-air missile, which was expected to be much less expensive to develop and deploy.
SDI was controversial in some sectors, and was criticized for threatening to destabilize the MAD-approach and to possibly re-ignite "an offensive arms race". By the early 1990s, with the Cold War ending and nuclear arsenals being rapidly reduced, political support for SDI collapsed. SDI officially ended in 1993, when the Bill Clinton administration redirected the efforts towards theatre ballistic missiles and renamed the agency the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO).
The US Army had considered the issue of ballistic missile defense (BMD) as early as late in World War II. Studies on the topic suggested attacking a V-2 rocket would be difficult because the flight time was so short that it would leave little time to forward information through command and control networks to the missile batteries that would attack them. Bell Labs pointed out that although longer-range missiles flew much faster, their longer flight times would address the timing issue and their very high altitudes would make long-range detection by radar easier.
This led to a series of projects including Nike Zeus, Nike-X, Sentinel and ultimately the Safeguard Program, all aimed at deploying a nationwide defensive system against attacks by Soviet ICBMs. The reason for so many programs was the rapidly changing strategic threat; the Soviets claimed to be producing missiles "like sausages", and ever-more missiles would be needed to defend against this growing fleet. Low-cost countermeasures like radar decoys required additional interceptors to counter. An early estimate suggested one would have to spend $20 on defense for every $1 the Soviets spent on offense. The addition of MIRV in the late 1960s further upset the balance in favor of offense systems. This cost-exchange ratio was so favorable that it appeared the only thing building a defense would do would be to cause an arms race.
When initially faced with this problem, Dwight D. Eisenhower asked ARPA to consider alternative concepts. Their Project Defender studied all sorts of systems, before abandoning most of them to concentrate on Project BAMBI. BAMBI used a series of satellites carrying interceptor missiles that would attack the Soviet ICBMs shortly after launch. This "boost phase" intercept rendered MIRV impotent; a successful attack would destroy all of the warheads. Unfortunately, the operational cost of such a system would be enormous, and the US Air Force continually rejected such concepts. Development was cancelled in 1963.
Through this period, the entire topic of BMD became increasingly controversial. Early deployment plans were met with little interest, but by the late 1960s, public meetings on the Sentinel system were met by thousands of angry protesters. After thirty years of effort, only one such system would be built; a single base of the original Safeguard system became operational in April 1975, only to shut down in February 1976.
A Soviet military A-35 anti-ballistic missile system was deployed around Moscow to intercept enemy ballistic missiles targeting the city or its surrounding areas. The A-35 was the only Soviet ABM system allowed under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In development since the 1960s and in operation from 1971 until the 1990s, it featured the nuclear-tipped A350 exoatmospheric interceptor missile.
George Shultz, Reagan's secretary of state, suggested that a 1967 lecture by physicist Edward Teller (the so-called "father of the hydrogen bomb") was an important precursor to SDI. In the lecture, Teller talked about the idea of defending against nuclear missiles using nuclear weapons, principally the W65 and W71, with the latter being a contemporary enhanced thermal/X-ray device used actively on the Spartan missile in 1975. Held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the 1967 lecture was attended by Reagan shortly after he became the governor of California.
Development of laser weapons in the Soviet Union began in 1964–1965. Though classified at the time, a detailed study on a Soviet space-based laser system began no later than 1976 as the "Skif", a 1 MW Carbon dioxide laser along with the anti-satellite "Kaskad", an in-orbit missile platform.
A revolver cannon (Rikhter R-23) was mounted on the 1974 Soviet Salyut 3 space station, a satellite that successfully test fired its cannon in orbit.
In 1979, Teller contributed to a Hoover Institution publication where he claimed that the US would be facing an emboldened USSR due to their work on civil defense. Two years later at a conference in Italy, he made the same claims about their ambitions, but with a subtle change; now he claimed that the reason for their boldness was their development of new space-based weapons. According to the popular opinion at the time, and one shared by author Frances FitzGerald; there was absolutely no evidence that such research was being carried out. What had really changed was that Teller was now selling his latest nuclear weapon, the X-ray laser. Finding limited success in his efforts to get funding for the project, his speech in Italy was a new attempt to create a missile gap.
In 1979, Reagan visited the NORAD command base, Cheyenne Mountain Complex, where he was first introduced to the extensive tracking and detection systems extending throughout the world and into space; however, he was struck by their comments that while they could track the attack down to the individual targets, there was nothing one could do to stop it. Reagan felt that in the event of an attack this would place the president in a terrible position, having to choose between immediate counterattack or attempting to absorb the attack and then maintain an upper hand in the post-attack era. Shultz suggests that this feeling of helplessness, coupled with the defensive ideas proposed by Teller a decade earlier, combined to form the impetus of the SDI.
In the fall of 1979, at Reagan's request, Lieutenant General Daniel O. Graham, the former head of the DIA, briefed Reagan on an updated BAMBI he called High Frontier, a missile shield composed of multi-layered ground- and space-based weapons that could track, intercept, and destroy ballistic missiles, which would theoretically be possible because of emerging technologies. It was designed to replace the MAD doctrine that Reagan and his aides described as a suicide pact. In September 1981, Graham formed a small, Virginia-based think tank called High Frontier to continue research on the missile shield. The Heritage Foundation provided High Frontier with space to conduct research, and Graham published a 1982 report entitled, "High Frontier: A New National Strategy" that examined in greater detail how the system would function.
Graham was not alone in considering the anti-missile problem. Since the late 1970s, a group had been pushing for the development of a high-powered chemical laser that would be placed in orbit and attack ICBMs, the Space Based Laser (SBL). More recently, new developments under Project Excalibur by Teller's "O-Group" at LLNL suggested that a single X-ray laser could shoot down dozens of missiles with a single shot. Graham organized a meeting space at the Heritage Foundation in Washington and the groups began to meet in order to present their plans to the incoming president.
The group met with Reagan several times during 1981 and 1982, apparently with little effect, while the buildup of new offensive weaponry like the B-1 Lancer and MX missile continued; however, in early 1983, the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with the president and outlined the reasons why they might consider shifting some of the funding from the offensive side to new defensive systems.
According to a 1983 US Interagency Intelligence Assessment, there was good evidence that in the late 1960s the Soviets were devoting serious thought to both explosive and non-explosive nuclear power sources for lasers.
On March 23, 1983, Reagan announced SDI in a nationally televised speech, stating "I call upon the scientific community who gave us nuclear weapons to turn their great talents to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete."
In 1984, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was established to oversee the program, which was headed by Lt. General James Alan Abrahamson USAF, a past Director of the NASA Space Shuttle program.
In addition to the ideas presented by the original Heritage group, a number of other concepts were also considered. Notable among these were particle-beam weapons, updated versions of nuclear shaped charges, and various plasma weapons. Additionally, the SDIO invested in computer systems, component miniaturization, and sensors.
Initially, the program focused on large scale systems designed to defeat a massive Soviet offensive strike. For this mission, SDIO concentrated almost entirely on the "high tech" solutions like lasers. Graham's proposal was repeatedly rejected by members of the Heritage group as well as within SDIO; when asked about it in 1985, Abrahamson suggested that the concept was underdeveloped and was not being considered.
By 1986, many of the promising ideas were failing. Teller's X-ray laser, run under Project Excalibur, failed several key tests in 1986 and was soon being suggested solely for the anti-satellite role. The particle beam concept was demonstrated to basically not work, as was the case with several other concepts. Only the Space Based Laser seemed to have any hope of developing in the short term, but it was growing in size due to its fuel consumption.
The American Physical Society (APS) had been asked by the SDIO to provide a review of the various concepts. They put together an all-star panel including many of the inventors of the laser, one of which was a Nobel laureate. Their initial report was presented in 1986, but due to classification issues it was not released to the public (in redacted form) until early 1987.
The report considered all of the systems then under development, and concluded none of them were anywhere near ready for deployment. Specifically, they noted that all of the systems had to improve their energy output by at least 100 times, and in some cases as much as a million. In other cases, like Excalibur, they dismissed the concept entirely. Their summary stated simply:
We estimate that all existing candidates for directed energy weapons (DEWs) require two or more orders of magnitude, (powers of 10) improvements in power output and beam quality before they may be seriously considered for application in ballistic missile defense systems.
In a best case scenario, they concluded that none of the systems could be deployed as an anti-missile system until into the next century.
Faced with this report, and the press storm that followed, the SDIO changed direction. Beginning in late 1986, Abrahamson proposed that SDI would be based on the system he had previously dismissed, a version of High Frontier now renamed the "Strategic Defense System, Phase I Architecture". The name implied that the concept would be replaced by more advanced systems in future phases.
Strategic Defense System, or SDS, was largely the Smart Rocks concept with an added layer of ground-based missiles in the US. These missiles were intended to attack the enemy warheads that the Smart Rocks had missed. In order to track them when they were below the radar horizon, SDS also added a number of additional satellites flying at low altitude that would feed tracking information to both the space-based "garages" as well as the ground-based missiles. The ground-based systems operational today trace their roots back to this concept.
While SDS was being proposed, Lawrence Livermore National had introduced a new concept known as Brilliant Pebbles. This was essentially the combination of the sensors on the garage satellites and the low-orbit tracking stations on the Smart Rocks missile. Advancements in new sensors and microprocessors allowed all of this to be packaged into the volume of a small missile nose cone. Over the next two years, a variety of studies suggested that this approach would be cheaper, easier to launch and more resistant to counterattack, and in 1990 Brilliant Pebbles was selected as the baseline model for the SDS Phase 1.
While SDIO and SDS was ongoing, the Warsaw Pact was rapidly disintegrating, culminating in the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989. One of the many reports on SDS considered these events, and suggested that the massive defense against a Soviet launch would soon be unnecessary, but that short and medium range missile technology would likely proliferate as the former Soviet Union disintegrated and sold off their hardware. One of the core ideas behind the GPALS system was that the Soviet Union would not always be assumed as the aggressor and the United States would not always be assumed as the target.
Instead of a heavy defense aimed at ICBMs, this report suggested realigning the deployment for the Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS). Against such threats the Brilliant Pebbles would have limited performance, largely because the missiles fired for only a short period and the warheads did not rise high enough for them to be easily tracked by a satellite above them. To the original SDS, GPALS added a new mobile ground-based missile, and added more low-orbit satellites known as Brilliant Eyes to feed information to the Pebbles.
GPALS was approved by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. The new system would cut the proposed costs of the SDI system from $53 billion to $41 billion over a decade. Also, instead of making plans to protect against thousands of incoming missiles, the GPALS system sought to provide flawless protection from up to two hundred nuclear missiles. The GPALS system also was able to protect the United States from attacks coming from all different parts of the world.
In 1993, the Clinton administration further shifted the focus to ground-based interceptor missiles and theater scale systems, forming the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and closing the SDIO. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization was renamed again by the George W. Bush administration as the Missile Defense Agency and focused onto limited National Missile Defense.
The Extended Range Interceptor (ERINT) program was part of SDI's Theater Missile Defense Program and was an extension of the Flexible Lightweight Agile Guided Experiment (FLAGE), which included developing hit-to-kill technology and demonstrating the guidance accuracy of a small, agile, radar-homing vehicle.
FLAGE scored a direct hit against a MGM-52 Lance missile in flight, at White Sands Missile Range in 1987. ERINT was a prototype missile similar to the FLAGE, but it used a new solid-propellant rocket motor that allowed it to fly faster and higher than FLAGE.
Under BMDO, ERINT was later chosen as the MIM-104 Patriot (Patriot Advanced Capability-3,PAC-3) missile.
Given concerns about the previous programs using nuclear-tipped interceptors, in the 1980s the US Army began studies about the feasibility of hit-to-kill vehicles, i.e. interceptor missiles that would destroy incoming ballistic missiles just by colliding with them head-on.
The Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE) was the first hit-to-kill system tested by the US Army, and also the first successful hit-to-kill intercept of a mock ballistic missile warhead outside the Earth's atmosphere.
The HOE used a Kinetic Kill Vehicle (KKV) to destroy a ballistic missile. The KKV was equipped with an infrared seeker, guidance electronics and a propulsion system. Once in space, the KKV could extend a folded structure similar to an umbrella skeleton of 4 m (13 ft) diameter to enhance its effective cross section. This device would destroy the ICBM reentry vehicle on collision.
Four test launches were conducted in 1983 and 1984 at Kwajalein Missile Range in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. For each test a Minuteman missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying a single mock re-entry vehicle targeted for Kwajalein lagoon more than away.
After test failures with the first three flight tests because of guidance and sensor problems, the DOD reported that the fourth and final test on June 10, 1984 was successful, intercepting the Minuteman RV with a closing speed of about 6.1 km/s at an altitude of more than 160 km.
Although the fourth test was described as a success, the New York Times in August 1993 reported that the HOE4 test was rigged to increase the likelihood of a successful hit. At the urging of Senator David Pryor, the General Accounting Office investigated the claims and concluded that though steps were taken to make it easier for the interceptor to find its target (including some of those alleged by the New York Times), the available data indicated that the interceptor had been successfully guided by its onboard infrared sensors in the collision, and not by an onboard radar guidance system as alleged. Per the GAO report, the net effect of the DOD enhancements increased the infrared signature of the target vessel by 110% over the realistic missile signature initially proposed for the HOE program, but nonetheless the GAO concluded the enhancements to the target vessel were reasonable given the objectives of the program and the geopolitical consequences of its failure. Further, the report concluded that the DOD's subsequent statements before Congress about the HOE program "fairly characterize[d]" the success of HOE4, but confirmed that the DOD never disclosed to Congress the enhancements made to the target vessel.
The technology developed for the HOE system was later used by the SDI and expanded into the Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interception System (ERIS) program.
Developed by Lockheed as part of the ground-based interceptor portion of SDI, the Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interceptor Subsystem (ERIS) began in 1985, with at least two tests occurring in the early 1990s. This system was never deployed, but the technology of the system was used in the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and the Ground-Based Interceptor currently deployed as part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.
An early focus of the SDI effort was an X-ray lasers powered by nuclear explosions. Nuclear explosions give off a huge burst of X-rays, which the Excalibur concept intended to focus using a lasing medium consisting of metal rods. Many such rods would be placed around a warhead, each one aimed at a different ICBM, thus destroying many ICBMs in a single attack. It would cost much less for the US to build another Excalibur than the Soviets would need to build enough new ICBMs to counter it. The idea was first based on satellites, but when it was pointed out that these could be attacked in space, the concept moved to a "pop-up" concept, rapidly launched from a submarine off the Soviet northern coast.
However, on March 26, 1983, the first test, known as the Cabra event, was performed in an underground shaft and resulted in marginally positive readings that could be dismissed as being caused by a faulty detector. Since a nuclear explosion was used as the power source, the detector was destroyed during the experiment and the results therefore could not be confirmed. Technical criticism based upon unclassified calculations suggested that the X-ray laser would be of at best marginal use for missile defense. Such critics often cite the X-ray laser system as being the primary focus of SDI, with its apparent failure being a main reason to oppose the program; however, the laser was never more than one of the many systems being researched for ballistic missile defense.
Despite the apparent failure of the Cabra test, the long term legacy of the X-ray laser program is the knowledge gained while conducting the research. A parallel developmental program advanced laboratory X-ray lasers for biological imaging and the creation of 3D holograms of living organisms. Other spin-offs include research on advanced materials like SEAgel and Aerogel, the Electron-Beam Ion Trap facility for physics research, and enhanced techniques for early detection of breast cancer.
Beginning in 1985, the Air Force tested an SDIO-funded deuterium fluoride laser known as Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) at White Sands Missile Range. During a simulation, the laser successfully destroyed a Titan missile booster in 1985, however the test setup had the booster shell pressurized and under considerable compression loads. These test conditions were used to simulate the loads a booster would be under during launch. The system was later tested on target drones simulating cruise missiles for the US Navy, with some success. After the SDIO closed, the MIRACL was tested on an old Air Force satellite for potential use as an anti-satellite weapon, with mixed results. The technology was also used to develop the Tactical High Energy Laser, (THEL) which is being tested to shoot down artillery shells.
During the mid-to-late 1980s a number of panel discussions on lasers and SDI took place at various laser conferences. Proceedings of these conferences include papers on the status of chemical and other high power lasers at the time.
The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser program uses a chemical laser which has successfully intercepted a missile taking off, so an offshoot of SDI could be said to have successfully implemented one of the key goals of the program.
In July 1989, the Beam Experiments Aboard a Rocket (BEAR) program launched a sounding rocket containing a neutral particle beam (NPB) accelerator. The experiment successfully demonstrated that a particle beam would operate and propagate as predicted outside the atmosphere and that there are no unexpected side-effects when firing the beam in space. After the rocket was recovered, the particle beam was still operational. According to the BMDO, the research on neutral particle beam accelerators, which was originally funded by the SDIO, could eventually be used to reduce the half-life of nuclear waste products using accelerator-driven transmutation technology.
The High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE), launched with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-G, was tested June 21, 1985 when a Hawaii-based low-power laser successfully tracked the experiment and bounced the laser off of the HPTE mirror.
The Relay mirror experiment (RME), launched in February 1990, demonstrated critical technologies for space-based relay mirrors that would be used with an SDI directed-energy weapon system. The experiment validated stabilization, tracking, and pointing concepts and proved that a laser could be relayed from the ground to a 60 cm mirror on an orbiting satellite and back to another ground station with a high degree of accuracy and for extended durations.
Launched on the same rocket as the RME, the Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite was built by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to explore atmospheric distortion of lasers and real-time adaptive compensation for that distortion. The LACE satellite also included several other experiments to help develop and improve SDI sensors, including target discrimination using background radiation and tracking ballistic missiles using Ultraviolet Plume Imaging (UVPI). LACE was also used to evaluate ground-based adaptive optics, a technique now used in civilian telescopes to remove atmospheric distortions.
Research out of hypervelocity railgun technology was done to build an information base about railguns so that SDI planners would know how to apply the technology to the proposed defense system. The SDI railgun investigation, called the Compact High Energy Capacitor Module Advanced Technology Experiment, had been able to fire two projectiles per day during the initiative. This represented a significant improvement over previous efforts, which were only able to achieve about one shot per month. Hypervelocity railguns are, at least conceptually, an attractive alternative to a space-based defense system because of their envisioned ability to quickly shoot at many targets. Also, since only the projectile leaves the gun, a railgun system can potentially fire many times before needing to be resupplied.
A hypervelocity railgun works very much like a particle accelerator insofar as it converts electrical potential energy into kinetic energy imparted to the projectile. A conductive pellet (the projectile) is attracted down the rails by electric current flowing through a rail. Through the magnetic forces that this system achieves, a force is exerted on the projectile moving it down the rail. Railguns can generate muzzle-velocities in excess of 2.4 kilometers per second.
Railguns face a host of technical challenges before they will be ready for battlefield deployment. First, the rails guiding the projectile must carry very high power. Each firing of the railgun produces tremendous current flow (almost half a million amperes) through the rails, causing rapid erosion of the rail's surfaces (through ohmic heating), and even vaporization of the rail surface. Early prototypes were essentially single-use weapons, requiring complete replacement of the rails after each firing. Another challenge with the railgun system is projectile survivability. The projectiles experience acceleration force in excess of 100,000 g. To be effective, the fired projectile must first survive the mechanical stress of firing and the thermal effects of a trip through the atmosphere at many times the speed of sound before its subsequent impact with the target. In-flight guidance, if implemented, would require the onboard navigation system to be built to the same level of sturdiness as the main mass of the projectile.
In addition to being considered for destroying ballistic missile threats, railguns were also being planned for service in space platform (sensor and battle station) defense. This potential role reflected defense planner expectations that the railguns of the future would be capable of not only rapid fire, but also of multiple firings (on the order of tens to hundreds of shots).
Groups of interceptors were to be housed in orbital modules. Hover testing was completed in 1988 and demonstrated integration of the sensor and propulsion systems in the prototype SBI. It also demonstrated the ability of the seeker to shift its aiming point from a rocket's hot plume to its cool body, a first for infrared ABM seekers. Final hover testing occurred in 1992 using miniaturized components similar to what would have actually been used in an operational interceptor. These prototypes eventually evolved into the Brilliant Pebbles program.
Brilliant Pebbles was a non-nuclear system of satellite-based interceptors designed to use high-velocity, watermelon-sized, teardrop-shaped projectiles made of tungsten as kinetic warheads. It was designed to operate in conjunction with the Brilliant Eyes sensor system. The project was conceived in November 1986 by Lowell Wood at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Detailed studies were undertaken by several advisory boards, including the Defense Science Board and JASON, in 1989.
The Pebbles were designed in such a way that autonomous operation, without further external guidance from planned SDI sensor systems, was possible. This was attractive as a cost saving measure, as it would allow scaling back of those systems, and was estimated to save $7 to $13 billion versus the standard Phase I Architecture. Brilliant Pebbles later became the centerpiece of a revised architecture under the Bush Administration SDIO.
John H. Nuckolls, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1988 to 1994, described the system as "The crowning achievement of the Strategic Defense Initiative". Some of the technologies developed for SDI were used in numerous later projects. For example, the sensors and cameras that were developed and manufactured for Brilliant Pebbles systems became components of the Clementine mission and SDI technologies may also have a role in future missile defense efforts.
Though regarded as one of the most capable SDI systems, the Brilliant Pebbles program was canceled in 1994 by the BMDO.
SDIO sensor research encompassed visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, and radar technologies, and eventually led to the Clementine mission though that mission occurred just after the program transitioned to the BMDO. Like other parts of SDI, the sensor system initially was very large-scale, but after the Soviet threat diminished it was cut back.
Boost Surveillance and Tracking System was part of the SDIO in the late 1980s, and was designed to assist detection of missile launches, especially during the boost phase; however, once the SDI program shifted toward theater missile defense in the early 1990s, the system left SDIO control and was transferred to the Air Force.
Space Surveillance and Tracking System was a system originally designed for tracking ballistic missiles during their mid-course phase. It was designed to work in conjunction with BSTS, but was later scaled down in favor of the Brilliant Eyes program.
Brilliant Eyes was a simpler derivative of the SSTS that focused on theater ballistic missiles rather than ICBMs and was meant to operate in conjunction with the Brilliant Pebbles system.
Brilliant Eyes was renamed Space and Missile Tracking System (SMTS) and scaled back further under BMDO, and in the late 1990s it became the low earth orbit component of the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS).
The Delta 183 program used a satellite known as "Delta Star" to test several sensor related technologies. Delta Star carried a thermographic camera, a long-wave infrared imager, an ensemble of imagers and photometers covering several visible and ultraviolet bands as well as a laser detector and ranging device. The satellite observed several ballistic missile launches including some releasing liquid propellant as a countermeasure to detection. Data from the experiments led to advances in sensor technologies.
In war-fighting, countermeasures can have a variety of meanings:
Countermeasures of various types have long been a key part of warfighting strategy; however, with SDI they attained a special prominence due to the system cost, scenario of a massive sophisticated attack, strategic consequences of a less-than-perfect defense, outer spacebasing of many proposed weapons systems, and political debate.
Whereas the current United States national missile defense system is designed around a relatively limited and unsophisticated attack, SDI planned for a massive attack by a sophisticated opponent. This raised significant issues about economic and technical costs associated with defending against anti-ballistic missile defense countermeasures used by the attacking side.
For example, if it had been much cheaper to add attacking warheads than to add defenses, an attacker of similar economic power could have simply outproduced the defender. This requirement of being "cost effective at the margin" was first formulated by Paul Nitze in November 1985.
In addition, SDI envisioned many space-based systems in fixed orbits, ground-based sensors, command, control and communications facilities, etc. In theory, an advanced opponent could have targeted those, in turn requiring self-defense capability or increased numbers to compensate for attrition.
A sophisticated attacker having the technology to use decoys, shielding, maneuvering warheads, defense suppression, or other countermeasures would have multiplied the difficulty and cost of intercepting the real warheads. SDI design and operational planning had to factor in these countermeasures and the associated cost.
The Soviet response to the SDI during the period of March 1983 through November 1985 provided indications of their view of the program both as a threat and as an opportunity to weaken NATO. SDI was likely seen not only as a threat to the physical security of the Soviet Union, but also as part of an effort by the United States to seize the strategic initiative in arms controls by neutralizing the military component of Soviet strategy. The Kremlin expressed concerns that space-based missile defenses would make nuclear war inevitable.
A major objective of that strategy was the political separation of Western Europe from the United States, which the Soviets sought to facilitate by aggravating allied concern over the SDI's potential implications for European security and economic interests. The Soviet predisposition to see deception behind the SDI was reinforced by their assessment of US intentions and capabilities and the utility of military deception in furthering the achievement of political goals.
In 1986 Carl Sagan summarized what he heard Soviet commentators were saying about SDI, with a common argument being that it was equivalent to starting an economic war through a defensive arms race to further cripple the Soviet economy with extra military spending, while another interpretation was that it served as a disguise for the US wish to initiate a first strike on the Soviet Union.
Though classified at the time, a detailed study on a Soviet space-based LASER system began no later than 1976 as the "Skif", a 1 MW Carbon dioxide laser along with the anti-satellite "Kaskad", an in-orbit missile platform. With both devices reportedly designed to pre-emptively destroy any US satellites that might be launched in the future which could otherwise aid US missile defense.
Terra-3' was a Soviet laser testing centre, located on the Sary Shagan anti-ballistic missile (ABM) testing range in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. It was originally built to test missile defense concepts, In 1984, officials within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) suggested it was the site of a prototypical anti-satellite weapon system.
In 1987 a disguised Mir space station module was lifted on the inaugural flight of the Energia booster as the Polyus and it has since been revealed that this craft housed a number of systems of the Skif laser, which were intended to be clandestinely tested in orbit, if it had not been for the spacecraft's attitude control system malfunctioning upon separation from the booster and it failing to reach orbit. More tentatively, it is also suggested that the Zarya module of the International Space Station, capable of station keeping and providing sizable battery power, was initially developed to power the Skif laser system.
The polyus was a prototype of the Skif orbital weapons platform designed to destroy Strategic Defense Initiative satellites with a megawatt carbon-dioxide laser. Soviet motivations behind attempting to launch components of the Skif laser in the form of Polyus were, according to interviews conducted years later, more for propaganda purposes in the prevailing climate of focus on US SDI, than as an effective defense technology, as the phrase "Space based laser" has a certain political capital.
In 2014, a declassified CIA paper states that "In response to SDI, Moscow threatened a variety of military countermeasures in lieu of developing a parallel missile defense system".
Historians from the Missile Defense Agency attribute the term "Star Wars" to a "Washington Post" article published March 24, 1983, the day after the speech, which quoted Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy describing the proposal as "reckless Star Wars schemes." Some critics used that term derisively, implying it was an impractical science fiction. In addition, the American media's liberal use of the moniker (despite President Reagan's request that they use the program's official name) did much to damage the program's credibility. In comments to the media on March 7, 1986, Acting Deputy Director of SDIO, Dr. Gerold Yonas, described the name "Star Wars" as an important tool for Soviet disinformation and asserted that the nickname gave an entirely wrong impression of SDI.
Jessica Savitch reported on the technology in episode No.111 of Frontline, "Space: The Race for High Ground" on PBS on November 4, 1983. The opening sequence shows Jessica Savitch seated next to a laser that she used to destroy a model of a communication satellite. The demonstration was perhaps the first televised use of a weapons grade laser. No theatrical effects were used. The model was actually destroyed by the heat from the laser. The model and the laser were realized by Marc Palumbo, a High Tech Romantic artist from the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT.
Ashton Carter, then a board member at MIT, assessed SDI for Congress in 1984, saying there were a number of difficulties in creating an adequate missile defense shield, with or without lasers. Carter said X-rays have a limited scope because they become diffused through the atmosphere, much like the beam of a flashlight spreading outward in all directions. This means the X-rays needed to be close to the Soviet Union, especially during the critical few minutes of the booster phase, for the Soviet missiles to be both detectable to radar and targeted by the lasers themselves. Opponents disagreed, saying advances in technology, such as using very strong laser beams, and by "bleaching" the column of air surrounding the laser beam, could increase the distance that the X-ray would reach to successfully hit its target.
Physicists Hans Bethe and Richard Garwin, who worked with Edward Teller on both the atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos, claimed a laser defense shield was unfeasible. They said that a defensive system was costly and difficult to build yet simple to destroy, and claimed that the Soviets could easily use thousands of decoys to overwhelm it during a nuclear attack. They believed that the only way to stop the threat of nuclear war was through diplomacy and dismissed the idea of a "technical solution" to the Cold War, saying that a defense shield could be viewed as threatening because it would limit or destroy Soviet offensive capabilities while leaving the American offense intact. In March 1984, Bethe coauthored a 106-page report for the Union of Concerned Scientists that concluded "the X-ray laser offers no prospect of being a useful component in a system for ballistic missile defense."
In response to this when Teller testified before Congress he stated that "instead of [Bethe] objecting on scientific and technical grounds, which he thoroughly understands, he now objects on the grounds of politics, on grounds of military feasibility of military deployment, on other grounds of difficult issues which are quite outside the range of his professional cognizance or mine."
On June 28, 1985, David Lorge Parnas resigned from SDIO's Panel on Computing in Support of Battle Management, arguing in eight short papers that the software required by the Strategic Defense Initiative could never be made to be trustworthy and that such a system would inevitably be unreliable and constitute a menace to humanity in its own right. Parnas said he joined the panel with the desire to make nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete" but soon concluded that the concept was "a fraud".
Another criticism of SDI was that it would require the United States to modify previously ratified treaties. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which requires "States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner" and would forbid the US from pre-positioning in Earth orbit any devices powered by nuclear weapons and any devices capable of "mass destruction". Only the space stationed nuclear pumped X-ray laser concept would have violated this treaty, since other SDI systems, did not require the pre-positioning of nuclear explosives in space.
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and its subsequent protocol, which limited missile defenses to one location per country at 100 missiles each (which the USSR had and the US did not), would have been violated by SDI ground-based interceptors. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty requires "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control." Many viewed favoring deployment of ABM systems as an escalation rather than cessation of the nuclear arms race, and therefore a violation of this clause. On the other hand, many others did not view SDI as an escalation.
SDI was criticized for potentially disrupting the strategic doctrine of mutual assured destruction. MAD postulated that intentional nuclear attack was inhibited by the certainty of ensuing mutual destruction. Even if a nuclear first strike destroyed many of the opponent's weapons, sufficient nuclear missiles would survive to render a devastating counter-strike against the attacker. The criticism was that SDI could have potentially allowed an attacker to survive the lighter counter-strike, thus encouraging a first strike by the side having SDI. Another destabilizing scenario was countries being tempted to strike first before SDI was deployed, thereby avoiding a disadvantaged nuclear posture. Proponents of SDI argued that SDI development might instead cause the side that did not have the resources to develop SDI to, rather than launching a suicidal nuclear first strike attack before the SDI system was deployed, instead come to the bargaining table with the country that did have those resources and, hopefully, agree to a real, sincere disarmament pact that would drastically decrease all forces, both nuclear and conventional. Furthermore, the MAD argument was criticized on the grounds that MAD only covered intentional, full-scale nuclear attacks by a rational, non-suicidal opponent with similar values. It did not take into account limited launches, accidental launches, rogue launches, or launches by non-state entities or covert proxies.
During the Reykjavik talks with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, Ronald Reagan addressed Gorbachev's concerns about imbalance by stating that SDI would be given to the Soviet Union to prevent the imbalance from occurring. Gorbachev answered that he could not take this claim seriously.
A military officer who was involved in covert operations at the time has told journalist Seymour Hersh that much of the publicity about the program was deliberately false and intended to expose Soviet spies:
Another criticism of SDI was that it would not be effective against non-space faring weapons, namely cruise missiles, bombers, short-range ballistic missile submarines and non-conventional delivery methods; however, it was never intended to act as a defense against non-space faring weapons.
In 1992, scientist Aldric Saucier was given whistleblower protection after he was fired and complained about "wasteful spending on research and development" at the SDI. Saucier also lost his security clearance. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29186 |
Solomon Northup
Solomon Northup (born July 10, 1807 or 1808) was an American abolitionist and the primary author of the memoir "Twelve Years a Slave". A free-born African American from New York, he was the son of a freed slave and a free woman of color. A farmer and a professional violinist, Northup had been a landowner in Hebron, New York. In 1841, he was offered a traveling musician's job and went to Washington, D.C. (where slavery was legal); there he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold as a slave. He was shipped to New Orleans, purchased by a planter, and held as a slave for 12 years in the Red River region of Louisiana, mostly in Avoyelles Parish. He remained a slave until he met a Canadian working on his plantation who helped get word to New York, where state law provided aid to free New York citizens who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. His family and friends enlisted the aid of the Governor of New York, Washington Hunt, and Northup regained his freedom on January 3, 1853.
The slave trader in Washington, D.C., James H. Birch, was arrested and tried, but acquitted because District of Columbia law prohibited Northup as a black man from testifying against white people. Later, in New York State, his northern kidnappers were located and charged, but the case was tied up in court for two years because of jurisdictional challenges and finally dropped when Washington, D.C. was found to have jurisdiction. The D.C. government did not pursue the case. Those who had kidnapped and enslaved Northup received no punishment.
In his first year of freedom, Northup wrote and published a memoir, "Twelve Years a Slave" (1853). He lectured on behalf of the abolitionist movement, giving more than two dozen speeches throughout the Northeast about his experiences, to build momentum against slavery. He largely disappeared from the historical record after 1857, although a letter later reported him alive in early 1863; some commentators thought he had been kidnapped again, but historians believe it unlikely, as he would have been considered too old to bring a good price. The details of his death have never been documented.
Northup's memoir was adapted and produced as the 1984 television film "Solomon Northup's Odyssey" and the 2013 feature film "12 Years a Slave". The latter won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 86th Academy Awards.
Solomon Northup was born on July 10, 1807 or in 1808. His father Mintus was a freedman who had been a slave in his early life in service to the Northup family. Born in Rhode Island, he was taken with the Northups when they moved to Hoosick, New York, in Rensselaer County. His master, Capt. Henry Northup, a great grandson of Stephen Northup, manumitted Mintus in his will. After being freed by Henry Northup, Mintus adopted the surname Northup as his own. The name appears interchangeably in records as Northup and Northrup.
Mintus Northup married and moved with his wife, a free woman of color, to the town of Minerva in Essex County, New York. Their two sons, Solomon and Joseph, were born free according to the principle of "partus sequitur ventrem", as their mother was a free woman. Solomon described his mother as a quadroon, meaning that she was one-quarter African, and three-quarters European. A farmer, Mintus Northup was successful enough to own land and thus meet the state's property requirements. From 1821 on, when it revised its constitution, the state retained the property requirement for black people, but dropped it for white men, thus expanding their franchise. It is notable that Mintus Northup was able to save enough money as a freedman to buy land that satisfied this requirement, and registered to vote. He provided an education for his two sons at a level considered high for free black people at that time. As boys, Northup and his brother worked on the family farm. Mintus and his wife last lived near Fort Edward. He died on November 22, 1829, and his grave is in Hudson Falls Baker Cemetery.
In 1828 or 1829, Solomon Northup married Anne Hampton. A "woman of color", she was of African, European, and Native American descent. Between 1830 and 1834, the couple lived in Fort Edward and Kingsbury, small communities in Washington County, New York.
They had three children: Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. They owned a farm in Hebron and supplemented their income by various jobs. In his later memoir, Northup describes his love for his wife as "sincere and unabated", since the time of their marriage, and his children as "beloved".
Northup held various jobs, including working as a raftsman. He built a fine reputation as a fiddler and was in high demand to play for local dances. Anne became notable as a cook and worked for local taverns, which served food and drink.
After selling their farm in 1834, the Northups moved 20 miles to Saratoga Springs, New York, for its employment opportunities. Northup played his violin at several well-known hotels in Saratoga Springs, though he found its seasonal cycles of employment difficult. He was busy during the summer, but work was scarce at other times. He worked at an assortment of jobs, constructing the Champlain Canal and the railroad, and as a skilled carpenter. Anne worked from time to time as a cook at the United States Hotel and other public houses, and she was highly praised for her culinary skills. When court was in session at the county seat of Fort Edward, she worked at Sherrill's Coffee House in Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls) to earn extra money.
In 1841, at age 32, Northup met two men, who introduced themselves as Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton. Saying they were entertainers, members of a circus company, they offered him a job as a fiddler for several performances in New York City. Expecting the trip to be brief, Northup did not notify Anne, who was working in Sandy Hill. When they reached New York City, the men persuaded Northup to continue with them for a gig with their circus in Washington, D.C., offering him a generous wage and the cost of his return trip home. They stopped so that he could get a copy of his "free papers", which documented his status as a free man. His status was a concern as he was traveling to Washington, where slavery was legal.
The city had one of the nation's largest slave markets, and slave catchers were not above kidnapping free black people. At this time, 20 years before the Civil War, the expansion of cotton cultivation in the Deep South had led to a continuing high demand for healthy slaves. Kidnappers used a variety of means, from forced abduction to deceit, and frequently abducted children, who were easier to control.
It is possible that "Brown" and "Hamilton" incapacitated Northup—his symptoms suggest that he was drugged with belladonna or laudanum, or with a mixture of both—and sold him to Washington slave trader James H. Birch for $650, claiming that he was a fugitive slave. However, Northup stated in his account of the ordeal in "Twelve Years a Slave" in Chapter II, "[w]hether they were accessory to my misfortunes – subtle and inhuman monsters in the shape of men – designedly luring me away from home and family, and liberty, for the sake of gold – those who read these pages will have the same means of determining as myself." Birch and Ebenezer Radburn, his jailer, severely beat Northup to stop him from saying he was a free man. Birch then wrongfully presented Northup as a slave from Georgia. Northup was held in the slave pen of trader William Williams, close to the United States Capitol. Birch shipped Northup and other slaves by sea to New Orleans, in what was called the coastwise slave trade, where Birch's partner Theophilus Freeman would sell them. During the voyage, Northup and the other slaves caught smallpox. A slave named Robert died of the disease en route.
Northup persuaded John Manning, an English sailor, to send to Henry B. Northup, upon reaching New Orleans, a letter that told of his kidnapping and illegal enslavement. Henry was a lawyer, the son of the man who had once held Solomon's father as a slave and freed him, and a childhood friend of Solomon's. The New York State Legislature had passed a law in 1840 to protect its African-American residents by providing legal and financial assistance to aid the recovery of any who were kidnapped and taken out of state and illegally enslaved. Henry Northup was willing to help but could not act without knowing where Solomon was held.
At the New Orleans slave market, Birch's partner Theophilus Freeman sold Northup (who had been renamed Platt) along with Harry and Eliza (renamed Dradey) to William Prince Ford, a preacher who engaged in small farming on Bayou Boeuf of the Red River in northern Louisiana. Ford was then a Baptist preacher. (In 1843, he led his congregation in converting to the closely related Churches of Christ, after they were influenced by the writings of Alexander Campbell.) In his memoir, Northup characterized Ford as a good man, considerate of his slaves. In spite of his situation, Northup wrote:
In my opinion, there never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford. The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery.
At Ford's place in Pine Woods, Northup assessed the problem of getting timber off Ford's farm to market. He proposed making log rafts to move lumber down the narrow Indian Creek, in order to transport the logs more easily and less expensively than overland. He was familiar with this process from previous work in New York, and Ford was delighted to see his project was a success. Northup used his carpentry skills to build looms, copying from one nearby, so that Ford could set up mills on the creek. With Ford, Northup found his efforts appreciated. But the planter came into financial difficulties and had to sell 18 slaves to settle his debts. He sold 17 to a neighboring planter named Compton. Solomon could not pick cotton, however, so Ford found a buyer in a local tradesman.
In the winter of 1842, Ford sold Northup to John M. Tibaut, a carpenter who had been working for Ford on the mills. He also had helped construct a weaving-house and corn mill on Ford's Bayou Boeuf plantation. Ford owed Tibaut money for the work. Since the amount Ford owed Tibaut was less than the purchase price agreed upon for Solomon, Ford held a chattel mortgage on Northup for $400, the difference between the two amounts.
Under Tibaut, Northup suffered cruel and capricious treatment. Tibaut used him to help complete construction at Ford's plantation. At one point, Tibaut whipped Northup because he did not like the nails Northup was using. But Northup fought back, beating Tibaut severely. Enraged, Tibaut recruited two friends to lynch and hang the slave, which a master was legally entitled to do. Ford's overseer Chapin interrupted and prevented the men from killing Northup, reminding Tibaut of his debt to Ford, and chasing them off at gunpoint. Northup was left bound and noosed for hours until Ford returned home to cut him down. Northup believed that Tibaut's debt to Ford saved his life. Historian Walter Johnson suggests that Northup may well have been the first slave Tibaut ever bought, marking his transition from itinerant employee to property-owning master.
Tibaut, who had a low reputation locally, decided at another point to kill Northup. When the two men were alone, Tibaut seized an axe and swung it to hit Northup, but he again defended himself. With his bare hands, he strangled Tibaut to the point of unconsciousness. Northup ran away through swamps so that dogs could not track him, making his way back to Ford, with whom he stayed for four days. The planter convinced Tibaut to "hire out" Northup to limit their conflict and take the fees he could generate.
Tibaut hired Northup out to a planter named Eldret, who lived about 38 miles south on the Red River. At what he called "The Big Cane Brake", Eldret had Northup and other slaves clear cane, trees, and undergrowth in the bottomlands in order to develop cotton fields for cultivation. With the work unfinished, after about five weeks, Tibaut sold Northup to Edwin Epps.
Epps held Northup for almost 10 years, until 1853, in Avoyelles Parish. He was a cruel master who frequently and indiscriminately punished slaves and drove them hard. His policy was to whip slaves if they did not meet daily work quotas he set for pounds of cotton to be picked, among other goals. Northup wrote that the sounds of whipping were heard every day on Epps' plantation, from sundown until lights out. Epps sexually abused a young enslaved woman named Patsey, repeatedly raping her. This led to additional severe physical and mental abuse prompted by Epps's wife, the mistress of the plantation.
In 1852, itinerant Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass came to do some work for Epps. Hearing Bass express his abolitionist views, Northup eventually decided to confide his secret to him. Bass was the first person he told of his true name and origins as a free man since he was first enslaved. Along with mailing a letter written by Northup, Bass wrote several letters at his request to Northup's friends, providing general details of his location at Bayou Boeuf, in hopes of gaining his rescue.
Bass did this at great personal risk as the local people would not take kindly to a person helping a slave and depriving a man of his property. In addition, Bass's help came after passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which increased federal penalties against people assisting slaves to escape.
Bass wrote several letters: one reached Cephas Parker and William Perry, storekeepers in Saratoga who knew Northup. Parker or Perry forwarded the letter to Northup's wife, Anne, who contacted attorney Henry B. Northup, the son of Solomon's father's former master. Henry B. Northup contacted New York Governor Washington Hunt, who took up the case, appointing the attorney general as his legal agent. In 1840, the New York State Legislature had passed a law committing the state to help any African-American residents kidnapped into slavery, as well as guaranteeing a jury trial to alleged fugitive slaves. Once Northup's family was notified, his rescuers still had to do detective work to find the enslaved man, as he had partially tried to hide his location for protection in case the letters fell into the wrong hands, and Bass had not used his real name. They had to find documentation of his free status as a citizen and New York resident; Henry B. Northup also collected sworn affidavits from people who knew Solomon Northup. During this time, Northup did not know if Bass had reached anyone with the letters. There was no means of communicating, because of the secrecy they needed to maintain, and the necessity of preventing Northup's owner from knowing their plans.
Bass was itinerant and had no local family. (Unbeknownst to his friends in Louisiana, he had left a wife and children in Canada. He also lived with a free woman of color in Louisiana.) Because of the risk, Bass did not reveal his own name in the letter. Henry Northup still managed to find him in Louisiana, and Bass revealed that Solomon Northup was held by Edwin Epps on his plantation. Henry B. Northup took the precaution of bringing with him the sheriff of Marksville, the parish seat, to enforce the law.
In cooperation with U.S. Senator Pierre Soulé from Louisiana and other local authorities, Henry B. Northup arrived in Marksville on January 1, 1853. Tracing Northup was difficult as he was known locally only by his slave name of Platt. When the attorney confronted Epps with the evidence that Platt/Northup was a free man, with a wife and children, Epps first demanded of the enslaved man why he had not told him this at the time of purchase. Then Epps said, had he known that men were coming to take "Platt", he would have ensured they could never take the slave alive. Epps cursed the man (unknown to him) who had helped Northup, and threatened to kill him if he ever learned his identity.
Northup later wrote, "He [Epps] thought of nothing but his loss, and cursed me for having been born free." Attorney Henry B. Northup convinced Epps that it would be futile to contest the free papers in a court of law, so the planter conceded the case. He signed papers giving up all claim to Northup. Finally on January 4, 1853, four months after meeting Bass, Northup regained his freedom.
Northup was one of the few kidnapped free black people to regain freedom after being sold into slavery. Represented by attorneys Senator Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, General Orville Clark, and Henry B. Northup, Solomon Northup sued Birch and other men involved in selling him into slavery in Washington, DC.
As Solomon Northup and Henry Northup made their way back to New York, they first stopped in Washington DC to file a legal complaint with the police magistrate against James H. Birch, the man who had first enslaved him. Birch was immediately arrested and tried on criminal charges. However, Northup was unable to testify at the trial due to laws in Washington DC against black men testifying in court. Birch and several others, who were also in the slave trade, testified that Northup had approached them, saying he was a slave from Georgia and was for sale. No note of his purchase was made in Birch's accounting ledger, however. The prosecution consisted of Henry B. Northup and another white man asserting that they had known Northup for many years, and he was born and lived a free man in New York until his abduction. With no one legally able to testify against Birch's tale, Birch was found not guilty. However, the sensational case immediately attracted national attention, and "The New York Times" published an article about the trial on January 20, 1853, just days after its conclusion and only two weeks after Northup's rescue.
Following his acquittal, Birch demanded charges be filed against Solomon Northup for trying to defraud him of Northup's $625 purchase price by falsely claiming he was a Georgia slave for sale. Northup, eager to prove the veracity of his own story, urged the trial to proceed. Upon the advice of his lawyer, Birch withdrew the complaint, against the protests of Northup. Northup knew that a trial related to Birch's complaint could only rebound against Birch and make him look bad. If Northup had in fact claimed to be a slave from Georgia, it would not have made sense for him to risk his freedom, days after regaining it, by contacting the law to bring charges against Birch.
At the time, Northup did not file a legal complaint against the men with the circus, Alexander Merrill and Joseph Russell, because they could not be found, having used false names with Northup. At first, Northup had trouble believing they could be complicit.
Later that same year, Solomon Northup wrote and published his memoir, "Twelve Years a Slave" (1853). The book was written in three months with the help of David Wilson, a local writer and journalist. Published by Derby & Miller of Auburn, New York In the period when questions of slavery generated debate and the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe was a bestseller, Northup's book sold 30,000 copies within three years, also becoming a bestseller.
When the book and case were publicized, Thaddeus St. John, a county court judge in nearby Fonda, New York, recalled having seen two old friends, Alexander Merrill and Joseph Russell, traveling with a black man to Washington, DC at the time of the late President Harrison's funeral in 1841. He saw them again while returning from Washington, but they were without the black man. They wore and carried new extravagantly expensive items, and he recalled an odd conversation with them during the first trip. They had asked him then to call them Brown and Hamilton when in company with the black man, rather than Merrill and Russell, as he knew them. After contacting authorities, St. John met with Northup. The two recognized each other from the first encounter on the train in 1840. With this identification, Merrill and Russell were located and arrested.
The New York trial opened on October 4, 1854. Both Northup and St. John testified against the two men. The case brought widespread illegal practices in the domestic slave trade to light. Through testimony during the court case, various details of Northup's account of his experience were confirmed. The respective counsels argued over whether the crime had been committed in New York (where Northup could testify), or in Washington, DC, outside the jurisdiction of New York courts. After more than two years of appeals, a new district attorney in New York failed to continue with the case, and it was dropped in May 1857. Washington, DC authorities declined to prosecute Merrill and Russell, and no further legal action was taken against those who had allegedly kidnapped and sold Northup into slavery.
After regaining his freedom, Solomon Northup rejoined his wife and children. By 1855, he was living with his daughter Margaret Stanton and her family in Queensbury, Warren County, New York. He was working again as a carpenter. He became active in the abolitionist movement and lectured on slavery on nearly two dozen occasions throughout the northeastern United States in the years before the American Civil War.
During the summer of 1857, Northup was in Canada for a series of lectures. It was widely reported that Northup was in Streetsville, Ontario, but that a hostile Canadian crowd prevented him from speaking. There is no contemporaneous documentation of his whereabouts after that time. The location and circumstances of his death are unknown. Rumors ran rife. In 1858, a newspaper reported, "It is said that Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped, sold as a slave, and afterwards recovered and restored to freedom has been again decoyed South, and is again a slave." Shortly thereafter, even his benefactor Henry B. Northup is said to have believed Solomon had been kidnapped from Canada while drunk.
Years later, in "The Bench and Bar of Saratoga County" (1879), E. R. Mann mistakenly wrote that the Saratoga County kidnapping case against Merrill and Russell had been dismissed because Northup had disappeared. Mann speculated, "What his fate was is unknown to the public, but the desperate kidnappers no doubt knew." In 1909, John Henry Northup, Henry's nephew, wrote: "The last I heard of him, Sol was lecturing in Boston to help sell his book. All at once, he disappeared. We believe that he was kidnapped and taken away or killed." According to John R. Smith, in letters written in the 1930s, he said that his father Rev. John L. Smith, a Methodist minister in Vermont, had worked with Northup and former slave Tabbs Gross in the early 1860s, during the Civil War, aiding fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad. Northup was said to have visited Rev. Smith after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was made in January 1863.
Northup was not listed with his family in the 1860 United States Census. The New York state census of 1865 records his wife Anne Northup (but not Solomon); she was recorded as married, not widowed, and living with their daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and Philip Stanton, in nearby Moreau in Saratoga County.
In 1870, Northup's wife was enumerated as a cook in the household of Burton C. Dennis. At the time, Dennis kept the Middleworth House hotel in Sandy Hill, New York. Solomon Northup is not listed among those living at the hotel. That same year, his daughter, Margaret Stanton, and his son-in-law appear in the census schedule for Moreau, New York, but Northup's name is not there, either. Northup's son, Alonzo, is included in the 1870 census for Fort Edward, New York; his household includes only him, his wife and his daughter.
In 1875, Anne Northup was living in Kingsbury/Sandy Hill in Washington County, New York, and, in census information, her marital status was given as "now widowed." When Anne Northup died in 1876, some newspaper notices of her death said that she was a widow. One obituary, while praising Anne, says of Solomon Northup that "after exhibiting himself through the country [he] became a worthless vagabond".
The 21st-century historians Clifford Brown and Carol Wilson believe it is likely that he died of natural causes. They think a kidnapping for slavery in the late 1850s was unlikely, as he was too old to be of interest to slave catchers, but his disappearance remains unexplained.
Although the memoir is often classified among the genre of slave narratives, the scholar Sam Worley says that it does not fit the standard format of the genre. Northup was assisted in the writing by David Wilson, a white man, and, according to Worley, some believed he would have biased the material. Worley discounted concerns that Wilson was pursuing his own interests in the book. He writes of the memoir:
"Twelve Years" is convincingly Northup's tale and no one else's because of its amazing attention to empirical detail and unwillingness to reduce the complexity of Northup's experience to a stark moral allegory.
Northup's biographer, David Fiske, has investigated Northup's role in the book's writing and asserts authenticity of authorship. Northup's full and descriptive account has been used by numerous historians researching slavery. His description of the "Yellow House" (also known as "The Williams Slave Pen"), in view of the Capitol, has helped researchers document the history of slavery in the District of Columbia. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29190 |
Space elevator
A space elevator is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system. The main component would be a cable (also called a tether) anchored to the surface and extending into space. The design would permit vehicles to travel along the cable from a planetary surface, such as the Earth's, directly into space or orbit, without the use of large rockets. An Earth-based space elevator would consist of a cable with one end attached to the surface near the equator and the other end in space beyond geostationary orbit (35,786 km altitude). The competing forces of gravity, which is stronger at the lower end, and the outward/upward centrifugal force, which is stronger at the upper end, would result in the cable being held up, under tension, and stationary over a single position on Earth. With the tether deployed, climbers could repeatedly climb the tether to space by mechanical means, releasing their cargo to orbit. Climbers could also descend the tether to return cargo to the surface from orbit.
The concept of a tower reaching geosynchronous orbit was first published in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His proposal was for a free-standing tower reaching from the surface of Earth to the height of geostationary orbit. Like all buildings, Tsiolkovsky's structure would be under compression, supporting its weight from below. Since 1959, most ideas for space elevators have focused on purely tensile structures, with the weight of the system held up from above by centrifugal forces. In the tensile concepts, a space tether reaches from a large mass (the counterweight) beyond geostationary orbit to the ground. This structure is held in tension between Earth and the counterweight like an upside-down plumb bob.
To construct a space elevator on Earth, the cable material would need to be both stronger and lighter (have greater specific strength) than any known material. Development of new materials that meet the demanding specific strength requirement must happen before designs can progress beyond discussion stage. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been identified as possibly being able to meet the specific strength requirements for an Earth space elevator. Other materials considered have been boron nitride nanotubes, and diamond nanothreads, which were first constructed in 2014.
The concept is applicable to other planets and celestial bodies. For locations in the solar system with weaker gravity than Earth's (such as the Moon or Mars), the strength-to-density requirements for tether materials are not as problematic. Currently available materials (such as Kevlar) are strong and light enough that they could be practical as the tether material for elevators there.
The key concept of the space elevator appeared in 1895 when Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He considered a similar tower that reached all the way into space and was built from the ground up to the altitude of 35,786 kilometers, the height of geostationary orbit. He noted that the top of such a tower would be circling Earth as in a geostationary orbit. Objects would acquire horizontal velocity due to the Earth's rotation as they rode up the tower, and an object released at the tower's top would have enough horizontal velocity to remain there in geostationary orbit. Tsiolkovsky's conceptual tower was a compression structure, while modern concepts call for a tensile structure (or "tether").
Building a compression structure from the ground up proved an unrealistic task as there was no material in existence with enough compressive strength to support its own weight under such conditions. In 1959 the Russian engineer Yuri N. Artsutanov suggested a more feasible proposal. Artsutanov suggested using a geostationary satellite as the base from which to deploy the structure downward. By using a counterweight, a cable would be lowered from geostationary orbit to the surface of Earth, while the counterweight was extended from the satellite away from Earth, keeping the cable constantly over the same spot on the surface of the Earth. Artsutanov's idea was introduced to the Russian-speaking public in an interview published in the Sunday supplement of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in 1960, but was not available in English until much later. He also proposed tapering the cable thickness in order for the stress in the cable to remain constant. This gave a thinner cable at ground level that became thickest at the level of geostationary orbit.
Both the tower and cable ideas were proposed in David E. H. Jones' quasi-humorous "Ariadne" column in "New Scientist", December 24, 1964.
In 1966, Isaacs, Vine, Bradner and Bachus, four American engineers, reinvented the concept, naming it a "Sky-Hook", and published their analysis in the journal "Science". They decided to determine what type of material would be required to build a space elevator, assuming it would be a straight cable with no variations in its cross section area, and found that the strength required would be twice that of any then-existing material including graphite, quartz, and diamond.
In 1975 an American scientist, Jerome Pearson, reinvented the concept, publishing his analysis in the journal "Acta Astronautica". He designed a cross-section-area altitude profile that tapered and would be better suited to building the elevator. The completed cable would be thickest at the geostationary orbit, where the tension was greatest, and would be narrowest at the tips to reduce the amount of weight per unit area of cross section that any point on the cable would have to bear. He suggested using a counterweight that would be slowly extended out to (almost half the distance to the Moon) as the lower section of the elevator were built. Without a large counterweight, the upper portion of the cable would have to be longer than the lower due to the way gravitational and centrifugal forces change with distance from Earth. His analysis included disturbances such as the gravitation of the Moon, wind and moving payloads up and down the cable. The weight of the material needed to build the elevator would have required thousands of Space Shuttle trips, although part of the material could be transported up the elevator when a minimum strength strand reached the ground or be manufactured in space from asteroidal or lunar ore.
After the development of carbon nanotubes in the 1990s, engineer David Smitherman of NASA/Marshall's Advanced Projects Office realized that the high strength of these materials might make the concept of a space elevator feasible, and put together a workshop at the Marshall Space Flight Center, inviting many scientists and engineers to discuss concepts and compile plans for an elevator to turn the concept into a reality.
In 2000, another American scientist, Bradley C. Edwards, suggested creating a long paper-thin ribbon using a carbon nanotube composite material. He chose the wide-thin ribbon-like cross-section shape rather than earlier circular cross-section concepts because that shape would stand a greater chance of surviving impacts by meteoroids. The ribbon cross-section shape also provided large surface area for climbers to climb with simple rollers. Supported by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, Edwards' work was expanded to cover the deployment scenario, climber design, power delivery system, orbital debris avoidance, anchor system, surviving atomic oxygen, avoiding lightning and hurricanes by locating the anchor in the western equatorial Pacific, construction costs, construction schedule, and environmental hazards.
To speed space elevator development, proponents have organized several competitions, similar to the Ansari X Prize, for relevant technologies. Among them are , which organized annual competitions for climbers, ribbons and power-beaming systems from 2005 to 2009, the Robogames Space Elevator Ribbon Climbing competition, as well as NASA's Centennial Challenges program, which, in March 2005, announced a partnership with the Spaceward Foundation (the operator of Elevator:2010), raising the total value of prizes to US$400,000.
The first European Space Elevator Challenge (EuSEC) to establish a climber structure took place in August 2011.
In 2005, "the LiftPort Group of space elevator companies announced that it will be building a carbon nanotube manufacturing plant in Millville, New Jersey, to supply various glass, plastic and metal companies with these strong materials. Although LiftPort hopes to eventually use carbon nanotubes in the construction of a space elevator, this move will allow it to make money in the short term and conduct research and development into new production methods." Their announced goal was a space elevator launch in 2010. On February 13, 2006 the LiftPort Group announced that, earlier the same month, they had tested a mile of "space-elevator tether" made of carbon-fiber composite strings and fiberglass tape measuring wide and 1 mm (approx. 13 sheets of paper) thick, lifted with balloons. In April 2019, Liftport CEO Michael Laine admitted little progress has been made on the company's lofty space elevator ambitions, even after receiving more than $200,000 in seed funding. The carbon nanotube manufacturing facility that Liftport announced in 2005 was never built.
In 2006 the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator" was published by Dr Brad Edwards and Philip Ragan, containing a comprehensive review of the history, construction challenges and implementation plans for future space elevators, including space elevators on the Moon and Mars.
In 2007, held the 2007 Space Elevator games, which featured US$500,000 awards for each of the two competitions, ($1,000,000 total) as well as an additional $4,000,000 to be awarded over the next five years for space elevator related technologies. No teams won the competition, but a team from MIT entered the first 2-gram (0.07 oz), 100-percent carbon nanotube entry into the competition. Japan held an international conference in November 2008 to draw up a timetable for building the elevator.
In 2008 the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator" was published in Japanese and entered the Japanese best-seller list. This led to Shuichi Ono, chairman of the Japan Space Elevator Association, unveiling a space-elevator plan, putting forth what observers considered an extremely low cost estimate of a trillion yen (£5 billion / $8 billion) to build one.
In 2012, the Obayashi Corporation announced that in 38 years it could build a space elevator using carbon nanotube technology. At 200 kilometers per hour, the design's 30-passenger climber would be able to reach the GEO level after a 7.5 day trip. No cost estimates, finance plans, or other specifics were made. This, along with timing and other factors, hinted that the announcement was made largely to provide publicity for the opening of one of the company's other projects in Tokyo.
In 2013, the International Academy of Astronautics published a technological feasibility assessment which concluded that the critical capability improvement needed was the tether material, which was projected to achieve the necessary specific strength within 20 years. The four-year long study looked into many facets of space elevator development including missions, development schedules, financial investments, revenue flow, and benefits. It was reported that it would be possible to operationally survive smaller impacts and avoid larger impacts, with meteors and space debris, and that the estimated cost of lifting a kilogram of payload to GEO and beyond would be $500.
In 2014, Google X's Rapid Evaluation R&D team began the design of a Space Elevator, eventually finding that no one had yet manufactured a perfectly formed carbon nanotube strand longer than a meter. They thus decided to put the project in "deep freeze" and also keep tabs on any advances in the carbon nanotube field.
In 2018, researchers at Japan's Shizuoka University launched STARS-Me, two CubeSats connected by a tether, which a mini-elevator will travel on. The experiment was launched as a test bed for a larger structure.
In 2019, the International Academy of Astronautics published "Road to the Space Elevator Era", a study report summarizing the assessment of the space elevator as of summer 2018. The essence is that a broad group of space professionals gathered and assessed the status of the space elevator development, each contributing their expertise and coming to similar conclusions : (a) Earth Space Elevators seem feasible, reinforcing the IAA 2013 study conclusion (b) Space Elevator development initiation is nearer than most think. This last conclusion is based on a potential process for manufacturing macro-scale single crystal graphene with higher specific strength than carbon nanotubes.
In 1979, space elevators were introduced to a broader audience with the simultaneous publication of Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "The Fountains of Paradise", in which engineers construct a space elevator on top of a mountain peak in the fictional island country of "Taprobane" (loosely based on Sri Lanka, albeit moved south to the Equator), and Charles Sheffield's first novel, "The Web Between the Worlds", also featuring the building of a space elevator. Three years later, in Robert A. Heinlein's 1982 novel "Friday" the principal character makes use of the "Nairobi Beanstalk" in the course of her travels. In Kim Stanley Robinson's 1993 novel "Red Mars", colonists build a space elevator on Mars that allows both for more colonists to arrive and also for natural resources mined there to be able to leave for Earth. In David Gerrold's 2000 novel, "Jumping Off The Planet", a family excursion up the Ecuador "beanstalk" is actually a child-custody kidnapping. Gerrold's book also examines some of the industrial applications of a mature elevator technology. The concept of a space elevator, called the Beanstalk, is also depicted in John Scalzi's 2005 novel, "Old Man's War." In a biological version, Joan Slonczewski's 2011 novel "The Highest Frontier" depicts a college student ascending a space elevator constructed of self-healing cables of anthrax bacilli. The engineered bacteria can regrow the cables when severed by space debris. Analemma Tower is an inhabitable variant of a space elevator, proposed as the 'tallest building in the world'.
An Earth space elevator cable rotates along with the rotation of the Earth. Therefore, the cable, and objects attached to it, would experience upward centrifugal force in the direction opposing the downward gravitational force. The higher up the cable the object is located, the less the gravitational pull of the Earth, and the stronger the upward centrifugal force due to the rotation, so that more centrifugal force opposes less gravity. The centrifugal force and the gravity are balanced at geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO). Above GEO, the centrifugal force is stronger than gravity, causing objects attached to the cable there to pull "upward" on it.
The net force for objects attached to the cable is called the "apparent gravitational field". The apparent gravitational field for attached objects is the (downward) gravity minus the (upward) centrifugal force. The apparent gravity experienced by an object on the cable is zero at GEO, downward below GEO, and upward above GEO.
The apparent gravitational field can be represented this way:
where
At some point up the cable, the two terms (downward gravity and upward centrifugal force) are equal and opposite. Objects fixed to the cable at that point put no weight on the cable. This altitude (r1) depends on the mass of the planet and its rotation rate. Setting actual gravity equal to centrifugal acceleration gives:
This is above Earth's surface, the altitude of geostationary orbit.
On the cable "below" geostationary orbit, downward gravity would be greater than the upward centrifugal force, so the apparent gravity would pull objects attached to the cable downward. Any object released from the cable below that level would initially accelerate downward along the cable. Then gradually it would deflect eastward from the cable. On the cable "above" the level of stationary orbit, upward centrifugal force would be greater than downward gravity, so the apparent gravity would pull objects attached to the cable "upward". Any object released from the cable "above" the geosynchronous level would initially accelerate "upward" along the cable. Then gradually it would deflect westward from the cable.
Historically, the main technical problem has been considered the ability of the cable to hold up, with tension, the weight of itself below any given point. The greatest tension on a space elevator cable is at the point of geostationary orbit, above the Earth's equator. This means that the cable material, combined with its design, must be strong enough to hold up its own weight from the surface up to . A cable which is thicker in cross section area at that height than at the surface could better hold up its own weight over a longer length. How the cross section area tapers from the maximum at to the minimum at the surface is therefore an important design factor for a space elevator cable.
To maximize the usable excess strength for a given amount of cable material, the cable's cross section area would need to be designed for the most part in such a way that the stress (i.e., the tension per unit of cross sectional area) is constant along the length of the cable. The constant-stress criterion is a starting point in the design of the cable cross section area as it changes with altitude. Other factors considered in more detailed designs include thickening at altitudes where more space junk is present, consideration of the point stresses imposed by climbers, and the use of varied materials. To account for these and other factors, modern detailed designs seek to achieve the largest "safety margin" possible, with as little variation over altitude and time as possible. In simple starting-point designs, that equates to constant-stress.
In the constant-stress case, the cross-section-area can be described by the differential equation as:
where
For a constant-stress cable with no safety margin, the cross-section-area profile as a function of distance from Earth's center can be solved with
Safety margin can be accounted for by dividing T by the desired safety factor.
Using the above taper formula to solve for the specific case of earth equatorial surface (formula_1 km) and Earth geosynchronous orbit (formula_2 km), specific materials can be examined:
A table of values for taper for various materials are:
The taper factor results in large increases in cross-section-area unless the specific strength of the material used approaches 48 (MPa)/(kg/m^3). Low specific strength materials require very large taper ratios which equates to large (or astronomical) total mass of the cable with associated large or impossible costs.
There are a variety of space elevator designs proposed for many planetary bodies. Almost every design includes a base station, a cable, climbers, and a counterweight. For an Earth Space Elevator the Earth's rotation creates upward centrifugal force on the counterweight. The counterweight is held down by the cable while the cable is held up and taut by the counterweight. The base station anchors the whole system to the surface of the Earth. Climbers climb up and down the cable with cargo.
Modern concepts for the base station/anchor are typically mobile stations, large oceangoing vessels or other mobile platforms. Mobile base stations would have the advantage over the earlier stationary concepts (with land-based anchors) by being able to maneuver to avoid high winds, storms, and space debris. Oceanic anchor points are also typically in international waters, simplifying and reducing cost of negotiating territory use for the base station.
Stationary land based platforms would have simpler and less costly logistical access to the base. They also would have an advantage of being able to be at high altitude, such as on top of mountains. In an alternate concept, the base station could be a tower, forming a space elevator which comprises both a compression tower close to the surface, and a tether structure at higher altitudes. Combining a compression structure with a tension structure would reduce loads from the atmosphere at the Earth end of the tether, and reduce the distance into the Earth's gravity field the cable needs to extend, and thus reduce the critical strength-to-density requirements for the cable material, all other design factors being equal.
A space elevator cable would need to carry its own weight as well as the additional weight of climbers. The required strength of the cable would vary along its length. This is because at various points it would have to carry the weight of the cable below, or provide a downward force to retain the cable and counterweight above. Maximum tension on a space elevator cable would be at geosynchronous altitude so the cable would have to be thickest there and taper as it approaches Earth. Any potential cable design may be characterized by the taper factor – the ratio between the cable's radius at geosynchronous altitude and at the Earth's surface.
The cable would need to be made of a material with a high tensile strength/density ratio. For example, the Edwards space elevator design assumes a cable material with a tensile strength of at least 100 gigapascals. Since Edwards consistently assumed the density of his carbon nanotube cable to be 1300 kg/m3, that implies a specific strength of 77 megapascal/(kg/m3). This value takes into consideration the entire weight of the space elevator. An untapered space elevator cable would need a material capable of sustaining a length of of its own weight "at sea level" to reach a geostationary altitude of without yielding. Therefore, a material with very high strength and lightness is needed.
For comparison, metals like titanium, steel or aluminium alloys have breaking lengths of only 20–30 km (0.2–0.3 MPa/(kg/m3)). Modern fibre materials such as kevlar, fibreglass and carbon/graphite fibre have breaking lengths of 100–400 km (1.0–4.0 MPa/(kg/m3)). Nanoengineered materials such as carbon nanotubes and, more recently discovered, graphene ribbons (perfect two-dimensional sheets of carbon) are expected to have breaking lengths of 5000–6000 km (50–60 MPa/(kg/m3)), and also are able to conduct electrical power.
For a space elevator on Earth, with its comparatively high gravity, the cable material would need to be stronger and lighter than currently available materials. For this reason, there has been a focus on the development of new materials that meet the demanding specific strength requirement. For high specific strength, carbon has advantages because it is only the 6th element in the periodic table. Carbon has comparatively few of the protons and neutrons which contribute most of the dead weight of any material. Most of the interatomic bonding forces of any element are contributed by only the outer few electrons. For carbon, the strength and stability of those bonds is high compared to the mass of the atom. The challenge in using carbon nanotubes remains to extend to macroscopic sizes the production of such material that are still perfect on the microscopic scale (as microscopic defects are most responsible for material weakness).
As of 2014, carbon nanotube technology allowed growing tubes up to a few tenths of meters.
In 2014, diamond nanothreads were first synthesized. Since they have strength properties similar to carbon nanotubes, diamond nanothreads were quickly seen as candidate cable material as well.
A space elevator cannot be an elevator in the typical sense (with moving cables) due to the need for the cable to be significantly wider at the center than at the tips. While various designs employing moving cables have been proposed, most cable designs call for the "elevator" to climb up a stationary cable.
Climbers cover a wide range of designs. On elevator designs whose cables are planar ribbons, most propose to use pairs of rollers to hold the cable with friction.
Climbers would need to be paced at optimal timings so as to minimize cable stress and oscillations and to maximize throughput. Lighter climbers could be sent up more often, with several going up at the same time. This would increase throughput somewhat, but would lower the mass of each individual payload.
The horizontal speed, i.e. due to orbital rotation, of each part of the cable increases with altitude, proportional to distance from the center of the Earth, reaching low orbital speed at a point approximately 66 percent of the height between the surface and geostationary orbit, or a height of about 23,400 km. A payload released at this point would go into a highly eccentric elliptical orbit, staying just barely clear from atmospheric reentry, with the periapsis at the same altitude as LEO and the apoapsis at the release height. With increasing release height the orbit would become less eccentric as both periapsis and apoapsis increase, becoming circular at geostationary level.
When the payload has reached GEO, the horizontal speed is exactly the speed of a circular orbit at that level, so that if released, it would remain adjacent to that point on the cable. The payload can also continue climbing further up the cable beyond GEO, allowing it to obtain higher speed at jettison. If released from 100,000 km, the payload would have enough speed to reach the asteroid belt.
As a payload is lifted up a space elevator, it would gain not only altitude, but horizontal speed (angular momentum) as well. The angular momentum is taken from the Earth's rotation. As the climber ascends, it is initially moving slower than each successive part of cable it is moving on to. This is the Coriolis force: the climber "drags" (westward) on the cable, as it climbs, and slightly decreases the Earth's rotation speed. The opposite process would occur for descending payloads: the cable is tilted eastward, thus slightly increasing Earth's rotation speed.
The overall effect of the centrifugal force acting on the cable would cause it to constantly try to return to the energetically favorable vertical orientation, so after an object has been lifted on the cable, the counterweight would swing back toward the vertical, a bit like a pendulum. Space elevators and their loads would be designed so that the center of mass is always well-enough above the level of geostationary orbit to hold up the whole system. Lift and descent operations would need to be carefully planned so as to keep the pendulum-like motion of the counterweight around the tether point under control.
Climber speed would be limited by the Coriolis force, available power, and by the need to ensure the climber's accelerating force does not break the cable. Climbers would also need to maintain a minimum average speed in order to move material up and down economically and expeditiously. At the speed of a very fast car or train of it will take about 5 days to climb to geosynchronous orbit.
Both power and energy are significant issues for climbers—the climbers would need to gain a large amount of potential energy as quickly as possible to clear the cable for the next payload.
Various methods have been proposed to get that energy to the climber:
Wireless energy transfer such as laser power beaming is currently considered the most likely method, using megawatt powered free electron or solid state lasers in combination with adaptive mirrors approximately wide and a photovoltaic array on the climber tuned to the laser frequency for efficiency. For climber designs powered by power beaming, this efficiency is an important design goal. Unused energy would need to be re-radiated away with heat-dissipation systems, which add to weight.
Yoshio Aoki, a professor of precision machinery engineering at Nihon University and director of the Japan Space Elevator Association, suggested including a second cable and using the conductivity of carbon nanotubes to provide power.
Several solutions have been proposed to act as a counterweight:
Extending the cable has the advantage of some simplicity of the task and the fact that a payload that went to the end of the counterweight-cable would acquire considerable velocity relative to the Earth, allowing it to be launched into interplanetary space. Its disadvantage is the need to produce greater amounts of cable material as opposed to using just anything available that has mass.
An object attached to a space elevator at a radius of approximately 53,100 km would be at escape velocity when released. Transfer orbits to the L1 and L2 Lagrangian points could be attained by release at 50,630 and 51,240 km, respectively, and transfer to lunar orbit from 50,960 km.
At the end of Pearson's cable, the tangential velocity is 10.93 kilometers per second (6.79 mi/s). That is more than enough to escape Earth's gravitational field and send probes at least as far out as Jupiter. Once at Jupiter, a gravitational assist maneuver could permit solar escape velocity to be reached.
A space elevator could also be constructed on other planets, asteroids and moons.
A Martian tether could be much shorter than one on Earth. Mars' surface gravity is 38 percent of Earth's, while it rotates around its axis in about the same time as Earth. Because of this, Martian stationary orbit is much closer to the surface, and hence the elevator could be much shorter. Current materials are already sufficiently strong to construct such an elevator. Building a Martian elevator would be complicated by the Martian moon Phobos, which is in a low orbit and intersects the Equator regularly (twice every orbital period of 11 h 6 min). Phobos and Deimos may get in the way of a geostationary space elevator, however, they may contribute useful resources to the project. Phobos is projected to contain high amounts of carbon. If carbon nanotubes become feasible for a tether material, there will be an abundance of carbon in Mars local region. This could provide readily available resources for the future colonization on Mars.
Phobos also could be a good counterweight for a space elevator. It's massive enough that unbalanced forces created by a space elevator would not affect the orbit of the planet. But since Phobos is not in geostationary orbit, the tether would not be able to anchor to the ground. The end of the tether would have to be in the outer atmosphere and would pass over the same place twice a Martian day.
The Earth's Moon is a potential location for a Lunar space elevator, especially as the specific strength required for the tether is low enough to use currently available materials. The Moon does not rotate fast enough for an elevator to be supported by centrifugal force (the proximity of the Earth means there is no effective lunar-stationary orbit), but differential gravity forces means that an elevator could be constructed through Lagrangian points. A near-side elevator would extend through the Earth-Moon L1 point from an anchor point near the center of the visible part of Earth's Moon: the length of such an elevator must exceed the maximum L1 altitude of 59,548 km, and would be considerably longer to reduce the mass of the required apex counterweight.
A far-side lunar elevator would pass through the L2 Lagrangian point and would need to be longer than on the near-side: again, the tether length depends on the chosen apex anchor mass, but it could also be made of existing engineering materials.
Rapidly spinning asteroids or moons could use cables to eject materials to convenient points, such as Earth orbits; or conversely, to eject materials to send a portion of the mass of the asteroid or moon to Earth orbit or a Lagrangian point. Freeman Dyson, a physicist and mathematician, has suggested using such smaller systems as power generators at points distant from the Sun where solar power is uneconomical.
A space elevator using presently available engineering materials could be constructed between mutually tidally locked worlds, such as Pluto and Charon or the components of binary asteroid 90 Antiope, with no terminus disconnect, according to Francis Graham of Kent State University. However, spooled variable lengths of cable must be used due to ellipticity of the orbits.
The construction of a space elevator would need reduction of some technical risk. Some advances in engineering, manufacturing and physical technology are required. Once a first space elevator is built, the second one and all others would have the use of the previous ones to assist in construction, making their costs considerably lower. Such follow-on space elevators would also benefit from the great reduction in technical risk achieved by the construction of the first space elevator.
Prior to the work of Edwards in 2000 most concepts for constructing a space elevator had the cable manufactured in space. That was thought to be necessary for such a large and long object and for such a large counterweight. Manufacturing the cable in space would be done in principle by using an asteroid or Near-Earth object for source material. These earlier concepts for construction require a large preexisting space-faring infrastructure to maneuver an asteroid into its needed orbit around Earth. They also required the development of technologies for manufacture in space of large quantities of exacting materials.
Since 2001, most work has focused on simpler methods of construction requiring much smaller space infrastructures. They conceive the launch of a long cable on a large spool, followed by deployment of it in space. The spool would be initially parked in a geostationary orbit above the planned anchor point. A long cable would be dropped "downward" (toward Earth) and would be balanced by a mass being dropped "upward" (away from Earth) for the whole system to remain on the geosynchronous orbit. Earlier designs imagined the balancing mass to be another cable (with counterweight) extending upward, with the main spool remaining at the original geosynchronous orbit level. Most current designs elevate the spool itself as the main cable is paid out, a simpler process. When the lower end of the cable is long enough to reach the surface of the Earth (at the equator), it would be anchored. Once anchored, the center of mass would be elevated more (by adding mass at the upper end or by paying out more cable). This would add more tension to the whole cable, which could then be used as an elevator cable.
One plan for construction uses conventional rockets to place a "minimum size" initial seed cable of only 19,800 kg. This first very small ribbon would be adequate to support the first 619 kg climber. The first 207 climbers would carry up and attach more cable to the original, increasing its cross section area and widening the initial ribbon to about 160 mm wide at its widest point. The result would be a 750-ton cable with a lift capacity of 20 tons per climber.
For early systems, transit times from the surface to the level of geosynchronous orbit would be about five days. On these early systems, the time spent moving through the Van Allen radiation belts would be enough that passengers would need to be protected from radiation by shielding, which would add mass to the climber and decrease payload.
A space elevator would present a navigational hazard, both to aircraft and spacecraft. Aircraft could be diverted by air-traffic control restrictions. All objects in stable orbits that have perigee below the maximum altitude of the cable that are not synchronous with the cable would impact the cable eventually, unless avoiding action is taken. One potential solution proposed by Edwards is to use a movable anchor (a sea anchor) to allow the tether to "dodge" any space debris large enough to track.
Impacts by space objects such as meteoroids, micrometeorites and orbiting man-made debris pose another design constraint on the cable. A cable would need to be designed to maneuver out of the way of debris, or absorb impacts of small debris without breaking.
With a space elevator, materials might be sent into orbit at a fraction of the current cost. As of 2000, conventional rocket designs cost about US$25,000 per kilogram (US$11,000 per pound) for transfer to geostationary orbit. Current space elevator proposals envision payload prices starting as low as $220 per kilogram ($100 per pound), similar to the $5–$300/kg estimates of the Launch loop, but higher than the $310/ton to 500 km orbit quoted to Dr. Jerry Pournelle for an orbital airship system.
Philip Ragan, co-author of the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator", states that "The first country to deploy a space elevator will have a 95 percent cost advantage and could potentially control all space activities."
The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) is a US Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation formed to promote the development, construction, and operation of a space elevator as "a revolutionary and efficient way to space for all humanity". It was formed after the Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington in July 2008 and became an affiliate organization with the National Space Society in August 2013. ISEC hosts an annual Space Elevator conference at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
ISEC coordinates with the two other major societies focusing on space elevators: the Japanese Space Elevator Association and EuroSpaceward. ISEC supports symposia and presentations at the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Astronautical Federation Congress each year.
The conventional current concept of a "Space Elevator" has evolved from a static compressive structure reaching to the level of GEO, to the modern baseline idea of a static tensile structure anchored to the ground and extending to well above the level of GEO. In the current usage by practitioners (and in this article), a "Space Elevator" means the Tsiolkovsky-Artsutanov-Pearson type as considered by the International Space Elevator Consortium. This conventional type is a static structure fixed to the ground and extending into space high enough that cargo can climb the structure up from the ground to a level where simple release will put the cargo into an orbit.
Some concepts related to this modern baseline are not usually termed a "Space Elevator", but are similar in some way and are sometimes termed "Space Elevator" by their proponents. For example, Hans Moravec published an article in 1977 called "A Non-Synchronous Orbital Skyhook" describing a concept using a rotating cable. The rotation speed would exactly match the orbital speed in such a way that the tip velocity at the lowest point was zero compared to the object to be "elevated". It would dynamically grapple and then "elevate" high flying objects to orbit or low orbiting objects to higher orbit.
The original concept envisioned by Tsiolkovsky was a compression structure, a concept similar to an aerial mast. While such structures might reach space (100 km, 62 mi), they are unlikely to reach geostationary orbit. The concept of a Tsiolkovsky tower combined with a classic space elevator cable (reaching above the level of GEO) has been suggested. Other ideas use very tall compressive towers to reduce the demands on launch vehicles. The vehicle is "elevated" up the tower, which may extend as high as above the atmosphere, and is launched from the top. Such a tall tower to access near-space altitudes of has been proposed by various researchers.
Other concepts for non-rocket spacelaunch related to a space elevator (or parts of a space elevator) include an orbital ring, a pneumatic space tower, a space fountain, a launch loop, a skyhook, a space tether, and a buoyant "SpaceShaft". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29192 |
Spawn (comics)
Spawn is a fictional superhero appearing in a monthly comic book of the same name published by American company Image Comics. Created by Todd McFarlane, the character first appeared in "Spawn" #1 (May 1992). Spawn was ranked 60th on "Wizard" magazine's list of the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time, 50th on "Empire" magazine's list of The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters, and 36th on IGN's 2011 Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.
The series has spin off several other comics, including "Angela", "Curse of the Spawn", "Sam & Twitch", and the Japanese manga "Shadows of Spawn." Spawn was adapted into a 1997 feature film and portrayed by Michael Jai White, an HBO animated series lasting from 1997 until 1999, a series of action figures whose high level of detail made McFarlane Toys known in the toy industry, and a reboot film starring Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner. The character also appears in annual compilations, miniseries specials written by guest authors and artists, and numerous crossover storylines in other comic books.
Todd McFarlane began drawing as a hobby at an early age, and created the character Spawn when he was 16, spending "countless hours" perfecting the appearance of each component of the character's visual design.
"Spawn" enjoyed considerable popularity upon its initial release in the 1990s. Comic book collecting was enjoying a marked upswing at the time, fueled by the speculator boom looking for the next hot book that would jump in value after its release. McFarlane had enjoyed superstar status among comic fans with his work on "Spider-Man", which had featured McFarlane's name prominently as both writer and artist. McFarlane's subsequent break with Marvel and the formation of Image Comics was seen by many as a sea-change event, changing the very way in which comics were produced. "Wizard", in May 2008, rated "The Launch of Image Comics" as #1 in the list of events that rocked the Comic Industry from 1991 to 2008.
The first issue of "Spawn" was very popular with sales of 1.7 million copies. During "Spawn"'s second year of publication, "Wizard" noted that "The top dog at Image is undoubtedly Todd McFarlane's "Spawn", which, without the added marketing push of fancy covers, polybagged issues, or card inserts has become the best-selling comic on a consistent basis that is currently being published." Sales slumped around the time of "Spawn" #25, but by "Spawn" #45 it was again a consistently strong seller.
The popularity of the franchise peaked with the 1997 "Spawn" feature film, the pre-release publicity for which helped make "Spawn" the top selling comic book for May 1997; in addition, the spin-off "Curse of the Spawn" #9 came in at fifth best-selling for the same month. However, the film was only a mild commercial success and failed to start a film franchise based on the character. A 2008 issue, "Spawn" #174, ranked 99th best-selling comic of the month with retail orders of 22,667. In October 2008, issue #185, which marked both a new creative direction and Todd McFarlane's return to the book, sold out at the distribution level and received a second printing. By issue #191 in May 2009, with estimated sales of 19,803 copies, "Spawn" had dropped below Top 100 titles sold monthly to comic shops as reported by Diamond Comic Distributors. As of September 2010, Spawn was ranked at #115 in the top 300 sales figures chart reported by Diamond Comic Distributors. On the day of its release in 2011, issue #200 sold out. This issue featured work by Greg Capullo, David Finch, Michael Golden, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Danny Miki, and Ashley Wood. A second printing was released the next month. It received a negative review from IGN.
"Spawn" began a resurgence in popularity as the title approached its 300th issue, with the title once again becoming a fixture in Diamond's Top 100. This 300th issue also made Spawn the longest-running independent comic book series of all time.
Albert Francis Simmons was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is the second eldest of three children (Marc, Albert, and Richard) born to Bernard Simmons- a traveling salesman- and Esther Simmons- a devil worshipper. Simmons is a highly intelligent and physically strong Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps. He later joins the United States Secret Service and becomes a highly decorated member. This leads to his recruitment to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Once in the CIA, Simmons joins the U.S. Security Group- an umbrella agency encompassing the CIA, the NSA, and the NSC- commanded by Director Jason Wynn, and becomes a highly capable assassin.
After being murdered during a mission in Botswana when Director Wynn hires Simmons' friend and partner, Bruce Stinson (codename Chapel), to kill him, Simmons is sent to Hell due to his life as an assassin. Making a deal with the devil, known as Malebolgia, Simmons agrees to become a Hellspawn and serve Malebolgia if he is allowed to see his wife, Wanda, one last time. Malebolgia agrees, and returns Simmons to the living realm, but stripped of nearly all his memories, with a badly burned body, and a demonic guardian, named the Violator.
After his death and subsequent rebirth, Simmons- now Spawn- arrives on Earth in a daze, off-balance and disoriented. With only vague recollections of his past and how he came to be, he only knew his name, 'Al Simmons,' and that he died, but nothing else.
Occasionally experiencing painful flashbacks, he eventually remembers his deal with Malebolgia, but can't remember his wife's name in order to return to her.
Using CIA files, he tracks down his wife to find her married to his former best friend, Terry, with a daughter named Cyan, and realizes that five years have passed since his death.
Spawn soon runs into a fellow Hellspawn who informs him that his powers are fueled by Necroplasm, and once they are fully depleted, he will return to Hell.
Not wanting to return to Hell, Spawn attempts to find a new purpose in life, while using as little power as possible. Spawn is thrust into several antihero adventures where he takes down street gangs and organized crime in New York City in a brutal fashion. Battling against Italian mobsters and later eventually killing a serial murderer and pedophile, Billy Kincaid, Spawn finds a new purpose in stopping evil.
In his early battles, Spawn faces street thugs and gangs, becoming a dark and brutal antihero, culminating in the brutal murder of a pedophile and child murderer named Billy Kincaid. As a result, he gains the attention of the detective duo of Sam Burke and Twitch Williams. It is around this time that Spawn becomes "King of Rat City", a gathering of alleys where bums and the homeless live. There he meets the bum Cogliostro, who seems to know much more about Spawn than he first lets on, and becomes his mentor.
Spawn is also hunted by the warrior angel, Angela, who hunts Hellspawns for sport, and battles the cyborg mob enforcer Overt-Kill. This confrontation almost kills Spawn, but he is able to emerge victoriously. He is again hunted by Angela and fights the angelic warrior, Anti-Spawn a.k.a. the Redeemer, who was, in fact, Jason Wynn.
After a confrontation with the Redeemer, Spawn's suit mutates and becomes more advanced. Its new cape and chains were able to shapeshift into different things to confuse his opponents. The cape now looked slightly torn, and the costume had lost its red glow, having evolved to what is now black and white. Spawn's boots and gloves had also changed, having been replaced with spikes. Spawn used his new equipment to slash off the Redeemer's hand and defeat him. Spawn thought that the battle was over until he met someone more powerful than The Redeemer known as the Freak. Spawn fought with the Freak but was caught unaware by the Freak's ability to create nightmares, which he did to torture Spawn with his past. During the battle, a creature appearing to have the original appearance of Spawn fights other beings and creatures and knocks out Spawn. When Spawn awakens, the creature tells him that ever since the metamorphosis, the suit will feed off of souls. Spawn later finds himself in New York City. He would fight with The Curse, meet Harry Houdini who taught him about magic, and also meet Batman.
After this, Tony Twist sends a reprogrammed Overt-Kill after Terry, blaming him for the recent attacks on the mob, and Spawn is forced to reveal his identity while saving his friend. However, it is a well-placed shot from Twitch Williams that brings down Overt-Kill. He would later bring back his friend Bobby after he was killed in another fight with Chapel. Spawn would be a part of Angela's trial and later traveled to the South and had an encounter with the KKK and an abusive father of two boys. When he returned to New York, he was attacked by a new Redeemer. This caused his costume to evolve and defeat the Redeemer with its new-found power. After another encounter with the Curse, the suit began to go wild, and, after saving Terry from cancer, sent him to Hell, but Malebolgia sent him back with full control of the suit.
Spawn wears a living symbiotic costume, Leetha of the 7th House of K (also known as K7-Leetha). While wearing it, the host assumes a dominant role over his suit. His shroud, spikes, chains, and skulls are all part of an organism bonded to his central nervous system that will protect Spawn even if he is unconscious.
As Spawn struggled to find a way to get rid of Hell's control and regain control, he noticed that the attacks were coming from both Heaven and Hell. Due to increasing attacks, Spawn began to lose himself to evil. However, thanks to the arrival of the Heap, an emissary of the Greenworld, he was able to regain his goal. Greenworld is a dimension whose power was equal to both Heaven's and Hell's, which Spawn had never faced before. They gave new powers to Spawn so he could better understand the world and its people, which allowed him to overcome the worst from both Heaven and Hell. Though these powers were not really known, they seem to give control of all the elements around the world.
It was around this time that Spawn battled the powerful god Urizen. Spawn once stopped a cult from summoning Urizen, but this time he had been summoned by two gate opener demons named Ab and Zab. Urizen was causing massive destruction to the world and after losing a battle to him, Spawn came back and used his new abilities to make the Earth itself swallow Urizen and imprison him.
It was explained that the Greenworld had no interest in the war of Heaven and Hell, but was getting frustrated with the destruction that it brought. This caused Earth "pain", and later Spawn became aware of it. Spawn did not change his powers though, but rather, "listened" to the Earth, until being attacked by Urizen. After recovering, Spawn learns that the Greenworld had imbued him with a gift, which he uses to contain Urizen by splitting the ground and imprisoning him inside the earth.
After his battle, Spawn learned that Malebolgia had caused Urizen's release in an attempt to start Armageddon and conquer the forces of Heaven. Spawn and Angela then journeyed to Hell to stop him. During the battle, Angela managed to mortally wound Malebolgia but gets killed by him in retaliation. Consumed with anger, Spawn takes Malebolgia's head.
Upon killing Malebolgia, Spawn learns that Hell's throne is rightfully his, offered to him by the demon Mammon. Though he refuses the offer, Spawn eventually deliberates with his teacher Cog and decides to turn Hell into a new paradise. During this act, Cog reveals that he is, in reality, the biblical Cain, who was the first person to go to Hell, having murdered his own brother in envy. His true goal had always been to take over Hell and use a Hellspawn to do it. Having betrayed Spawn, Cog took the throne for himself, but gave his former student his human form back, a parting gift.
After returning, he meets a young Wiccan named Nyx. With her help, he regains his suit, though he remains weaker than before due to still having a human form. However, Mammon tricks and betrays Nyx and usurps her control over Spawn's union with his suit, removing all of Spawn's past memories in the process. With no memory, Spawn wanders the Earth, and during this time releases a group of angels who are called the Forgotten and take no sides in the war between Heaven and Hell. He discovers that Mammon is a member of the Fallen who was sent to Hell.
Spawn regains his memories thanks to the power of the Greenworld. His suit also evolves once more and now it seems one with his body, but as time progresses, he begins to hate himself. Both Heaven and Hell have rejected him and he now stays in an abandoned warehouse as maggots and other insects crawl inside his body as he wonders what he should do. His first thought is to return to the Dead Zone, although it and a Hellspawn wouldn't be welcomed. Immediately upon entering, Spawn is confronted by the Disciple, who promptly greets him by tearing his brain out and throwing his heart into the Greenworld whilst Spawn's body is thrown to Hell. Spawn is then captured and tortured by Mammon so he can understand the secrets inside him.
When Spawn's heart fell to the Greenworld, a soul was freed, as all the souls that died within the hour Al died went into the Spawn suit (thus why Malebolgia could not control Spawn). Chris meets with his mother once more like the Man of Miracles instructed him and then he travels to hell along with Sam Burke and Twitch Williams to rescue Spawn from Mammon. Spawn escapes and when he returns to Earth, signs of Armageddon begin to appear; Spawn begins looking for a way to stop it. Spawn discovers that Wanda's twin children are responsible. He stops them from killing their entire family but is unable to destroy them. Zera reveals that Jake is God and Katie is Satan.
Spawn finds out that the Mother removed them of their powers and positions and sent them to Earth due to their hatred of each other and constant fighting. She tells him he cannot stop Armageddon, but he has the potential to be elevated to the power of a god and preserve the human race.
He has to eat a piece of Forbidden Fruit from the Garden of Eden to gain such power. She tells Spawn he must prove himself first and has to fight against The Disciple. It is revealed that there are 12 Disciples, each one representing one of Jesus’. His power is also weakened as a demon is never to enter the Garden and it has taken the form of a counter starting at 9:9:9:9. However, with guidance from Cyan, he defeats all the Disciples except for the last, Judas, who Cyan tells him not to kill. Judas then stabs him in the heart, but the Mother gives Spawn a piece of the fruit and resurrects him. He gains a more angelic form and greater power.
He returns to Earth, finding it destroyed by the Four Horsemen and all the humans dead and angels and demons in their place, waiting to fight in the final battle. After defeating Zera, he finds dead warriors of Heaven; one of them is Granny Blake, having been betrayed by her faith. Spawn then battles the forces of Satan and God. He uses all the power given to him by the Mother to destroy the forces of Heaven and Hell and even all humanity. He has stopped Armageddon by taking away their armies; he is then killed by the two who then fight alone on Earth.
However, Spawn comes back and, by opening himself to the power of the Mother, resurrects everyone with the knowledge of what happened. He left God and Satan to fight in their own little world and closed the doors to Heaven, Hell, and Earth. He asked to be turned into a human again by the Mother but later asked to once again become a Hellspawn when he remembered that, prior to his first death as Al Simmons, he had actually beaten Wanda to cause her to miscarry their child so that he could focus on his "work", causing him to conclude that he had always been a monster and did not deserve to try and be human again.
After a series of odd murders, Spawn finds that the Clown has come back, possessing the body of a man named Barney Saunders. It was revealed that Saunders was having an affair with a woman named Wilma Barbara and got trapped in a garbage chute when he was trying to hide from her husband. He was there for some time until Spawn destroyed and remade the world. He was rescued by the Clown so he could use his body for himself. He then brought out the dark urges inside the tenants of an apartment building and used this to form a doorway to Hell to bring back his brothers. However, before he could form a portal, Wilma showed up and his love for her allowed Saunders to take back control. He then intended to close the portal by going through it, but he took Wilma with him due to being angry over her leaving him in the chute.
Zera reappeared; only her head survived and she was suspended in a jar. Spawn was summoned by a voodoo priestess named Mambo Suzanne. Zera was attempting to take over Nyx's body and fight Spawn, but she was killed when Suzanne used their fighting as a distraction and threw her head into the streets where it was eaten by demon dogs. Nyx was freed and she and Spawn became friends again.
Ab and Zab create a hell where visitors are forced to view their deepest fears due to demons called sin eaters that feed on guilt from the visitors, then making them face the evil that they had ever done. A woman who was in the house both had delusions of their fear caused by the sin eaters. They fed on the guilt, giving them more power when Spawn confronted Ab and Zab. He was faced with his own sin against Wanda and his unborn child. Spawn was unable to break free from the guilt and was slowly fed on by a sin eater. When Nyx interfered, he was able to break the sin eater illusion. Nyx realized that he was getting more powerful. Spawn breaks all the others illusions; then he comes across one he learns is Albert Simmons' brother, Richard, who was going through his worst sin Spawn who was still not yet recovering from all those memories as Albert Simmons.
Spawn decides to allow Richard to feel his sins. It is realized that it was Mammon (as Mr. Malefick) that put an influence on Albert Simmons and taught him to torture and murder small animals, attempting to make him become a servant who would feel no pity in taking a being's life. Malefick had also influenced Richard Simmons to take drugs and introduced him to the drug dealer Weasel. It was only Marc Simmons who was able to save himself from Mammon but was unable to help the others. Richard Simmons' delusion of his past climaxed with him stabbing and injuring Weasel with a knife that was given to him by Mammon while intoxicated on drugs. Richard calls his brothers to help him save the drug dealer's life and Albert Simmons, not wanting his brothers getting in the crime, decides instead of calling an ambulance, pulls the knife from Weasel's body and kills him with it. Mammon appears, sending the brothers home while he hides the drug dealer's body.
Nyx and Spawn then kill the last sin eater and Spawn discovers that Richard cannot remember their parents due to a spell placed by Mammon; Spawn goes to find out about them. He finds their home under a spell placed by Mammon, keeping them there for years. His mother is not shocked by his form, but his father is. It was revealed his mother planned with Mammon to create a Hellspawn stronger than the others, but his father was grief-stricken that he couldn't stop her. He is then given a journal by his father that his mother prevented him from seeing. It revealed that his ancestor came across a Hellspawn in the past known as the Gunslinger Spawn.
The comic series during the continuation from the last issue Spawn was left helpless and at a little weakened against his enemy Erskine's psychic powers, and although Spawn had psychic powers of his own he was in trouble due to Erskine's creation of a tentacle creature that had the ability to impale his enemies. This creature also showed the features of Mammon that was coaxing. Nyx had come out of nowhere to stab the creature with a sword, but not killing the creature just stunning it to get its attention, but it was a mistake by Nyx only making herself the creature's target. Next, she uses her telepathic powers to contact Marc Simmons, asking him to shoot Erskine. Erskine retaliates and ceases Marc's attack and accidentally grabbed the trigger of Marc's special gun causing the creature to disappear, while Spawn and Nyx go to the hospital where Erskine is.
Spawn is given an opportunity of whether or not whether he should cause Erskine's death. This threatens to Spawn to enter the bubble dome, a dimension if Erskine does not reveal the location of Mammon, who Spawn believed was causing the attacks. Mammon then appears only to complicate the situation and make things worse by allowing Erskine to complete his last murder, by using a devastating psychic projection of a strange woman to attack the last victim. After all that had happened Mammon confesses that it was him who taught Erskine how to use his powers. Which been shown in his recent killing. Erskine tries to commit suicide leaving behind his possessions of the doctor who he was taken care of after he was brought to the hospital. Spawn continues to attack Mammon, and ask what Mammon wanted from him. Mammon tells him that he was a special being with great divine powers.
Later a man wakes in a mortuary with no memory of who he is. Soon some doctors working on him discover he is alive and panic only to be killed by someone in a robe. The person was previously seen with Mammon and is revealed to be Morana. Severin is the man's name and he finds that he is one of the first species of vampires called the Vrykolakas. However, he wants to die and Morana promises him death in return for his help. While Marc, Nyx and Spawn talk Severin appears defeats Marc and Nyx and bites Spawn to transfer his vampirism. He retreats back to Morana hoping for death but is cursed to have to go over his last few moments repeatedly for all time.
It is revealed Cyan has been experiencing horrid visions mostly of her mother covered in blood and even Spawn's current torment. Severin's attack has caused Spawn to battle the suit in his mind. It tells him it was always in control not Al. It tells him of its anger of relinquishing his godlike powers and that Wanda had been having affairs before his death. The two fight in Spawn's mind him in his human form as the suit tells him Wanda never wanted his child soon Al gives in and gets up. Meanwhile, Mammon with Morana and his adopted mother and father Lucian and Daciana as they prepare for the next step in their plans. Cyan is having more visions that cause her to be scared of Spawn and after seeing her door in blood she opens it to find Spawn asking if he's going to kill her mom. Luckily Granny had warned Cyan and she used a knife with the old shoelace she got from Spawn to send Spawn into an illusionary world to talk to Wanda non-violently.
There, he speaks with Wanda while they ride on a boat in a lake. He says he wanted to move on but can't. Wanda wonders if he could go if she forgave him. She says she cannot forgive Al for the death of their child, but that she still loves the man inside him. Spawn tries to take out Cyan's knife, but only pulls out his wedding ring and somehow suppresses the suit. Soon, Cyan and Nyx show up, and they get to the shore only for K7-Leetha to appear and take over Nyx. It says it has been working with Mammon from the start to build Spawn and in return would get to live on freely on earth. Now controlled by the K7, Nyx tries to kill Cyan and Wanda but is halted by Mammon, who promises even more power if K7 still obeys his wishes. The entire group goes to a castle, where Mammon says his plan to make a perfect Hellspawn. He wanted the Rapture to occur so that Satan, God, and Malebolgia would be gone, and then revealed his perfect Hellspawn was Al and Wanda's miscarried child: Morana. He chose those two due to the fact that both their families have been filled with Spawns' from previous times.
After washing herself in the virgin's blood, Morana is now fully mature. She bonds with the uniform and gets ready to consume her parents' souls. With none of the most powerful magic being usable, Cyan taps into her powers and goes to the future. She talks with an old woman who gives her a message for Al. Returning, she has Spawn summon the last twelve (but most powerful) members of the Legion. They are beaten by Morana one by one. Mammon insults Al, and in turn, he disowns Morana, enraging her, which gives Cyan the chance to tell Nyx a spell to trap Mammon and Morana. It works, both demons are sealed away, and the others return home, save Al, who jumped into another dimension to be reborn as a weapon against both heaven and hell.
Spawn passes Vickie through that reality and is soon ready to enter the human dimension. He makes his way to a certain point in the alleys (probably the spot he first returned from hell) and then blows off his head. Meanwhile, a man under the name Jim Downing, who is without his memories and is healing (unusually fast) at a hospital, wakes up. He seems to know Spawn, as he was thinking about him before his awakening. A janitor tries to make money off Jim's story and calls a lawyer. The lawyer then calls someone else and tells the janitor not to go to the papers, after which the lawyer commits suicide. Soon, a thug is paid to capture Jim. While he is talking to a nurse who prayed for his recovery, the thug attacks with a flaming skull. Jim flees while the thug causes a massive amount of damage to the hospital. Soon, the thug catches up to Jim, but Jim transforms into Spawn, kills his attacker, then escapes the burning hospital back in human form, eventually being taken in by firefighters.
He is later transported to another hospital with other patients. He later leaves and reunites with his previous nurse Sara. After remembering his first transformation, he begins to turn again. He calls to Sara but leaves before she can see him. Meanwhile, a reporter begins to ask questions about what happened at the hospital. Wandering the city Jim is attacked and effortlessly kills his would-be killers. This draws the attention of Sam and Twitch, who recognize the chaos as something Spawn may do.
After again reuniting with Sara and telling him about his transformation, he then wanders off again, only to run into Wanda Blake, Al Simmons' ex-wife. She recognizes Jim as the form Al took when he originally came back to earth, and she realizes he is a Spawn like Al.
On her advice, he travels to Rat City and finds Spawn's throne, where Spawn ruled, and is met by an angel. He ends up fighting the angel, who calls him a traitor during the fight. Fearing the angel has done something to Sara, he beats the angel and leaves. Jim finds out that a man was asking questions about him, later finding out the man was working from another man named Gilbert Sanchez.
The angel Spawn beat is later attacked by Clown who removes her wings. When Spawn returns he sees the angel both powerless and insane and is surprised to find Freak and later Violator himself. Despite Freak's warnings Clown begins to deceive Jim and informs him that his suit is a living being but then vanishes. Clown later allows himself to be arrested by Sam and Twitch to meet the leader of a vampire group to attempt to form a unity between the leader, Clown, and Spawn.
Gilbert Sanchez is later killed by other mob members for his information on the new Spawn. Spawn attempts to learn more about him, but after being assaulted uses his powers on his attacker. Jim later finds the man who had been asking Sara questions. He tracks to his family's home which is suddenly bombed killing everyone inside but Spawn. He is later able to find more mob members and questions them further and then finishing them when he's done.
In Resurrection, Spawn is revived and is later told by God in dog form that Wanda had died and is now trapped in Hell where Al must rescue her. It is also shown that he wasn't abusive towards his wife and had an unborn son instead of a daughter as it was a false memory made by the demons to get him to commit suicide. He later fights Satan and saves his wife. God and Satan were no longer twins due to the Man of Miracles being sold to Marvel and thus was retconned out of existence with God being based on a variation on the traditional Abrahamic story of Creation alongside Satan's origins being based on that as well though Mother of Existence does show up in 297. After saving Wanda from Satan she goes to Heaven and Spawn continues to protect the people in Wanda's memory from the forces of both Heaven and Hell as well as any supernatural threats.
Spawn appears as a chibi version of himself.
A version of Spawn in an alternative route after defeating Malebolgia.
In this version Ken Kurobawa takes up the mantle with Al being referenced.
Spawn appears as Spawn X where it is lighter than previous versions.
A crossover between Angela & Aria.
A crossover between Angela and Glory.
About Celestine the angel from the Violator vs Badrock series in this two-shot series.
A four-issue miniseries released in 1995 written by Alan Moore. Drawn by Brian Denham. Ink by Jonathan Sibal & Danny Miki.
A four-issue miniseries released in 1995 written by Alan Moore. Drawn by Tony Daniel. Ink by Kevin Conrad.
A three-issue miniseries released in October 1996, inspired by the story of the Wallachian voivode Vlad Țepeș. Written by Mike Grell with art by Rob Prior.
A three issue mini-series centered around the Norse hellspawn Nordak.
a nine-issue series of one-shots focus on Spawn toys.
An eight-part mini-series focusing on Sam and Twitch which would tie in with the upcoming film.
A one-shot that takes place around the same time as Spawn 250 explaining how Al returned.
A one-shot focusing on a chibi Spawn killing everyone.
A four-part mini-series sequel to the one-shot Spawn Kills Everyone.
In 1993, McFarlane contracted Neil Gaiman to write "Spawn" #9. While doing so, Gaiman introduced the characters Cogliostro, Angela, and Medieval Spawn. All three characters were designed and co-created by Todd McFarlane and continued to be featured in the series after Gaiman's involvement, and some had tie-ins with McFarlane's toy company. Cogliostro had a prominent role in the live-action movie in 1997. McFarlane had agreed that Gaiman was a co-creator of the characters and paid him royalties for reprints, graphic novels, and action figures. After a few years, he ceased the payment of royalties and gave Gaiman notice that he owned all rights to the characters, citing the copyright notice from #9 and claimed that Gaiman's work had been work-for-hire and that McFarlane was the sole owner.
In 2002, Gaiman filed suit against McFarlane and, in response, McFarlane counter-sued. Gaiman had partnered with Marvel Comics to form Marvels and Miracles, LLC, which bankrolled the lawsuit. The main goal was to determine the issue of ownership for another character Gaiman felt he had a stake in, Miracleman, which at the time McFarlane was believed to hold a sizable stake in after his buyout of the assets of Eclipse Comics. This issue was thrown out. Instead, the court chose to rule on the breach of contract issue, the rights of ownership and the copyrightability of the characters from "Spawn" #9. Several arguments were presented by McFarlane and all were rejected, leading to a sizable judgment against McFarlane and Image Comics. The matter went to appeal and the judgment was upheld in a 2003 decision.
Gaiman's rights as co-creator and co-owner of Cogliostro, Angela, and Medieval Spawn were acknowledged. The court's view was that Gaiman and McFarlane's collaboration led to each contributing half of the work. Gaiman wrote the story while McFarlane illustrated the character; because of this, each held a 50% stake in the characters. Issue 9 was reprinted for the first time since the lawsuit was filed in the hardcover edition of "Spawn Origins: Volume 1". In a reprint collection of the first twelve issues of "Spawn", the contentious issue (along with Dave Sim's #10, featuring copyrighted character Cerebus) was excluded, but both issues have been reprinted in the hardcover and deluxe editions of "Spawn Origins Collection: Volume 1", and the black & white softcover omnibus "Spawn Compendium" 1, collecting "Spawn" issues #1–50. In 2012, McFarlane and Gaiman settled their dispute, and Gaiman was given full ownership of the character Angela. Gaiman, in turn, sold all rights to the character to Marvel Comics.
Todd McFarlane created a mob enforcer character named "Antonio 'Tony Twist' Twistelli", who McFarlane acknowledged was named after hockey player Tony Twist. Twist won a $15 million verdict in 2004 when a St. Louis, Missouri, jury found Todd McFarlane Productions had profited from Twist's likeness. The verdict was upheld after two appeals in June 2006, but the two later settled out of court for $5 million.
Many issues of "Spawn" have been gathered together in various trade paperbacks collections since the mid-nineties. The original US and UK trade releases contain issue 9, but not 10 (Cerebus' appearance).
Each containing four to five issues, the original "Spawn" trade paperbacks started in 1995 under a different trade cover design, going up to three volumes only. After the live-action 1997 movie, a new trade cover design was created, with Brent Ashe providing new covers for Books 1–7, and Ashley Wood for Books 8–12. These reissues were retitled with subtitles. The sequential trades stopped after Book 12, but several new volumes appeared in 2006–2008, collecting various story arcs. Beginning in 2009, a new series of volumes was released, collecting the "Endgame" storyline. From 2015–2019, with "Resurrection", "Satan Saga Wars", "Hell on Earth", "Dark Horror", and "Enemy of The State" volumes, the trade paperbacks have started in sequential order again collecting issues #251–290.
In 2005 the entire "Spawn" series began to appear in massive trade paperback releases under the title "Spawn Collection", each containing (with the exception of Volume 1) approximately twenty issues. Released after the Gaiman lawsuit, these editions do not contain either Issue 9 (featuring the first appearance of Angela and Cogliostro, both created by Neil Gaiman) or Issue 10 (featuring Dave Sim's Cerebus).
"Spawn Collection" Volumes 1 and 2 were published in both hardcover and trade paperback formats, while Volume 3 onward were only released as trade paperbacks. As of 2009, "Spawn Collection Volume 1" is currently out of print, with its fourth printing released in June 2007. In 2009 it was announced that the "Spawn Collection" would end with Volume 6, to be replaced by a new TBP format that includes soft- and hardcover versions, reprinting the entire "Spawn" series from the early issues once again ("Spawn Origins Collection", see below).
"Spawn Collection Volume 1" was ranked 17 in the top 100 graphic novels for December 2005 period, with pre-order sales of 3,227.
In 2012, in celebration of Image Comics' then 20 years as a publisher and "Spawn" being one of their longest running titles, "Spawn Compendium" was released, reprinting "Spawn" issues #1–50 at 1136 pages in black and white, though this volume does not collect the issues' covers. The book went to a second printing in March 2016.
In 2009, a line of newly redesigned and reformatted trade paperbacks was announced, replacing the "Spawn Collection" line (see above) and once again collecting the early issues of "Spawn". These new trades feature new cover art by Greg Capullo, recreating classic "Spawn" covers. In addition to the 6 issue trade paperbacks, this line features three oversized 12–13 issue hardcovers, and two large 25-issue limited slipcased deluxe editions (which come in both a standard edition and a signed and numbered edition limited to 500 copies). The 12-issue hardcover edition of Volume One was the first to reprint both Issues 9 and 10, and the 25-issue deluxe editions did as well. "Spawn Origins Collection" Volume 20 trade paperback was the final volume released in 2014, collecting issues #117–122.
In May 2019, a new edition of "Spawn Origins Collection" Volume 1 TPB (6th printing) was published at the low cover price of US$9.99. The book went back to press again for a seventh printing a few months later in September 2019.
These releases were originally published in fifteen 5–6–issue volumes in the UK by Titan Books, with titles named by religious theme. The following books contained original series issues 1–82, with the exception of the previously mentioned Issue 10.
Originally published by a South African publisher named Battle Axe Press in the early 1990s. Only the first 10 issues were published due to legal matters. The comic book prints were released on standard paper as opposed to the original glossy paper from Image comics.
Published by Planeta DeAgostini / Planeta Cómic.
1 - Deuda con el Diablo (#140-144) - December 2005
2 - Aullido (#145-150) - December 2005
3 - La Promesa (#151-157) - December 2006
4 - Destruccion (#158-162) - April 2007
5 - Los que Oyen Voces (#163-168) - April 2008
6 - Tres Hermanos (#169-173) - January 2010
7 - El Monstruo de la Burbuja (#174-178) - May 2010
8 - La Batalla Interior (#179-184) - May 2010
9 - Fin del Juego 1 (#185-190) - July 2010
10 - Fin del Juego 2 (#191-196) - September 2010
11 - Spawn Resurrección (Spawn Resurrection, Spawn #251-255) - September 2017
In the year of 1996 was published by Editora Abril Jovem the first 150 numbers of Spawn. There was other magazine named "A Maldição do Spawn" collecting only the first 12 numbers of Curse of Spawn. The arc 'Twist of Fate' was named "A Caçada ao Poderoso Chefão" (like 'The Hunt for the Powerful Kingpin') collecting the numbers 17, 18 and 19 of Curse of Spawn. There was too others mini-series magazines like Angela, Violator, Spawn Bible, Blood Feud, and the two encounters with Batman. This run of publications ended in the year of 2005.
In the meantime, in the year of 2001, another publisher called Pandora Books released the edition named "Witchblade: Era das Trevas" (like 'The Dark Ages') with the encounter with the character Medieval Spawn.
In the year of 2006 to 2008 Spawn changed the publisher (after 10 years of Editora Abril Jovem) and went to Editora Pixel Media. They released from the issue number 151 to 178. Besides that, they released on the format of trade paperback the edition of Spawn Armageddon, Spawn Godslayer and the first two editions of Spawn Origin.
In the year of 2012 Spawn was released on the format of a special trade paperback by the publisher HQ Maniacs Editora (a.k.a HQM), named "Spawn: Herança Maldita" (like 'Damn Inheritance' or 'Bad Seed' too), collecting numbers 179 to 184.
In the beginning of year 2019 Todd McFarlane himself confirmed at social media that a new Brazilian publisher named New Order Editora will release Spawn from the number 251 to 255 and the special "Spawn: Resurrection".
Several "Spawn"-related mini-series have been collected in trade paperback editions.
A few "Spawn"-related mini-series have been collected in HC editions.
Most of the "Curse of the Spawn" – spin-off series has been collected in trade paperback editions.
Spawn has starred in several video games:
Spawn has also been referenced or parodied in other forms of media, including: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29193 |
Samba (software)
Samba is a free software re-implementation of the SMB networking protocol, and was originally developed by Andrew Tridgell. Samba provides file and print services for various Microsoft Windows clients and can integrate with a Microsoft Windows Server domain, either as a Domain Controller (DC) or as a domain member. As of version 4, it supports Active Directory and Microsoft Windows NT domains.
Samba runs on most Unix, OpenVMS and Unix-like systems, such as Linux, Solaris, AIX and the BSD variants, including Apple's macOS Server, and macOS client (Mac OS X 10.2 and greater). Samba is standard on nearly all distributions of Linux and is commonly included as a basic system service on other Unix-based operating systems as well. Samba is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License. The name "Samba" comes from SMB (Server Message Block), the name of the standard protocol used by the Microsoft Windows network file system.
Andrew Tridgell developed the first version of Samba Unix in December 1991 and January 1992, as a PhD student at the Australian National University, using a packet sniffer to do of the protocol used by DEC Pathworks server software. At the time of the first releases, versions 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0, all from the first half of January 1992, it did not have a proper name, and Tridgell just called it "a Unix file server for Dos Pathworks". At the time of version 1.0, he realized that he "had in fact implemented the netbios protocol" and that "this software could be used with other PC clients".
With a focus on interoperability with Microsoft's LAN Manager, Tridgell released "netbios for unix", observer, version 1.5 in December 1993. This release was the first to include client-software as well as a server. Also, at this time GPL2 was chosen as license.
Midway through the 1.5-series, the name was changed to "smbserver". However, Tridgell got a trademark notice from the company "Syntax", who sold a product named "TotalNet Advanced Server" and owned the trademark for "SMBserver". The name "Samba" was derived by running the Unix command grep through the system dictionary looking for words that contained the letters S, M, and B, in that order (i.e. ).
Versions 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, and 1.9 followed relatively quickly, with the latter being released in January 1995. Tridgell considers the adoption of CVS in May 1996 to mark the birth of the Samba Team, though there had been contributions from other people, especially Jeremy Allison, previously.
Version 2.0.0 was released in January 1999, and version 2.2.0 in April 2001.
Version 3.0.0, released on 23 September 2003, was a major upgrade. Samba gained the ability to join Active Directory as a member, though not as a domain controller. Subsequent point-releases to 3.0 have added minor new features. Currently, the latest release in this series is 3.0.37, released 1 October 2009, and shipped on a voluntary basis. The 3.0.x series officially reached end-of-life on 5 August 2009.
Version 3.1 was used only for development.
With version 3.2, the project decided to move to time-based releases. New major releases, such as 3.3, 3.4, etc. will appear every 6 months. New features will only be added when a major release is done, point-releases will be only for bug fixes. Also, 3.2 marked a change of license from GPL2 to GPL3, with some parts released under LGPL3. The main technical change in version 3.2 was to autogenerate much of the DCE/RPC-code that used to be handcrafted. Version 3.2.0 was released on 1 July 2008. and its current release is 3.2.15 from 1 October 2009. The 3.2.x series officially reached end-of-life on 1 March 2010.
Some versions of Samba 3.6.3 and lower suffer serious security issues which can allow anonymous users to gain root access to a system from an anonymous connection, through the exploitation of an error in Samba's remote procedure call.
On 12 April 2016, Badlock, a crucial security bug in Windows and Samba, was disclosed. Badlock for Samba is referenced by (SAMR and LSA man in the middle attacks possible).
On 24 May 2017, it was announced that a remote code execution vulnerability had been found in Samba named "EternalRed" or "SambaCry", affecting all versions since 3.5.0. This vulnerability was assigned identifier .
Samba allows file and print sharing between computers running Microsoft Windows and computers running Unix. It is an implementation of dozens of services and a dozen protocols, including:
All these services and protocols are frequently incorrectly referred to as just NetBIOS or SMB. The NBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP) and WINS protocols, and their underlying SMB version 1 protocol, are deprecated on Windows. Since Windows Vista the WS-Discovery protocol has been included along with SMB2 and its successors, which supersede these. (WS-Discovery is implemented on Unix-like platforms by third party daemons which allow Samba shares to be discovered when the deprecated protocols are disabled).
Samba sets up network shares for chosen Unix directories (including all contained subdirectories). These appear to Microsoft Windows users as normal Windows folders accessible via the network. Unix users can either mount the shares directly as part of their file structure using the mount.cifs command or, alternatively, can use a utility, smbclient (libsmb) installed with Samba to read the shares with a similar interface to a standard command line FTP program. Each directory can have different access privileges overlaid on top of the normal Unix file protections. For example: home directories would have read/write access for all known users, allowing each to access their own files. However they would still not have access to the files of others unless that permission would normally exist. Note that the netlogon share, typically distributed as a read only share from /etc/samba/netlogon, is the logon directory for user logon scripts.
Samba services are implemented as two daemons:
Samba configuration is achieved by editing a single file (typically installed as /etc/smb.conf or /etc/samba/smb.conf). Samba can also provide user logon scripts and group policy implementation through poledit.
Samba is included in most Linux distributions and is started during the boot process. On Red Hat, for instance, the /etc/rc.d/init.d/smb script runs at boot time, and starts both daemons. Samba is not included in Solaris 8, but a Solaris 8-compatible version is available from the Samba website.
Samba includes a web administration tool called "Samba Web Administration Tool" (SWAT).
SWAT was removed starting with version 4.1.
Samba TNG (The Next Generation) was forked in late 1999, after disagreements between the Samba Team leaders and Luke Leighton about the directions of the Samba project. They failed to come to an agreement on a development transition path which allowed the research version of Samba he was developing (known at the time as Samba-NTDOM) to slowly be integrated into Samba. Development has been minimal, due to a lack of developers. The Samba TNG team frequently directed potential users towards Samba because of its better support and development.
A key goal of the Samba TNG project was to rewrite all of the NT Domains services as FreeDCE projects. This was made difficult as the services were developed manually through network reverse-engineering, with limited or no reference to DCE/RPC documentation.
A key difference from Samba was in the implementation of the NT Domains suite of protocols and MSRPC services. Samba makes all the NT Domains services available from a single place, whereas Samba TNG separated each service into its own program.
ReactOS started using Samba TNG services for its SMB implementation. The developers of both projects were interested in seeing the Samba TNG design used to help get ReactOS talking to Windows networks. They worked together to adapt the network code and build system. The multi-layered and modular approach made it easy to port each service to ReactOS. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=29198 |
Economy of Slovenia
The economy of Slovenia is developed and the country enjoys a high level of prosperity and stability as well as above average GDP per capita by purchasing power parity at 83% of the EU28 average in 2015. Nominal GDP in 2018 is 42.534 billion EUR, nominal GDP per capita (GDP/pc) in 2018 is EUR 21,267. The highest GDP/pc is in central Slovenia, where the capital city Ljubljana is located, which is part of the Western Slovenia statistical region, which has a higher GDP/pc than eastern Slovenia.
In January 2007 it became the first member to have both joined the European Union and adopted the euro since the currency's creation in 1999 and it has been a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development since 2010.
Slovenia has a highly educated workforce, well-developed infrastructure, and is situated at a major transport crossroad. The level of foreign direct investment is one of the lowest but has been steadily rising in the last few years. The Slovenian economy has been severely hurt by the European economic crisis, which occurred in the late 2000s. After 2013 GDP per capita began rising again. Almost two thirds of the working population are employed in services.
Although it comprised only about one-eleventh of Yugoslavia's total population, it was the most productive of the Yugoslav republics, accounting for one-fifth of its GDP and one-third of its exports.
Slovenia thus gained independence in 1991 with an already relatively prosperous economy and strong market ties to the West.
Since that time it has vigorously pursued diversification of its trade with the West and integration into Western and transatlantic institutions. Slovenia is a founding member of the World Trade Organization, joined CEFTA in 1996, and joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. In June 2004 it joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. The euro was introduced at the beginning of 2007 and circulated alongside the tolar until 14 January 2007. Slovenia also participates in SECI (Southeast European Cooperation Initiative), as well as in the Central European Initiative, the Royaumont Process, and the Black Sea Economic Council.
In the late 2000s economic crisis, the Slovenian economy suffered a severe setback. In 2009 the Slovenian GDP per capita shrank by −7.9%, which was the biggest fall in the European Union after the Baltic countries and Finland. After a slow recovery from the 2009 recession thanks to exports, the economy of Slovenia again slid into recession in the last quarter of 2011. This has been attributed to the fall in domestic consumption and the slowdown in growth of exports. Slovenia mainly exports to countries of the eurozone. The reasons for the decrease in domestic consumption have been multiple: fiscal austerity, the freeze on budget expenditure in the final months of 2011, a failure in the efforts to implement economic reforms, inappropriate financing, and the decrease in exports. In addition the construction industry was severely hit in 2010 and 2011. From 2014 onwards GDP of Slovenia is rising again. The main factors of GDP growth are export and in year 2016 also domestic consumption, which has started to revive after the economic crisis. The GDP growth in 2015 was 2,3%, in first half of 2016 2,5% and in 2nd quarter of 2016 2,7%. It means that GDP growth is accelerating in 2016.
Slovenia's trade is orientated towards other EU countries, mainly Germany, Austria, Italy, and France. This is the result of a wholesale reorientation of trade toward the West and the growing markets of central and eastern Europe in the face of the collapse of its Yugoslav markets. Slovenia's economy is highly dependent on foreign trade. Trade equals about 120% of GDP (exports and imports combined). About two-thirds of Slovenia's trade is with other EU members.
This high level of openness makes it extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness. However, despite the economic slowdown in Europe in 2001–03, Slovenia maintained a 3% GDP growth. Keeping labour costs in line with productivity is thus a key challenge for Slovenia's economic well-being, and Slovenian firms have responded by specializing in mid- to high-tech manufacturing. Industry and construction comprise about one quarter of GDP. As in most industrial economies, services make up an increasing share of output (57.1 percent), notably in financial services.
The traditional primary industries of agriculture, forestry, and fishing comprise a comparatively low 2.5 percent of GDP and engage only 6 percent of the population. The average farm is only 5.5 hectares. Part of Slovenia lies in the Alpe-Adria bioregion, which is currently involved in a major initiative in organic farming. Between 1998 and 2003, the organic sector grew from less than 0.1% of Slovenian agriculture to roughly the European Union average of 3.3%.
Public finances have shown a deficit in recent years. This averaged around $650 million per annum between 1999 and 2007, however this amounted to less than 23 percent of GDP. There was a slight surplus in 2008 with revenues totalling $23.16 billion and expenditures $22.93 billion. Government expenditure equalled 38 percent of GDP. , the total national debt of Slovenia was unknown. The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) reported it to be (not counting state-guaranteed loans) 19.5 billion euros or 54.2% of GDP at the end of September 2010. According to the data provided by the Slovenian Ministry of Finance in January 2011, it was just below 15 billion euros or 41.6% of the 2009 GDP. However, the Slovenian financial newspaper Finance calculated in January 2011 that it is actually 22.4 billion euros or almost 63% of GDP, surpassing the limit of 60% allowed by the European Union. On 12 January 2011, the Slovenian Court of Audit rejected the data reported by the ministry as incorrect and demanded the dismissal of the finance minister Franc Križanič.
Slovenia's traditional anti-inflation policy relied heavily on capital inflow restrictions. Its privatization process favoured insider purchasers and prescribed long lag time on share trading, complicated by a cultural wariness of being "bought up" by foreigners. As such, Slovenia has had a number of impediments to foreign participation in its economy. Slovenia has garnered some notable foreign investments, including the investment of $125 million by Goodyear in 1997. At the end of 2008 there was around $11.5 billion of foreign capital in Slovenia. Slovenians had invested $7.5 billion abroad. As of 31 December 2007, the value of shares listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange was $29 billion.
Investments from neighboring Croatia have begun in Slovenia. On 1 July 2010, Droga Kolinska was purchased by Atlantic Group of Croatia for 382 million euros. Mercator was sold to Croatia's Agrocor in June 2014.
At the end of year 2014 there were 10 billion of foreign direct investment in Slovenia, 13,9% more than at the end of year 2013. In 2013 (latest published data) direct foreign investments accounted for 24.7% of GDP of Slovenia. The most important investor countries are: Austria (33.6%), Switzerland (11.3%), Germany (10.4%), Italy (7.9%), Croatia (7.7%).
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1993–2017. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27343 |
Telecommunications in Slovenia
This article refers to Telecommunications in Slovenia.
Telephones - number of subscribers:
200.266 analog subscribers, 517.284 VoIP subscribers (2016)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
2.341.000 users, 1.784.266 paid subscriptions and 556.223 users of prepaid phones (2016), 100.5% mobile penetration (as of 2016)
Telephone system:
"general assessment:" well-developed telecommunications infrastructure
"domestic:" combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity, roughly 150 telephones per 100 persons
"international:" country code - 386
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 5, FM 53 (2016)
Radios:
805,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
20 (2014)
Televisions:
710,000 (1997)
Internet:
56% Internet penetration, 130.000 ADSL subscribers (November 2005), 2000 ADSL TV subscribers (May 2004), 12.000 VDSL subscribers (July 2006), 3.950 VDSL TV subscribers (July 2006) - currently higher penetration (over 55%) - MOSS 2006 http://www.soz.si/projekti_soz/moss_merjenje_obiskanosti_spletnih_strani/
Internet service providers (ISPs):
SISPA (Slovene Internet Service Provider Association) has 22 members (2004)
Internet hosts:
"'Internet users:"
Country code (Top level domain): SI
International radio callsign prefix: S5 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27344 |
Transport in Slovenia
The location at the junction of the Mediterranean, the Alps, the Dinarides and the Pannonian Plain and the area being traversed by major rivers have been the reasons for the intersection of the main transport routes in Slovenia. Their course was established already in Antiquity. A particular geographic advantage in recent times has been the location of the intersection of the Pan-European transport corridors V (the fastest link between the North Adriatic, and Central and Eastern Europe) and X (linking Central Europe with the Balkans) in the country. This gives it a special position in the European social, economic and cultural integration and restructuring.
The existing Slovenian rails, which were mostly built in the 19th century, are out-of-date and can't compete with the motorway network. The maintenance and modernisation of the Slovenian railway network has been neglected due to the lack of financial assets, creating bottlenecks. Nevertheless, it has been gaining momentum with the completion of the motorway cross. The Slovenian Railways company operates of standard gauge tracks, as double track, and reaches all regions of the country. The network comprises main lines and regional lines. Electrification is provided by a 3 kV DC system, except at the junctions with railways of foreign countries, and covers . Due to the out-of-date infrastructure, the share of the railway freight transport has been in decline in Slovenia despite growing slightly in absolute terms. The railway passenger transport has been recovering after a large drop in the 1990s. The Pan-European railway corridors V and X, and several E-railways (E65, E67, E69, and E70) intersect in Slovenia. All international transit trains in Slovenia drive through the Ljubljana Railway Hub, and all international passenger trains stop there.
As of 2018, first tenders should be invited for the upgrade of the Divača-Koper Railway.
With the share of over 80%, the road freight and passenger transport constitutes the largest part of transport in Slovenia. Personal cars are much more popular than public road passenger transport, which has significantly declined. Motorways and expressways, operated by the Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia, are the state roads of the highest category. On motorways and express ways, cars must have a toll sticker. Slovenia has a very high motorway density compared to the European Union average. The first highway in Slovenia, the A1 motorway connecting Vrhnika and Postojna, was opened in 1972, but the construction was really speed up in 1994, when the National Assembly enacted the first National Motorway Construction Programme. Till February 2012, a network consisting of of motorways, expressways and similar roads has been built. Its essential section, the Slovenian Motorway Cross, which is part of the Trans-European Road network, was completed in October 2011. It comprises the motorway route heading from east to west, in line with the Pan-European Corridor V, and the motorway route heading in the north–south direction, in line with the Pan-European Corridor X, part of which is considered the Slovenian transport backbone. The newly built road system slowly, but steadily transforms Slovenia into a large conurbation and connects it as a unitary social, economic and cultural space, with links to neighbouring areas. In contrast, other state roads, managed by the Slovenian Infrastructure Agency (until January 2015 named Slovenian Roads Agency), have been rapidly deteriorating due to neglect and the overall increase in traffic. About half of them are in a bad condition. The urban and suburban network served by buses is relatively dense.
The first highway in Slovenia, the A1, was opened in 1958 as part of the major Yugoslav project of the Brotherhood and Unity Highway.The section between Ljubljana and Zagreb was built by 54,000 volunteers in less than eight months in 1958. It connects Vrhnika and Postojna. Constructed under the liberal minded government of Stane Kavčič their development plan envisioned a modern highway network spanning Slovenia and connecting the republic to Italy and Austria. After the liberal fraction of the Communist Party of Slovenia was deposed, expansion of the Slovenian highway network came to a halt. In the 1990s the new country started the 'National Programme of Highway Construction', effectively re-using the old communist plans. Since then about 400 km of motorways, expressways and similar roads have been completed, easing automotive transport across the country and providing a strong road service between eastern and western Europe. This has provided a boost to the national economy, encouraging the development of transportation and export industries.
There are two types of highways in Slovenia. "Avtocesta" (abbr. AC) are dual carriage way motorways with a speed limit of 130 km/h. They have green road signs as in Italy, Croatia and other countries. A "hitra cesta" (HC) is a secondary road also a dual carriageway but without a hard shoulder for emergencies. They have a speed limit of 110 km/h and have blue road signs.
Since 1 June 2008 highway users in Slovenia have been required to buy a toll sticker (). This system was investigated by the European Commission that it was unfair upon holiday makers and other non Slovenian users of the highway system. On 28 January 2010, after short-term stickers were introduced by Slovenia and some other changes were made to the Slovenian toll sticker system, the European Commission concluded that the toll sticker system is in accordance with European law.
According to the Slovenian Motorway Company Act valid since December 2010, the construction and building of highways in Slovenia is carried out and financed by private companies, primarily the Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , acronym "DARS"), while the strategic planning and the acquisition of land for their course is carried out and financed by the Government of Slovenia. The highways are owned by DARS.
The beginnings of the bus transport in Slovenia date back to the early 20th century, when Slovenia was part of Austria-Hungary. The first two bus routes, between Gorizia and Postojna and between Idrija and Logatec, were opened in 1912, with additional four opened before World War I. The length of bus lines was . The transport was primarily organised by the Post Directorate of Austria. After the war, the transport was organised by the Post Directorate of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, gradually joined by private operators. The buses, primarily manufactured by Saurer, Benz, and Daimler, were small and could accept six to ten passengers. The total length of bus lines at the end of the mid-war period was .
After the end of World War II the bus traffic drastically developed. In 1946 the state ministry of local transport in the People's Republic of Slovenia established the National Bus and Transport Company of Slovenia (, "DAPPS"). In 1948 the company was reorganised to another company named "Slovenija avtopromet" ("SAP") with branches across the country, some of which were later transformed to independent local bus operators. The bus transport gradually replaced the railway transport and became the predominant means of public transport in the 1960s. The bus lines reached over (1 km/km2), with 26 million passengers altogether.
Today the bus traffic is the main means of public passenger transport in Slovenia, particularly in towns. The main bus stations are in Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, and Kranj. The bus transport and the public transport in general have steeply declined in Slovenia in the 1990s, particularly in the western part of the country. They are used mainly by people who have no other option; most people travel with their own car.
Crude oil 5 km; natural gas 840 km (2010).
There are three ports on the Slovenian coast. The traffic is mostly international. The major is the Port of Koper, built in 1957. It is a feeder port. It is about closer to destinations east of the Suez than the ports of Northern Europe, and the land transport from Koper by road and by railway to the main industrial centres in Central Europe is approximately shorter than from Northern European ports. It is multimodal and one of the most modern in this part of the world, but its development is hindered by the lack of sufficient depth. From it, there are reliable and regular shipping container lines to all major world ports. The port has been rapidly growing and in 2011, more than 17 million tonnes (16,7 million long tons, 18,7 million short tons) of cargo passed through it. It is the largest Northern Adriatic port in terms of container transport. In 2011, almost 590,000 TEUs passed through it. There is a skewed balance in the direction of trade flows in the Port of Koper where import flows clearly outweigh export flows. The majority of maritime passenger traffic in Slovenia takes place in Koper, where a passenger terminal was completed in 2005. It has recorded about 100,000 passengers in 2011, and has been visited by the largest passenger ships, such as the MS "Voyager of the Seas". The two smaller ports used for the international passenger transport are located in Izola and Piran. The Port of Piran is also used for the international transport of salt, whereas the Port of Izola is used for fish disembarkation. Passenger transport in Slovenia takes place mainly with Italy and Croatia. The only shipping company of Slovenia is Splošna plovba. It operates 28 ships with 1,025,000 tonnes of tonnage. It transports freight and is active only in foreign ports.
The first regular flights in Slovenia were established in the 1930s when the Yugoslav flag-carrier Aeroput linked Ljubljana since 1933 with numerous domestic destinations such as Belgrade, Zagreb, Sušak and Borovo. In 1934 Aeroput opened the first international regular flight from Ljubljana linking it to Austrian city of Klagenfurt. After WWII, the company, rebranded as JAT Yugoslav Airlines, further developed and expanded the domestic network. A major break-trouth happened in the 1960s with the creation of a regional company, Adria Airways (known until 1986 as Inex-Adria Aviopromet because of its links with the Serbian company InterExport). Initially formed in Zagreb in 1961, the airline changed its headquarters to Ljubljana in 1964 with the opening of the new Ljubljana airport. It linked, along JAT, Ljubljana with numerous domestic and international destinations, and even included, since 1965, charter flights to the United States. Also, in this period, numerous foreign companies opened regular flights to Ljubljana. Later, with the independence of Slovenia, Adria Airways became the country's flag-carrier.
Air transport in Slovenia is quite limited, but has significantly grown since 1991. There are three international airports in Slovenia. Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport in the central part of the country is by far the busiest, with connections to many major European destinations. Around 1.4 million passengers and 15,000 to 17,000 tonnes of cargo pass through it each year. The Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport is located in the eastern part of the country and the Portorož Airport in the western part. It has no scheduled or chartered passenger or cargo service as of 2018, but sees a lot of private flights. Adria Airways was the largest Slovenian airline until September 2019, when it declared bankruptcy and ceased all operations. Since 2003, several new carriers have entered the market, mainly low-cost airlines. The only Slovenian military airport is the Cerklje ob Krki Air Base near the Slovenia–Croatia border in the southwestern part of the country. There are also 12 public airports in Slovenia.
Airports:
16 (2012)
Airstrips:
44 (2004)
"total:"
7
"over 3,047 m:"
1
"2,438 to 3,047 m:"
1
"1,524 to 2,437 m:"
1
"914 to 1,523 m:"
3
"under 914 m:"
1 (2012)
"total:"
9
"1,524 to 2,437 m:"
1
"914 to 1,523 m:"
3
"under 914 m:"
5 (2012) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27345 |
Slovenian Armed Forces
The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army (SAF; ; ["SV"]) are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the Republic of Slovenia, while operational command is in the domain of the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces.
The military history of Slovenia spans less than a hundred years. Following the disintegration of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, the Duchy of Styria was divided between the newly established states of German Austria and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Rudolf Maister, a Slovene major of the former Austro-Hungarian Army, liberated the town of Maribor in November 1918 and claimed it for the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. After a short fight with German Austrian provisional units, the current border was established, which mostly followed the ethnic-linguistic division between Slovenes and ethnic Germans in Styria.
The current Slovenian Armed Forces are descended from the Slovenian Territorial Defence ("Teritorialna Obramba Republike Slovenije"; or "Slovene TO"), formed in 1991 by fusion of Territorial Defence (formed in 1968 as a paramilitary complement to the regular army of the former Yugoslav within the territory of Slovenia) with secret alternative command structure, known as the Manoeuvre Structures of National Protection (Manevrska struktura narodne zaščite, or MSNZ), which was an existing but antiquated institution, (unique to Slovenia), intended to enable the republic to form an ad hoc defence structure, akin to a National Guard. It was of negligible importance prior to 1990, with antiquated weapons and few members.
When Slovenia declared independence at the onset of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991, the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Slovenian police comprised the majority of forces engaging the Yugoslav People's Army during the Ten-Day War. The Slovenian Armed Forces were formally established in 1993 as a reorganization of the Slovenia Territorial Defence Force.
After 1993, the Slovenian Armed Forces had relied on mandatory military service, with conscripts receiving 6–7 months of training. In 2003, the Slovenian Government abolished conscription and as of July 2004, the Slovenian Armed Forces had been almost completely reorganised into a professional army now based on volunteers. Currently there are approximately 7,300 active troops and approximately 1,500 in reserve, reduced from 55,000 personnel during conscription.
A major reorganization of the Slovenian Armed Forces is currently underway with a goal making them more effective and cheaper. More than half of all commands have been disbanded which has made commanding the subordinated units easier and faster. Soldiers are to be located nearer to their homes in order to minimize travel costs. Since the Slovenian Armed Forces do not have enough modern armored vehicles to maintain three motorized battalions fulfilled at every time, one Wheeled Combat Vehicles Company and one Tank Company have been organized within the Logistics brigade, which now lends vehicles to any of four newly formed infantry regiments, regarding to the regiments' needs. Reorganization also transformed 72nd Brigade from a support unit to a combat unit and thus equaled it with the 1st Brigade. Both brigades were added support elements, such as Air Defense, Artillery, Intelligence, etc. The operational units now consist of Special Operations Unit, Naval Division, an Aviation Regiment and three brigades, the 1st (responsible for western Slovenia), 72nd (responsible for eastern Slovenia) and Logistics Brigade.
As part of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was never a member of the Warsaw Pact. Today, the foreign policy priority of NATO membership drives Slovenia's defense reorganization. Once many countries lifted the arms embargo on Slovenia in 1996, the country embarked on a military procurement program to bolster its status as a NATO candidate and to aid its transformation into a mobile force. Active in the SFOR deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia is also a charter member of Partnership for Peace and a regular participant in PfP exercises. The United States provides bilateral military assistance to Slovenia, including through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, the State Partnership Program (aligned with Colorado), and the EUCOM Joint Contact Team Program.
Slovenia formally joined NATO in March 2004. The transition of its armed forces from a primarily conscript-based territorial defense organization to a professional force structure has the ultimate goal of creating NATO-interoperable combat units able to operate on an even par with units from other NATO armies. Implementation of interoperability objectives as determined by the Planning and Review Process (PARP) and the Individual Partnership Program (IPP) as part of Slovenia's PfP participation proceeds. Slovenia's elite units already train with and are integrated into international units including NATO members—for example as part of SFOR and on Cyprus. Its elite mountain troops will be assigned to the Multinational Land Force peacekeeping battalion with Italy, Hungary, and Croatia. Slovenia hosted its first PfP exercise in 1998--"Cooperative Adventure Exchange"—a multinational disaster-preparedness command post exercise involving almost 6,000 troops from 19 NATO and PfP member nations.
Slovenian soldiers are a part of international forces serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chad, and Lebanon. They have also served in Cyprus and the Golan Heights as a part of UNFICYP and UNDOF respectively.
Slovenia hosts Multinational Centre of Excellence for Mountain Warfare (MN COEMW; ), one of NATO Centres of Excellence, located in Bohinjska Bela, Slovenia. It is "responsible for training individuals and units for operation in the mountains and other terrains difficult to pass".
The Slovenian Armed Forces are organized as single-branch armed forces with the army as their primary component. The personnel is divided into three categories:
The Slovenian army currently maintains one military airport Cerklje ob Krki near town of Brežice.
The airport's official name is Cerklje ob Krki Airbase.
The others that are partially military are:
Slovenia is part of the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, and supports the efforts of these organisations in peacekeeping operations and humanitarian activities. The Slovenian Armed Forces have been participating in various missions since 1997, when the first unit was deployed to Albania for a humanitarian operation. Slovenia has continued its efforts in international cooperation by participating in various missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cyprus, Pakistan and other countries. The total amount of sent personnel through Slovenias contribution to missions is more than 15,000, but some speculations are over 20,000 personnel.
The Slovenian Armed Forces sent a request for 14 new Pandur EVO armoured vehicles in late 2019. As the SAF already operate 85 Pandur I (Valuk), which is from the same family of vehicles and is the main vehicle of the army and were bought from the same company as the new ones which was Steyr (Austrian) in the past and today General Dynamics Land Systems (American), the company is offering the vehicles to the army as they know it will have all requirements for the SAF that the old ones lacked which is troop space, protection, modern electronics and RCWS. Unlike the Austrian Pandur EVO, which is only armed with 12.7mm M2 Browning HMG, some Slovenian Pandur EVO will be equipped with 40mm Heckler & Koch GMG. The Austrian government is offering a government to government contract with the Slovenian government to make the purchase cheaper. The director of GDELS confirmed there will be no corruption or problems with the purchase as they have done purchases in the past with no problem, as the SAF is an important customer to them. The 14 vehicles will fulfil 1 company of troops and the cost is estimated around 40 million Euros. The purchase is currently on standby as they are waiting for the decision of the new government for the purchase. Delivery to take place between 2020–2021.
Since the new defence minister wanted and still wants to finish the purchase of Boxer (armoured fighting vehicle) and the new general also being interested in it, if they solve the pricing problems it is possible that they will buy 56 Boxer vehicles instead of 14 Pandur EVO.
Alongside the 14 Pandur EVO armoured vehicles, they will be joined by 38 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle which the deliverey date was said to be in 2021-2023 but has changed as productions etc. is going better than expected and therefor already being 12 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles in the army in 2020 which are intended to replace the Humvee. The cost for the purchase was 32 million Euros. They will be armed with 12.7mm M2 Browning HMG and some with 40mm Heckler & Koch GMG, 1 company being an anti-tank company equipped with Spike (ATGM) LR/MR missiles.
The ministry of defence of RS said in 2020 that the artillery will be equipped with self propelled howitzers which will increase its firepower, speed and efficiency. The German Panzerhaubitze 2000 is a high contender in this purchase which will be done after the purchase of the Pandur EVO armoured vehicles in 2022–2023.
As Slovenian ground force already has 11 Roland (missile) II short range air defences, the ministry of defence of RS said that they will make a purchase of an short to medium range air defence system with integrated radar which reduce the need for trucks to tow a radar for the air defence system. Purchase will be done in around 2024.
The ministry of defence of RS said that they will start to retire some aircraft in the fleet to lower maintenance costs, while purchasing large sized military transport aircraft. The purchase of a large sized military transport aircraft was already being done in 2007 between the American-Italian Alenia C-27J Spartan and the Spanish EADS CASA C-295. Both were tested in Cerklje ob Krki Airport military airport by the Slovenian pilots and the decision was made to buy the Spanish C-295 but in that time one C-295 crashed down and they cancelled the purchase. The defence minister Matej Tonin announced that they will buy 2 large sized military transport aircraft from United States which will be the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Purchase will be done in 2020.
The navy will receive 2 underwater vessels 1 being remote controlled and 1 man operated. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27346 |
Foreign relations of Slovenia
Since Slovenia declared independence in 1991, its Governments have underscored their commitment in improving cooperation with neighbouring countries and to actively contribute to international efforts aimed at bringing stability to Southeast Europe. Resource limitations have nevertheless been a problem hindering the efficiency of the Slovenian diplomacy. In the 1990s, foreign relations, especially with Italy, Austria and Croatia, triggered internal political controversies. In the last eight years, however, a wide consensus has been reached among the vast majority of Slovenian political parties to jointly work in the improvement of the country's diplomatic infrastructure and to avoid politicizing the foreign relations by turning them into an issue of internal political debates.
Slovenia's bilateral relations with its neighbors are generally good and cooperative. However, a few unresolved disputes with Croatia remain. They are related mostly to the succession of the former Yugoslavia, including demarcation of their common border. In addition, unlike the other successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia did not normalize relations with the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (Serbia and Montenegro) until after the passing from power of Slobodan Milošević; although the Slovenes did open a representative office in Podgorica to work with Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović's government.
Succession issues, particularly concerning liabilities and assets of the former Yugoslavia, remain a key factor in Slovenia's relations in the region. On the whole, no conflicts mar relations with neighbors, which are on a sound footing. Numerous cooperative projects are either underway or envisioned, and bilateral and multilateral partnerships are deepening. Differences, many of which stem from Yugoslavia's time, have been handled responsibly and are being resolved. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27347 |
History of Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in the Melanesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean.
This page is about the history of the nation state rather than the broader geographical area of the Solomon Islands archipelago, which covers both Solomon Islands and Bougainville Island, a province of Papua New Guinea. For the history of the archipelago not covered here refer to the former administration of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, the North Solomon Islands and the History of Bougainville.
The human history of Solomon Islands begins with the first Papuan settlement at least 30,000 years ago from New Guinea. They represented the furthest expansion of humans into the Pacific until the expansion of Austronesian-language speakers through the area around 4000 BC, bringing new agricultural and maritime technology. Most of the languages spoken today in Solomon Islands derive from this era, but some thirty languages of the pre-Austronesian settlers survive. Most of the people that settled there back then were Papuans "(see East Papuan languages)."
There are preserved numerous pre-European cultural monuments in Solomon Islands, notably Bao megalithic shrine complex (13th century AD), Nusa Roviana fortress and shrines (14th – 19th century), Vonavona Skull island – all in Western province. Nusa Roviana fortress, shrines and surrounding villages served as a hub of regional trade networks in 17th – 19th centuries. Skull shrines of Nusa Roviana are sites of legends. Better known is Tiola shrine – site of legendary stone dog which turned towards the direction where enemy of Roviana was coming from. This complex of archaeological monuments characterises fast development of local Roviana culture, through trade and head hunting expeditions turning into regional power in 17th – 18th centuries.
Ships of the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira first sighted Santa Isabel island on 7 February 1568. Finding signs of alluvial gold on Guadalcanal, Mendaña believed he had found the source of King Solomon's wealth, and consequently named the islands "The Islands of Solomon".
In 1595 and 1605 Spain again sent several expeditions to find the islands and establish a colony; however these were unsuccessful. In 1767 Captain Philip Carteret rediscovered the Santa Cruz Islands and Malaita. Later, Dutch, French and British navigators visited the islands; their reception was often hostile.
Museums with significant collections of Solomon Islands artifacts include the Bishop Museum, the Peabody Museum of Salem and the South Sea Islands Museum.
Sikaiana, then known as the Stewart Islands, was annexed to the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1856. Hawai'i did not formalize the annexation, and the United States refused to recognize Hawaiian sovereignty over Sikaiana when the United States annexed Hawai'i in 1898.
Missionary activity then started at the mid 19th century and European colonial ambitions led to the establishment of a German Protectorate over the North Solomon Islands, which covered parts of what is now Solomon Islands, following an Anglo-German Treaty of 1886. A British Solomon Islands Protectorate over the southern islands was proclaimed in June 1893. German interests were transferred to the United Kingdom under the Samoa Tripartite Convention of 1899, in exchange for recognition of the German claim to Western Samoa.
In 1927 District Commissioner William R. Bell was killed on Malaita, along with a cadet named Lillies and 13 Solomon Islanders in his charge. A massive punitive expedition, known as the Malaita massacre, ensued; at least 60 Kwaio were killed, nearly 200 detained in Tulagi (the protectorate capital),and many sacred sites and objects were destroyed or desecrated. Basiana, who had killed Bell, was hanged publicly on 29 June 1928.
Japanese forces occupied the Solomon Islands in January 1942. The counter-attack was led by the United States; the 1st Division of the US Marine Corps landed on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in August 1942. Some of the most bitter fighting of World War II took place on the islands for almost three years.
Tulagi, the seat of the British administration on the island of Nggela Sule in Central Province was destroyed in the heavy fighting following landings by the US Marines. Then the tough battle for Guadalcanal, which was centred on the capture of the airfield, Henderson field, led to the development of the adjacent town of Honiara as the United States logistics centre.
Islanders Biuku Gasa (deceased 2005) and Eroni Kumana (Gizo) (deceased 2014) were Allies scouts during the war. They became famous when they were noted by National Geographic for being the first men to find the shipwrecked John F. Kennedy and his crew of the PT-109 using a traditional dugout canoe. They suggested the idea of using a coconut which was later kept on the desk of the president to write a rescue message for delivery. Their names had not been credited in most movie and historical accounts, and they were turned back before they could visit President Kennedy's inauguration, though the Australian coastwatcher would also meet the president. They were visited by a member of the Kennedy family in 2002, where they lived in traditional huts without electricity.
The impact of the war on islanders was profound. The destruction caused by the fighting and the longer-term consequences of the introduction of modern materials, machinery and western cultural artefacts, transformed traditional isolated island ways of life. The reconstruction was slow in the absence of war reparations and with the destruction of the pre-war plantations, formerly the mainstay of the economy. Significantly, Solomon Islanders' experience as labourers with the Allies led some to a new appreciation of the importance of economic organisation and trade as the basis for material advancement. Some of these ideas were put into practice in the early post-war political movement "Maasina Ruru" – often corrupted to "Marching Rule".
In 1956 a movement for social economic and political improvement using co-operatives economic enterprises in combination with a regard for custom and tradition to synthesise a new social order called Moro Movement began on Guadalcanal.
Stability was restored during the 1950s, as the British colonial administration built a network of official local councils. On this platform Solomon Islanders with experience on the local councils started participation in central government, initially through the bureaucracy and then, from 1960, through the newly established Legislative and Executive Councils. Positions on both Councils were initially appointed by the High Commissioner of the British Protectorate but progressively more of the positions were directly elected or appointed by electoral colleges formed by the local councils. The first national election was held in 1964 for the seat of Honiara, and by 1967 the first general election was held for all but one of the 15 representative seats on the Legislative Council (the one exception was the seat for the Eastern Outer Islands, which was again appointed by electoral college).
Elections were held again in 1970 and a new constitution was introduced. The 1970 constitution replaced the Legislative and Executive Councils with a single Governing Council. It also established a 'committee system of government' where all members of the Council sat on one or more of five committees. The aim of this system was to reduce divisions between elected representatives and the colonial bureaucracy, provide opportunities for training new representatives in managing the responsibilities of government.
It was also claimed that this system was more consistent with the Melanesian style of government. However this was quickly undermined by opposition to the 1970 constitution and the committee system by elected members of the council. As a result, a new constitution was introduced in 1974 which established a standard Westminster form of government and gave the Islanders both Chief Ministerial and Cabinet responsibilities. Solomon Mamaloni became the country's first Chief Minister in July 1974.
As late as 1970, the British Protectorate did not envisage independence for Solomon Islands in the foreseeable future. Shortly thereafter, the financial costs of supporting the Protectorate became more trying, as the world economy was hit by the first oil price shock of 1973. The imminent independence of Papua New Guinea (in 1975) was also thought to have influenced the Protectorate's administrators.
Outside of a very small educated elite in Honiara, there was little in the way of an indigenous independence movement in the Solomons. Self-government was granted in January 1976 and after July 1976, Sir Peter Kenilorea became the Chief Minister who would lead the country to independence. Independence was granted on 7 July 1978, and Kenilorea automatically became the country's first Prime Minister.
Before WWII the provincial capital of Guadalcanal was located at Aola, further down the coast from the present capital, Honiara. That area was then still occupied by the tribal owners of the land. Unfortunately for them Point Cruz had a deep-water harbour and was only a few miles away from the Guadalcanal Plains, where Henderson airfield was built by the Americans during the War. The landowners accepted the need for such military effort based on their land, presuming it would be returned to them afterwards. In the meantime they moved out, over to the Weather Coast on the opposite side of the island, settling in and around an area called Bambanakira.
But they were never compensated. Efforts to resolve this issue as late as 1998 by Ezekiel Alebua, then Guadalcanal Premiere, were thwarted and for just a few million dollars ($SBD). Ethnic bias within the bureaucracy and authorities at the time was well known. As well, in the late 90s suburban development had been accelerating on the outskirts of Honiara, whole suburbs of squatters mainly of Malaitan origin. To exacerbate the problem the police had refused to properly investigate a growing series of violent murders, all of Guadalcanal men in and around Honiara.
In early 1999 long-simmering tensions between the local Gwale people on Guadalcanal and more recent migrants from the neighbouring island of Malaita erupted into violence. The 'Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army', later called Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM), began terrorising Malaitans in the rural areas of the island to make them leave their homes. About 20,000 Malaitans fled to the capital and others returned to their home island; Gwale residents of Honiara fled. The city became a Malaitan enclave.
Meanwhile, the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) was formed to uphold Malaitan interests. The Government appealed to the Commonwealth Secretary General for assistance. The Honiara Peace Accord was agreed on 28 June 1999. Despite this apparent success the underlying problems remained unresolved and had already resulted in the death or serious injury of 30,000 civilians. The accord soon broke down and fighting broke out again in June 2000.
Malaitans took over some armouries at their home island and Honiara and helped by that, on 5 June 2000 the MEF seized the parliament by force. Through their spokesman Andrew Nori, they claimed that the government of the then Prime Minister, Bartholomew Ulufa'alu, had failed to secure compensation for loss of Malaitan life and property. Ulufa’alu was forced to step down.
On 30 June 2000 Parliament elected by a narrow margin a new Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare. He established a Coalition for National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace, which released a program of action focused on resolving the ethnic conflict, restoring the economy and distributing the benefits of development more equally. However, Sogavare's government was deeply corrupt and its actions led to the downward economic spiral and the deterioration of law and order.
The conflict was foremost about access to land and other resources and was centered on Honiara. Since the beginning of the civil war it is estimated that 100 have been killed. About 30,000 refugees, mainly Malaitans, had to leave their homes, and economic activity on Guadalcanal was severely disrupted.
Continuing civil unrest led to an almost complete breakdown in normal activity: civil servants remained unpaid for months at a time, and cabinet meetings had to be held in secret to prevent local warlords from interfering. The security forces were unable to reassert control, largely because many police and security personnel were associated with one or another of the rival gangs.
In July 2003 the Governor General of Solomon Islands issued an official request for international help, which was subsequently endorsed by a unanimous vote of the parliament. Technically, only the Governor General's request for troops was necessary. However, the government then passed legislation to provide the international force with greater powers and resolve some legal ambiguities.
On 6 July 2003, in response to a proposal to send 300 police and 2,000 troops from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea to Guadalcanal, warlord Harold Keke announced a ceasefire by faxing a signed copy of the announcement to the Solomons Prime Minister, Allan Kemakeza. Keke ostensibly leads the Guadalcanal Liberation Front, but has been described as marauding bandit based on the isolated southwestern coast (Weather Coast) of Guadalcanal. Despite this ceasefire, on 11 July 2003 the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation broadcast unconfirmed reports that supporters of Harold Keke razed two villages.
In mid-July 2003, the Solomons parliament voted unanimously in favour of the proposed intervention. The international force began gathering at a training facility in Townsville. In August 2003, an international peacekeeping force, known as the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and Operation Helpem Fren, entered the islands. Australia committed the largest number of security personnel, but with substantial numbers also from other South Pacific Forum countries such as New Zealand, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea (PNG). It acts as an interim police force and is responsible for restoring law and order in the country because the Royal Solomon Islands Police force failed to do so for a variety of reasons. Peacekeeping forces have been successful in improving the country's overall security conditions, including brokering the surrender of a notorious warlord Harold Keke in August 2003.
In 2006, riots broke out following the election of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister, destroying part of Chinatown and displacing more than 1,000 Chinese residents; the large Pacific Casino Hotel was also totally gutted. The commercial heart of Honiara was virtually reduced to rubble and ashes. Three National Parliament members, Charles Dausabea, Nelson Ne'e, and Patrick Vahoe, were arrested during or as a result of the riots. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), the 16-country Pacific Islands Forum initiative set up in 2003 with assistance from Australia, intervened, sending in additional police and army officers to bring the situation under control. A vote of no confidence was passed against the Prime Minister. Following his resignation, a five-party Grand Coalition for Change Government was formed in May 2006, with Manasseh Sogavare as Prime Minister, quelling the riots and running the government. The military part of RAMSI was withdrawn in 2013 and rebuilding took shape.
In 2009, the government is scheduled to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with the assistance of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to "address people’s traumatic experiences during the five-year ethnic conflict on Guadalcanal".
The government continues to face serious problems, including an uncertain economic outlook, deforestation, and malaria control. At one point, prior to the deployment of RAMSI forces, the country was facing a serious financial crisis. While economic conditions are improving, the situation remains unstable.
In 1992, Cyclone Tia struck the island of Tikopia, wiping out most housing and food crops.
In 1997, the Government asked for help from the US and Japan to clean up more than 50 sunken World War II shipwrecks polluting coral reefs and killing marine life.
In December 2002, Severe Tropical Cyclone Zoe struck the island of Tikopia and Anuta, cutting off contact with the 3,000 inhabitants. Due to funding problems, the Solomon Islands government could not send relief until the Australian government provided funding.
In April 2014 the islands were struck by the tropical low that later became Cyclone Ita.
Throughout the Solomons, at least 23 people were killed while up to 40 others remained unaccounted for as of 6 April. An estimated 49,000 people were affected by the floods, of whom 9,000 were left homeless.
As the precursor tropical low to Ita affected the Islands, local authorities issued heavy flood warnings, tropical disturbance and cyclone watches.
Nearly two days of continuous heavy rains from the storm caused flash flooding in the Islands. Over a four-day span, more than fell at the Gold Ridge mine in Guadalcanal, with falling in a 24‑hour span. The Matanikau River, which runs through the capital city Honiara, broke its banks on 3 April and devastated nearby communities. Thousands of homes along with the city's two main bridges were washed away, stranding numerous residents. The national hospital had to evacuate 500 patients to other facilities due to flooding. Graham Kenna from Save the Children stated that, "the scale of destruction is like something never seen before in the Solomon Islands." According to Permanent Secretary Melchoir Mataki, the majority of homes destroyed in Honiara were built on a flood plain where construction was not allowed.
Severe flooding took place on Guadalcanal. Immediately following the floods, Honiara and Guadalcanal were declared disaster areas by the Solomon Government. Debris left behind by the floods initially hampered relief efforts, with the runway at Honiara International Airport blocked by two destroyed homes. Food supplies started running low as the Red Cross provided aid to the thousands homeless. The airport was reopened on 6 April, allowing for supplies from Australia and New Zealand to be delivered. Roughly 20 percent of Honiara's population relocated to evacuation centers as entire communities were swept away. There were fears that the flooding could worsen an already ongoing dengue fever outbreak and cause outbreaks of diarrhea and conjunctivitis.
New Zealand offered an immediate NZ$300,000 in funds and deployed a C-130 Hercules with supplies and emergency response personnel. Australia donated A$250,000 on 6 April and sent engineers and response teams to aid in relief efforts. On 8 April, Australia increased its aid package to A$3 million while New Zealand provided an additional NZ$1.2 million. Taiwan provided US$200,000 in funds. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27349 |
Demographics of Solomon Islands
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Solomon Islands, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The Solomon Islanders comprise diverse cultures, languages, and customs. Of its, 94.5% are Melanesian, 3% Polynesian, and 1.2% Micronesian. In addition, small numbers of Europeans and Chinese are registered. About 120 vernaculars are spoken.
Most people reside in small, widely dispersed settlements along the coasts. Sixty percent live in localities with fewer than 200 persons, and only 10% reside in urban areas.
The capital city of Honiara is situated on Guadalcanal, the largest island. The other principal towns are Gizo, Auki, and Kirakira.
Most Solomon Islanders are Christian, with the Anglican, Methodist, Roman Catholic, South Seas Evangelical, and Seventh-day Adventist faiths predominating. About 5% of the population maintain traditional beliefs.
The chief characteristics of the traditional Melanesian social structure are:
Most Solomon Islanders maintain this traditional social structure and find their roots in village life.
The following demographic statistics are from The World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27351 |
Telecommunications in Solomon Islands
Communications in Solomon Islands.
Landline
Mobile cellular:
Telecom operators:
Telephone system:
GSM mobile phone network covering all provincial capitals along with several other townships and villages and a landline system covering all provincial capitals and some townships.
International dial code:+677
International
Domestic
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 1, FM 4 Paoa FM, ZFM100, Wan FM, and Barava FM, shortwave 1 (2002). The Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, founded in 1976, transmits regular programming.
Radio
Receivers: 57,000 (1997)
In addition to regular broadcast stations, several shortwave utility station networks exist, such as the Church of Melanesia network.
TTV is the Solomon Islands only television network and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Solomon Telekom Co. Ltd. (STCL). STCL operates under the brand name - Our Telekom.
TTV transmits in digital HD and analogue and is a free-to-air, commercial, terrestrial television network, located in the capital, Honiara.
History:
The first television broadcast was made possible in July 1992 by STCL who downlinked the Barcelona Summer Olympics utilising the satellite antennas used to relay international telephone calls and a small TV transmitter as an experiment.
2006: ONE News leased the STCL owned transmitters to broadcast a local channel until 2011 when it went out of business.
2008 (March): Telekom Television Ltd was formed
2016: HD services launched (FTA DVB-T). Commenced broadcasting National Parliament live to air on TTV ONE.
2019: Broadcast three analogue SD and sixteen 1080i/50 HD digital (DVB-T) channels in the VHF/UHF frequency bands. The HD channels, available in Honiara, are a mixture of overseas sport, news and entertainments channels. Two of the TTV branded analogue SD channels (TTV 1, TTV 2) are distributed to five major locations in the Solomons: Gizo, Noro, Munda, Auki and Lata. Distribution is via satellite and microwave links.
Standards:
TTV conforms to the Australian television frequencies for both analogue and digital transmissions and production (1080i/50).
Channels:
TTV branded channels include: TTV ONE, TTV TWO and TTV THREE. TTV ONE is the main commercial channel and carries a mixture of local and international sport, news and entertainment programming.
Online:
TTV is also streamed Online (as programme rights allow) and is accessible via the Our Telekom mobile network throughout the Solomons. The service is Geoblocked to the Solomons.
Televisions:
3,000 (1997). Estimated viewership: 35,000 (2017)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):Solomon Telekom: https://telekom.com.sb/McPacific: http://www.mc-pacific.com/satellite.htmlSATSOL: https://satsol.net/
People First Network: (PFnet) operate a community email network with 17 rural access points (Apr 2005) https://web.archive.org/web/20010415150953/http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb/General/PFnet.htm
PFnet is also establishing a VSAT network of distance learning centres in rural community schools under an EU-funded project http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb/dlcp
It is hoped each host school will contribute to the Wikipedia or create their own wikis.
Country code (Top level domain): SB | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27354 |
Transport in Solomon Islands
Most internal transport in Solomon Islands is conducted through boat travel between islands. Road transport infrastructure is rudimentary, with few paved roads.
Railways:
0 km
Highways:
"total:"
1,360 km
"paved:"
33 km
"unpaved:"
1,327 km (includes about 800 km of private plantation roads) (2002)
Ports and harbors:
Aola Bay, Honiara, Lofung, Noro, Viru Harbor, Yandina
Merchant marine:
none (1999 est.)
Airports:
36 (2012)
Airports - with paved runways:
"total:"
1
"1,524 to 2,437 m:"
1 (Honiara International Airport) (2012)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
"total:"
35
"1,524 to 2,437 m:"
1
"914 to 1,523 m:"
9
"under 914 m:"
25 (2012)
Heliports
"total:" 3 (2012) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27355 |
Somalia
Somalia ( ; ; ), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (; ) is a sovereign country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains, and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
Somalia has an estimated population of around /1e6 round 1 million and has been described as Africa's most culturally homogeneous country. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have historically inhabited the country's north. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the south. The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic. Most people in the country are Muslims, the majority of them Sunni.
In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. It is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt. During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Sultanate of the Geledi. The toponym "Somalia" was coined by the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti.
In the late 19th century, Somalia was colonized by European powers, first Germany, and then Britain and Italy when the Germans abandoned their efforts in 1890. The British and Italians established the colonies of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. In the interior, Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's Darwiish repelled the British four times, forcing a retreat to the coast, before succumbing in the Somaliland campaign (1920). Italy acquired full control of the northeastern, central, and southern parts of the area after successfully waging the Campaign of the Sultanates against the ruling Majeerteen Sultanate and Sultanate of Hobyo. In 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government.
The Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, which collapsed 22 years later, in 1991, with the onset of the Somali Civil War. During this period most regions returned to customary and religious law. In the early 2000s, a number of interim federal administrations were created. The Transitional National Government (TNG) was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004, which reestablished the Somali Armed Forces. In 2006, the TFG assumed control of most of the nation's southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups, such as Al-Shabaab, which battled the TFG and its AMISOM allies for control of the region.
By mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory they had seized, and a search for more permanent democratic institutions began. A new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, reforming Somalia as a federation. The same month, the Federal Government of Somalia was formed and a period of reconstruction began in Mogadishu. Somalia has maintained an informal economy mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad, and telecommunications. It is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, African Union, Non-Aligned Movement, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here. The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterized in 1909 as important artefacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West.
According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley, or the Near East.
The Laas Geel complex on the outskirts of Hargeisa in northwestern Somalia dates back approximately 5,000 years, and has rock art depicting both wild animals and decorated cows. Other cave paintings are found in the northern Dhambalin region, which feature one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the distinctive Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1,000 to 3,000 BCE. Additionally, between the towns of Las Khorey and El Ayo in northern Somalia lies Karinhegane, the site of numerous cave paintings of real and mythical animals. Each painting has an inscription below it, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old.
Ancient pyramidical structures, mausoleums, ruined cities and stone walls, such as the Wargaade Wall, are evidence of an old civilization that once thrived in the Somali peninsula. This civilization enjoyed a trading relationship with ancient Egypt and Mycenaean Greece since the second millennium BCE, supporting the hypothesis that Somalia or adjacent regions were the location of the ancient Land of Punt. The Puntites traded myrrh, spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and frankincense with the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut is recorded on the temple reliefs at Deir el-Bahari, during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati. In 2015, isotopic analysis of ancient baboon mummies from Punt that had been brought to Egypt as gifts indicated that the specimens likely originated from an area encompassing eastern Somalia and the Eritrea-Ethiopia corridor.
In the classical era, the Macrobians, who may have been ancestral to Somalis, established a powerful tribal kingdom that ruled large parts of modern Somalia. They were reputed for their longevity and wealth, and were said to be the "tallest and handsomest of all men". The Macrobians were warrior herders and seafarers. According to Herodotus' account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses II, upon his conquest of Egypt in 525 BC, sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based on his stature and beauty, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to draw it, they would have the right to invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire. The Macrobians were a regional power reputed for their advanced architecture and gold wealth, which was so plentiful that they shackled their prisoners in golden chains.
The camel is believed to have been domesticated in the Horn region sometime between the 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE. From there, it spread to Egypt and the Maghreb.
During the classical period, the Barbara city-states also known as sesea of Mosylon, Opone, Mundus, Isis, Malao, Avalites, Essina, Nikon and Sarapion developed a lucrative trade network, connecting with merchants from Ptolemaic Egypt, Ancient Greece, Phoenicia, Parthian Persia, Saba, the Nabataean Kingdom, and the Roman Empire. They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the "beden" to transport their cargo.
After the Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire and the Roman naval presence at Aden to curb piracy, Arab and Somali merchants agreed with the Romans to bar Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian peninsula to protect the interests of Somali and Arab merchants in the lucrative commerce between the Red and Mediterranean Seas. However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference.For centuries, Indian merchants brought large quantities of cinnamon to Somalia and Arabia from Ceylon and the Spice Islands. The source of the cinnamon and other spices is said to have been the best-kept secret of Arab and Somali merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world; the Romans and Greeks believed the source to have been the Somali peninsula. The collusive agreement among Somali and Arab traders inflated the price of Indian and Chinese cinnamon in North Africa, the Near East, and Europe, and made the cinnamon trade a very profitable revenue generator, especially for the Somali merchants through whose hands large quantities were shipped across sea and land routes.
Islam was introduced to the area early on by the first Muslims of Mecca fleeing prosecution during the first Hejira with Masjid al-Qiblatayn in Zeila being built before the Qiblah towards Mecca. It is one of the oldest mosques in Africa. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal Kingdom had its capital in the city. According to Leo Africanus, the Adal Sultanate was governed by local Somali dynasties and its realm encompassed the geographical area between the Bab el Mandeb and Cape Guardafui. It was thus flanked to the south by the Ajuran Empire and to the west by the Abyssinian Empire.
In 1332, the Zeila-based King of Adal was slain in a military campaign aimed at halting Abyssinian emperor Amda Seyon I's march toward the city. When the last Sultan of Ifat, Sa'ad ad-Din II, was also killed by Emperor Dawit I in Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen, before returning in 1415. In the early 15th century, Adal's capital was moved further inland to the town of Dakkar, where Sabr ad-Din II, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, established a new base after his return from Yemen.
Adal's headquarters were again relocated the following century, this time southward to Harar. From this new capital, Adal organised an effective army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or "Gran"; both meaning "the left-handed") that invaded the Abyssinian empire. This 16th-century campaign is historically known as the Conquest of Abyssinia ("Futuh al-Habash"). During the war, Imam Ahmad pioneered the use of cannons supplied by the Ottoman Empire, which he imported through Zeila and deployed against Abyssinian forces and their Portuguese allies led by Cristóvão da Gama. Some scholars argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannon, and the arquebus over traditional weapons.
During the Ajuran Sultanate period, the sultanates and republics of Merca, Mogadishu, Barawa, Hobyo and their respective ports flourished and had a lucrative foreign commerce, with ships sailing to and coming from Arabia, India, Venetia, Persia, Egypt, Portugal, and as far away as China. Vasco da Gama, who passed by Mogadishu in the 15th century, noted that it was a large city with houses several storeys high and large palaces in its centre, in addition to many mosques with cylindrical minarets. The Harla, an early Hamitic group of tall stature who inhabited parts of Somalia, Tchertcher and other areas in the Horn, also erected various tumuli. These masons are believed to have been ancestral to ethnic Somalis.
In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in modern-day India sailed to Mogadishu with cloth and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Barbosa also highlighted the abundance of meat, wheat, barley, horses, and fruit on the coastal markets, which generated enormous wealth for the merchants. Mogadishu, the center of a thriving textile industry known as "toob benadir" (specialized for the markets in Egypt, among other places), together with Merca and Barawa, also served as a transit stop for Swahili merchants from Mombasa and Malindi and for the gold trade from Kilwa. Jewish merchants from the Hormuz brought their Indian textile and fruit to the Somali coast in exchange for grain and wood.
Trading relations were established with Malacca in the 15th century, with cloth, ambergris and porcelain being the main commodities of the trade. Giraffes, zebras and incense were exported to the Ming Empire of China, which established Somali merchants as leaders in the commerce between East Asia and the Horn. Hindu merchants from Surat and Southeast African merchants from Pate, seeking to bypass both the Portuguese India blockade ( and later the Omani interference), used the Somali ports of Merca and Barawa (which were out of the two powers' direct jurisdiction) to conduct their trade in safety and without interference.
For several decades, the coast of Benadir was the scene of the conflict between the Portuguese Empire and the sultanate of Ajuran. The dominance of the ocean and the commercial routes imply the control of the main ports. As a consequence, since the Portuguese arrived in Asia in 1498, they tried to replace the Arabs by conquering cities and ports. Wars with the Ajuran were the direct consequence, occurring at different times whenever the borders of the empire were attacked or threatened.
In the early modern period, successor states to the Adal Sultanate and Ajuran Sultanate began to flourish in Somalia. These included the Warsangali Sultanate, the Bari Dynasties, the Sultanate of the Geledi (Gobroon dynasty), the Majeerteen Sultanate (Migiurtinia), and the Sultanate of Hobyo (Obbia). They continued the tradition of castle-building and seaborne trade established by previous Somali empires.
Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, the third Sultan of the House of Gobroon, started the golden age of the Gobroon Dynasty. His army came out victorious during the Bardheere Jihad, which restored stability in the region and revitalized the East African ivory trade. He also received presents from and had cordial relations with the rulers of neighbouring and distant kingdoms such as the Omani, Witu and Yemeni Sultans.
Sultan Ibrahim's son Ahmed Yusuf succeeded him and was one of the most important figures in 19th-century East Africa, receiving tribute from Omani governors and creating alliances with important Muslim families on the East African coast. In northern Somalia, the Gerad Dynasty conducted trade with Yemen and Persia and competed with the merchants of the Bari Dynasty. The Gerads and the Bari Sultans built impressive palaces and fortresses and had close relations with many different empires in the Near East.
In the late 19th century, after the Berlin Conference of 1884, European powers began the Scramble for Africa, which inspired the Dervish leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan to rally support from across the Horn of Africa and begin one of the longest colonial resistance wars ever. In several of his poems and speeches, Hassan emphasized that the British "have destroyed our religion and made our children their children" and that the Christian Ethiopians in league with the British were bent upon plundering the political and religious freedom of the Somali nation. He soon emerged as "a champion of his country's political and religious freedom, defending it against all Christian invaders".
Hassan issued a religious ordinance stipulating that any Somali national who did not accept the goal of unity of Somalis, Greater Somalia and would not fight under his leadership would be considered to be kafir, or "gaal". He soon acquired weapons from the Ottoman Empire, Sudan, other Islamic and Arabian countries, and appointed ministers and advisers to administer different areas or sectors of Somalia. In addition, he gave a clarion call for Somali unity and independence, in the process organizing his forces.
Hassan's Dervish movement had an essentially military character, and the Dervish revolt was fashioned on the model of a Salihiya brotherhood. It was characterized by a rigid hierarchy and centralization. Though Hassan threatened to drive the Christians into the sea, he executed the first attack by launching his first major military offensive with his 1,500 Dervish equipped with 20 modern rifles on the British soldiers stationed in the region. He repulsed the British in four expeditions and had relations with the Central Powers of the Ottomans and the Germans. In 1920, the Dervish movement collapsed after intensive aerial bombardments by Britain, and Dervish territories were subsequently turned into a protectorate.
The dawn of fascism in the early 1920s heralded a change of strategy for Italy, as the north-eastern sultanates were soon to be forced within the boundaries of "La Grande Somalia" according to the plan of Fascist Italy. With the arrival of Governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi on 15 December 1923, things began to change for that part of Somaliland known as Italian Somaliland. Italy had access to these areas under the successive protection treaties, but not direct rule.
The Fascist government had direct rule only over the Benadir territory. Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini, attacked Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935, with an aim to colonize it. The invasion was condemned by the League of Nations, but little was done to stop it or to liberate occupied Ethiopia. On 3 August 1940, Italian troops, including Somali colonial units, crossed from Ethiopia to invade British Somaliland, and by 14 August, succeeded in taking Berbera from the British.
A British force, including troops from several African countries, launched the campaign in January 1941 from Kenya to liberate British Somaliland and Italian-occupied Ethiopia and conquer Italian Somaliland. By February, most of Italian Somaliland was captured and in March, British Somaliland was retaken from the sea. The forces of the British Empire operating in Somaliland comprised the three divisions of South African, West African, and East African troops. They were assisted by Somali forces led by Abdulahi Hassan with Somalis of the Isaaq, Dhulbahante, and Warsangali clans prominently participating. The number of Italian Somalis began to decline after World War II, with fewer than 10,000 remaining in 1960.
Following World War II, Britain retained control of both British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland as protectorates. In 1945, during the Potsdam Conference, the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland as the Trust Territory of Somaliland, on the condition—first proposed by the Somali Youth League (SYL) and other nascent Somali political organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (HDMS) and the Somali National League (SNL)—that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. British Somaliland remained a protectorate of Britain until 1960.
To the extent that Italy held the territory by UN mandate, the trusteeship provisions gave the Somalis the opportunity to gain experience in Western political education and self-government. These were advantages that British Somaliland, which was to be incorporated into the new Somali state, did not have. Although in the 1950s British colonial officials attempted, through various administrative development efforts, to make up for past neglect, the protectorate stagnated. The disparity between the two territories in economic development and political experience would later cause serious difficulties integrating the two parts.
Meanwhile, in 1948, under pressure from their World War II allies and to the dismay of the Somalis, the British returned the Haud (an important Somali grazing area that was presumably protected by British treaties with the Somalis in 1884 and 1886) and the Somali Region to Ethiopia, based on a treaty they signed in 1897 in which the British ceded Somali territory to the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik in exchange for his help against possible advances by the French.
Britain included the conditional provision that the Somali residents would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over the area. This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over. Britain also granted administration of the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District (NFD) to Kenyan nationalists. This was despite a plebiscite in which, according to a British colonial commission, almost all of the territory's ethnic Somalis favored joining the newly formed Somali Republic.
A referendum was held in neighbouring Djibouti (then known as French Somaliland) in 1958, on the eve of Somalia's independence in 1960, to decide whether or not to join the Somali Republic or to remain with France. The referendum turned out in favour of a continued association with France, largely due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident Europeans. There was also widespread vote rigging, with the French expelling thousands of Somalis before the referendum reached the polls.
The majority of those who voted 'no' were Somalis who were strongly in favour of joining a united Somalia, as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi, Vice President of the Government Council. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later. Djibouti finally gained independence from France in 1977, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon, a Somali who had campaigned for a 'yes' vote in the referendum of 1976, eventually became Djibouti's first president (1977–1999).
On 1 July 1960, the two territories united to form the Somali Republic, albeit within boundaries drawn up by Italy and Britain. A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa and Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal with other members of the trusteeship and protectorate governments, with Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf as President of the Somali National Assembly, Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President of the Somali Republic, and Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as Prime Minister (later to become President from 1967 to 1969). On 20 July 1961 and through a popular referendum, was ratified popularly by the people of Somalia under Italian trusteeship, But most the people from the former Somaliland Protectorate didn't participated the referendum, due to the marginalization graveness made on their rights of power sharing of the unity government. only small number of Somalilanders participated the referendum voted against the new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960. In 1967, Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became Prime Minister, a position to which he was appointed by Shermarke. Egal would later become the President of the autonomous Somaliland region in northwestern Somalia.
On 15 October 1969, while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod, Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards. His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on 21 October 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition — essentially a bloodless takeover. The putsch was spearheaded by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, who at the time commanded the army.
Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination was led by Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel. Kediye officially held the title "Father of the Revolution", and Barre shortly afterwards became the head of the SRC. The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic, dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.
The revolutionary army established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase the literacy rate. In addition to a nationalization program of industry and land, the new regime's foreign policy placed an emphasis on Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world, eventually joining the Arab League in 1974. That same year, Barre also served as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU).
In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets. The SRSP was an attempt to reconcile the official state ideology with the official state religion by adapting Marxist precepts to local circumstances. Emphasis was placed on the Muslim principles of social progress, equality and justice, which the government argued formed the core of scientific socialism and its own accent on self-sufficiency, public participation and popular control, as well as direct ownership of the means of production. While the SRSP encouraged private investment on a limited scale, the administration's overall direction was essentially communist.
In July 1977, the Ogaden War broke out after Barre's government used a plea for national unity to justify an aggressive incorporation of the predominantly Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia into a Pan-Somali Greater Somalia, along with the rich agricultural lands of south-eastern Ethiopia, infrastructure, and strategically important areas as far north as Djibouti. In the first week of the conflict, Somali armed forces took southern and central Ogaden and for most of the war, the Somali army scored continuous victories on the Ethiopian army and followed them as far as Sidamo. By September 1977, Somalia controlled 90% of the Ogaden and captured strategic cities such as Jijiga and put heavy pressure on Dire Dawa, threatening the train route from the latter city to Djibouti. After the siege of Harar, a massive unprecedented Soviet intervention consisting of 20,000 Cuban forces and several thousand Soviet experts came to the aid of Ethiopia's communist Derg regime. By 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden. This shift in support by the Soviet Union motivated the Barre government to seek allies elsewhere. It eventually settled on the Soviets' Cold War arch-rival, the United States, which had been courting the Somali government for some time. All in all, Somalia's initial friendship with the Soviet Union and later partnership with the United States enabled it to build the largest army in Africa.
A new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party politburo continued to rule. In October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place. By that time, Barre's government had become increasingly unpopular. Many Somalis had become disillusioned with life under military dictatorship.
The regime was weakened further in the 1980s as the Cold War drew to a close and Somalia's strategic importance was diminished. The government became increasingly authoritarian, and resistance movements, encouraged by Ethiopia, sprang up across the country, eventually leading to the Somali Civil War. Among the militia groups were the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), United Somali Congress (USC), Somali National Movement (SNM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), together with the non-violent political oppositions of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto Group (SMG).
During 1990, in the capital city of Mogadishu, the residents were prohibited from gathering publicly in groups greater than three or four. Fuel shortages caused long lines of cars at petrol stations. Inflation had driven the price of pasta (ordinary dry Italian noodles, a staple at that time) to five U.S. dollars per kilogram. The price of khat, imported daily from Kenya, was also five U.S. dollars per standard bunch. Paper currency notes were of such low value that several bundles were needed to pay for simple restaurant meals.
A thriving black market existed in the centre of the city as banks experienced shortages of local currency for exchange. At night, the city of Mogadishu lay in darkness. Close monitoring of all visiting foreigners was in effect. Harsh exchange control regulations were introduced to prevent export of foreign currency. Although no travel restrictions were placed on foreigners, photographing many locations was banned. During daytime in Mogadishu, the appearance of any government military force was extremely rare. Alleged late-night operations by government authorities, however, included "disappearances" of individuals from their homes.
In 1991, the Barre administration was ousted by a coalition of clan-based opposition groups, backed by Ethiopia's then-ruling Derg regime and Libya. Following a meeting of the Somali National Movement and northern clans' elders, the northern former British portion of the country declared its independence as Somaliland in May 1991. Although independent and relatively stable compared to the tumultuous south, it has not been recognized by any foreign government.
Many of the opposition groups subsequently began competing for influence in the power vacuum that followed the ouster of Barre's regime. In the south, armed factions led by USC commanders General Mohamed Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohamed, in particular, clashed as each sought to exert authority over the capital. In 1991, a multi-phased international conference on Somalia was held in neighbouring Djibouti. Aidid boycotted the first meeting in protest.
Due to the legitimacy bestowed on Muhammad by the Djibouti conference, he was subsequently recognized by the international community as the new President of Somalia. Djibouti, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Italy were among the countries that officially extended recognition to Muhammad's administration. He was not able to exert his authority beyond parts of the capital. Power was instead vied with other faction leaders in the southern half of Somalia and with autonomous sub-national entities in the north. The Djibouti conference was followed by two abortive agreements for national reconciliation and disarmament, which were signed by 15 political stakeholders: an agreement to hold an Informal Preparatory Meeting on National Reconciliation, and the 1993 Addis Ababa Agreement made at the Conference on National Reconciliation.
In the early 1990s, due to the protracted lack of a permanent central authority, Somalia began to be characterized as a "failed state". Political scientist Ken Menkhaus argues that evidence suggested that the nation had already attained failed state status by the mid-1980s, while Robert I. Rotberg similarly posits that the state failure had preceded the ouster of the Barre administration. Hoehne (2009), Branwen (2009) and Verhoeven (2009) also used Somalia during this period as a case study to critique various aspects of the "state failure" discourse.
UN Security Council Resolution 733 and UN Security Council Resolution 746 led to the creation of UNOSOM I, the first mission to provide humanitarian relief and help restore order in Somalia after the dissolution of its central government. United Nations Security Council Resolution 794 was unanimously passed on 3 December 1992, which approved a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States. Forming the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the alliance was tasked with assuring security until humanitarian efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation were transferred to the UN. Landing in 1993, the UN peacekeeping coalition started the two-year United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) primarily in the south. UNITAF's original mandate was to use "all necessary means" to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid in accordance to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, and is regarded as a success.
Aidid saw UNOSOM II as a threat to his power and in June 1993 his militia attacked Pakistan Army troops, attached to UNOSOM II, (see Somalia (March 1992 to February 1996)) in Mogadishu inflicting over 80 casualties. Fighting escalated until 19 American troops and more than 1,000 civilians and militia were killed in a raid in Mogadishu during October 1993. The UN withdrew Operation United Shield on 3 March 1995, having suffered significant casualties, and with the rule of government still not restored. In August 1996, Aidid was killed in Mogadishu. Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali and Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, UN special envoy to Somalia have referred to the killing of civilians during the conflict as a "genocide".
Under the auspices of the UN, AU, Arab League and IGAD, a series of additional national reconciliation conferences were subsequently held as part of the peace process. Among these summits were the 1997 National Salvation Council in Sodere, Ethiopia, the 1997 Cairo Peace Conference / Cairo Declaration, the 2000 Somalia National Peace Conference in Arta, Djibouti under the newly established Transitional National Government, the 2002 Somali Reconciliation Conference in Eldoret, Kenya, the 2003 National Reconciliation Conference in Nairobi, Kenya when the Transitional Federal Government was established and the Transitional Federal Charter was adopted, the 2004 Nairobi Conference, and the 2007 National Reconciliation Conference in Mogadishu.
Following the outbreak of the civil war, many of Somalia's residents left in search of asylum. According to the UNHCR, there were around 975,951 registered refugees from the country in neighboring states as of 2016. Additionally, 1.1 million people were internally displaced persons (IDPs). The majority of the IDPs were Bantus and other ethnic minorities originating from the southern regions, including those displaced in the north. An estimated 60% of the IDPs were children. Causes of the displacement included armed violence, periodic droughts, and other natural disasters, which, along with diverted aid flows, hindered the IDPs' access to safe shelter and resources. IDP settlements were concentrated in south-central Somalia (893,000), followed by the northern Puntland (129,000) and Somaliland (84,000) regions. Additionally, there were around 9,356 registered refugees and 11,157 registered asylum seekers in Somalia. Most of these foreign nationals emigrated from Yemen to northern Somalia after the Houthi insurgency in 2015. However, the majority of emigrants to Somalia consist of Somali expatriates, who have returned to Mogadishu and other urban areas for investment opportunities and to take part in the ongoing post-conflict reconstruction process.
A consequence of the collapse of governmental authority that accompanied the civil war was the emergence of piracy in the unpatrolled Indian Ocean waters off of the coast of Somalia. The phenomenon partly arose as an attempt by local fishermen to protect their livelihood from illegal fishing by foreigners. In August 2008, a multinational coalition, Combined Task Force 150, took on the task of combating the piracy by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the Gulf of Aden. Many ship owners have also hired private armed guards. By October 2012, pirate attacks had dropped to a six-year low, with only one ship attacked in the third quarter compared to 36 during the same period in 2011.
The Transitional National Government (TNG) was established in April–May 2000 at the Somalia National Peace Conference (SNPC) held in Arta, Djibouti. Abdiqasim Salad Hassan was selected as the President of the nation's new Transitional National Government (TNG), an interim administration formed to guide Somalia to its third permanent republican government.
The TNG's internal problems led to the replacement of the Prime Minister four times in three years, and the administrative body's reported bankruptcy in December 2003. Its mandate ended at the same time.
On 10 October 2004, legislators elected Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as the first President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the Transitional National Government's successor. the TFG was the second interim administration aiming to restore national institutions to Somalia after the 1991 collapse of the Siad Barre regime and the ensuing civil war.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was the internationally recognised government of Somalia until 20 August 2012, when its tenure officially ended. It was established as one of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) of government as defined in the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) adopted in November 2004 by the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP). The Transitional Federal Government officially comprised the executive branch of government, with the TFP serving as the legislative branch. The government was headed by the President of Somalia, to whom the cabinet reported through the Prime Minister. However, it was also used as a general term to refer to all three branches collectively.
In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist organization, assumed control of much of the southern part of the country and promptly imposed Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal Government sought to reestablish its authority, and, with the assistance of Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers and air support by the United States, managed to drive out the rival ICU and solidify its rule.
On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President and founder Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former colonel in the Somali Army and decorated war hero, entered Mogadishu with the Ethiopian military support for the first time since being elected to office. The government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country.
Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and oppose the Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. At the end of 2008, the group had captured Baidoa but not Mogadishu. By January 2009, Al-Shabaab and other militias had managed to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an under-equipped African Union peacekeeping force to assist the Transitional Federal Government's troops.
Due to a lack of funding and human resources, an arms embargo that made it difficult to re-establish a national security force, and general indifference on the part of the international community, President Yusuf found himself obliged to deploy thousands of troops from Puntland to Mogadishu to sustain the battle against insurgent elements in the southern part of the country. Financial support for this effort was provided by the autonomous region's government. This left little revenue for Puntland's own security forces and civil service employees, leaving the territory vulnerable to piracy and terrorist attacks.
On 29 December 2008, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia. In his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end the country's seventeen-year conflict as his government had been mandated to do. He also blamed the international community for their failure to support the government, and said that the speaker of parliament would succeed him in office per the Charter of the Transitional Federal Government.
Between 31 May and 9 June 2008, representatives of Somalia's federal government and the moderate Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) group of Islamist rebels participated in peace talks in Djibouti brokered by the former United Nations Special Envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. The conference ended with a signed agreement calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in exchange for the cessation of armed confrontation. Parliament was subsequently expanded to 550 seats to accommodate ARS members, which then elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former ARS chairman, to office. President Sharif shortly afterwards appointed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the son of slain former President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, as the nation's new Prime Minister.
With the help of a small team of African Union troops, the coalition government also began a counteroffensive in February 2009 to assume full control of the southern half of the country. To solidify its rule, the TFG formed an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union, other members of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi militia. Furthermore, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, the two main Islamist groups in opposition, began to fight amongst themselves in mid-2009.
As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's coalition government announced that it would re-implement Shari'a as the nation's official judicial system. However, conflict continued in the southern and central parts of the country. Within months, the coalition government had gone from holding about 70% of south-central Somalia's conflict zones, territory that it had inherited from the previous Yusuf administration, to losing control of over 80% of the disputed territory to the Islamist insurgents.
During the coalition government's brief tenure and one year afterwards, due to the protracted lack of a permanent central authority, the Fund For Peace's Fragile States Index (FSI; formerly known as the Failed States Index) listed Somalia on top for six consecutive years between 2008 and 2013. In 2009, Transparency International ranked the nation in last place on its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a metric that purports to show the prevalence of corruption in a country's public sector. In mid-2010, the Institute for Economics and Peace also ranked Somalia in the next-to-last position in between war-afflicted Iraq and Afghanistan on its Global Peace Index.
On 14 October 2010, diplomat Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, was appointed the new Prime Minister of Somalia. The former Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned the month before following a protracted dispute with President Sharif over a proposed draft constitution. Per the Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic, Prime Minister Mohamed named a new Cabinet on 12 November 2010, which was lauded by the international community. As had been expected, the allotted ministerial positions were significantly reduced in numbers from 39 to 18.
Additional members of the Independent Constitutional Commission were also appointed to engage Somali constitutional lawyers, religious scholars and experts in Somali culture over the nation's upcoming new constitution, a key part of the government's Transitional Federal Tasks. In addition, high level federal delegations were dispatched to defuse clan-related tensions in several regions. According to the prime minister of Somalia, to improve transparency, Cabinet ministers fully disclosed their assets and signed a code of ethics. An Anti-Corruption Commission with the power to carry out formal investigations and to review government decisions and protocols was also established to more closely monitor all activities by public officials. Furthermore, unnecessary trips abroad by members of government were prohibited, and all travel by ministers required the Premier's consent. A budget outlining 2011's federal expenditures was also put before and approved by members of parliament, with the payment of civil service employees prioritized. In addition, a full audit of government property and vehicles is being put into place. On the war front, the new government and its AMISOM allies also managed to secure control of Mogadishu by August 2011. According to the African Union and Prime Minister Mohamed, with increasing troop strength the pace of territorial gains was also expected to greatly accelerate.
On 19 June 2011, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigned from his position as Prime Minister of Somalia. Part of the controversial Kampala Accord's conditions, the agreement saw the mandates of the President, the Parliament Speaker and Deputies extended until August 2012. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Mohamed's former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, was later named permanent Prime Minister.
In October 2011, a coordinated operation, Operation Linda Nchi between the Somali and Kenyan militaries and multinational forces began against the Al-Shabaab group of insurgents in southern Somalia. A joint communiqué was issued indicating that Somali forces were leading operations. By September 2012, Somali, Kenyan, and Raskamboni forces had managed to capture Al-Shabaab's last major stronghold, the southern port of Kismayo. In July 2012, three European Union operations were also launched to engage with Somalia: EUTM Somalia, EU Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta off the Horn of Africa, and EUCAP Nestor.
As part of the official "Roadmap for the End of Transition", a political process that provided clear benchmarks leading toward the formation of permanent democratic institutions in Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government's interim mandate ended on 20 August 2012. The Federal Parliament of Somalia was concurrently inaugurated.
The Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war, was later established in August 2012. By 2014, Somalia was no longer at the top of the fragile states index, dropping to second place behind South Sudan. UN Special Representative to Somalia Nicholas Kay, European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton and other international stakeholders and analysts have also begun to describe Somalia as a "fragile state" that is making some progress towards stability. In August 2014, the Somali government-led Operation Indian Ocean was launched against insurgent-held pockets in the countryside.
The war continued in 2017.
In October 2017, more than 500 people were killed by twin bomb explosions in Somalia's capital city Mogadishu.
Somalia is officially divided into eighteen regions ("gobollada", singular "gobol"), which in turn are subdivided into districts. The regions are:
Northern Somalia is now "de facto" divided up among the autonomous regions of Puntland (which considers itself an autonomous state) and Somaliland (a self-declared but unrecognized sovereign state). In central Somalia, Galmudug is another regional entity that emerged just south of Puntland. Jubaland in the far south is a fourth autonomous region within the federation. In 2014, a new Southwestern Somalia was likewise established. In April 2015, a formation conference was also launched for a new Central Regions State.
The Federal Parliament is tasked with selecting the ultimate number and boundaries of the autonomous regional states (officially "Federal Member States") within the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Somalia is bordered by Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Guardafui Channel and Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. The country claims a border with Djibouti through the disputed territory of Somaliland to the northwest. It lies between latitudes 2°S and 12°N, and longitudes 41° and 52°E. Strategically located at the mouth of the Bab el Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the country occupies the tip of a region that, due to its resemblance on the map to a rhinoceros' horn, is commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa.
Somalia has the longest coastline on the mainland of Africa, with a seaboard that stretches . Its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. The nation has a total area of of which constitutes land, with of water. Somalia's land boundaries extend to about ; of that is shared with Djibouti, with Kenya, and with Ethiopia. Its maritime claims include territorial waters of .
Somalia has several islands and archipelagos on its coast, including the Bajuni Islands and the Saad ad-Din Archipelago: see islands of Somalia.
In the north, a scrub-covered, semi-desert plain referred as the "Guban" lies parallel to the Gulf of Aden littoral. With a width of twelve kilometres in the west to as little as two kilometres in the east, the plain is bisected by watercourses that are essentially beds of dry sand except during the rainy seasons. When the rains arrive, the Guban's low bushes and grass clumps transform into lush vegetation. This coastal strip is part of the Ethiopian xeric grasslands and shrublands ecoregion.
Cal Madow is a mountain range in the northeastern part of the country. Extending from several kilometres west of the city of Bosaso to the northwest of Erigavo, it features Somalia's highest peak, Shimbiris, which sits at an elevation of about . The rugged east–west ranges of the Karkaar Mountains also lie to the interior of the Gulf of Aden littoral. In the central regions, the country's northern mountain ranges give way to shallow plateaus and typically dry watercourses that are referred to locally as the "Ogo". The Ogo's western plateau, in turn, gradually merges into the Haud, an important grazing area for livestock.
Somalia has only two permanent rivers, the Jubba and Shabele, both of which begin in the Ethiopian Highlands. These rivers mainly flow southwards, with the Jubba River entering the Indian Ocean at Kismayo. The Shabele River at one time apparently used to enter the sea near Merca, but now reaches a point just southwest of Mogadishu. After that, it consists of swamps and dry reaches before finally disappearing in the desert terrain east of Jilib, near the Jubba River.
Somalia is a semi-arid country with about 1.64% arable land. The first local environmental organizations were Ecoterra Somalia and the Somali Ecological Society, both of which helped promote awareness about ecological concerns and mobilized environmental programs in all governmental sectors as well as in civil society. From 1971 onward, a massive tree-planting campaign on a nationwide scale was introduced by the Siad Barre government to halt the advance of thousands of acres of wind-driven sand dunes that threatened to engulf towns, roads and farm land. By 1988, 265 hectares of a projected 336 hectares had been treated, with 39 range reserve sites and 36 forestry plantation sites established. In 1986, the Wildlife Rescue, Research and Monitoring Centre was established by Ecoterra International, with the goal of sensitizing the public to ecological issues. This educational effort led in 1989 to the so-called "Somalia proposal" and a decision by the Somali government to adhere to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which established for the first time a worldwide ban on the trade of elephant ivory.
Later, Fatima Jibrell, a prominent Somali environmental activist, mounted a successful campaign to salvage old-growth forests of acacia trees in the northeastern part of Somalia. These trees, which can live for 500 years, were being cut down to make charcoal which was highly in demand in the Arabian Peninsula, where the region's Bedouin tribes believe the acacia to be sacred. However, while being a relatively inexpensive fuel that meets a user's needs, the production of charcoal often leads to deforestation and desertification. As a way of addressing this problem, Jibrell and the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization (Horn Relief; now Adeso), an organization of which she was the founder and Executive Director, trained a group of teens to educate the public on the permanent damage that producing charcoal can create. In 1999, Horn Relief coordinated a peace march in the northeastern Puntland region of Somalia to put an end to the so-called "charcoal wars". As a result of Jibrell's lobbying and education efforts, the Puntland government in 2000 prohibited the exportation of charcoal. The government has also since enforced the ban, which has reportedly led to an 80% drop in exports of the product. Jibrell was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2002 for her efforts against environmental degradation and desertification. In 2008, she also won the National Geographic Society/Buffett Foundation Award for Leadership in Conservation.
Following the massive tsunami of December 2004, there have also emerged allegations that after the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in the late 1980s, Somalia's long, remote shoreline was used as a dump site for the disposal of toxic waste. The huge waves that battered northern Somalia after the tsunami are believed to have stirred up tons of nuclear and toxic waste that might have been dumped illegally in the country by foreign firms.
The European Green Party followed up these revelations by presenting before the press and the European Parliament in Strasbourg copies of contracts signed by two European companies — the Italian Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an Italian waste broker, Progresso — and representatives of the then President of Somalia, the faction leader Ali Mahdi Mohamed, to accept 10 million tonnes of toxic waste in exchange for $80 million (then about £60 million).
According to reports by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the waste has resulted in far higher than normal cases of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers and bleeding, abdominal haemorrhages and unusual skin infections among many inhabitants of the areas around the northeastern towns of Hobyo and Benadir on the Indian Ocean coast — diseases consistent with radiation sickness. UNEP adds that the current situation along the Somali coastline poses a very serious environmental hazard not only in Somalia, but also in the eastern Africa sub-region.
Due to Somalia's proximity to the equator, there is not much seasonal variation in its climate. Hot conditions prevail year-round along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall. Mean daily maximum temperatures range from , except at higher elevations along the eastern seaboard, where the effects of a cold offshore current can be felt. In Mogadishu, for instance, average afternoon highs range from in April. Some of the highest mean annual temperatures in the world have been recorded in the country; Berbera on the northwestern coast has an afternoon high that averages more than from June through September. Nationally, mean daily minimums usually vary from about . The greatest range in climate occurs in northern Somalia, where temperatures sometimes surpass in July on the littoral plains and drop below the freezing point during December in the highlands. In this region, relative humidity ranges from about 40% in the mid-afternoon to 85% at night, changing somewhat according to the season. Unlike the climates of most other countries at this latitude, conditions in Somalia range from arid in the northeastern and central regions to semiarid in the northwest and south. In the northeast, annual rainfall is less than ; in the central plateaus, it is about . The northwestern and southwestern parts of the nation, however, receive considerably more rain, with an average of falling per year. Although the coastal regions are hot and humid throughout the year, the hinterland is typically dry and hot.
There are four main seasons around which pastoral and agricultural life revolve, and these are dictated by shifts in the wind patterns. From December to March is the "Jilal", the harshest dry season of the year. The main rainy season, referred to as the "Gu", lasts from April to June. This period is characterized by the southwest monsoons, which rejuvenate the pasture land, especially the central plateau, and briefly transform the desert into lush vegetation. From July to September is the second dry season, the "Xagaa" (pronounced "Hagaa"). The "Dayr", which is the shortest rainy season, lasts from October to December. The "tangambili" periods that intervene between the two monsoons (October–November and March–May) are hot and humid.
Somalia contains a variety of mammals due to its geographical and climatic diversity. Wildlife still occurring includes cheetah, lion, reticulated giraffe, baboon, serval, elephant, bushpig, gazelle, ibex, kudu, dik-dik, oribi, Somali wild ass, reedbuck and Grévy's zebra, elephant shrew, rock hyrax, golden mole and antelope. It also has a large population of the dromedary camel.
Somalia is currently home to around 727 species of birds. Of these, eight are endemic, one has been introduced by humans, and one is rare or accidental. Fourteen species are globally threatened. Birds species found exclusively in the country include the "Somali Pigeon", "Alaemon hamertoni" (Alaudidae), Lesser Hoopoe-Lark, "Heteromirafra archeri" (Alaudidae), Archer's Lark, "Mirafra ashi", Ash's Bushlark, "Mirafra somalica" (Alaudidae), Somali Bushlark, "Spizocorys obbiensis" (Alaudidae), Obbia Lark, "Carduelis johannis" (Fringillidae), and Warsangli Linnet.
Somalia's territorial waters are prime fishing grounds for highly migratory marine species, such as tuna. A narrow but productive continental shelf contains several demersal fish and crustacean species. Fish species found exclusively in the nation include "Cirrhitichthys randalli" (Cirrhitidae), "Symphurus fuscus" (Cynoglossidae), "Parapercis simulata" OC (Pinguipedidae), "Cociella somaliensis" OC (Platycephalidae), and "Pseudochromis melanotus" (Pseudochromidae).
There are roughly 235 species of reptiles. Of these, almost half live in the northern areas. Reptiles endemic to Somalia include the Hughes' saw-scaled viper, the Southern Somali garter snake, a racer ("Platyceps messanai"), a diadem snake ("Spalerosophis josephscorteccii"), the Somali sand boa, the angled worm lizard, a spiny-tailed lizard ("Uromastyx macfadyeni"), Lanza's agama, a gecko ("Hemidactylus granchii"), the Somali semaphore gecko, and a sand lizard (Mesalina or Eremias). A colubrid snake ("Aprosdoketophis andreonei") and Haacke-Greer's skink ("Haackgreerius miopus") are endemic species.
Somalia is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The President of Somalia is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Somali Armed Forces and selects a Prime Minister to act as head of government.
The Federal Parliament of Somalia is the national parliament of Somalia. The bicameral National Legislature consists of the House of the People (lower house) and the Senate (upper house), whose members are elected to serve four-year terms. The parliament elects the President, Speaker of Parliament and Deputy Speakers. It also has the authority to pass and veto laws.
On 10 September 2012, parliament elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new President of Somalia. President Mohamud later appointed Abdi Farah Shirdon as the new Prime Minister on 6 October 2012, who was succeeded in office by Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed on 21 December 2013. On 17 December 2014, former Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was reappointed Prime Minister.
The Judiciary of Somalia is defined by the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Adopted on 1 August 2012 by a National Constitutional Assembly in Mogadishu, the document was formulated by a committee of specialists chaired by attorney and incumbent Speaker of the Federal Parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the Federal Republic and source of legal authority.
The national court structure is organized into three tiers: the Constitutional Court, Federal Government level courts and State level courts. A nine-member Judicial Service Commission appoints any Federal tier member of the judiciary. It also selects and presents potential Constitutional Court judges to the House of the People of the Federal Parliament for approval. If endorsed, the President appoints the candidate as a judge of the Constitutional Court. The five-member Constitutional Court adjudicates issues pertaining to the constitution, in addition to various Federal and sub-national matters.
Somali law draws from a mixture of three different systems: civil law, Islamic law and customary law.
Somalia's foreign relations are handled by the President as the head of state, the Prime Minister as the head of government, and the federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Article 54 of the national constitution, the allocation of powers and resources between the Federal Government and the Federal Republic of Somalia's constituent Federal Member States shall be negotiated and agreed upon by the Federal Government and the Federal Member States, except in matters pertaining to foreign affairs, national defence, citizenship and immigration, and monetary policy. Article 53 also stipulates that the Federal Government shall consult the Federal Member States on major issues related to international agreements, including negotiations vis-a-vis foreign trade, finance and treaties.
The Federal Government maintains bilateral relations with a number of other central governments in the international community. Among these are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Turkey, Italy, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, the United States, the People's Republic of China, Japan, Russian Federation and South Korea.
Additionally, Somalia has several diplomatic missions abroad. There are likewise various foreign embassies and consulates based in the capital Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country.
Somalia is also a member of many international organizations, such as the United Nations, African Union and Arab League. It was a founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 1969. Other memberships include the African Development Bank, Group of 77, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Development Association, International Finance Corporation, Non-Aligned Movement, World Federation of Trade Unions and World Meteorological Organization.
The Somali Armed Forces (SAF) are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the President as Commander in Chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
The SAF was initially made up of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police Force and the National Security Service. In the post-independence period, it grew to become among the larger militaries on the continent. The subsequent outbreak of the civil war in 1991 led to the disbandment of the Somali National Army.
In 2004, the gradual process of reconstituting the military was put in motion with the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The Somali Armed Forces are now overseen by the Ministry of Defence of the Federal Government of Somalia, formed in mid-2012. In January 2013, the Somali federal government also re-opened the national intelligence service in Mogadishu, renaming the agency the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA). The Somaliland and Puntland regional governments maintain their own security and police forces.
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and could be punished by up to death.
According to the CIA and the Central Bank of Somalia, despite experiencing civil unrest, Somalia has maintained a healthy informal economy, based mainly on livestock, remittance/money transfer companies and telecommunications. Due to a dearth of formal government statistics and the recent civil war, it is difficult to gauge the size or growth of the economy. For 1994, the CIA estimated the GDP at $3.3 billion. In 2001, it was estimated to be $4.1 billion. By 2009, the CIA estimated that the GDP had grown to $5.731 billion, with a projected real growth rate of 2.6%. According to a 2007 British Chambers of Commerce report, the private sector also grew, particularly in the service sector. Unlike the pre-civil war period when most services and the industrial sector were government-run, there has been substantial, albeit unmeasured, private investment in commercial activities; this has been largely financed by the Somali diaspora, and includes trade and marketing, money transfer services, transportation, communications, fishery equipment, airlines, telecommunications, education, health, construction and hotels. Libertarian economist Peter Leeson attributes this increased economic activity to the Somali customary law (referred to as "Xeer"), which he suggests provides a stable environment to conduct business in.
According to the Central Bank of Somalia, the country's GDP per capita is $226, a slight reduction in real terms from 1990. About 43% of the population lives on less than 1 US dollar a day, with around 24% of those found in urban areas and 54% living in rural areas.
Somalia's economy consists of both traditional and modern production, with a gradual shift toward modern industrial techniques. Somalia has the largest population of camels in the world. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, about 80% of the population are nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists, who keep goats, sheep, camels and cattle. The nomads also gather resins and gums to supplement their income.
Agriculture is the most important economic sector of Somalia. It accounts for about 65% of the GDP and employs 65% of the workforce. Livestock contributes about 40% to GDP and more than 50% of export earnings. Other principal exports include fish, charcoal and bananas; sugar, sorghum and corn are products for the domestic market. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, imports of goods total about $460 million per year, surpassing aggregate imports prior to the start of the civil war in 1991. Exports, which total about $270 million annually, have also surpassed pre-war aggregate export levels. Somalia has a trade deficit of about $190 million per year, but this is exceeded by remittances sent by Somalis in the diaspora, estimated to be about $1 billion.
With the advantage of being located near the Arabian Peninsula, Somali traders have increasingly begun to challenge Australia's traditional dominance over the Gulf Arab livestock and meat market, offering quality animals at very low prices. In response, Gulf Arab states have started to make strategic investments in the country, with Saudi Arabia building livestock export infrastructure and the United Arab Emirates purchasing large farmlands. Somalia is also a major world supplier of frankincense and myrrh.
The modest industrial sector, based on the processing of agricultural products, accounts for 10% of Somalia's GDP. According to the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, over six private airline firms also offer commercial flights to both domestic and international locations, including Daallo Airlines, Jubba Airways, African Express Airways, East Africa 540, Central Air and Hajara. In 2008, the Puntland government signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Dubai's Lootah Group, a regional industrial group operating in the Middle East and Africa. According to the agreement, the first phase of the investment is worth Dhs 170 m and will see a set of new companies established to operate, manage and build Bosaso's free trade zone and sea and airport facilities. The Bosaso Airport Company is slated to develop the airport complex to meet international standards, including a new runway, main and auxiliary buildings, taxi and apron areas, and security perimeters.
Prior to the outbreak of the civil war in 1991, the roughly 53 state-owned small, medium and large manufacturing firms were foundering, with the ensuing conflict destroying many of the remaining industries. However, primarily as a result of substantial local investment by the Somali diaspora, many of these small-scale plants have re-opened and newer ones have been created. The latter include fish-canning and meat-processing plants in the northern regions, as well as about 25 factories in the Mogadishu area, which manufacture pasta, mineral water, confections, plastic bags, fabric, hides and skins, detergent and soap, aluminium, foam mattresses and pillows, fishing boats, carry out packaging, and stone processing. In 2004, an $8.3 million Coca-Cola bottling plant also opened in the city, with investors hailing from various constituencies in Somalia. Foreign investment also included multinationals including General Motors and Dole Fruit.
The Central Bank of Somalia is the official monetary authority of Somalia. In terms of financial management, it is in the process of assuming the task of both formulating and implementing monetary policy.
Owing to a lack of confidence in the local currency, the US dollar is widely accepted as a medium of exchange alongside the Somali shilling. Dollarization notwithstanding, the large issuance of the Somali shilling has increasingly fuelled price hikes, especially for low value transactions. According to the Central Bank, this inflationary environment is expected to come to an end as soon as the bank assumes full control of monetary policy and replaces the presently circulating currency introduced by the private sector.
Although Somalia has had no central monetary authority for more than 15 years between the outbreak of the civil war in 1991 and the subsequent re-establishment of the Central Bank of Somalia in 2009, the nation's payment system is fairly advanced primarily due to the widespread existence of private money transfer operators (MTO) that have acted as informal banking networks.
These remittance firms ("hawalas") have become a large industry in Somalia, with an estimated US$1.6 billion annually remitted to the region by Somalis in the diaspora via money transfer companies. Most are members of the Somali Money Transfer Association (SOMTA), an umbrella organization that regulates the community's money transfer sector, or its predecessor, the Somali Financial Services Association (SFSA). The largest of the Somali MTOs is Dahabshiil, a Somali-owned firm employing more than 2,000 people across 144 countries with branches in London and Dubai.
As the reconstituted Central Bank of Somalia fully assumes its monetary policy responsibilities, some of the existing money transfer companies are expected in the near future to seek licenses so as to develop into full-fledged commercial banks. This will serve to expand the national payments system to include formal cheques, which in turn is expected to reinforce the efficacy of the use of monetary policy in domestic macroeconomic management.
With a significant improvement in local security, Somali expatriates began returning to the country for investment opportunities. Coupled with modest foreign investment, the inflow of funds have helped the Somali shilling increase considerably in value. By March 2014, the currency had appreciated by almost 60% against the U.S. dollar over the previous 12 months. The Somali shilling was the strongest among the 175 global currencies traded by Bloomberg, rising close to 50 percentage points higher than the next most robust global currency over the same period.
The Somalia Stock Exchange (SSE) is the national bourse of Somalia. It was founded in 2012 by the Somali diplomat Idd Mohamed, Ambassador extraordinary and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. The SSE was established to attract investment from both Somali-owned firms and global companies in order to accelerate the ongoing post-conflict reconstruction process in Somalia.
The World Bank reports that electricity is now in large part supplied by local businesses. Among these domestic firms is the Somali Energy Company, which performs generation, transmission and distribution of electric power. In 2010, the nation produced 310 million kWh and consumed 288.3 million kWh of electricity, ranked 170th and 177th, respectively, according to CIA.
Somalia has reserves of several natural resources, including uranium, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt and natural gas. The CIA reports that there are 5.663 billion cu m of proven natural gas reserves.
The presence or extent of proven oil reserves in Somalia is uncertain. The CIA asserts that there are no proven reserves of oil in the country, while UNCTAD suggests that most proven oil reserves in Somalia lie off its northwestern coast, in the Somaliland region. An oil group listed in Sydney, Range Resources, estimates that the Puntland region in the northeast has the potential to produce to of oil, compared to the 6.7 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Sudan. As a result of these developments, the Somalia Petroleum Corporation was established by the federal government.
In the late 1960s, UN geologists also discovered major uranium deposits and other rare mineral reserves in Somalia. The find was the largest of its kind, with industry experts estimating that the amount of the deposits could amount to over 25% of the world's then known uranium reserves of 800,000 tons. In 1984, the IUREP Orientation Phase Mission to Somalia reported that the country had 5,000 tons of uranium reasonably assured resources (RAR), 11,000 tons of uranium estimated additional resources (EAR) in calcrete deposits, as well as 0–150,000 tons of uranium speculative resources (SR) in sandstone and calcrete deposits. Somalia evolved into a major world supplier of uranium, with American, UAE, Italian and Brazilian mineral companies vying for extraction rights. Link Natural Resources has a stake in the central region, and Kilimanjaro Capital has a stake in the Amsas-Coriole-Afgoi (ACA) Block, which includes uranium exploration.
The Trans-National Industrial Electricity and Gas Company is an energy conglomerate based in Mogadishu. It unites five major Somali companies from the trade, finance, security and telecommunications sectors, following a 2010 joint agreement signed in Istanbul to provide electricity and gas infrastructure in Somalia. With an initial investment budget of $1 billion, the company launched the Somalia Peace Dividend Project, a labour-intensive energy program aimed at facilitating local industrialization initiatives.
According to the Central Bank of Somalia, as the nation embarks on the path of reconstruction, the economy is expected to not only match its pre-civil war levels, but also to accelerate in growth and development due to Somalia's untapped natural resources.
Somalia is endowed with renewable energy resources and ranked no. 13 out of 156 countries in the index of geopolitical gains and losses after energy transition (GeGaLo Index) which implies that countries at the top of the ranking are likely to benefit geopolitically after the global transition to renewable energy is completed.
After the start of the civil war, various new telecommunications companies began to spring up and compete to provide missing infrastructure. Funded by Somali entrepreneurs and backed by expertise from China, South Korea and Europe, these nascent telecommunications firms offer affordable mobile phone and Internet services that are not available in many other parts of the continent. Customers can conduct money transfers (such as through the popular Dahabshiil) and other banking activities via mobile phones, as well as easily gain wireless Internet access.
After forming partnerships with multinational corporations such as Sprint, ITT and Telenor, these firms now offer the cheapest and clearest phone calls in Africa. These Somali telecommunication companies also provide services to every city and town in Somalia. There are presently around 25 mainlines per 1,000 persons, and the local availability of telephone lines ("tele-density") is higher than in neighbouring countries; three times greater than in adjacent Ethiopia. Prominent Somali telecommunications companies include Golis Telecom Group, Hormuud Telecom, Somafone, Nationlink, Netco, Telcom and Somali Telecom Group. Hormuud Telecom alone grosses about $40 million a year. Despite their rivalry, several of these companies signed an inter-connectivity deal in 2005 that allows them to set prices, maintain and expand their networks, and ensure that competition does not get out of control.
Investment in the telecom industry is held to be one of the clearest signs that Somalia's economy has continued to develop despite civil strife in parts of the country.
The state-run Somali National Television is the principal national public service TV channel. After a twenty-year hiatus, the station was officially re-launched on 4 April 2011. Its radio counterpart Radio Mogadishu also broadcasts from the capital. Somaliland National TV and Puntland TV and Radio air from the northern regions.
Additionally, Somalia has several private television and radio networks. Among these are Horn Cable Television and Universal TV. The political Xog Doon and Xog Ogaal and Horyaal Sports broadsheets publish out of the capital. There are also a number of online media outlets covering local news, including Garowe Online, Wardheernews, and Puntland Post.
The internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Somalia is .so. It was officially relaunched on 1 November 2010 by .SO Registry, which is regulated by the nation's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
On 22 March 2012, the Somali Cabinet also unanimously approved the National Communications Act. The bill paves the way for the establishment of a National Communications regulator in the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors.
In November 2013, following a Memorandum of Understanding signed with Emirates Post in April of the year, the federal Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications officially reconstituted the Somali Postal Service (Somali Post). In October 2014, the ministry also relaunched postal delivery from abroad. The postal system is slated to be implemented in each of the country's 18 administrative provinces via a new postal coding and numbering system.
Somalia has a number of local attractions, consisting of historical sites, beaches, waterfalls, mountain ranges and national parks. The tourist industry is regulated by the national Ministry of Tourism. The autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions maintain their own tourism offices. The Somali Tourism Association (SOMTA) also provides consulting services from within the country on the national tourist industry. As of March 2015, the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife of the South West State announced that it is slated to establish additional game reserves and wildlife ranges. Currently, the United States Government recommends travelers to not travel to Somalia.
Notable sights include the Laas Geel caves containing Neolithic rock art; the Cal Madow, Golis Mountains and Ogo Mountains; the Iskushuban and Lamadaya waterfalls; and the Hargeisa National Park, Jilib National Park, Kismayo National Park and Lag Badana National Park.
Somalia's network of roads is long. , streets are paved and are unpaved. A highway connects major cities in the northern part of the country, such as Bosaso, Galkayo and Garowe, with towns in the south.
The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SOMCAA) is Somalia's national civil aviation authority body. After a long period of management by the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS), SOMCAA is slated to re-assume control of Somalia's airspace by 31 December 2013.
Sixty-two airports across Somalia accommodate aerial transportation; seven of these have paved runways. Among the latter, four airports have runways of over 3,047 m; two are between 2,438 m and 3,047 m; and one is 1,524 m to 2,437 m long. There are fifty-five airports with unpaved landing areas. One has a runway of over 3,047 m; four are between 2,438 m and 3,047 m in length; twenty are 1,524 m to 2,437 m; twenty-four are 914 m to 1,523 m; and six are under 914 m. Major airports in the nation include the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, the Hargeisa International Airport in Hargeisa, the Kismayo Airport in Kismayo, the Baidoa Airport in Baidoa, and the Bender Qassim International Airport in Bosaso.
Established in 1964, Somali Airlines was the flag carrier of Somalia. It suspended operations during the civil war. However, a reconstituted Somali government later began preparations in 2012 for an expected relaunch of the airline, with the first new Somali Airlines aircraft scheduled for delivery by the end of December 2013. According to the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the void created by the closure of Somali Airlines has since been filled by various Somali-owned private carriers. Over six of these private airline firms offer commercial flights to both domestic and international locations, including Daallo Airlines, Jubba Airways, African Express Airways, East Africa 540, Central Air and Hajara.
Possessing the longest coastline on the continent, Somalia has several major seaports. Maritime transport facilities are found in the port cities of Mogadishu, Bosaso, Berbera, Kismayo and Merca. There is also one merchant marine. Established in 2008, it is cargo-based.
Somalia had an estimated population of around /1e6 round 1 million inhabitants in ; the total population according to the 1975 census was 3.3 million. About 85% of local residents are ethnic Somalis, who have historically inhabited the northern part of the country. They have traditionally been organized into nomadic pastoral clans, loose empires, sultanates and city-states. Civil strife in the early 1990s greatly increased the size of the Somali diaspora, as many of the best educated Somalis left the country.
Non-Somali ethnic minority groups make up the remainder of Somalia's population, and are largely concentrated in the southern regions. They include Bravanese, Bantus, Bajuni, Ethiopians (especially Oromos), Yemenis, Indians, Persians, Italians and Britons. The Bantus, the largest ethnic minority group in Somalia, are the descendants of slaves who were brought in from southeastern Africa by Arab and Somali traders. In 1940, there were about 50,000 Italians living in Italian Somaliland. Most Europeans left after independence, while a small number of Westerners are still present in Somalia mainly working for international organizations operating in Somalia.
A sizable Somali diaspora exists in various Western countries, such as the United States (in particular in the state of Minnesota) and in the United Kingdom (particularly in London), Sweden, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, as well on the Arabian peninsula, and several African nations, such as Uganda and South Africa. The Somali diaspora is deeply involved in the politics and development of Somalia. The current president of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, was a former diaspora Somali and held US citizenship which he voluntarily renounced in 2019.
Somalia's population is expanding at a growth rate of 1.75% per annum and a birth rate of 40.87 births per 1,000 people. The total fertility rate of Somalia is 6.08 children born per woman (2014 estimates), the fourth highest in the world, according to the CIA World Factbook. Most local residents are young, with a median age of 17.7 years; about 44% of the population is between the ages of 0–14 years, 52.4% is between the ages of 15–64 years, and only 2.3% is 65 years of age or older. The gender ratio is roughly balanced, with proportionally about as many men as women.
There is little reliable statistical information on urbanization in Somalia. Rough estimates have been made indicating a rate of urbanization of 4.79% per annum (2005–2010 est.), with many towns quickly growing into cities. Many ethnic minorities have also moved from rural areas to urban centres since the onset of the civil war, particularly to Mogadishu and Kismayo. , 37.7% of the nation's population live in towns and cities, with the percentage rapidly increasing.
Somali and Arabic are the official languages of Somalia. The Somali language is the mother tongue of the Somali people, the nation's most populous ethnic group. It is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and its nearest relatives are the Oromo, Afar and Saho languages. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies of it dating from before 1900.
Somali dialects are divided into three main groups: Northern, Benadir and Maay. Northern Somali (or Northern-Central Somali) forms the basis for Standard Somali. Benadir (also known as Coastal Somali) is spoken on the Benadir coast, from Adale to south of Merca including Mogadishu, as well as in the immediate hinterland. The coastal dialects have additional phonemes that do not exist in Standard Somali. Maay is principally spoken by the Digil and Mirifle (Rahanweyn) clans in the southern areas of Somalia.
A number of writing systems have been used over the years for transcribing the Somali language. Of these, the Somali alphabet is the most widely used, and has been the official writing script in Somalia since the Supreme Revolutionary Council formally introduced it in October 1972. The script was developed by the Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for the Somali language, and uses all letters of the English Latin alphabet except "p", "v" and "z". Besides Ahmed's Latin script, other orthographies that have been used for centuries for writing Somali include the long-established Arabic script and Wadaad writing. Indigenous writing systems developed in the 20th century include the Osmanya, Borama and Kaddare scripts, which were invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid, Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur and Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare, respectively.
In addition to Somali, Arabic, which is also an Afro-Asiatic tongue, is an official national language in Somalia. Around 2 million Somalis speak it due to centuries-old ties with the Arab world, the far-reaching influence of the Arabic media, and religious education.
English is widely spoken and taught. It used to be an administrative language in the British Somaliland protectorate and due to globalization is now also prominent across Somalia. English is the medium of instruction at many universities across Somalia, and is one of the primary working languages of major NGOs operating in Somalia. Italian was an official language in Italian Somaliland and during the trusteeship period, but its use significantly diminished following independence. It is now most frequently heard among older generations, government officials, and in educated circles.
Other minority languages include Bravanese, a variant of the Bantu Swahili language that is spoken along the coast by the Bravanese people, as well as Kibajuni, a Swahili dialect that is the mother tongue of the Bajuni minority ethnic group.
According to the Pew Research Center, 99.8% of Somalia's population is Muslim. The majority belong to the Sunni branch of Islam and the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. Sufism, the mystical sect of Islam, is also well established, with many local "jama'a" ("zawiya") or congregations of the various "tariiqa" or Sufi orders. The constitution of Somalia likewise defines Islam as the state religion of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and Islamic sharia law as the basic source for national legislation. It also stipulates that no law that is inconsistent with the basic tenets of Shari'a can be enacted.
Islam entered the region very early on, as a group of persecuted Muslims had sought refuge across the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa at the urging of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Islam may thus have been introduced into Somalia well before the faith even took root in its place of origin.
In addition, the Somali community has produced numerous important Islamic sheikhs and clerics over the centuries, many of whom have significantly shaped the course of Muslim learning and practice in the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and well beyond. Among these Islamic scholars is the 14th-century Somali theologian and jurist Uthman bin Ali Zayla'i of Zeila, who wrote the single most authoritative text on the Hanafi school of Islam, consisting of four volumes known as the "Tabayin al-Haqa'iq li Sharh Kanz al-Daqa'iq".
Christianity is a minority religion in Somalia, with adherents representing less than 0.1% of the population in 2010 according to the Pew Research Center. There is one Catholic diocese for the whole country, the Diocese of Mogadishu, which estimates that there were only about one hundred Catholic practitioners in 2004.
In 1913, during the early part of the colonial era, there were virtually no Christians in the Somali territories, with only about 100–200 followers coming from the schools and orphanages of the few Catholic missions in the British Somaliland protectorate. There were also no known Catholic missions in Italian Somaliland during the same period. In the 1970s, during the reign of Somalia's then Marxist government, church-run schools were closed and missionaries sent home. There has been no archbishop in the country since 1989, and the cathedral in Mogadishu was severely damaged during the civil war. In December 2013, the Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs also released a directive prohibiting the celebration of Christian festivities in the country.
According to the Pew Research Center, less than 0.1% of Somalia's population in 2010 were adherents of folk religions. These mainly consisted of some non-Somali ethnic minority groups in the southern parts of the country, who practice animism. In the case of the Bantu, these religious traditions were inherited from their ancestors in Southeast Africa.
Additionally, according to the Pew Research Center, less than 0.1% of Somalia's population in 2010 were adherents of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or unaffiliated with any religion.
Until the collapse of the federal government in 1991, the organizational and administrative structure of Somalia's healthcare sector was overseen by the Ministry of Health. Regional medical officials enjoyed some authority, but healthcare was largely centralized. The socialist government of former President of Somalia Siad Barre had put an end to private medical practice in 1972. Much of the national budget was devoted to military expenditure, leaving few resources for healthcare, among other services.
Somalia's public healthcare system was largely destroyed during the ensuing civil war. As with other previously nationalized sectors, informal providers have filled the vacuum and replaced the former government monopoly over healthcare, with access to facilities witnessing a significant increase. Many new healthcare centres, clinics, hospitals and pharmacies have in the process been established through home-grown Somali initiatives. The cost of medical consultations and treatment in these facilities is low, at $5.72 per visit in health centres (with a population coverage of 95%), and $1.89–3.97 per outpatient visit and $7.83–13.95 per bed day in primary through tertiary hospitals.
Comparing the 2005–2010 period with the half-decade just prior to the outbreak of the conflict (1985–1990), life expectancy actually increased from an average of 47 years for men and women to 48.2 years for men and 51 years for women. Similarly, the number of one-year-olds fully immunized against measles rose from 30% in 1985–1990 to 40% in 2000–2005, and for tuberculosis, it grew nearly 20% from 31% to 50% over the same period.
The number of infants with low birth weight fell from 16 per 1,000 to 0.3, a 15% drop in total over the same time frame. Between 2005 and 2010 as compared to the 1985–1990 period, infant mortality per 1,000 births also fell from 152 to 109.6. Significantly, maternal mortality per 100,000 births fell from 1,600 in the pre-war 1985–1990 half-decade to 1,100 in the 2000–2005 period. The number of physicians per 100,000 people also rose from 3.4 to 4 over the same time frame, as did the percentage of the population with access to sanitation services, which increased from 18% to 26%.
According to United Nations Population Fund data on the midwifery workforce, there is a total of 429 midwives (including nurse-midwives) in Somalia, with a density of one midwife per 1,000 live births. Eight midwifery institutions presently exist in the country, two of which are private. Midwifery education programs on average last from 12 to 18 months, and operate on a sequential basis. The number of student admissions per total available student places is a maximum 100%, with 180 students enrolled . Midwifery is regulated by the government, and a license is required to practice professionally. A live registry is also in place to keep track of licensed midwives. In addition, midwives in the country are officially represented by a local midwives association, with 350 registered members.
According to a 2005 World Health Organization estimate, about 97.9% of Somalia's women and girls underwent Female genital mutilation, a pre-marital custom mainly endemic to the horn of Africa and parts of the Near East. Encouraged by women in the community, it is primarily intended to protect chastity, deter promiscuity, and offer protection from assault. By 2013, UNICEF in conjunction with the Somali authorities reported that the prevalence rate among 1- to 14-year-old girls in the autonomous northern Puntland and Somaliland regions had dropped to 25% following a social and religious awareness campaign. About 93% of Somalia's male population is also reportedly circumcised.
Somalia has one of the lowest HIV infection rates on the continent. This is attributed to the Muslim nature of Somali society and adherence of Somalis to Islamic morals. While the estimated HIV prevalence rate in Somalia in 1987 (the first case report year) was 1% of adults, a 2012 report from UNAIDS says that since 2004, estimates from 0.7% to 1% have been assumed.
Although healthcare is now largely concentrated in the private sector, the country's public healthcare system is in the process of being rebuilt, and is overseen by the Ministry of Health. The current Minister of Health is Qamar Adan Ali. The autonomous Puntland region maintains its own Ministry of Health, as does the Somaliland region in northwestern Somalia.
Some of the prominent healthcare facilities in the country are East Bardera Mothers and Children's Hospital, Abudwak Maternity and Children's Hospital, Edna Adan Maternity Hospital and West Bardera Maternity Unit.
Following the outbreak of the civil war in 1991, the task of running schools in Somalia was initially taken up by community education committees established in 94% of the local schools. Numerous problems had arisen with regard to access to education in rural areas and along gender lines, quality of educational provisions, responsiveness of school curricula, educational standards and controls, management and planning capacity, and financing. To address these concerns, educational policies are being developed that are aimed at guiding the scholastic process. In the autonomous Puntland region, the latter includes a gender sensitive national education policy compliant with world standards, such as those outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Examples of this and other educational measures at work are the regional government's enactment of legislation aimed at securing the educational interests of girls, promoting the growth of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) program designed to reach parents and care-givers in their homes as well as in the ECD centers for 0 to 5-year-old children, and introducing incentive packages to encourage teachers to work in remote rural areas.
The Ministry of Education is officially responsible for education in Somalia, and oversees the nation's primary, secondary, technical and vocational schools, as well as primary and technical teacher training and non-formal education. About 15% of the government's budget is allocated toward scholastic instruction. The autonomous Puntland and Somaliland macro-regions maintain their own Ministries of Education.
In 2006, Puntland was the second territory in Somalia after Somaliland to introduce free primary schools, with teachers now receiving their salaries from the Puntland administration. From 2005/2006 to 2006/2007, there was a significant increase in the number of schools in Puntland, up 137 institutions from just one year prior. During the same period, the number of classes in the region increased by 504, with 762 more teachers also offering their services. Total student enrollment increased by 27% over the previous year, with girls lagging only slightly behind boys in attendance in most regions. The highest class enrollment was observed in the northernmost Bari region, and the lowest was observed in the under-populated Ayn region. The distribution of classrooms was almost evenly split between urban and rural areas, with marginally more pupils attending and instructors teaching classes in urban areas.
Higher education in Somalia is now largely private. Several universities in the country, including Mogadishu University, have been scored among the 100 best universities in Africa in spite of the harsh environment, which has been hailed as a triumph for grass-roots initiatives. Other universities also offering higher education in the south include Benadir University, the Somalia National University, Kismayo University and the University of Gedo. In Puntland, higher education is provided by the Puntland State University and East Africa University. In Somaliland, it is provided by Amoud University, the University of Hargeisa, Somaliland University of Technology and Burao University.
Qu'ranic schools (also known as "dugsi quran" or "mal'aamad quran") remain the basic system of traditional religious instruction in Somalia. They provide Islamic education for children, thereby filling a clear religious and social role in the country. Known as the most stable local, non-formal system of education providing basic religious and moral instruction, their strength rests on community support and their use of locally made and widely available teaching materials. The Qu'ranic system, which teaches the greatest number of students relative to other educational sub-sectors, is often the only system accessible to Somalis in nomadic as compared to urban areas. A study from 1993 found, among other things, that about 40% of pupils in Qur'anic schools were female. To address shortcomings in religious instruction, the Somali government on its own part also subsequently established the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs, under which Qur'anic education is now regulated.
The cuisine of Somalia, which varies from region to region, is a mixture of diverse culinary influences. It is the product of Somalia's rich tradition of trade and commerce. Despite the variety, there remains one thing that unites the various regional cuisines: all food is served halal. There are therefore no pork dishes, alcohol is not served, nothing that died on its own is eaten, and no blood is incorporated. "Qaddo" or lunch is often elaborate.
Varieties of 'bariis' (rice), the most popular probably being basmati, usually act as the main dish. Spices including cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and garden sage are used to add aromas to these different rice dishes. Somalis serve dinner as late as 9 pm. During Ramadan, the evening meal is often presented after Tarawih prayers; sometimes up to 11 pm.
'Xalwo' (halva) is a popular confection reserved for special festive occasions, such as Eid celebrations or wedding receptions. It is made from corn starch, sugar, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and ghee. Peanuts are also sometimes added to enhance texture and flavour. After meals, homes are traditionally perfumed using frankincense ("lubaan") or incense ("cuunsi"), which is prepared inside an incense burner referred to as a "dabqaad".
Somalia has a rich musical heritage centred on traditional Somali folklore. Most Somali songs are pentatonic. That is, they only use five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale like the major scale. At first listen, Somali music might be mistaken for the sounds of nearby regions such as Ethiopia, Sudan or the Arabian Peninsula, but it is ultimately recognizable by its own unique tunes and styles. Somali songs are usually the product of collaboration between lyricists ("midho"), songwriters ("laxan") and singers ("codka" or "voice").
Somali scholars have for centuries produced many notable examples of Islamic literature ranging from poetry to Hadith. With the adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1972 as the nation's standard orthography, numerous contemporary Somali authors have also released novels, some of which have gone on to receive worldwide acclaim. Of these modern writers, Nuruddin Farah is the most celebrated. Books such as "From a Crooked Rib" and "Links" are considered important literary achievements, works that have earned Farah, among other accolades, the 1998 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Faarax M.J. Cawl is another prominent Somali writer who is best known for his Dervish era novel, "Ignorance is the enemy of love".
Football is the most popular sport in Somalia. Important domestic competitions are the Somalia League and Somalia Cup, with the Somalia national football team playing internationally.
Basketball is also played in the country. The FIBA Africa Championship 1981 was hosted in Mogadishu from 15 to 23 December December 1981, during which the national basketball team received the bronze medal. The squad also takes part in the basketball event at the Pan Arab Games.
In 2013, a Somalia national bandy team was formed in Borlänge. It later participated in the Bandy World Championship 2014 in Irkutsk and Shelekhov in Russia.
In the martial arts, Faisal Jeylani Aweys and Mohamed Deq Abdulle of the national taekwondo team took home a silver medal and fourth place, respectively, at the 2013 Open World Taekwondo Challenge Cup in Tongeren. The Somali Olympic Committee has devised a special support program to ensure continued success in future tournaments. Additionally, Mohamed Jama has won both world and European titles in K-1 and Thai Boxing.
Somali architecture is a rich and diverse tradition of engineering and design involving multiple types of constructions and edifices, such as stone cities, castles, citadels, fortresses, mosques, mausoleums, temples, towers, monuments, cairns, megaliths, menhirs, dolmens, tombs, tumuli, steles, cisterns, aqueducts and lighthouses. Spanning the country's ancient, medieval and early modern periods, it also embraces the fusion of Somalo-Islamic architecture with contemporary Western designs.
In ancient Somalia, pyramidical structures known in Somali as "taalo" were a popular burial style, with hundreds of these dry stone monuments scattered around the country today. Houses were built of dressed stone similar to the ones in ancient Egypt. There are also examples of courtyards and large stone walls enclosing settlements, such as the Wargaade Wall.
The adoption of Islam in Somalia's early medieval history brought Islamic architectural influences from Arabia and Persia. This stimulated a shift in construction from dry stone and other related materials to coral stone, sun dried bricks, and the widespread use of limestone in Somali architecture. Many of the new architectural designs, such as mosques, were built on the ruins of older structures, a practice that would continue over and over again throughout the following centuries. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27358 |
History of Somalia
Somalia (; ), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (, ) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa.
Somalia was an important centre for commerce with the rest of the ancient world, and according to most scholars, it is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt.
During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate, the Adal Sultanate, the Habr Yunis Sultanate, the Sultanate of the Geledi, the Sultanate of the Bimal and the Majeerteen SultanateGasargude dynasty
In the late 19th century, through a succession of treaties with these kingdoms, the British and Italians gained control of parts of the coast, and established British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. In the interior, Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's Dervish movement successfully repulsed the British Empire four times and forced it to retreat to the coastal region, but the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 by British airpower. Italy acquired full control of the northeastern, central and southern parts of the territory after successfully waging a Campaign of the Sultanates against the ruling Majeerteen Sultanate and the Sultanate of Hobyo. This occupation lasted until 1941 when it was replaced by a British military administration. Northwestern Somalia would remain a protectorate, while northeastern, central and southern Somalia by agreement became a United Nations Trusteeship on 1 April 1950, with a promise of independence after 10 years. On 1 July 1960, the two regions united as planned to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. The Somali National Assembly, headed by Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf, approved the act uniting the former Italian Somaliland with British Somaliland, establishing the Republic of Somalia.
Ancient Somalia domesticated the camel somewhere between the third millennium and second millennium BCE from where it spread to Ancient Egypt and North Africa.
Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic, when the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished. The oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BC. The stone implements from the Jalelo site in the north were also characterized in 1909 as important artefacts demonstrating the archaeological universality during the Paleolithic between the East and the West.
According to linguists, the first Afro-Asiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during the ensuing Neolithic period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley, or the Near East. Other scholars propose that the Afro-Asiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there.
The Laas Geel complex on the outskirts of Hargeisa in northwestern Somalia dates back around 5,000 years, and has rock art depicting both wild animals and decorated cows. Other cave paintings are found in the northern Dhambalin region, which feature one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the distinctive Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1000 to 3000 BCE. Additionally, between the towns of Las Khorey and El Ayo in northern Somalia lies Karinhegane, the site of numerous cave paintings of real and mythical animals. Each painting has an inscription below it, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old.
Ancient pyramidical structures, mausoleums, ruined cities and stone walls found in Somalia (such as the Wargaade Wall) are evidence of an old sophisticated civilization that once thrived in the Somali peninsula. The findings of archaeological excavations and research in Somalia show that this civilization enjoyed a lucrative trading relationship with Ancient Egypt and Mycenaean Greece since the second millennium BCE. This supports the hypothesis of Somalia and/or the adjacent Horn territories corresponding with the ancient Land of Punt. The Puntites traded myrrh, spices, gold, ebony, short-horned cattle, ivory and frankincense with the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Indians, Chinese and Romans through their commercial ports. An Ancient Egyptian expedition sent to Punt by the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut is recorded on the temple reliefs at Deir el-Bahari, during the reign of the Puntite King Parahu and Queen Ati.
In the classical era, the Macrobians, who were Proto-Somali, established a powerful tribal kingdom that ruled large parts of modern Somalia. They were reputed for their longevity and wealth, and were said to be the "tallest and handsomest of all men". The Macrobians were warrior herders and seafarers. According to Herodotus' account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses II, upon his conquest of Egypt (525 BC), sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based on his stature and beauty, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to draw it, they would have the right to invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire. The Macrobians were a regional power that were known from east to west and were highly advanced in architecture and extremely known for their wealth were they were noted for its gold, which was so plentiful that the Macrobians shackled their prisoners in golden chains.
In the classical period, the Somali city-states of Mosylon, Opone, Malao, Sarapion, Mundus, Essina and Tabae in Somalia developed a lucrative trade network connecting with merchants from Phoenicia, Ptolemic Egypt, Greece, Parthian Persia, Sheba, Nabataea and the Roman Empire. They used the ancient Somali maritime vessel known as the "beden" to transport their cargo.
After the Roman conquest of the Nabataean Empire and the Roman naval presence at Aden to curb pillaging, Somali and Gulf Arab merchants by agreement barred Indian ships from trading in the free port cities of the Arabian peninsula to protect the interests of Somali and Arab merchants in the extremely lucrative ancient Red Sea–Mediterranean Sea commerce. However, Indian merchants continued to trade in the port cities of the Somali peninsula, which was free from Roman interference.
For centuries, the Indian merchants brought large quantities of cinnamon from Sri Lanka and Indonesia to Somalia and Arabia. This is said to have been the best kept secret of the Somali and Gulf Arab merchants in their trade with the Roman and Greek world. The Romans and Greeks believed the source of cinnamon to have been the Somali peninsula, but in reality, the highly valued product was brought to Somalia by way of Indian ships. Through collusive agreement by Somali and Gulf Arab traders, Indian/Chinese cinnamon was also exported for far higher prices to North Africa, the Near East and Europe, which made the cinnamon trade a very profitable revenue generator, especially for the Somali merchants through whose hands large quantities were shipped across ancient sea and land routes.
Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in Africa. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, suggesting that the Adal Sultanate with Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at least the 9th or 10th century. According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local Somali dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the littoral Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia.
The Sultanate of Mogadishu's first dynasty was established by Sultan Fakr ad-Din. This ruling house was succeeded by the Garen dynasty, and the kingdom subsequently evolved into the powerful Somali Ajuran Empire during the 13th century. For many years, Mogadishu stood as the pre-eminent city in the بلاد البربر, "Bilad-al-Barbar" ("Land of the Berbers"), which was the medieval Arab term for the Somali coast. Following his visit to the city, the 12th century Syrian historian Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote that it was inhabited by "Berbers", the ancestors of the modern Somalis.
The Warsangali Sultanate was a kingdom centered in northeastern and in some parts of southeastern Somalia. It was one of the largest sultanates ever established in the territory, and, at the height of its power, included the Sanaag region and parts of the northeastern Bari region of the country, an area historically known as Maakhir or the "Maakhir Coast". The Sultanate was founded in the late 13th century in northern Somalia by a group of Somalis from the Warsangali branch of the Darod clan, and was ruled by the descendants of the Gerad Dhidhin.
The conquest of Shoa ignited a rivalry for supremacy between the Christian Solomonids and the Muslim Ifatites, which resulted in several devastating wars and ultimately ended in a Solomonic victory over the Kingdom of Ifat. Parts of northwestern Somalia came under the rule of the Solomonids in medieval times, especially during the reign of Amda Seyon I (r. 1314–1344). In 1403 or 1415 (under Emperor Dawit I or Emperor Yeshaq I, respectively), measures were taken against the Muslim Sultanate of Adal. The Emperor eventually captured King Sa'ad ad-Din II of the Walashma dynasty in Zeila and had him executed. The Walashma Chronicle, however, records the date as 1415, which would make the Ethiopian victor Emperor Yeshaq I. After the war, the reigning king had his minstrels compose a song praising his victory, which contains the first written record of the word "Somali". Sa'ad ad-Din II's family was subsequently given safe haven at the court of the King of Yemen, where his sons regrouped and planned their revenge on the Solomonids.
The oldest son Sabr ad-Din II built a new capital eastwards of Zeila known as Dakkar and began referring to himself as the King of Adal. He continued the war against the Solomonic Empire. Despite his army's smaller size, he was able to defeat the Solomonids at the battles of Serjan and Zikr Amhara and consequently pillaged the surrounding areas. Many similar battles were fought between the Adalites and the Solomonids with both sides achieving victory and suffering defeat but ultimately Sultan Sabr ad-Din II successfully managed to drive the Solomonic army out of Adal territory. He died a natural death and was succeeded by his brother Mansur ad-Din who invaded the capital and royal seat of the Solomonic Empire and drove Emperor Dawit II to Yedaya where according to al-Maqrizi, Sultan Mansur destroyed a Solomonic army and killed the Emperor. He then advanced to the mountains of Mokha, where he encountered a 30,000 strong Solomonic army. The Adalite soldiers surrounded their enemies and for two months besieged the trapped Solomonic soldiers until a truce was declared in Mansur's favour.
Later on in the campaign, the Adalites were struck by a catastrophe when Sultan Mansur and his brother Muhammad were captured in battle by the Solomonids. Mansur was immediately succeeded by the youngest brother of the family Jamal ad-Din II. Sultan Jamal reorganized the army into a formidable force and defeated the Solomonic armies at Bale, Yedeya and Jazja. Emperor Yeshaq I responded by gathering a large army and invaded the cities of Yedeya and Jazja but was repulsed by the soldiers of Jamal. Following this success, Jamal organized another successful attack against the Solomonic forces and inflicted heavy casualties in what was reportedly the largest Adalite army ever fielded. As a result, Yeshaq was forced to withdraw towards the Blue Nile over the next five months, while Jamal ad Din's forces pursued them and looted much gold on the way, although no engagement ensued.
After returning home, Jamal sent his brother Ahmad with the Christian battle-expert Harb Jaush to successfully attack the province of Dawaro. Despite his losses, Emperor Yeshaq was still able to continue field armies against Jamal. Sultan Jamal continued to advance further into the Abyssinian heartland. However, Jamal on hearing of Yeshaq's plan to send several large armies to attack three different areas of Adal (including the capital), returned to Adal, where he fought the Solomonic forces at Harjai and, according to al-Maqrizi, this is where the Emperor Yeshaq died in battle. The young Sultan Jamal ad-Din II at the end of his reign had outperformed his brothers and forefathers in the war arena and became the most successful ruler of Adal to date. Within a few years, however, Jamal was assassinated by either disloyal friends or cousins around 1432 or 1433, and was succeeded by his brother Badlay ibn Sa'ad ad-Din. Sultan Badlay continued the campaigns of his younger brother and began several successful expeditions against the Christian empire. He recovered the Kingdom of Bali and began preparations of a major Adalite offensive into the Ethiopian Highlands. He successfully collected funding from surrounding Muslim kingdoms as far away as the Kingdom of Mogadishu. However, these ambitious plans were thrown out the war chamber when King Badlay died during the invasion of Dawaro. He was succeeded by his son Muhammad ibn Badlay, who sent envoys to the Sultan of Mamluk Egypt to gather support and arms in the continuing war against the Christian empire. The Adalite ruler Muhammad and the Solomonic ruler Baeda Maryam agreed to a truce and both states in the following decades saw an unprecedented period of peace and stability.
Sultan Muhammad was succeeded by his son Shams ad Din, while Emperor Baeda Maryam was succeeded by his son Eskender. During this time, period warfare broke out again between the two states and Emperor Eskender invaded Dakkar, where he was stopped by a large Adalite army, which destroyed the Solomonic army to such an extent that no further expeditions were carried out for the remainder of Eskender's reign. Adal, however, continued to raid the Christian empire unabated under General Mahfuz, the leader of the Adalite war machine, who annually invaded the Christian territories. Eskender was succeeded by Emperor Na'od, who tried to defend the Christians from General Mahfuz but he too was also killed in battle by the Adalite army in Ifat.
At the turn of the 16th century, Adal regrouped and, around 1527, under the charismatic leadership of Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Gurey in Somali, Gragn in Amharic, both meaning "left-handed"), invaded Abyssinia. Adalite armies, with Ottoman arms and support, marched into Ethiopia and caused considerable damage on the highland state. Many historic churches, manuscripts and settlements were looted and burned during the campaigns. Adal's use of firearms, still only rarely used in Ethiopia, allowed the conquest of well over half of Ethiopia, reaching as far north as Tigray. The complete conquest of Ethiopia was averted by the timely arrival of a Portuguese expedition led by Cristóvão da Gama, son of the famed navigator Vasco da Gama. The Portuguese had been in the area earlier – in the early 16th century, in search of the legendary priest-king Prester John) – and, although a diplomatic mission from Portugal, led by Rodrigo de Lima, had failed to improve relations between the countries, they responded to the Ethiopian pleas for help and sent a military expedition to their fellow Christians. A Portuguese fleet under the command of Estêvão da Gama was sent from Portuguese India and arrived at Massawa in February 1541. Here, he received an ambassador from the Emperor beseeching him to send help against the Muslims. In July, a force of 400 musketeers, under the command of Cristóvão da Gama, younger brother of Estêvão, marched into the interior. Joined by Ethiopian troops, they were at first successful against the Muslims; but, they were subsequently defeated at the Battle of Wofla (28 August 1542), and their commander captured and executed. On 21 February 1543, however, a joint Portuguese-Ethiopian force defeated the Muslim army at the Battle of Wayna Daga, in which Ahmed Gurey was killed and the war won. Ahmed Gurey's widow married his nephew Nur ibn Mujahid, in return for his promise to avenge Ahmed's death, who succeeded Ahmed Gurey, and continued hostilities against his northern adversaries until he killed the Ethiopian Emperor in his second invasion of Ethiopia.
During the age of the Ajurans, the sultanates and republics of Merca, Mogadishu, Barawa, Hobyo and their respective ports flourished and had a lucrative foreign commerce with ships sailing to and coming from Arabia, India, Venetia, Persia, Egypt, Portugal and as far away as China. Vasco da Gama, who passed by Mogadishu in the 15th century, noted that it was a large city with houses of four or five storeys and big palaces in its centre and many mosques with cylindrical minarets. In the 16th century, Duarte Barbosa noted that many ships from the Kingdom of Cambaya in India sailed to Mogadishu with cloths and spices, for which they in return received gold, wax and ivory. Barbosa also highlighted the abundance of meat, wheat, barley, horses, and fruit on the coastal markets, which generated enormous wealth for the merchants.
Mogadishu, the center of a thriving weaving industry known as "toob benadir" (specialized for the markets in Egypt and Syria), together with Merca and Barawa also served as transit stops for Swahili merchants from Mombasa and Malindi and for the gold trade from Kilwa. Jewish merchants from the Hormuz brought their Indian textile and fruit to the Somali coast in exchange for grain and wood, Trading relations were established with Malacca in the 15th century with cloth, ambergris and porcelain being the main commodities of the trade. Giraffes, zebras and incense were exported to the Ming dynasty of China, which established Somali merchants as leaders in the commerce between the Asia and Africa. In the process, the Somali language influenced the Chinese language. Hindu merchants from Surat and Southeast African merchants from Pate, seeking to bypass both the Portuguese blockade and Omani meddling, used the Somali ports of Merca and Barawa (which were out of the two powers' jurisdiction) to conduct their trade in safety and without interference.
The 16th century Somali-Portuguese wars in East Africa meant that geopolitical tensions would remain high and the increased contact between Somali sailors and Ottoman corsairs worried the Portuguese who actually sent multiple punitive expeditions against the Ajuran Empire so that Portuguese could colonize the wealthy Somali port cities but came very unsuccessful and would eventually be defeated by the powerful Somalis. Example, Barawa under Tristão da Cunha but was soundly defeated by Ajuran Empire in the Battle of Barawa and Mogadishu under João de Sepúvelda, which was also unsuccessful in the Battle of Benadir. Ottoman-Somali cooperation against the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean reached a high point in the 1580s when Ajuran clients of the Somali coastal cities began to sympathize with the Arabs and Swahilis under Portuguese rule and sent an envoy to the Turkish corsair Mir Ali Bey for a joint expedition against the Portuguese. He agreed and was joined by a Somali fleet, which began attacking Portuguese colonies in Southeast Africa. The Somali-Ottoman offensive managed to drive out the Portuguese from several important cities such as Pate, Mombasa and Kilwa. However, the Portuguese governor sent envoys to India requesting a large Portuguese fleet. This request was answered and it reversed the previous offensive of the Muslims into one of defense. The Portuguese armada managed to re-take most of the lost cities and began punishing their leaders, but they refrained from attacking Mogadishu.
Berbera was the most important port in the Horn of Africa between the 18th–19th centuries. For centuries, Berbera had extensive trade relations with several historic ports in the Arabian Peninsula. Additionally, the Somali and Ethiopian interiors were very dependent on Berbera for trade, where most of the goods for export arrived from. During the 1833 trading season, the port town swelled to over 70,000 people, and upwards of 6,000 camels laden with goods arrived from the interior within a single day. Berbera was the main marketplace in the entire Somali seaboard for various goods procured from the interior, such as livestock, coffee, frankincense, myrrh, acacia gum, saffron, feathers, ghee, hide (skin), gold and ivory.
According to a trade journal published in 1856, Berbera was described as "the freest port in the world, and the most important trading place on the whole Arabian Gulf".:
Historically, the port of Berbera was controlled indigenously between the mercantile Reer Ahmed Nuh and Reer Yunis Nuh sub-clans of the Habar Awal.
In 1841, Haji Sharmarke Ali Saleh, a successful and ambitious Somali merchant, successfully invaded Zeila utilizing canons and Somali Musketeers, he deposed and imprisoned the port town's Arab ruler and succeeded him as the undisputed ruler of Zeila and its dependencies. Sharmarke's governorship had an instant effect on the city, as he maneuvered to monopolize as much of the regional trade as possible, with his sights set as far as Harar and the Ogaden. In 1845, Sharmarke deployed a few matchlock men to wrest control of neighboring Berbera from that town's then feuding Somali authorities. Sharmarke's influence was not limited to the coast as he had many allies in the interior of the Somali country and even further in Abyssinia. Among his allies were the Sultans of Shewa. When there was tension between the Amir of Harar Abu Bakr II ibn `Abd al-Munan and Sharmarke, as a result of the Amir arresting one of his agents in Harar, Sharmarke persuaded the son of Sahle Selassie, ruler of Shewa, to imprison on his behalf about 300 citizens of Harar then resident in Shewa, for a length of two years.
Sultan Yusuf Mahamud Ibrahim, the third Sultan of the House of Gobroon, started the Golden age of the Gobroon dynasty. His army came out victorious during the Bardheere "jihad", which restored stability in the region and revitalized the East African ivory trade. He also received presents and had cordial relations with the rulers of neighbouring and distant kingdoms such as the Omani, Wituland and Yemeni sultans. Sultan Ibrahim's son Ahmed Yusuf succeeded him and was one of the most important figures in 19th century East Africa. Ahmed Yusuf was considered to be the most powerful king in East Africa in his time. He managed to gather 20 thousand Somali troops and invaded the Zanzibar island near Tanzania and he captured the islands, defeated the enemy troops and freed the Bantu slaves and through his military dominance, Sultan Yusuf managed to exact tribute from the Omani king in the coastal town of Lamu. In northern and southern Somalia, the Gerad Dynasty conducted trade with Yemen and Persia and competed with the merchants of the Bari Dynasty. The Gerads and the Bari Sultans built impressive palaces, castles and fortresses and had close relations with many different empires in the Near East.
In the late 19th century, after the Berlin Conference, European powers began the Scramble for Africa, which inspired the Dervish leaders Mohammed Abdullah Hassan and Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman to rally support from across the Horn of Africa and begin one of the longest anti-colonial struggles on the continent.
News of the incident that sparked the Dervish rebellion and the 21 years disturbance according to the consul-general James Hayes Sadler was spread by Sultan Nur of the Habr Yunis. The incident in question was that of a group of Somali children that were converted to Christianity and adopted by the French Catholic Mission at Berbera in 1899. Whether Sultan Nur experienced the incident first hand or whether he was told of it is not clear but what is known is that he propagated the incident in the Tariqa at Kob Fardod in June 1899, precipitating the religious rebellion that later morphed into the Somali Dervish. In one of his letters to Sultan Deria in 1899, Hassan said that the British ""have destroyed our religion and made our children their children"" alluding to Sultan Nur's incident with the Roman French Mission at Berbera. The Dervish soon emerged as an opposition of the Christian activities, defending their version of Islam against the Christian mission. In several of his poems and speeches, Hassan insisted that the British and the Christian Ethiopians in league with the British were bent upon plundering the political and religious freedom of the Somali nation. He soon emerged as "a champion of his country's political and religious freedom, defending it against all Christian invaders." Hassan issued a religious ordinance that any Somali national who did not accept the goal of unity of Somalia and would not fight under his leadership would be considered as "kafir" or "gaal". He soon acquired weapons from the Ottoman Empire, Sudan, and other sympathetic Muslim countries, and appointed ministers and advisers to administer different areas or sectors of Somalia. In addition, Hassan gave a clarion call for Somali unity and independence, in the process organizing his follower-warriors. His Dervish movement had an essentially military character, and the Dervish movement was fashioned on the model of a Salihiya brotherhood. It was characterized by a rigid hierarchy and centralization. Hassan threatened to drive the Christians into the sea; he committed the first attack by launching his first major military offensive with his 1,500 Dervish equipped with 20 modern rifles on the British soldiers stationed in the region.
He repulsed the British in four expeditions and had favorable diplomatic relations with the Central Powers of the Ottoman and German Empires.
In 1920, the Dervish movement collapsed after intensive British aerial bombardments, and Dervish territories were subsequently turned into a protectorate. The dawn of fascism in the early 1920s heralded a change of strategy for Italy, as the north-eastern sultanates were soon to be forced within the boundaries of "La Grande Somalia" according to the plan of Fascist Italy. With the arrival of Governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi on 15 December 1923, things began to change for that part of Somaliland. Italy had access to these areas under the successive protection treaties, but not direct rule. The Fascist government had direct rule only over the Benadir territory Given the defeat of the Dervish movement in the early 1920s and the rise of fascism in Europe, on 10 July 1925, Mussolini gave the green light to De Vecchi to start the takeover of the north-eastern sultanates. Everything was to be changed and the treaties abrogated.
Governor De Vecchi's first plan was to disarm the sultanates. But, before the plan could be carried out, there had to be sufficient Italian troops in both sultanates. To make the enforcement of his plan more viable, he began to reconstitute the old Somali police corps, the "Corpo Zaptié", as a colonial force.
In preparation for the invasion plan of the sultanates, the Alula Commissioner, E. Coronaro received orders in April 1924 to carry out a reconnaissance on the territories targeted for invasion. In spite of the 40-year Italian relationship with the sultanates, Italy did not have adequate knowledge of the geography. During this time, the Stefanini-Puccioni geological survey was scheduled to take place, so it was a good opportunity for the expedition of Coronaro to join with this.
Coronaro's survey concluded that the Ismaan Sultanate (Majeerteen) depended on sea traffic, therefore, if this were blocked, any resistance that could be mounted after the invasion of the sultanate would be minimal. As the first stage of the invasion plan, Governor De Vecchi ordered the two Sultanates to disarm. The reaction of both sultanates was to object, as they felt the policy was in breach of the protectorate agreements. The pressure engendered by the new development forced the two rival sultanates to settle their differences over possession of Nugaal, and form a united front against their common enemy.
The Sultanate of Hobyo was different from that of the Majeerteen in terms of its geography and the pattern of the territory. It was founded by Yusuf Ali Kenadid in the middle of the 19th century in central Somalia. Its jurisdiction stretched from Ceeldheer (El Dher) through to Dhusamareb in the south-west, from Galladi to Galkayo in the west, from Jariban to Garaad in the north-east, and the Indian Ocean in the east.
By 1 October, De Vecchi's plan was to go into action. The operation to invade Hobyo started in October 1925 . Columns of the new Zaptié began to move towards the sultanate. Hobyo, Ceelbuur (El Buur), Galkayo, and the territory between were completely overrun within a month. Hobyo was transformed from a sultanate into an administrative region. Sultan Yusuf Ali surrendered. Nevertheless, soon suspicions were aroused as Trivulzio, the Hobyo commissioner, reported movement of armed men towards the borders of the sultanate before the takeover and after. Before the Italians could concentrate on the Majeerteen, they were diverted by new setbacks. On 9 November, the Italian fear was realized when a mutiny, led by one of the military chiefs of Sultan Ali Yusuf, Omar Samatar, recaptured El Buur. Soon the rebellion expanded to the local population. The region went into revolt as El-Dheere also came under the control of Omar Samatar. The Italian forces tried to recapture El Buur, but they were repulsed. On 15 November, the Italians retreated to Bud Bud and on the way they were ambushed and suffered heavy casualties.
While a third attempt was in the last stages of preparation, the operation's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Splendorelli, was ambushed between Bud Bud and Buula Barde. He and some of his staff were killed. As a consequence of the death of the commander of the operations and the effect of two failed operations intended to overcome the El Buur mutiny, the spirit of Italian troops began to wane. The Governor took the situation seriously and, to prevent any more failure, he requested two battalions from Eritrea to reinforce his troops, and assumed lead of the operations. Meanwhile, the rebellion was gaining sympathy across the country, and as far afield as Western Somalia.
The fascist government was surprised by the setback in Hobyo. The whole policy of conquest was collapsing under its nose. The El-Buur episode drastically changed the strategy of Italy as it revived memories of the Adwa fiasco when Italy had been defeated by Abyssinia. Furthermore, in the Colonial Ministry in Rome, senior officials distrusted the Governor's ability to deal with the matter. Rome instructed De Vecchi that he was to receive the reinforcement from Eritrea, but that the commander of the two battalions was to temporarily assume the military command of the operations and De Vecchi was to stay in Mogadishu and confine himself to other colonial matters. In the case of any military development, the military commander was to report directly to the Chief of Staff in Rome.
While the situation remained perplexing, De Vecchi moved the deposed sultan to Mogadishu. Fascist Italy was poised to re-conquer the sultanate by whatever means. To maneuver the situation within Hobyo, they even contemplated the idea of reinstating Ali Yusuf. However, the idea was dropped after they became pessimistic about the results.
To undermine the resistance, however, and before the Eritrean reinforcement could arrive, De Vecchi began to instill distrust among the local people by buying the loyalty of some of them. In fact, these tactics had better results than the military campaign had, and the resistance began gradually to wear down. Given the anarchy that would follow, the new policy was a success.
On the military front, Italian troops finally overran El Buur on 26 December 1925, and the forces of Omar Samatar were compelled to retreat to Western Somaliland.
By neutralising Hobyo, the fascists could concentrate on the Majeerteen. In early October 1924, E. Coronaro, the new Alula commissioner, presented Boqor (king) Osman Mahamuud with an ultimatum to disarm and surrender. Meanwhile, Italian troops began to pour into the sultanate in anticipation of this operation. While landing at Haafuun and Alula, the sultanate's troops opened fire on them. Fierce fighting ensued and to avoid escalating the conflict and to press the fascist government to revoke their policy, Boqor Osman tried to open a dialogue. However, he failed, and again fighting broke out between the two parties. Following this disturbance, on 7 October, the Governor instructed Coronaro to order the Sultan to surrender; to intimidate the people he ordered the seizure of all merchant boats in the Alula area. At Hafun, Arimondi bombarded and destroyed all the boats in the area.
On 13 October, Coronaro was to meet Boqor Osman at Baargaal to press for his surrender. Under siege already, Boqor Osman was playing for time. However, on 23 October, Boqor Osman sent an angry response to the Governor defying his order. Following this a full-scale attack was ordered in November. Baargaal was bombarded and destroyed to the ground. This region was ethnically compact, and was out of range of direct action by the fascist government of Muqdisho. The attempt of the colonizers to suppress the region erupted into explosive confrontation. The Italians were meeting fierce resistance on many fronts. In December 1925, led by the charismatic leader Hersi Boqor, son of Boqor Osman, the sultanate forces drove the Italians out of Hurdia and Hafun, two strategic coastal towns. Another contingent attacked and destroyed an Italian communications centre at Cape Guardafui, at the tip of the Horn. In retaliation the "Bernica" and other warships were called on to bombard all main coastal towns of the Majeerteen. After a violent confrontation Italian forces captured Eyl (Eil), which until then had remained in the hands of Hersi Boqor. In response to the unyielding situation, Italy called for reinforcements from their other colonies, notably Eritrea. With their arrival at the closing of 1926, the Italians began to move into the interior where they had not been able to venture since their first seizure of the coastal towns. Their attempt to capture Dharoor Valley was resisted, and ended in failure.
De Vecchi had to reassess his plans as he was being humiliated on many fronts. After one year of exerting full force he could not yet manage to gain a result over the sultanate. In spite of the fact that the Italian navy sealed the sultanate's main coastal entrance, they could not succeed in stopping them from receiving arms and ammunition through it. It was only early 1927 when they finally succeeded in shutting the northern coast of the sultanate, thus cutting arms and ammunition supplies for the Majeerteen. By this time, the balance had tilted to the Italians' side, and in January 1927 they began to attack with a massive force, capturing Iskushuban, at the heart of the Majeerteen. Hersi Boqor unsuccessfully attacked and challenged the Italians at Iskushuban. To demoralise the resistance, ships were ordered to target and bombard the sultanate's coastal towns and villages. In the interior, the Italian troops confiscated livestock. By the end of the 1927, the Italians had taken full control of the sultanate. Hersi Boqor and his troops retreated to Ethiopia in order to rebuild their forces, but were unable to retake their territories, effectively ending the "Campaign of the Sultanates".
On 9 May 1936, Mussolini proclaimed the creation of the Italian Empire, calling it the "Africa Orientale Italiana" (A.O.I.) and formed by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland (called officially "Somalia italiana"). The Italians made many new investments in infrastructure in the region, such as the "Strada Imperiale" ("imperial road") between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu and the railway Mogadishu-Villabruzzi of 114 km.
Over the course of Italian Somaliland's existence, many Somali troops fought in the so-called "Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali". The soldiers were enrolled as Dubats, Zaptié and Bande irregolari. During World War II, these troops were regarded as a wing of the Italian Army's Infantry Division, as was the case in Libya and Eritrea. The Zaptié provided a ceremonial escort for the Italian Viceroy (Governor) as well as the territorial police. There were already more than one thousand such soldiers in 1922. In 1941, in Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia, 2,186 Zaptié plus an additional 500 recruits under training officially constituted a part of the Carabinieri. They were organised into a battalion commanded by Major Alfredo Serranti that defended (Ethiopia) for three months until this military unit was destroyed by the Allies. After heavy fighting, the Somali troops and the Italian Carabinieri received full military honors from the British.
In the first half of 1940, there were 22,000 Italians living in Somalia and the colony was one of the most developed in East Africa in terms of the standard of living of the colonists and of the Somalis, mainly in the urban areas. More than 10,000 Italians were living in Mogadishu, the administrative capital of the "Africa Orientale Italiana", and new buildings were erected in the Italian architectural tradition. By 1940, the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi (now Jowhar) had a population of 12,000 people, of whom nearly 3,000 were Italian Somalis, and enjoyed a notable level of development with a small manufacturing area with agricultural industries (sugar mills, etc.).
In the second half of 1940, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland and ejected the British. The Italians also occupied parts of the British East Africa Protectorate bordering Jubaland around the towns of Moyale and Buna.
Mussolini boasted in front of a group of Somalis leaders -in late summer 1940- that he had created the ""Greater Somalia"" (dreamed by the Somali population) after the union of British Somaliland to his Somalia Governorate.
During World War II, Britain regained control of British Somaliland and conquered Italian Somaliland, administering both militarily as protectorates. In November 1945, during the Potsdam Conference, the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland, but only under close supervision and on the condition—first proposed by the Somali Youth League (SYL) and other nascent Somali political organizations, such as Hizbia Digil Mirifle Somali (HDMS) and the Somali National League (SNL)—that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. British Somaliland remained a protectorate of Britain until 1960.
To the extent that Italy held the territory by UN mandate, the trusteeship provisions gave the Somalis the opportunity to gain experience in political education and self-government. These were advantages that British Somaliland, which was to be incorporated into the new Somali state, did not have. Although, in the 1950s, British colonial officials attempted, through various administrative development efforts, to make up for past neglect, the protectorate stagnated. The disparity between the two territories in economic development and political experience would cause serious difficulties when it came time to integrate the two parts.
Britain included the proviso that the Somali nomads would retain their autonomy, but Ethiopia immediately claimed sovereignty over them. This prompted an unsuccessful bid by Britain in 1956 to buy back the Somali lands it had turned over. Britain also granted administration of the almost exclusively Somali-inhabited Northern Frontier District (NFD) to Kenyan nationalists despite an informal plebiscite demonstrating the overwhelming desire of the region's population to join the newly formed Somali Republic.
A referendum was held in neighboring Djibouti (then known as French Somaliland) in 1958, on the eve of Somalia's independence in 1960, to decide whether or not to join the Somali Republic or to remain with France. The referendum turned out in favour of a continued association with France, largely due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident Europeans. There was also allegations of widespread vote rigging, with the French expelling thousands of Somalis before the referendum reached the polls. The majority of those who voted "no" were Somalis who were strongly in favour of joining a united Somalia, as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi, Vice President of the Government Council. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later. Djibouti finally gained its independence from France in 1977, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon, a Somali who had campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum of 1958, eventually wound up as Djibouti's first president (1977–1991).
On 1 July 1960, the two territories united to form the Somali Republic, albeit within boundaries drawn up by Italy and Britain. A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa Mohamud and Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal and other members of the trusteeship and protectorate governments, with the Speaker of the Somali Union Act Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf as President of the Somali National Assembly, Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President of Somali Republic, and Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as Prime Minister (later to become President from 1967 to 1969). On 20 July 1961 and through a popular referendum, the people of Somalia ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960. In 1967, Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became Prime Minister, a position to which he was appointed by Shermarke. Egal would later become the President of the autonomous Somaliland region in northwestern Somalia.
On 15 October 1969, while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod, Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by a policeman. His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on 21 October 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition – essentially a bloodless takeover. The putsch was spearheaded by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, who at the time commanded the army.
Alongside Barre, the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) that assumed power after President Sharmarke's assassination was led by Lieutenant Colonel Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Chief of Police Jama Korshel. Kediye officially held the title of "Father of the Revolution," and Barre shortly afterwards became the head of the SRC. The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic, dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution.
The revolutionary army established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase the literacy rate. In addition to a nationalization program of industry and land, the new regime's foreign policy placed an emphasis on Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world, eventually joining the Arab League (AL) in 1974. That same year, Barre also served as chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU).
In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets. The SRSP was an attempt to reconcile the official state ideology with the official state religion by adapting Marxist precepts to local circumstances. Emphasis was placed on the Muslim principles of social progress, equality and justice, which the government argued formed the core of scientific socialism and its own accent on self-sufficiency, public participation and popular control, as well as direct ownership of the means of production. While the SRSP encouraged private investment on a limited scale, the administration's overall direction was essentially communist.
In July 1977, the Ogaden War broke out after Barre's government sought to incorporate the predominantly Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of Ethiopia into a Pan-Somali Greater Somalia. In the first week of the conflict, Somali armed forces seized the southern and central parts of the Ogaden. The units in the Godey Front were led by Colonel Abdullahi Ahmed Irro. For most of the war, the Somali army scored continuous victories on the Ethiopian army, following it as far as Sidamo. By September 1977, Somalia controlled 90% of the Ogaden and captured strategic cities such as Jijiga and put heavy pressure on Dire Dawa, threatening the train route from the latter city to Djibouti. After the siege of Harar, a massive unprecedented Soviet intervention consisting of 20,000 Cuban forces and several thousand Soviet experts came to the aid of Ethiopia's communist Derg regime. By 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden. This shift in support by the Soviet Union motivated the Barre government to seek allies elsewhere. It eventually settled on the Soviets' Cold War arch-rival, the United States, which had been courting the Somali government for some time. All in all, Somalia's initial friendship with the Soviet Union and later partnership with the United States enabled it to build the largest army in Africa.
A new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party politburo continued to rule. In October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place.
In May 1986, President Barre suffered serious injuries in a life-threatening automobile accident near Mogadishu, when the car that was transporting him smashed into the back of a bus during a heavy rainstorm. He was treated in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for head injuries, broken ribs and shock over a period of a month. Lieutenant General Mohamed Ali Samatar, then Vice President, subsequently served as de facto head of state for the next several months. Although Barre managed to recover enough to present himself as the sole presidential candidate for re-election over a term of seven years on 23 December 1986, his poor health and advanced age led to speculation about who would succeed him in power. Possible contenders included his son-in-law General Ahmed Suleiman Abdille, who was at the time the Minister of the Interior, in addition to Barre's Vice President Lt. Gen. Samatar.
By that time, Barre's government had become increasingly unpopular. Many Somalis had become disillusioned with life under military dictatorship. The regime was weakened further in the 1980s as the Cold War drew to a close and Somalia's strategic importance was diminished. The government became increasingly totalitarian, and resistance movements, encouraged by Ethiopia, sprang up across the country, eventually leading to the Somali Civil War. Among the militia groups were the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), United Somali Congress (USC), Somali National Movement (SNM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), together with the non-violent political oppositions of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto Group (SMG).
With the political situation deteriorating, Barre's long-standing government in 1991 eventually collapsed under the pressure. The national army disbanded shortly afterwards.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 794 was unanimously passed on 3 December 1992, which approved a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States. Forming the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the force was tasked with assuring security until humanitarian efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation were transferred to the UN. Landing in 1993, the UN peacekeeping coalition started the two-year United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) primarily in the south to provide humanitarian relief.
Some militias that had seized power after the oust of Barre regime's interpreted the UN troops' presence as a threat to their hegemony. Consequently, several gun battles took place in Mogadishu between local gunmen and peacekeepers. Among these was the Battle of Mogadishu, an unsuccessful attempt by US troops to apprehend faction leader Mohamed Farah Aidid. The UN soldiers eventually withdrew altogether from the country on 3 March 1995, having incurred more significant casualties.
Following the outbreak of the civil war and the ensuing collapse of the central government, Somalia's residents reverted to local forms of conflict resolution, either secular, traditional or Islamic law, with a provision for appeal of all sentences. The legal structure in Somalia is thus divided along three lines: civil law, religious law and customary law.
While Somalia's formal judicial system was largely destroyed after the fall of the Siad Barre regime, it was later gradually rebuilt and administered under different regional governments, such as the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland macro-regions. In the case of the later Transitional Federal Government, a new interim judicial structure was formed through various international conferences.
Despite some significant political differences between them, all of these administrations share similar legal structures, much of which are predicated on the judicial systems of previous Somali administrations. These similarities in civil law include: a) a charter which affirms the primacy of Muslim shari'a or religious law, although in practice shari'a is applied mainly to matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and civil issues. The charter guarantees respect for universal standards of human rights to all subjects of the law. It also assures the independence of the judiciary, which in turn is protected by a judicial committee; b) a three-tier judicial system including a supreme court, a court of appeals, and courts of first instance (either divided between district and regional courts, or a single court per region); and c) the laws of the civilian government which were in effect prior to the military coup d'état that saw the Barre regime into power remain in force until the laws are amended.
Islamic shari'a has traditionally played a significant part in Somali society. In theory, it has served as the basis for all national legislation in every Somali constitution. In practice, however, it only applied to common civil cases such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and family matters. This changed after the start of the civil war, when a number of new shari'a courts began to spring up in many different cities and towns across the country. These new shari'a courts serve three functions; namely, to pass rulings in both criminal and civil cases, to organize a militia capable of arresting criminals, and to keep convicted prisoners incarcerated.
The shari'a courts, though structured along simple lines, feature a conventional hierarchy of a chairman, vice-chairman and four judges. A police force that reports to the court enforces the judges' rulings, but also helps settle community disputes and apprehend suspected criminals. In addition, the courts manage detention centers where criminals are kept. An independent finance committee is also assigned the task of collecting and managing tax revenue levied on regional merchants by the local authorities.
Somalis have for centuries practiced a form of customary law, called Xeer (pronounced /ħeːr/). Xeer is a polycentric legal system where there is no monopolistic institution or agent that determines what the law should be or how it should be interpreted.
The Xeer legal system is assumed to have developed exclusively in the Horn of Africa since approximately the 7th century. There is no evidence that it developed elsewhere or was greatly influenced by any foreign legal system. Its legal terminology is practically devoid of loan words from foreign languages, suggesting that it is truly indigenous.
The Xeer legal system also requires a certain amount of specialization of different functions within the legal framework. Thus, one can find "odayaal" (judges), "xeerbogeyaal" (jurists), "guurtiyaal" (detectives), "garxajiyaal" (attorneys), "markhaatiyal" (witnesses) and "waranle" (police officers) to enforce the law.
Xeer is defined by a few fundamental tenets that are immutable and which closely approximate the principle of "jus cogens" in international law: These precepts include: a) payment of blood money (locally referred to as "diya") for libel, theft, physical harm, rape and death, as well as supplying assistance to relatives; b) assuring good inter-clan relations by treating women justly, negotiating with "peace emissaries" in good faith, and sparing the lives of socially protected groups "Birr Magaydo," (e.g. children, women, the pious, poets, messengers, sheikhs, and guests); c) family obligations such as the payment of dowry, and sanctions for eloping; d) rules pertaining to the management of resources such as the use of pasture land, water, and other natural resources; e) providing financial support to married female relatives and newlyweds; f) donating livestock and other assets to the poor.
In 2000, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan was selected as the President of the nation's new Transitional National Government (TNG), an interim administration formed to guide Somalia to its third permanent republican government.
On 10 October 2004, in a session held by the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected as President of the succeeding Transitional Federal Government (TFG), an interim federal administrative body that he had helped establish earlier in the year. He received 189 votes from the TFG Parliament, while the closest contender, erstwhile Somali ambassador to Washington Abdullahi Ahmed Addou, got 79 votes in the third round of voting. The then incumbent President of Somalia, Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, peacefully withdrew his candidature. Ahmed was sworn in a few days later on 14 October 2004.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was the internationally recognised government of Somalia until 20 August 2012, when its tenure officially ended. It was established as one of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) of government as defined in the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) adopted in November 2004 by the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP).
The Transitional Federal Government officially comprised the executive branch of government, with the TFP serving as the legislative branch. The government was headed by the President of Somalia, to whom the cabinet reported through the Prime Minister. However, it was also used as a general term to refer to all three branches collectively.
In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist organization, assumed control of much of the southern part of the country and promptly imposed Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal Government sought to reestablish its authority, and, with the assistance of Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers and air support by the United States, managed to drive out the rival ICU and solidify its rule.
On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President and founder Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former colonel in the Somali Army and decorated war hero, entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office. The government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country.
Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and oppose the Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. At the end of 2008, the group had captured Baidoa but not Mogadishu. By January 2009, Al-Shabaab and other militias had managed to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an under-equipped African Union peacekeeping force to assist the Transitional Federal Government's troops.
Due to a lack of funding and human resources, an arms embargo that made it difficult to re-establish a national security force, and general indifference on the part of the international community, President Yusuf found himself obliged to deploy thousands of troops from Puntland to Mogadishu to sustain the battle against insurgent elements in the southern part of the country. Financial support for this effort was provided by the autonomous region's government. This left little revenue for Puntland's own security forces and civil service employees, leaving the territory vulnerable to piracy and terrorist attacks.
On 29 December 2008, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia. In his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end the country's seventeen-year conflict as his government had mandated to do. He also blamed the international community for its failure to support the government, and said that the speaker of parliament would succeed him in office per the Charter of the Transitional Federal Government.
Between 31 and 9 May June 2008, representatives of Somalia's federal government and the moderate Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) group of Islamist rebels participated in peace talks in Djibouti brokered by the former United Nations Special Envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. The conference ended with a signed agreement calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in exchange for the cessation of armed confrontation. Parliament was subsequently expanded to 550 seats to accommodate ARS members, which then elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former ARS chairman, to office. President Sharif shortly afterwards appointed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the son of the assassinated former President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, as the nation's new Prime Minister.
With the help of a small team of African Union troops, the coalition government also began a counteroffensive in February 2009 to assume full control of the southern half of the country. To solidify its rule, the TFG formed an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union, other members of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi militia. Furthermore, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, the two main Islamist groups in opposition, began to fight amongst themselves in mid-2009.
As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's coalition government announced that it would re-implement Shari'a as the nation's official judicial system. However, conflict continued in the southern and central parts of the country. Within months, the coalition government had gone from holding about 70% of south-central Somalia's conflict zones, territory which it had inherited from the previous Yusuf administration, to losing control of over 80% of the disputed territory to the Islamist insurgents.
On 14 October 2010, diplomat Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo) was appointed the new Prime Minister of Somalia. The former Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned the month before following a protracted dispute with President Sharif over a proposed draft constitution.
Per the Transitional Federal Government's (TFG) Charter, Prime Minister Mohamed named a new Cabinet on 12 November 2010, which has been lauded by the international community. As had been expected, the allotted ministerial positions were significantly reduced in numbers, with only 18 administrative posts unveiled versus the previous government's bloated 39 portfolios. Only two Ministers from the previous Cabinet were reappointed: Hussein Abdi Halane, the former Minister of Finance and a well-regarded figure in the international community, was put in charge of a consolidated Ministry of Finance and Treasury; and Dr. Mohamud Abdi Ibrahim was reassigned to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi group and an important military ally of the TFG, was also accorded the key Interior and Labour ministries. The remaining ministerial positions were largely assigned to technocrats new to the Somali political arena.
In its first 50 days in office, Prime Minister Mohamed's new administration completed its first monthly payment of stipends to government soldiers, and initiated the implementation of a full biometric register for the security forces within a window of four months. Additional members of the Independent Constitutional Commission were also appointed to engage Somali constitutional lawyers, religious scholars and experts in Somali culture over the nation's upcoming new constitution, a key part of the government's Transitional Federal Tasks. In addition, high level federal delegations were dispatched to defuse clan-related tensions in several regions. According to the prime minister of Somalia, to improve transparency, Cabinet ministers fully disclosed their assets and signed a code of ethics.
An Anti-Corruption Commission with the power to carry out formal investigations and to review government decisions and protocols was also established so as to more closely monitor all activities by public officials. Furthermore, unnecessary trips abroad by members of government were prohibited, and all travel by ministers now require the Premier's consent. A budget outlining 2011's federal expenditures was also put before and approved by members of parliament, with the payment of civil service employees prioritized. In addition, a full audit of government property and vehicles is being put into place. On the war front, the new government and its AMISOM allies also managed to secure control of 60% of Mogadishu, where 80% of the capital's population now lives. According to the African Union and Prime Minister Mohamed, with increasing troop strength the pace of territorial gains is expected to greatly accelerate.
On 19 June 2011, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigned from his position as Prime Minister of Somalia. Part of the controversial Kampala Accord's conditions, the agreement would also see the mandates of the President, the Parliament Speaker and Deputies extended until August 2012, after which point new elections are to be organized. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Mohamed's former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, was later named permanent Prime Minister.
As part of the official "Roadmap for the End of Transition", a political process which provided clear benchmarks leading toward the formation of permanent democratic institutions in Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government's interim mandate ended on 20 August 2012. The Federal Parliament of Somalia was concurrently inaugurated, ushering in the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war.
On 10 September 2012, parliament elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new President of Somalia. President Mohamud later appointed Abdi Farah Shirdon as the new Prime Minister on 6 October 2012, who was succeeded in office by Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed on 21 December 2013. On 17 December 2014, former Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was reappointed Prime Minister.
On 8 February 2017, Somali MPs elected Ex-Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" Mohamed in a surprise result. On 23 February 2017, President Mohamed appointed former humanitarian worker and businessman Hassan Khaire as his Prime Minister.. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27359 |
Economy of Somalia
Despite two decades of civil war, the economy of Somalia has survived as an informal economy, based mainly on livestock, remittance/money transfers from abroad, and telecommunications. Somalia is classified by the United Nations as a least developed country, with the majority of its population being dependent on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood. Due to a dearth of formal government statistics and the recent civil war, it is difficult to gauge the size or growth of the economy. For 1994, the CIA estimated the GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) to be $3.3 billion. In 2001, it was estimated to be $4.1 billion. By 2009, the CIA estimated that the PPP GDP had grown to $5.731 billion, with a projected real growth rate of 2.6%. In 2014, the International Monetary Fund estimated economic activity to have expanded by 3.7 percent primarily driven by growth in the primary sector and secondary sector. According to a 2007 British Chambers of Commerce report, the private sector has experienced growth, particularly in the service sector. Unlike the pre-civil war period when most services and the industrial sector were government-run, there has been substantial, albeit unmeasured, private investment in commercial activities; this has been largely financed by the Somali diaspora, and includes trade and marketing, money transfer services, transportation, communications, fishery equipment, airlines, telecommunications, education, health, construction and hotels.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Somalia, the country had some of the lowest development indicators in the world, and a "strikingly low" Human Development Index (HDI) value of 0.285. This would rank amongst the lowest in the world if comparable data were available, and when adjusted for the significant inequality that exists in Somalia, its HDI is even lower. The UNDP notes that "inequalities across different social groups, a major driver of conflict, have been widening".
Somalia's economy consists of both traditional and modern production, with a gradual shift to more modern industrial techniques. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, about 80% of the population are nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists, who keep goats, sheep, camels and cattle. The nomads also gather resins and gums to supplement their income.
According to the World Bank, Somalia's economy has suffered as a result of the state failure that accompanied the country's civil war. Some economists, including libertarian Peter T. Leeson, have argued instead that state collapse has actually helped improve economic welfare, because the previous Somali state was predatory.
According to the African Development Bank, Somalia is "characterized by a severe lack of basic economic and social statistics". This situation has been exacerbated by the civil war and institutional collapse, although even prior to Somalia's state failure, data was often unreliable.
The World Bank reports that Somalia's GDP was $917.0 million in 1990 and its total population was 13.42 million in 2014, and has since risen to 15 million as of 2018, marking roughly a 12% increase in its total population since then. In 2018 the World bank estimated an annual GDP of $6.2 billion, similar in size to Guam and the Kyrgyz Republic, and classifies it as a low-income country. The United Nations Statistics Division reports a GDP figure of $1.306 billion for 2012, compared to $2.316 billion in 2005 and $1.071 billion in 2010.
According to the Central Bank of Somalia, sometime in the 2000s the country's GDP per capita according to the World Bank was $230, a slight reduction in real terms from 1990. The 2012 "Human Development Report" estimates per capita GDP to be $284, compared with an average across sub-Saharan Africa of $1,300 per capita. This GDP per capita figure is the fourth lowest in the world. About 43% of the population live on less than 1 US dollar a day, with about 24% of those found in urban areas and 54% living in rural areas.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Somalia, the country had some of the lowest development indicators in the world, and a "strikingly low" Human Development Index (HDI) value of 0.285. This would rank amongst the lowest in the world if comparable data were available, and when adjusted for the significant inequality that exists in Somalia, its HDI is even lower. The UNDP notes that "inequalities across different social groups, a major driver of conflict, have been widening". The UN has classified Somalia as a least developed country since its Committee for Development Policy began categorising states in this way in 1971.
An International Monetary Fund mission to Somalia reports estimated GDP growth of 3.7% in 2014 and CPI inflation of -71.10%. The report notes that provided that Somalia's security situation continues to improve modestly and there is no drought, economic growth in the medium term should average 5%, but that "growth will remain inadequate to redress poverty and gender disparities". An estimated 73% of the people of Somalia live below the poverty line in 2016.
According to the World Bank, within two years of the outbreak of civil war in 1988, Somali state institutions collapsed and "most of the economic and social infrastructure and assets were destroyed". In 2003 the Bank said that despite the absence of a state and its institutions, the Somali private sector experienced impressive growth, but that "most of these sectors are now becoming either stagnant or their growth is hindered due to the lack of investment, trained manpower and the absence of a relevant legal and regulatory framework to enforce rules and regulations, common standards and quality control". The report notes difficulties encouraging and making use of domestic savings for investment, due to the lack of formal financial services and regulatory agencies. The lack of state institutions, the Bank argues, resulted in the prevention of access to international capital markets.
In an article published in 2007, libertarian economist Peter T. Leeson argues that the Somali state was predatory, and that its collapse has improved the economic welfare of its citizens, with 14 out of 18 key development indicators being more positive in the period 2000-2005 than in 1985–1990. Similarly, economists Benjamin Powell, Ryan Ford and Alex Nowrasteh argue that Somalia's economic performance, relative to other African states, has improved during the period of statelessness. Ersun Kurtulus states that Leeson and Powell, Ford and Nowrasteh's articles provide "the most unequivocal evidence to indicate that Somalia has been faring far better under anarchy than it did under Barre's regime". Kurtulus argues that these authors may provide a valid explanation of the situation in Somalia, but that "the argument appears to be derived from a hypothesis which is rooted in a liberal conceptualisation of statehood rather than in a quantitative analysis which establishes a negative correlation between indicators of state predation and those of economic and social welfare". Kurtulus suggests that the collapse of a repressive state may improve personal and civil liberties, but that such an account "overemphasises endogenous factors that are vested in the domestic arena, while neglecting the exogenous factors that operate at the regional and international level".
Agriculture is the most important economic sector. It accounts for about 65% of the GDP and employs 65% of the workforce. Livestock contributes about 40% to GDP and more than 50% of export earnings. Other principal exports include fish, charcoal and bananas; sugar, sorghum and corn are products for the domestic market. According to the Central Bank of Somalia, imports of goods total about $460 million per year, and have recovered and even surpassed aggregate imports prior to the start of the civil war in 1991. Exports, which total about $270 million annually, have also surpassed pre-war aggregate export levels but still lead to a trade account deficit of about $190 million US dollars per year. However, this trade deficit is far exceeded by remittances sent by Somalis in the diaspora, which have helped sustain the import level.
With the advantage of being located near the Arabian Peninsula, Somali traders have increasingly begun to challenge Australia's traditional dominance over the Persian Gulf Arab livestock and meat market, offering quality animals at very low prices. In response, Persian Gulf Arab states have started to make strategic investments in the region, with Saudi Arabia building livestock export infrastructure and the United Arab Emirates purchasing large farmlands. Additionally, fishing fleets from Europe and Asia have reached commercial fishing agreements in the northern Puntland region.
With Somalia exporting 3 million sheep in 2012, its live exports to the Middle East have overtaken Australian exports which numbered 2 million. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, 99% of the country's livestock exports are headed to the Middle East. However, since 2006, there has been a 10% decline "because of increasing competition in export markets from African and eastern European sheep exports". More than 5 million livestock were exported in 2014, the highest amount in 20 years.
Frankincense and myrrh are important export products for Somalia. Along with Ethiopia and Kenya, Somalia is one the world's three largest suppliers of these products.
The modest industrial sector, based on the processing of agricultural products, accounts for 10% of Somalia's GDP.
Prior to the outbreak of the civil war in 1991, the roughly 53 state-owned small, medium and large manufacturing firms were foundering, with the ensuing conflict destroying many of the remaining industries. However, primarily as a result of substantial local investment by the Somali diaspora, many of these small-scale plants have re-opened and newer ones have been created. The latter include fish-canning and meat-processing plants in the north, as well as about 25 factories in the Mogadishu area, which manufacture pasta, mineral water, confections, plastic bags, fabric, hides and skins, detergent and soap, aluminum, foam mattresses and pillows, fishing boats, carry out packaging, and stone processing.
In 2001, investments in light manufacturing have expanded in Bosaso, Hargeisa and Mogadishu, in particular, indicating growing business confidence in the economy. To this end, in 2004, an $8.3 million Coca-Cola bottling plant opened in Mogadishu, with investors hailing from various constituencies in Somalia. Various other sectors have also attracted foreign investment from the likes of General Motors and Dole Fruit.
Following the start of the civil war, all of Somali Airlines' operations were officially suspended in 1991. By 2014, there were over six Somali-owned private carriers filling the gap. These included Daallo Airlines, Jubba Airways, African Express Airways, East Africa 540, Central Air and Hajara. Daallo and Jubba merged as the African Airways Alliance in 2015.
Despite reports of preparations to relaunch Somali Airlines in 2012 and 2013, Al Arabiya reports discussing the merger of Daallo Airlines and Jubba Airways in February 2015 said there was no official Somali flag carrier after the demise of Somali Airlines in 1991.
As a result of improved security conditions in Mogadishu, the Economist Intelligence Unit reported in 2015 that construction of new infrastructure and repairs to previously-abandoned villas was occurring in the city. However, the Central Intelligence Agency's "The World Factbook" states that development has not spread to other parts of Somalia, and that security is a major concern for businesses in Mogadishu.
Somalia's telecommunications system was destroyed during the fighting which took place in 1991. By 2010 various new telecommunications companies were providing this missing infrastructure. Funded by Somali entrepreneurs and backed by expertise from China, Korea and Europe, these nascent telecommunications firms offer affordable mobile phone and internet services that are not available in many other parts of the continent. Customers can conduct money transfers and other banking activities via mobile phones, as well as easily gain wireless internet access. However, the operations of the companies were constrained by the continuing fighting.
In 2004, installation time for a landline was three days, while in Kenya to the south, waiting lists were many years long. Interviewed in 2004, telecommunications firms were "desperate" to have an effective government: "everything starts with security." There are presently around 25 mainlines per 1,000 persons, and the local availability of telephone lines ("tele-density") is higher than in neighboring countries; three times greater than in adjacent Ethiopia. Prominent Somali telecommunications companies include Golis Telecom Group, Hormuud Telecom, Somafone, Nationlink, Netco, Telcom and Somali Telecom Group. Hormuud Telecom alone grosses about $40 million a year. To dampen competitive pressures, three of these companies signed an interconnectivity deal in 2005 that allows them to set prices and expand their networks.
A 2010 report stated that the expansion of Somalia's telecom industry provided one of the clearest signs that the country's economy was growing.
As of 2005, there were also 20 privately owned Somali newspapers, 12 radio and television stations, and numerous internet sites offering information to the public.
The Central Bank of Somalia is the official monetary authority of Somalia. In terms of financial management, it is in the process of assuming the task of both formulating and implementing monetary policy. In 2013 the African Development Bank assessed that the Somali Central Bank was "handicapped by the lack of adequate human, material and financial resources", but that it would be able to reduce the rate of inflation once it assumed control of monetary policy and issued a new currency. At this time Somaliland also had a central bank, though its main roles were to serve as a treasury to the government and print currency.
Owing to a lack of confidence in the local currency, the US dollar is widely accepted as a medium of exchange alongside the Somali shilling. Dollarization notwithstanding, the large issuance of the Somali shilling has caused inflation. The central bank says it will end the inflationary environment when it assumes full control of monetary policy and replaces the presently circulating currency introduced by the private sector.
Somalia has had no central monetary authority for upwards of 15 years between the outbreak of the civil war in 1991 and the subsequent re-establishment of the Central Bank of Somalia in 2009. Bank-to-bank transfers are not possible, which led to the rise of private money transfer operators (MTO) that have acted as informal banking networks.
These remittance firms ("hawalas") have become a large industry in Somalia, with an estimated US$1.6 billion annually remitted to the region by Somalis in the diaspora via money transfer companies. The latter include Dahabshiil, Qaran Express, Mustaqbal, Amal Express, Kaah Express, Hodan Global, Olympic, Amana Express, Iftin Express and Tawakal Express. Most are credentialed members of the Somali Money Transfer Association (SOMTA), an umbrella organization that regulates the community's money transfer sector, or its predecessor, the Somali Financial Services Association (SFSA). Somalia is the world's fourth-most country dependent on remittances. Most remittances are sent by Somalis-based abroad to relatives in Somalia. This accounts for 20%-50% of the Somali economy.
Dahabshiil is the largest of the Somali money transfer operators (MTO), having captured most of the market vacated by Al-Barakaat. The firm has its headquarters in London and employs more than 2000 people across 144 countries, with 130 branches in the United Kingdom alone, a further 130 branches in Somalia, and 400 branches globally, including one in Dubai. The company provides a broad range of financial services to international organisations, as well as to both large and small businesses and private individuals. After Dahabshiil, Qaran Express is the largest Somali-owned funds transfer company. The firm has its headquarters in both London and Dubai, with 175 agents worldwide, 66 agents in Somalia and 64 in London, and charges nothing for remitting charity funds. Mustaqbal is the third most prominent Somali MTO, with 8 agents in Somalia and 49 in the UK. As with Dahabshiil and Qaran Express, it also has a notable presence internationally.
As the reconstituted Central Bank of Somalia fully assumes its monetary policy responsibilities, some of the existing money transfer companies are expected in the near future to seek licenses so as to develop into full-fledged commercial banks. This will serve to expand the national payments system to include formal cheques, which in turn is expected to reinforce the efficacy of the use of monetary policy in domestic macroeconomic management.
With a significant improvement in local security, Somali expatriates began returning to the country for investment opportunities. Coupled with modest foreign investment, the inflow of funds have helped the Somali shilling increase considerably in value. By March 2014, the currency had appreciated by almost 60% against the U.S. dollar over the previous 12 months. The Somali shilling was the strongest among the 175 global currencies traded by Bloomberg, rising close to 50 percentage points higher than the next most robust global currency over the same period.
The Somalia Stock Exchange (SSE) is the national bourse of Somalia. It was founded in 2012 by the Somali diplomat Idd Mohamed, Ambassador extraordinary and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. The SSE was established to attract investment from both Somali-owned firms and global companies in order to accelerate the ongoing post-conflict reconstruction process in Somalia.
In August 2012, the SSE signed a Memorandum of understanding with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to assist it in technical development. The agreement includes identifying appropriate expertise and support. Sharia compliant sukuk bonds and halal equities are also envisioned as part of the deal as Somalia's nascent stock market develops.
As of November 2014, the Somalia Stock Exchange has established administrative offices in Mogadishu, Kismayo, and other urban centers in Somalia. The bourse is slated to officially open in 2015. Initially, seven Somali-owned firms from the financial services, telecommunications and transportation sectors are expected to list their shares therein for prospective global investment.
Somalia has untapped reserves of numerous natural resources, including uranium, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt and natural gas. Australian and Chinese oil companies have been granted licenses for finding petroleum and other natural resources in the country. An oil group listed in Sydney, Range Resources, anticipates that the Puntland province in the north has the potential to produce to of oil. As a result of these developments, the Somali Petroleum Company was created by the federal government.
In the late 1960s, UN geologists also discovered major uranium deposits and other rare mineral reserves in Somalia. The find was the largest of its kind, with industry experts estimating the deposits at over 25% of the world's then known uranium reserves of 800,000 tons. In 1984, the IUREP Orientation Phase Mission to Somalia reported that the country had 5,000 tons of uranium reasonably assured resources (RAR), 11,000 tons of uranium estimated additional resources (EAR) in calcrete deposits, as well as possibly up to 150,000 tons of uranium speculative resources (SR) in sandstone and calcrete deposits. Somalia concurrently evolved into a major world supplier of uranium, with American, UAE, Italian and Brazilian mineral companies vying for extraction rights. Link Natural resources have a stake in the natural resources of the central region, Kilimanjaro Capital has a stake in the 1,161,400 acres Amsas-Coriole-Afgoi (ACA) Block, which includes uranium exploration. Besides uranium, an unspecified quantity of yttrium, a rare earth element and costly mineral, was also found in the country.
In mid-2010, Somalia's business community pledged to invest $1 billion in the national gas and electricity industries over the following five years. Abdullahi Hussein, the director of the just-formed Trans-National Industrial Electricity and Gas Company, predicted that the investment strategy would create 100,000 jobs. The new firm was established through the merger of five Somali companies from the trade, finance, security and telecommunications sectors. The first phase of the project started within six months of the establishment of the company, and trained youth to supply electricity to economic areas and communities. The second phase began in mid-to-late 2011 and saw the construction of factories in specially designated economic zones for the fishing, agriculture, livestock and mining industries.
In 2012, the Farole administration gave the green light to the first official oil exploration project in Puntland and Somalia at large. Led by the Canadian oil company Africa Oil and its partner Range Resources, initial drilling in the Shabeel-1 well on Puntland's Dharoor Block in March of the year successfully yielded oil.
According to the Central Bank of Somalia, as the nation embarks on the path of reconstruction, the economy is expected to not only match its pre-civil war levels, but also to accelerate in growth and development due to the Somalia's untapped natural resources.
Somalia is among the potential winners of the global transition to renewable energy; it is ranked high (no. 13 among 156 nations) in the index of geopolitical gains and losses after energy transition (GeGaLo Index). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27362 |
Communications in Somalia
Communications in Somalia encompasses the communications services and capacity of Somalia. Telecommunications, internet, radio, print, television and postal services in the nation are largely concentrated in the private sector. Several of the telecom firms have begun expanding their activities abroad. The federal government operates two official radio and television networks, which exist alongside a number of private and foreign stations. Print media in the country is also progressively giving way to news radio stations and online portals, as internet connectivity and access increases. In 2012, a National Communications Act was also approved by Cabinet members, and 2 October 2017, the president of Somalia Finally signed the National Communications Law, and became the official Law that regulated the ICT industry. Under that Law, National Communications Authority (NCA) of the federal Republic of Somalia has been established, with board of directors and a general manager.
After the start of the civil war, various new telecommunications companies began to spring up in the country and competed to provide missing infrastructure. Somalia now offers some of the most technologically advanced and competitively priced telecommunications and internet services in the world. Funded by Somali entrepreneurs and backed by expertise from China, Korea and Europe, these nascent telecommunications firms offer affordable mobile phone and internet services that are not available in many other parts of the continent. Customers can conduct money transfers (such as through the popular Dahabshiil) and other banking activities via mobile phones, as well as easily gain wireless Internet access.
After forming partnerships with multinational corporations such as Sprint, ITT and Telenor, these firms now offer the cheapest and clearest phone calls in Africa. These Somali telecommunication companies also provide services to every city, town and hamlet in Somalia. There are presently around 25 mainlines per 1,000 persons, and the local availability of telephone lines (tele-density) is higher than in neighboring countries; three times greater than in adjacent Ethiopia. Prominent Somali telecommunications companies include Somtel Network, Golis Telecom Group, Hormuud Telecom, Somafone, Nationlink, Netco, Telcom and Somali Telecom Group. Hormuud Telecom alone grosses about $40 million a year. Despite their rivalry, several of these companies signed an interconnectivity deal in 2005 that allows them to set prices, maintain and expand their networks, and ensure that competition does not get out of control.
In 2008, Dahabshiil Group acquired a majority stake in Somtel Network, a Hargeisa-based telecommunications firm specialising in high speed broadband, mobile internet, LTE services, mobile money transfer and mobile phone services. The acquisition provided Dahabshiil with the necessary platform for a subsequent expansion into mobile banking, a growth industry in the regional banking sector. In 2014, Somalia's three largest telecommunication operators, Hormuud Telecom, NationLink and Somtel, also signed an interconnection agreement. The cooperative deal will see the firms establish the Somali Telecommunication Company (STC), which will allow their mobile clients to communicate across the three networks.
Investment in the telecom industry is held to be one of the clearest signs that Somalia's economy has continued to develop. The sector provides key communication services, and in the process facilitates job creation and income generation.
Somalia's telecommunication sector is governed by the National Communications Law (also called the Telecoms Act) that was signed into law by president Abdullahi Farmajo on 2 October 2017, after passing the Cabinet and the two Houses of Parliament (Senate and House of the People). It entered into effect immediately.
This Act had a very long way in coming, as its drafting had already started in 2005. It was already approved by the Somali Cabinet in 2012. The new law paves the way for the establishment of a National Communications Regulatory Commission in the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. The bill was passed following consultations between government representatives and communications, academic and civil society stakeholders. According to the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunication, the Act is expected to create an environment conducive to investment and the certainty it provides will encourage further infrastructural development, resulting in more efficient service delivery.
Companies providing telecommunication services in Somalia include:
The Somali Postal Service (Somali Post) is the national postal service of the Federal Government of Somalia. It is part of the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunication.
The national postal infrastructure was completely destroyed during the civil war. In order to fill the vacuum, Somali Post signed an agreement in 2003 with the United Arab Emirates' Emirates Post to process mail to and from Somalia. Emirates Post's mail transit hub at the Dubai International Airport was then used to forward mail from Somalia to the UAE and various Western destinations, including Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland and Canada.
Concurrently, the Somali Transitional Federal Government began preparations to revive the national postal service. The government's overall reconstruction plan for Somali Post is structured into three Phases spread out over a period of ten years. Phase I will see the reconstruction of the postal headquarters and General Post Office (GPO), as well as the establishment of 16 branch offices in the capital and 17 in regional bases. Somali authorities re-established Somalia's membership with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 2012 and began participating again in the Union's affairs. They have also rehabilitated the GPO in Mogadishu, and appointed an official Postal Consultant to provide professional advice on the renovations. Phase II of the rehabilitation project involved the construction of 718 postal outlets from 2014 to 2016.
International postal services for Somalia officially resumed in late 2013, with the assistance of the UPU in developing capacity, providing technical assistance, and furnishing basic mail processing equipment.
There are a number of radio news agencies based in Somalia. Established during the colonial period, Radio Mogadishu initially broadcast news items in both Somali and Italian. The station was modernized with Russian assistance following independence in 1960, and began offering home service in Somali, Amharic and Oromo. After closing down operations in the early 1990s due to the civil war, the station was officially re-opened in the early 2000s by the Transitional National Government. In the late 2000s, Radio Mogadishu also launched a complementary website of the same name, with news items in Somali, Arabic and English.
Other radio stations based in Mogadishu include radio Dalsan, Mustaqbal Media corporation and the Shabelle Media Network, the latter of which was in 2010 awarded the Media of the Year prize by the Paris-based journalism organisation, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In total, about one short-wave and ten private FM radio stations broadcast from the capital, with several radio stations broadcasting from the central and southern regions.
The northeastern Puntland region has around six private radio stations, including Radio Garowe, Radio Daljir, Radio Codka-Nabbada and Radio Codka-Mudug. Radio Gaalkacyo, formerly known as Radio Free Somalia, operates from Galkayo in the north-central Mudug province. Additionally, the Somaliland region in the northwest has one government-operated radio station.
As of 2007, transmissions for two internationally based broadcasters were also available.
The Mogadishu-based Somali National Television is the principal national public service broadcaster. On 18 March 2011, the Ministry of Information of the Transitional Federal Government began experimental broadcasts of the new TV channel. After a 20-year hiatus, the station was shortly thereafter officially re-launched on 4 April 2011. SNTV broadcasts 24 hours a day, and can be viewed both within Somalia and abroad via terrestrial and satellite platforms.
Additionally, Somalia has several private television networks, including Horn Cable Television and Universal TV. Two such TV stations re-broadcast Al-Jazeera and CNN. Eastern Television Network and SBC TV air from Bosaso, the commercial capital of Puntland. The Puntland and Somaliland regions also each have one government-run TV channel, Puntland TV and Radio and Somaliland National TV, respectively.
In the early 2000s, print media in Somalia reached a peak in activity. Around 50 newspapers were published in Mogadishu alone during this period, including Qaran, Mogadishu Times, Sana'a, Shabelle Press, Ayaamaha, Mandeeq, Sky Sport, Goal, The Nation, Dalka, Panorama, Aayaha Nolosha, Codka Xuriyada and Xidigta Maanta. In 2003, as new free electronic media outlets started to proliferate, advertisers increasingly began switching over from print ads to radio and online commercials in order to reach more customers. A number of the broadsheets in circulation subsequently closed down operations, as they were no longer able to cover printing costs in the face of the electronic revolution. In 2012, the political Xog Doon and Xog Ogaal and Horyaal Sports were reportedly the last remaining newspapers printed in the capital. According to Issa Farah, a former editor with the Dalka broadsheet, newspaper publishing in Somalia is likely to experience a resurgence if the National Somali Printing Press is re-opened and the sector is given adequate public support.
Online news outlets covering Somalia include Garowe Online, Wardheernews, Horseedmedia, Calannka, Jowhar, Hiiraan, Boramanews and Puntland Post.
To call in Somalia, the following format is used:
As of the end of 2013, over 52% of Somalia's population used a cellphone.
According to the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) and the African Union/United Nations Information Support Team (IST), Somalia did not have systemic internet blocking or filtering as of December 2012. The application of content standards online was also unclear.
Somalia established its first ISP in 1999, one of the last countries in Africa to get connected to the Internet. According to the telecommunications resource Balancing Act, growth in internet connectivity has since then grown considerably, with around 53% of the entire nation covered as of 2009. Both internet commerce and telephony have consequently become among the quickest growing local businesses.
According to the World Bank, the number of internet users in Somalia rose from only 200 in the year 2000 to 1.8% of the population in 2015, with the percentage continuing to rise. The number of mobile cellular subscriptions rose much faster, from 1.1 per 100 people in 2000 to 52.5 per 100 people in 2015.
The Somali Telecommunication Association (STA), a watchdog organization that oversees the policy development and regulatory framework of Somalia's ICT sector, reported in 2006 that there were over half a million users of internet services within the territory. There were also 22 established ISPs and 234 cyber cafes, with an annual growth rate of 15.6%.
As of 2009, dial up, wireless and satellite services were available. Dial up internet services in Somalia were among the fastest growing on the continent, with an annual landline growth rate of over 12.5%. The increase in usage was largely due to innovative policy initiatives adopted by the various Somali telecom operators, including free local in-town calls, a flat rate of $10 per month for unlimited calls, a low charge of $0.005 per minute for Internet connections, and a one-time connection fee of $50. Global Internet Company, a firm jointly owned by the major Somali telecommunication networks Hormuud Telecom, Telcom Somalia and Nationlink, was the country's largest ISP. It was at the time the only provider of dial up services in Somalia's south-central regions. In the northern Puntland and Somaliland regions, online networks offered internet dial up services to their own group of subscribers. Among these firms was Golis Telecom Somalia in the northeast and Telesom in the northwest.
Broadband wireless services were offered by both dial up and non-dial up ISPs in major cities, such as Mogadishu, Bosaso, Hargeisa, Galkayo and Kismayo. Pricing ranged from $150 to $300 a month for unlimited internet access, with bandwidth rates of 64 kbit/s up and down. The main patrons of these wireless services were scholastic institutions, corporations, and UN, NGO and diplomatic missions. Mogadishu had the biggest subscriber base nationwide and was also the headquarters of the largest wireless internet services, among which were Dalkom (Wanaag HK), Orbit, Unitel and Webtel.
As of 2009, Internet via satellite had a steady growth rate of 10% to 15% per year. It was particularly in demand in remote areas that did not have either dialup or wireless online services. The local telecommunications company Dalkom Somalia provided internet over satellite, as well as premium routes for media operators and content providers, and international voice gateway services for global carriers. It also offered inexpensive bandwidth through its internet backbone, whereas bandwidth ordinarily cost customers from $2,500 to $3,000 per month through the major international bandwidth providers. The main clients of these local satellite services were internet cafes, money transfer firms and other companies, as well as international community representatives. In total, there were over 300 local satellite terminals available across the nation, which were linked to teleports in Europe and Asia. Demand for the satellite services gradually began to fall as broadband wireless access rose. However, it increased in rural areas, as the main client base for the satellite services extended their operations into more remote locales.
In December 2012, Hormuud Telecom launched its Tri-Band 3G service for internet and mobile clients. The first of its kind in the country, this third generation mobile telecommunications technology offers users a faster and more secure connection.
In November 2013, Somalia received its first fiber optic connection. The country previously had to rely on expensive satellite links due to the civil conflict, which limited internet usage. However, residents now have access to broadband internet cable for the first time after an agreement reached between Hormuud Telecom and Liquid Telecom. The deal will see Liquid Telecom link Hormuud to its 17,000 km (10,500 mile) network of terrestrial cables, which will deliver faster internet capacity. The fiber optic connection will also make online access more affordable to the average user. This in turn is expected to further increase the number of internet users. Dalkom Somalia reached a similar agreement with the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) Ltd, which it holds shares in. Effective the first quarter of 2014, the deal will establish fiber optic connectivity to and from Somalia via the EASSy cable. The new services are expected to reduce the cost of international bandwidth and to better optimize performance, thereby further broadening internet access. Dalkom Somalia is concurrently constructing a state-of-the-art data center in Mogadishu. The site will facilitate direct connection into the international fiber optic network by hosting equipment for all of the capital's ISPs and telecommunication companies. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27363 |
Transport in Somalia
Transport in Somalia refers to the transportation networks and modes of transport in effect in Somalia. They include highways, airports and seaports, in addition to various forms of public and private vehicular, maritime and aerial transportation.
Somalia's network of roads is 21,830 km long. As of 2010, 2,757 km (12%) of streets are paved, 844 km (3.9%) are gravel, and 18,229 km (83.5%) are earth. 2,559 km are primary roads, 4,850 km are secondary roads, and 14,421 km are rural/feeder roads. As of May 2015, over 70,000 vehicles are registered with the Puntland Ministry of Works and Transport.
A 750 km highway connects major cities in the northern part of the country, such as Bosaso, Galkayo and Garowe, with towns in the south. In 2012, the Puntland Highway Authority (PHA) completed rehabilitation work on the central artery linking Garowe with Galkayo. The transportation body also began an upgrade and repair project in June 2012 on the large Garowe–Bosaso Highway. Additionally, renovations were initiated in October 2012 on the central artery linking Bosaso with Qardho. Plans are also in the works to construct new roads connecting littoral towns in the region to the main thoroughfare.
In September 2013, the Somali federal government signed an official cooperation agreement with its Chinese counterpart in Mogadishu as part of a five-year national recovery plan. The pact will see the Chinese authorities reconstruct several major infrastructural landmarks in the Somali capital and elsewhere, as well as the road between Galkayo and Burao in the northern part of the country.
In June 2014, the Puntland administration inaugurated a new 5.9 km paved road in the city. The construction project leads to the Bosaso seaport, and was completed in conjunction with UNHABITAT. The Puntland government plans to invest at least 23 million Euros in contributions from international partners in similar road infrastructure development initiatives.
In October 2014, the Puntland Highway Authority began construction on a new highway connecting the presidential palace in Garowe with various other parts of the administrative capital. Financing for the project was provided by the Puntland government. According to the Head of the PHA Mohamud Abdinur Adan, the new thoroughfare aims to facilitate local transportation and movement. Puntland Minister of Public Works Mohamed Hersi also indicated that the Puntland authorities plan to build and repair other roads linking to the regional urban centers. In December 2014, Galkayo District Mayor Yacqub Mohamed Abdalla and other Puntland officials likewise laid the foundation for a new tarmac road in western Galkayo. The project was funded by the Puntland administration, with other roads in the broader district also slated to be paved with bitumen in 2015. Among the latter streets, a tar construction project began on the Durdur road in the Garsor suburb in February 2015. The main road in the Central Business District as well as the airport road are concurrently scheduled to be paved.
In November 2014, the Ministry of Interior and Federalism reached an agreement with the government of Qatar to assist in the renovation of existing roads in Somalia and the construction of new streets.
In January 2015, the Interim Juba Administration launched a beautification and cleaning campaign in Kismayo's transportation system. Part of a broader urbanization drive, the initiative includes the clearing of clogged streets and lanes, razing of illegal buildings therein, and further development of the municipal road network.
In March 2015, Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali in conjunction with EU Ambassador to Somalia Michele Cervone d'Urso and German Ambassador to Somalia Andreas Peschke launched the Sustainable Road Maintenance Project. Part of the New Deal Compact for Somalia, the initiative's implementation is facilitated by 17.75 million Euros and 3 million Euros provided by the EU and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), respectively. Among other objectives, the project aims to renovate the highway between Galkayo and Garowe, including funding refurbishments on the damaged segments of the road and construction of check dams and flood control structures. The initiative also involves a routine annual maintenance program, which focuses on side brushing, clearing bridges after floods, drainage and culvert clearance, and pothole filling. Additionally, the project will offer policy support to the Puntland Ministry of Public Works and the Puntland Highway Authority, and local contractors will receive on-the-job training to upgrade their skills.
The Somali Civil Aviation Authority (SOMCAA) is Somalia's national civil aviation authority body. Based at Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, it is under the aegis of the federal Ministry of Air and Land Transport. In 2012, the ministry along with the Somali Civil Aviation Steering Committee set a three-year window for reconstruction of the national civil aviation capacity. After a long period of management by the Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS), SCAMA in conjunction with the International Civil Aviation Organization also finalized a process in December 2014 to transfer control of Somalia's airspace to the new Air Space Management Centre in the capital.
As of 2012, Somalia has 61 airports according to the CIA factfile. 7 of these have paved runways. Among the latter, four have runways of over 3,047 m; two between 2,438 m and 3,047 m; and one 1,524 m to 2,437 m long.
There are 55 airports with unpaved landing areas. One has a runway of over 3,047 m; four are between 2,438 m to 3,047 m in length; twenty are 1,524 m to 2,437 m; twenty four are 914 m to 1,523 m; and six are under 914 m.
Major airports in the country include the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, the Hargeisa International Airport in Hargeisa, the Kismayo Airport in Kismayo, the Bender Qassim International Airport in Bosaso, the Berbera Airport in Berbera, and the Garowe International Airport in Garowe.
In September 2013, the Turkish company Favori LLC began operations at the airport. The firm announced plans to renovate the aviation building and construct a new one, as well as upgrade other modern service structures. A$10 million project, it will increase the airport's existing 15 aircraft capacity to 60. According to Favori, there were 439,879 domestic and international flights at the airport in 2014, an increase of 319,925 flights from the previous year.
In April 2014, construction began on a new national Aviation Training Academy at the Aden Adde International Airport. The new institution is intended to enhance the capacity of aviation personnel working in Somalia's airports, and focus training within the country. A modern terminal that is concurrently being built at the airport, with funding provided by the Favori firm. According to Minister of Air Transportation and Civil Aviation Said Jama Qorshel, construction of the new terminal is scheduled to take six months, and is expected to improve the airport's functionality and operations. He added that his Ministry is also slated to establish other airports on the capital's outskirts. This in turn would serve to reduce congestion at the Aden Adde International Airport, which would then be exclusively used by large aircraft.
In December 2014, the foundation stone for a new runway was also laid at the Bender Qassim International Airport. The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is now slated to upgrade the airport's existing gravel runway, pave it with asphalt, and convert it from 1.8 km to 2.65 km in accordance with the code 4C operations clause.
Somali Airlines was the flag carrier of Somalia. Established in 1964, it offered flights to both domestic and international destinations. Due to the outbreak of the civil war in the early 1990s, all of the carrier's operations were officially suspended in 1991. A reconstituted Somali government later began preparations in 2012 for an expected relaunch of the carrier, with the first new Somali Airlines aircraft scheduled for delivery by the end of December 2013.
According to the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the void created by the closure of Somali Airlines has since been filled by various Somali-owned private carriers. Over six of these private airline firms offer commercial flights to both domestic and international locations, including Daallo Airlines, Jubba Airways, African Express Airways, East Africa 540, Central Air and Hajara.
Additionally, the Somali central government flies its own public aircraft.
Possessing the longest coastline on mainland Africa, Somalia has a number of maritime transport facilities across the country. In total, there are over 15 seaports. Major class ports are found at Mogadishu, Bosaso, Berbera and Kismayo. Two jetty class ports are also situated at Las Khorey and Merca. Additionally, Aluula, Maydh, Lughaya, Eyl, Qandala, Hafun, Hobyo, Garacad and El Maan all have smaller ports.
In October 2013, the federal Cabinet endorsed an agreement with the Turkish firm Al-Bayrak to manage the Port of Mogadishu for a 20-year period. According to the Prime Minister's Office, the deal was secured by the Ministry of Ports and Public Works, and also assigns Al-Bayrak responsibility for rebuilding and modernizing the port. In April 2014, the Federal Parliament postponed finalization of the Seaport Management Deal pending the approval of a new foreign investment bill. The MPs also requested that the agreement be submitted to the legislature for deliberation and to ensure that the interests of the port's manual labourers are taken into account. In September 2014, the federal government officially delegated management of the Mogadishu Port to Al-Bayrak.
According to Al-Bayrak, the majority of its revenue share will be re-invested in the seaport through additional port-based trade and new docks, construction materials and machinery. The company also plans to install an environment wall and a closed circuit camera system in accordance with international security protocols, erect a modern port administration building, and clean the ship entrance channels via underwater surveillance. As of September 2014, the first phase of the renovations are reportedly complete, with the second phase underway.
The Port of Bosaso was constructed during the mid-1980s by the Siad Barre administration for annual livestock shipments to the Middle East. In January 2012, a renovation project was launched, with KMC contracted to upgrade the harbor. The initiative's first phase saw the clean-up of unwanted materials from the dockyard and was completed within the month. The second phase involves the reconstruction of the port's adjoining seabed, with the objective of accommodating larger ships.
Adeso, an organization founded by Somali environmentalist Fatima Jibrell, began a project for the redevelopment of the Port of Las Khorey. The initiative was later taken up by Faisal Hawar, CEO of the Maakhir Resource Company. In 2012, he brokered an agreement with a Greek investment firm for the development of the commercial seaport. A team of engineers was subsequently enlisted by the Puntland authorities to assess the ongoing renovations taking place at the port. According to the Minister of Ports, Saeed Mohamed Ragge, the Puntland government intends to launch more such development projects in Las Khorey.
Somalia has one merchant marine. Established in 2008, it is cargo-based.
Rail transport in Somalia consisted of the erstwhile Mogadishu-Villabruzzi Railway, which ran from Mogadishu to Jowhar (then called Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi). This railway was 114 km in total: the system was built by the colonial authorities in Italian Somaliland in the 1910s. The track gauge was . It was dismantled in the 1940s by the British during their military occupation of the territory. In the late 1970s there were plans to restore the railway. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27364 |
Politics of Somalia
The politics of Somalia takes place in a framework of federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. According to the Constitution of Somalia, the President of Somalia is head of state, and Prime Minister as head of government who is appointed by the President with the parliament's approval.
The country has a bicameral legislature, which consists of the Senate (upper house) and the National Assembly of Somalia (lower house). Together, they make up the Federal Parliament of Somalia. in 2012 The Federal Parliament of Somalia was concurrently inaugurated, ushering in the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war.
With a new constitution and a new parliament representing diverse parties and factions, Somalia's political structure subsequently showed signs of stabilization. The ushering in of independent cabinet positions after 1991 (in Somaliland), after 1998 (in Puntland) and after 2013 by the federated states of Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, and South West State meant that civil servants' tasks in each outlying region were largely handled by themselves alone, without federal or other external input. The status of Baanadir region around and in the city of Mogadishu remains not fully decided.
Following the outbreak of the civil war and the ensuing collapse of the Siad Barre regime in the early 1990s, Somalia's residents reverted to local forms of conflict resolution, consisting of civil law, religious law and customary law.
A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug administrations, emerged in the north. The early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government (TNG) was established in 2000, followed by the formation of its successor the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004, which reestablished national institutions such as the Military of Somalia. In 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nation's southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, which battled the TFG and its AMISOM allies for control of the region, with the insurgents losing most of the territory that they had seized by mid-2012.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was the internationally recognised government of Somalia until 20 August 2012, when its tenure officially ended. It was established as one of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) of government as defined in the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) adopted in November 2004 by the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP).
The Transitional Federal Government officially comprised the executive branch of government, with the TFP serving as the legislative branch. The government was headed by the President of Somalia, to whom the cabinet reported through the Prime Minister. However, it was also used as a general term to refer to all three branches collectively.
In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamic movement, assumed control of much of the southern part of the country and imposed Shari'a law. The Transitional Federal Government sought to re-establish its authority, and, with the assistance of Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeepers and air support by the United States, managed to drive out the rival ICU and solidify its rule.
On 8 January 2007, as the Battle of Ras Kamboni raged, TFG President and Harti strongman Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, entered Mogadishu for the first time since being elected to office. The government then relocated to Villa Somalia in the capital from its interim location in Baidoa. This marked the first time since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991 that the federal government controlled most of the country.
Following this defeat, the Islamic Courts Union splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and oppose the Ethiopian military's presence in Somalia. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Al-Shabaab scored military victories, seizing control of key towns and ports in both central and southern Somalia. At the end of 2008, the group had captured Baidoa but not Mogadishu. By January 2009, Al-Shabaab and other militias had managed to force the Ethiopian troops to retreat, leaving behind an under-equipped African Union peacekeeping force to assist the Transitional Federal Government's troops.
To shore up his rule in Mogadishu, Yusuf deployed thousands of his own troops from Puntland to Mogadishu. Financial support for this effort was provided by the autonomous region's government. This left little revenue for Puntland's own security forces and civil service employees, leaving the territory vulnerable to piracy and terrorist attacks.
On 29 December 2008, Yusuf announced before a united parliament in Baidoa his resignation as President of Somalia. In his speech, which was broadcast on national radio, Yusuf expressed regret at failing to end the country's seventeen-year conflict as his government had mandated to do. He also blamed the international community for its failure to support the government, and said that the speaker of parliament would succeed him in office per the Charter of the Transitional Federal Government.
Between 31 May and 9 June 2008, representatives of Somalia's federal government and the moderate Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) participated in peace talks in Djibouti brokered by the former United Nations Special Envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. The conference ended with a signed agreement calling for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in exchange for the cessation of armed confrontation. Parliament was subsequently expanded to 550 seats to accommodate ARS members, which then elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former ARS chairman, to office. President Sharif shortly afterwards appointed Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the son of slain former President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, as the nation's new Prime Minister.
With the help of the growing African Union regional intervention force AMISOM, the coalition government also began a counteroffensive in February 2009 to seize more control of the southern half of the country. The TFG formed an alliance with the Islamic Courts Union, other members of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi militia. Furthermore, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, the two main Islamist groups in opposition, began to fight amongst themselves in mid-2009.
As a truce, in March 2009, Somalia's coalition government announced that it would re-implement Shari'a as the nation's official judicial system. However, conflict continued in the southern and central parts of the country. Within months, the coalition government had gone from holding about 70% of south-central Somalia's conflict zones, territory which it had inherited from the previous Yusuf administration, to losing control of over 80% of the disputed territory to the Islamist insurgents.
During the coalition government's brief tenure, Somalia topped the Fund For Peace's Failed States Index for three consecutive years. In 2009, Transparency International ranked the nation in last place on its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a metric that purports to show the prevalence of corruption in a country's public sector. In mid-2010, the Institute for Economics and Peace also ranked Somalia in the next-to-last position, in between war-afflicted Iraq and Afghanistan, on its Global Peace Index. During the same period, the UN International Monitoring Group (IMG) published a report claiming that the Somali government's security forces were ineffective and corrupt, and that up to half of the food aid that was destined for the conflict-stricken parts of the country was being misdirected. It also accused Somali officials of collaborating with pirates, UN contractors of helping insurgents, and the Eritrean government of still supporting rebel groups in southern Somalia despite earlier sanctions imposed on the former. Somalia's government and local businessmen, as well as United Nations officials and the Eritrean government all emphatically rejected the report's claims.
In 2010, reports surfaced linking the secessionist government of the northwestern Somaliland region with the Islamist extremists that are currently waging war against the Transitional Federal Government and its African Union allies. Garowe Online reported in October that Mohamed Said Atom, an arms-smuggler believed to be allied with Al-Shabaab and who is on U.S. and U.N. security watch-lists, was hiding out in Somaliland after being pursued by the neighboring Puntland region's authorities for his role in targeted assassination attempts against Puntland officials as well as bomb plots. Several of Atom's followers were also reportedly receiving medical attention in the region, after having been wounded in a counter-terrorism raid in the Galgala hills by Puntland security personnel.
According to Puntland government documents, the Somaliland region's Riyale government in 2006 both financed and offered military assistance to Atom's men as part of a campaign to destabilize the autonomous territory via proxy agents and to distract attention away from the Somaliland government's own attempts at occupying the disputed Sool province. The Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIA), a covert organization supported and trained by U.S. counter-terrorism agencies based in Djibouti, also indicated that over 70 salaried Somaliland soldiers had fought alongside Atom's militiamen during the Galgala operation, including one known Somaliland intelligence official who died in the ensuing battle. The following month, the Puntland government issued a press release accusing the incumbent Somaliland administration of providing a safe haven for Atom and of attempting to revive remnants of his militia. Several top commanders in the Al-Shabaab group, including former leader Ahmed Abdi Godane ("Moktar Ali Zubeyr"), are also reported to hail from the Somaliland region, with Godane quoted as saying that Al Shabaab insurgents "should not interfere in Somaliland until Puntland is destabilized first."
Somalia's coalition government enacted numerous political reforms since taking office in 2009. One of its first changes involved ensuring that all government institutions, which had previously been spread out in various areas throughout the country, were now based in Mogadishu, the nation's capital. The Central Bank of Somalia was also re-established, and a national plan as well as an effective anti-corruption commission were put into place. In July 2009, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government hired global professional services firm Pricewaterhousecoopers to monitor development funding and serving as a trustee of an account in Mogadishu for the security, healthcare and education sectors. This was followed in November of that year with a $2 million agreement between the government and the African Development Bank (AfDB), which saw Somalia re-engage with the AfDB after nearly two decades of interruption. The grant is aimed at providing financial and technical assistance; specifically, to develop a sound legal framework for monetary and fiscal institutions and human and institutional capacity building, as well as to establish public financial systems that are transparent.
Similarly, the autonomous Puntland region's new administration, which took office in early 2009, has also implemented numerous reforms such as the expansion and improvement of its security and judicial sectors. According to Garowe Online, to bolster the region's justice system, numerous new prosecutors, judges and other court personnel as well as additional prison guards were hired and trained. In July 2010, the Puntland Council of Ministers unanimously approved a new anti-terrorism law to more efficiently handle terror suspects and their accomplices; a special court is also expected to be established within the region's existing criminal courts system to facilitate the task. Fiscally, a transparent, budget-based public finance system was established, which has reportedly helped increase public confidence in government. In addition, a new regional constitution was drafted and later passed on 15 June 2009, which is believed to represent a significant step toward the eventual introduction of a multi-party political system to the region for the first time; such a system already exists in the adjacent Somaliland region. More modest reforms were also put into motion in the social sector, particularly in the education and healthcare fields. The regional government has hired more healthcare workers and teachers, with major plans underway for school and hospital renovations. One of the most significant new reforms enacted by the incumbent Puntland administration is the launching in May 2009 of the Puntland Agency for Social Welfare (PASWE), the first organization of its kind in Somali history. The agency provides medical, educational and counseling support to vulnerable groups and individuals such as orphans, the disabled and the blind. PASWE is overseen by a Board of Directors, which consists of religious scholars ("ulema"), businesspeople, intellectuals and traditional elders.
On 14 October 2010, diplomat Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmajo) was appointed the new Prime Minister of Somalia. The former Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned the month before following a protracted dispute with President Sharif over a proposed draft constitution.
Per the Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic, Prime Minister Mohamed named a new Cabinet on 12 November 2010, which was lauded by the international community. As had been expected, the allotted ministerial positions were significantly reduced in numbers from 39 to 18. Only two Ministers from the previous Cabinet were reappointed: Hussein Abdi Halane, the former Minister of Finance (Finance and Treasury) and Mohamud Abdi Ibrahim (Commerce and Industry). Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a, a moderate Sufi group and an important military ally of the TFG, became Minister of the Interior and Labour ministries. The remaining ministerial positions were largely assigned to technocrats new to the Somali political arena.
Additional members of the Independent Constitutional Commission were also appointed to engage Somali constitutional lawyers, religious scholars and experts in Somali culture over the nation's upcoming new constitution, a key part of the government's Transitional Federal Tasks. In addition, high level federal delegations were dispatched to defuse clan-related tensions in several regions. According to the prime minister of Somalia, to improve transparency, Cabinet ministers fully disclosed their assets and signed a code of ethics.
An Anti-Corruption Commission with the power to carry out formal investigations and to review government decisions and protocols was also established to more closely monitor all activities by public officials. Furthermore, unnecessary trips abroad by members of government were prohibited, and all travel by ministers required the Premier’s consent. A budget outlining 2011’s federal expenditures was also put before and approved by members of parliament, with the payment of civil service employees prioritized. In addition, a full audit of government property and vehicles is being put into place. On the war front, the new government and its AMISOM allies also managed to secure control of Mogadishu by August 2011. According to the African Union and Prime Minister Mohamed, with increasing troop strength the pace of territorial gains is expected to greatly accelerate.
On 19 June 2011, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigned from his position as Prime Minister of Somalia. Part of the controversial Kampala Accord's conditions, the agreement saw the mandates of the President, the Parliament Speaker and Deputies extended until August 2012. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Mohamed's former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, was later named permanent Prime Minister.
As part of the official "Roadmap for the End of Transition", a political process which provides clear benchmarks leading toward the establishment of permanent democratic institutions in Somalia by late August 2012, Somali government officials met in the northeastern town of Garowe in February 2012 to discuss post-transition arrangements. After extensive deliberations attended by regional actors and international observers, the conference ended in a signed agreement between TFG President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Speaker of Parliament Sharif Adan Sharif Hassan, Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, Galmudug President Mohamed Ahmed Alim and Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a representative Khalif Abdulkadir Noor stipulating that: a) a new 225 member bicameral parliament would be formed, consisting of an upper house seating 54 Senators as well as a lower house; b) 30% of the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) is earmarked for women; c) the President is to be appointed via a constitutional election; and d) the Prime Minister is selected by the President and he/she then names his/her Cabinet. On June 23, 2012, the Somali federal and regional leaders met again and approved a draft constitution after several days of deliberation. The National Constituent Assembly overwhelmingly passed the new constitution on August 1, with 96% of the 645 delegates present voting for it, 2% against it, and 2% abstaining. To come into effect, it must be ratified by the new parliament.
Concurrent with the end of the TFG's interim mandate on August 20, 2012, the Federal Parliament of Somalia was inaugurated, ushering in the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war. On September 10, 2012, parliament also elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new President of Somalia. President Mohamud later appointed Abdi Farah Shirdon as the new Prime Minister on October 6, 2012. On November 4, 2012, Shirdon named a new Cabinet, which was later endorsed by the legislature on November 13, 2012.
At the behest of Somalia's federal authorities, the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 2093 on March 6, 2013 to suspend the 21-year arms embargo on Somalia, the oldest such global weapons blockade. The endorsement officially lifts the purchase ban on light weapons for a one-year period, but retains certain restrictions on the procurement of heavy arms. The repeal is slated to be reviewed in 2014.
In November 2013, President Mohamud asked Prime Minister Shirdon to resign from office on the grounds that Shirdon was allegedly ineffective in the job. Mohamud was reportedly acting on the advice of the State Minister for Presidency, Farah Abdulkadir. On 12 November 2013, Shirdon confirmed that there was a dispute between himself and the president, but indicated that the row was constitutional rather than political. He also asserted that the matter should be resolved in parliament. According to MP Mohamed Abdi Yusuf, the rift between Mohamud and Shirdon centered over through what constitutional mechanism and by whom the Cabinet was ultimately to be formed. On 24 November 2013, 168 MPs led by former TFG Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan endorsed a document submitted to parliament, which outlined a motion against Prime Minister Shirdon's administration. A parliamentary vote of confidence was later held against Shirdon on 2 December 2013. Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari subsequently announced that 184 of the present MPs had voted against Shirdon, whereas 65 legislators had voted to retain him. On 5 December 2013, Shirdon released a statement confirming that he and his Cabinet accepted the legislature's decision. UN Special Representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay paid tribute to the outgoing Prime Minister, noting that Shirdon had endeavoured to promote growth and progress and was an important principal in establishing the New Deal Compact between Somalia and its international partners. He also commended the legislators on adhering to procedural rules during the vote, and pledged to work constructively with the succeeding administration. On 12 December 2013, President Mohamud named Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed as the new Prime Minister. On 17 January 2014, Ahmed named a new, larger Cabinet consisting of 25 ministers, with only two council members retained from the previous Shirdon administration. Parliament later approved the Cabinet on 21 January 2014.
In October 2014, Prime Minister Ahmed made a minor reshuffle of the Cabinet, which President Mohamud immediately rejected. The ensuing rift ended on 6 December, when parliament held a vote of confidence vis-a-vis the Premier and his Cabinet. 153 of the present MPs voted in favor of the motion, 80 voted against it, and 2 abstained, thereby ending Ahmed's term as Prime Minister of Somalia. On 17 December 2014, President Mohamud appointed former Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as the new Prime Minister. On 24 December, the national legislature approved the nomination. Of the 224 MPs present at the parliamentary session, 218 voted in favor of the appointment, none rejected it or abstained, and six left the hall. On 12 January 2015, Sharmarke announced his new Cabinet, consisting of 26 ministers, 25 deputy ministers, and 8 state ministers. Many ministers were retained from the previous Ahmed administration. Sharmarke indicated that he selected the new Council of Ministers after intensive consultations with local stakeholders, with the aim of balancing the public interest with governmental continuation and administrative priorities. On 17 January 2015, Prime Minister Sharmarke dissolved his newly nominated cabinet due to vehement opposition by legislators, who rejected the reappointment of certain former ministers. At Sharmarke's behest, the Federal Parliament concurrently granted him a time extension to engage in further consultations before was to select a new Council of Ministers. On 27 January 2015, Sharmarke appointed a new, smaller 20 minister Cabinet. On 6 February, Sharmarke finalized his cabinet, consisting of 26 ministers, 14 state ministers, and 26 deputy ministers. Federal legislators later approved the new Council of Ministers on 9 February, with 191 voting in favor it, 22 against it, and none abstaining.
On 11 February 2015, the Federal Parliament during its fifth session approved the Independent National Electoral Commission. 113 MPs voted in favour of the bill, 21 against it, and 10 abstained. The president is now slated to sign the new law.
On 8 February 2017, Somali MPs elected Ex-Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" Mohamed in a surprise result. Mr. Mohamud, the incumbent, handily won the first round of voting, leading Mr. Mohamed by 88 to 72 votes in a field of more than 20 candidates. In the second round of voting, the other presidential contenders threw their weight behind Mr. Mohamed. He won, 184 to 97. The new president is popularly known as "Farmajo", from the Italian for cheese, because of his love for the dairy product. On 23 February 2017, President Mohamed appointed former humanitarian worker and businessman Hassan Khaire as his Prime Minister.
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was the internationally recognised government of Somalia until 20 August 2012, when its tenure officially ended. It was established as one of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) of government as defined in the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) adopted in November 2004 by the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP).
The Transitional Federal Government officially comprised the executive branch of government, with the TFP serving as the legislative branch. The government was headed by the President of Somalia, to whom the cabinet reported through the Prime Minister. However, it was also used as a general term to refer to all three branches collectively.
The Federal Parliament of Somalia is the national parliament of Somalia. Formed in August 2012, it is based in the capital Mogadishu and is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house.
The Federal Parliament of Somalia elects the President and has the authority to pass and veto laws. and consists of a 275-seat lower house as well as an upper house capped at 54 representatives. The current Members of parliament were selected by a Technical Selection Committee, which was tasked with vetting potential legislators that were in turn nominated by a National Constituent Assembly consisting of elders. The current Speaker of the Federal Parliament is Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdurahman.>
the Constitution states that the judiciary is independent of the legislative and executive branches of government whilst fulfilling its judicial functions.Members of the judiciary shall be subject only to the law.
The Somali judicial system is based on Islamic law, Judicial authority of the Federal Republic is vested in the courts. The judiciary is independent of the legislative and executive branches of government whilst fulfilling its judicial functions. It can declare statutes as null and void if they are in violation of the Federal Constitution.
The national court structure consists of:
A nine-member Judicial Service Commission appoints any Federal tier member of the judiciary. It also selects and presents potential Constitutional Court judges to the House of the People of the Federal Parliament for approval. If endorsed, the President appoints the candidate as a judge of the Constitutional Court. The five-member Constitutional Court adjudicates issues pertaining to the constitution, in addition to various Federal and sub-national matters.
The Constitutional Court is composed of 5 judges, The Judicial Service Commission shall nominate as judge of the Constitutional Court only persons of high integrity, with appropriate qualifications in law and Shari’a, and who is highly competent in Constitutional matters, and who are of high moral character. Nominees are then presented to the House of the People of the Federal Parliament for approval. If endorsed, the President appoints the candidate as a judge of the Constitutional Court. The Chief Judge and Deputy Chief Judge are later chosen by the Constitutional Court judges from within their membership ranks.
Somalia is officially divided into eighteen regions (plural "gobollada"; singular "gobol"), which in turn are subdivided into districts. The regions are:
Somalia is a member of:
ACP
AfDB
AFESD
AL
AMF
CAEU
ECA
FAO
G-77
IBRD
ICAO
ICRM
IDA
IDB
IFAD
IFC
IFRCS
IGAD
ILO
IMF
IMO
Intelsat
Interpol
IOC
IOM (observer)
ITU
NAM
OAU
OIC
UN
UNCTAD
UNESCO
UNHCR
UNIDO
UPU
WFTU
WHO
WIPO
WMO
WTrO (observer) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27365 |
Somali Armed Forces
The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the President as Commander in Chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
The SAF was initially made up of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police Force. In the post-independence period, it grew to become among the larger militaries in Africa. Due to Barre's increasing reliance on his own clans, repressive policies, and the Somali Rebellion, the military had by 1988 begun to disintegrate. By the time President Siad Barre fled in 1991, the armed forces had dissolved. An unsteady rebuilding process began after 2000. As of January 2014, the security sector is overseen by the Federal Government of Somalia's Ministry of Defence, Ministry of National Security, and Ministry of Interior and Federalism. Somaliland, Puntland, and Jubaland maintain their own separate military forces.
Historically, Somali society conferred distinction upon warriors ("waranle") and rewarded military acumen. All Somali males were regarded as potential soldiers, except for men of religion. Somalia's many sultanates each maintained regular troops. In the early Middle Ages, the conquest of Shewa by the Ifat Sultanate ignited a rivalry for supremacy with the Solomonic dynasty.
Many similar battles were fought between the succeeding Sultanate of Adal and the Solomonids, with both sides achieving victory and suffering defeat. During the protracted Ethiopian-Adal War (1529–1559), Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi defeated several Ethiopian Emperors and embarked on a conquest referred to as the "Futuh Al-Habash" ("Conquest of Abyssinia"), which brought three-quarters of Christian Abyssinia under the power of the Muslim Adal Sultanate. Al-Ghazi's forces and their Ottoman allies came close to extinguishing the ancient Ethiopian kingdom, but the Abyssinians managed to secure the assistance of Cristóvão da Gama's Portuguese troops and maintain their domain's autonomy. However, both polities in the process exhausted their resources and manpower, which resulted in the contraction of both powers and changed regional dynamics for centuries to come. Many historians trace the origins of hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia to this war. Some scholars also argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Majeerteen Sultanate, Sultanate of Hobyo, Warsangali Sultanate and Dervish State employed cavalry in their battles against the imperialist European powers during the "Campaign of the Sultanates".
In Italian Somaliland, eight "Arab-Somali" infantry battalions, the "Ascari", and several irregular units of Italian officered "dubats" were established. These units served as frontier guards and police. There were also Somali artillery and zaptié ("carabinieri") units forming part of the Italian Royal Corps of Colonial Troops from 1889 to 1941. Between 1911 and 1912, over 1,000 Somalis from Mogadishu served as combat units along with Eritrean and Italian soldiers in the Italo-Turkish War. Most of the troops stationed never returned home until they were transferred back to Italian Somaliland in preparation for the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.
In 1914, the Somaliland Camel Corps was formed in British Somaliland and saw service before, during, and after the Italian invasion of the territory during World War II.
Just prior to independence in 1960, the Trust Territory of Somalia established a national army to defend the nascent Somali Republic's borders. A law to that effect was passed on 6 April 1960. Thus the Somali Police Force's Mobile Group (Darawishta Poliska or Darawishta) was formed. 12 April 1960 has since been marked as "Armed Forces Day". British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland, and the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) followed suit five days later. On 1 July 1960, the two territories united to form the Somali Republic.
After independence, the Darawishta merged with the former British Somaliland Scouts to form the 5,000 strong Somali National Army. The new military's first commander was Colonel Daud Abdulle Hirsi, a former officer in the British military administration's police force, the Somalia Gendarmerie. Officers were trained in the United Kingdom, Egypt and Italy. Despite the social and economic benefits associated with military service, the armed forces began to suffer chronic manpower shortages only a few years after independence.
Merging British and Italian Somaliland caused political controversy. The distribution of power between the two regions and among the major clans in both areas was a bone of contention. In December 1961, a group of British-trained northern non-commissioned officers in Hargeisa revolted after southern officers took command of their units. The rebellion was put down by other northern Noncommissioned officers (NCOs), although dissatisfaction in the north lingered. Adam notes that in the aftermath of this mutiny, first armed forces commander General Daud Abdulle Hirsi (Hawiye/Abgaal) placed the most senior northerner, Colonel Mohamed Haji Ainashe, as head of the army in the north.
The force was expanded and modernized after the rebellion with the assistance of Soviet and Cuban advisors. The Library of Congress writes that '[i]n 1962 the Soviet Union agreed to grant a US$32 million loan to modernise the Somali army, and expand it to 14,000 personnel. Moscow later increased the amount to US$55 million. The Soviet Union, seeking to counter United States influence in the Horn of Africa, made an unconditional loan and fixed a generous twenty-year repayment schedule.'
The army was tested in 1964 when the conflict with Ethiopia over the Somali-inhabited Ogaden erupted into warfare. On 16 June 1963, Somali guerrillas started an insurgency at Hodayo, in eastern Ethiopia, a watering place north of Werder, after Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie rejected their demand for self-government in the Ogaden. The Somali government initially refused to support the guerrilla forces, which eventually numbered about 3,000. However, in January 1964, after Ethiopia sent reinforcements to the Ogaden, Somali forces launched ground and air attacks across the border and started providing assistance to the guerrillas. The Ethiopian Air Force responded with punitive strikes across its southwestern frontier against Feerfeer, northeast of Beledweyne, and Galkayo. On 6 March 1964, Somalia and Ethiopia agreed to a cease-fire. At the end of the month, the two sides signed an accord in Khartoum, Sudan, agreeing to withdraw their troops from the border, cease hostile propaganda, and start peace negotiations. Somalia also terminated its support of the guerrillas.
During the power vacuum that followed the assassination of Somalia's second president, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, the military staged a coup d'état on 21 October 1969 (the day after Shermarke's funeral) and took over office. Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, who had succeeded Hersi as Chief of Army in 1965, was installed as President of the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC), the new government of Somalia. The country was renamed the Somali Democratic Republic. In 1971, he announced the regime's intention to phase out military rule.
In 1972, the National Security Court, headed by Admiral Mohamed Gelle Yusuf, ordered the execution of Siad Barre's fellow coup instigators, Major General Mohamed Aynanshe Guleid (who had become the Vice President), Brigadier General Salaad Gabeyre Kediye and Lieutenant Colonel Abdulkadir Dheel Abdulle.
Kaplan wrote in 1976:
In mid-1976 the military command structure was simple and direct. Major General Mohammad Ali Samatar was not only commander of the National Army – and therefore commander of the organizationally subordinated navy and air force- but also secretary of state for defence and a vice president of SRC and thus a member of the major decision-making body of the government. Holding the two highest.. posts, he stood alone in the command structure between the army and President Siad, the head of state. When in July 1976 the SRC relinquished its power to the newly appointed SSRP, Samantar retained the portfolio of the Ministry of Defense. The country's real power appeared to be in the SSRP's Politburo, of which Samantar became a vice president. Before the military coup, command channels ran directly from the commander of the National Army to army sector commanders who exercised authority over military forces.. in the field, and by 1986 combat units had been reorganized along Soviet lines. There is no indication that either the chain of command to lower echelons or the organisation of combat units has changed significantly since the coup.
In July 1976, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the army consisted of 22,000 personnel, 6 tank battalions, 9 mechanised infantry battalions, 5 infantry battalions, 2 commando battalions, and 11 artillery battalions (5 anti-aircraft). Two hundred T-34 and 50 T-54/55 main battle tanks had been estimated to have been delivered. The IISS emphasised that 'spares are short and not all equipment is serviceable.' The U.S. Army "Area Handbook for Somalia", 1977 edition, agreed that the army comprised six tank and nine mechanised infantry battalions, but listed no infantry battalions, the two commando battalions, five field artillery, and five anti-aircraft battalions.
Three divisions (Division 21, Division 54, and Division 60) were formed, and later took part in the Ogaden War. While the IISS did not list them in July 1976, there is evidence that they were formed as early as 1970 or earlier: Mohamud Muse Hersi has been listed by somaliaonline.com as commander of the 21st Division from 1970 to 1972, and Muse Hassan Sheikh Sayid Abdulle as commander 26th Division in 1970–71.
Under the leadership of General Abdullah Mohamed Fadil, Abdullahi Ahmed Irro and other senior Somali military officials formulated a plan of attack for what was to become the Ogaden War in Ethiopia. This was part of a broader effort to unite all of the Somali-inhabited territories in the Horn region into a Greater Somalia ("Soomaaliweyn"). At the start of the offensive, the SNA consisted of 35,000 soldiers, and was vastly outnumbered by the Ethiopian forces. Somali national army troops seized the Godey Front on 24 July 1977, after Division 60 defeated the Ethiopian 4th Infantry Division. Godey's capture allowed the Somali side to consolidate its hold on the Ogaden, concentrate its forces, and advance further to other regions of Ethiopia. The invasion reached an abrupt end with the Soviet Union's sudden shift of support to Ethiopia, followed by almost the entire communist world siding with the latter. The Soviets halted supplies to Barre's regime and instead increased the distribution of aid, weapons, and training to Ethiopia's newly communist Derg regime. General Vasily Petrov was assigned to restructure the Ethiopian Army. The Soviets also brought in around 15,000 Cuban troops to assist the Ethiopian military. By 1978, the Somali forces were pushed out of most of the Ogaden, although it would take nearly three more years for the Ethiopian Army to gain full control of Godey.
A key organisational change happened during the war. Battalions were succeeded by brigades. “During the war the standard infantry and mechanized infantry unit became the brigade, two to four battalions and having a total strength of 1,200 to 2,000.” Also following the war, Abudwak became the base for Division 21.
The shift in support by the Soviet Union during the Ogaden War motivated the Barre regime to seek allies elsewhere. The need for a rethink was emphasized by a failed coup d'état in 1978, which appears to have been poorly organised. It eventually settled on Russia's Cold War arch-rival, the United States, which had been courting the Somali government for some time. The U.S. eventually gave extensive military support. Following the war, Barre's government began arresting government and military officials under suspicion of participation in the 1978 coup attempt. Most of the people who had allegedly helped plot the putsch were summarily executed. However, several officials managed to escape abroad where they formed the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), the first of various dissident groups dedicated to ousting Barre's regime by force. Among these opposition movements were the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) and Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA), a Gadabuursi group which had been formed in the northwest to counter the Somali National Movement (SNM) Isaaq militia.
The armed forces continued to expand after the 1977-8 war. The army expanded to 96,000 in 1980, of which combat forces made up 60,000. Thereafter the army grew to 115,000 and eventually to 123,000 by 1984-85.
In 1981 one of three corps headquarters for the ground forces was situated at Hargeisa in the northwestern Woqooyi Galbeed region. Others were believed to be garrisoned at Galkacyo in the north-central Mudug region and at Beledweyne in the south-central Hiiraan region. The ground forces were tactically organized into seven divisions. Allocated among the divisions were three mechanized infantry brigades, ten anti-aircraft battalions, and thirteen artillery battalions. The classified supplements to the CIA World Factbook for the 1980s, released thirty years later, show that the CIA estimated that the force had grown to eleven divisions by January 1984, and twelve divisions by 1986.
In 1984, the government attempted to solve the manpower shortage problem by instituting obligatory military service. Men of eighteen to forty years of age were to be conscripted for two years. Opposition to conscription and to the campaigns against guerrilla groups resulted in widespread evasion of military service. As a result, during the late 1980s the government normally met manpower requirements by impressing men into military service. This practice alienated an increasing number of Somalis, who wanted the government to negotiate a peaceful resolution of the conflicts that were slowly destroying Somali society.
However, as the 1980s wore on, Siad Barre increasingly used clanism as a political resource. Barre filled the key positions in the army and security forces with members of three Darood clans closely related to his own "reer": the Marehan, Dulbahantes, and Ogaadeens. Adam says that '..As early as 1976, when Colonel Omar Mohamed Farah was asked to train and command a tank brigade stationed in Mogadishu, he found that out of about 540 soldiers, at least 500 were from the Marehan clan. The whole tank division was headed by a Marehan officer, Umar Haji Masala.' Compagnon wrote in 1992: "Colonels and generals were part of the president's personal patronage network; they had to remain loyal to him and his relatives, whether they had command or were temporarily in the cabinet." As a result, by 1990 many Somalis looked upon the armed forces as Siad Barre's personal army. This perception eventually destroyed the military's reputation as a national institution. The critical posts of commander of the 2nd Tank Brigade and 2nd Artillery Brigade in Mogadishu were both held by Marehan officers, as were the posts of commander of the three reserve brigades in Hargeisa in the north.
By 1987 the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated the army was 40,000 strong (with Ethiopian army strength estimated at the same time as 260,000). The President, Mohamed Siad Barre, held the rank of Major General and acted as Minister of Defence. There were three vice-ministers of national defence. From the SNA headquarters in Mogadishu four sectors were directed: 26th Sector at Hargeisa, 54th Sector at Garowe, 21st Sector at Dusa Mareb, and 60th Sector at Baidoa. Thirteen divisions, averaging 3,300 strong, were divided between the four sectors – four in the northernmost and three in each of the other sectors. The sectors were under the command of brigadiers (three) and a colonel (one). Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan has been reported as 26th Sector commander from 1986 to 1988. Barre's son, Maslah Mohammed Siad Barre was commanding the 77th Sector in Mogadishu in November 1987, and later became Chief of Staff (also reported as Commander-in-Chief) of the Army. FCO files at Kew indicate that Maslah may have become Commander-in-Chief in early March 1989.
By the mid-1980s, more resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's Derg administration had sprung up across the country. Barre responded by ordering punitive measures against those he perceived as locally supporting the guerillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the northwestern administrative center of Hargeisa, a Somali National Movement (SNM) stronghold, among the targeted areas in 1988.
Compagnon writes that:
Military exercises between the United States and the Siad Barre regime continued during the 1980s. After Exercise Eastern Wind ’83, the Los Angeles Times was told that “the exercise failed dismally.…The Somali army did not perform up to any standard,” one diplomat said. … “The inefficiency of the Somali armed forces is legendary among foreign military men.” 'Valiant Usher '86' took place during the U.S. Fiscal Year of 1986, but actually in late 1985, and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit participated in Exercise Eastern Wind in August 1987 in the area of Geesalay. U.S. Army elements conducted training with the Somali 31st Commando Brigade at Baledogle Airfield outside Mogadishu in 1989.
As of 1 June 1989, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that the Army comprised four corps and 12 division headquarters. The IISS noted that these formations 'were in name only; below establishment in units, men, and equipment. Brigades were of battalion size.' Units and formations listed in 1990 within six military sectors included the twelve divisions, four tank brigades, 45 mechanized and infantry brigades, 4 commando brigades, one surface-to-air missile brigade, three field artillery brigades, 30 field battalions ["sic": probably field artillery battalions], and one air defence artillery battalion. The armed forces declined in size from a possible high of 65,000 in early 1990 to about 10,000 later that year, due to desertions and battlefield defeats.
On 12–13 November 1989, a group of Hawiye officers and men belonging to the 4th Division at Galkayo, in Mudug, mutinied. General Barre's son, Maslah, lead a force of Marehan clansmen to suppress the mutiny. Punishment was meted out to local Hawiye villages. In mid-November 1989, rebel forces briefly captured Galkayo. They reportedly seized significant quantities of military equipment at the 4th Division Headquarters, including tanks, 30 mobile anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers. However, the rebels were unable to take most of this equipment so they incinerated it. Government forces thereafter launched massive reprisals against civilians residing in the regions corresponding with the 21st, 54th, 60th and 77th military sectors. The impacted towns and villages included Gowlalo, Dagaari, Sadle-Higlo, Bandiir Adley, Galinsor, Wargalo, Do'ol, Halimo, Go'ondalay and Galkayo.
By mid-1990, USC insurgents had captured most of the towns and villages surrounding Mogadishu. On 8 November 1990, USC forces launched attack on the government garrison at Bulo-Burte, killing the commander. From 30 December 1990, there was a major upsurge in local violence in Mogadishu, and continuous fighting between government troops and USC insurgents. The next four weeks were marked by increasing rebel gains. On 27 January 1991, Siad Barre fled the capital for Kismayo, along with many of his supporters. This marked the culmination of the first phase of the civil war.
What remained of the Somali armed forces soon dissolved. On 23 January 1992, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo via United Nations Security Council Resolution 733 in order to stop the flow of weapons to feuding militia groups. Much military equipment was left "in situ", deteriorating, and was sometimes discovered and photographed by intervention forces in the early 1990s.
It was reported on 7 November 2001, that Transitional National Government (TNG) military forces had seized control of Marka in Lower Shabelle.
From 2002, Ismail Qasim Naji served as the TNG military chief. He was given the rank of Major General. The TNG's new army, made up of 90 women and 2,010 men, was equipped on 21 March 2002 with guns and armed wagons surrendered to the TNG by private parties in exchange for money, according to TNG officials. TNG president Abdulkassim Salat Hassan instructed the recruits to use the weaponry to "pacify Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia by fighting bandits, anarchists and all forces that operate for survival outside the law." But the TNG controlled only one part of Mogadishu; rival warlords controlled the remainder. Some TNG weapons were stolen and looted in late 2002. During this time, the TNG was opposed militarily and politically by the rival Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC).
Eventually the leadership of the SRRC and the TNG were reconciled, and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was formed in 2004 by Somali politicians in Nairobi. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed from Puntland was elected as President. The TFG later moved its temporary headquarters to Baidoa. President Yusuf requested that the African Union deploy military forces in Somalia. However, as the AU lacked the resources to do so, Yusuf brought in his own militia from Puntland. Along with the U.S. funding the ARPCT coalition, this alarmed many in south-central Somalia, and recruits flocked to the ascendant Islamic Courts Union (ICU).
A battle for Mogadishu followed in the first half of 2006 in which the ARPCT confronted the ICU. However, with local support, the ICU captured the city in June of the year. It then expanded its area of control in south-central Somalia over the following months, assisted militarily by Eritrea. In an effort at reconciliation, TFG and ICU representatives held several rounds of talks in Khartoum under the auspices of the Arab League. The meetings ended unsuccessfully due to uncompromising positions retained by both parties. Hardline Islamists subsequently gained power within the ICU, prompting fears of a Talibanization of the movement.
In December 2006, Ethiopian troops entered Somalia to assist the TFG against the advancing Islamic Courts Union, initially winning the Battle of Baidoa. On 28 December 2006, the allied forces recaptured the capital from the ICU. The offensive helped the TFG solidify its rule. Ethiopian and TFG forces forced the ICU from Ras Kamboni between 7–12 January 2007. They were assisted by at least two U.S. air strikes. On 8 January 2007, for the first time since taking office, President Ahmed entered Mogadishu from Baidoa, as the TFG moved its base to the national capital. President Ahmed brought his Puntland army chief with him, and Abdullahi Ali Omar became Somali chief of army on 10 February 2007.
On 20 January 2007, through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1744, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was formally authorised. Seven hundred Ugandan troops, earmarked for AMISOM, were landed at Mogadishu airport on 7–8 March 2007.
In Mogadishu, Hawiye residents resented the Islamic Courts Union's defeat. They distrusted the TFG, which was at the time dominated by the Darod clan, believing that it was dedicated to the advancement of Darod interests in lieu of the Hawiye. Additionally, they feared reprisals for massacres committed in 1991 in Mogadishu by Hawiye militants against Darod civilians, and were dismayed by Ethiopian involvement. Critics of the TFG likewise charged that its federalist platform was part of a plot by the Ethiopian government to keep Somalia weak and divided. During its first few months in the capital, the TFG was initially restricted to key strategic points, with the large northwestern and western suburbs controlled by Hawiye rebels. In March 2007, President Ahmed announced plans to forcibly disarm militias in the city. According to the ISA, a coalition of local insurgents led by Al-Shabaab subsequently launched a wave of attacks against the TFG and Ethiopian troops. The allied forces in return mounted a heavy-handed response.
All of the warring parties were responsible for widespread violations of the laws of war, as civilians were caught in the ensuing crossfire. Insurgents reportedly deployed militants and established strongholds in heavily populated neighborhoods, launched mortar rounds from residential areas, and targeted public and private individuals for assassination and violence. TFG forces alleged to have failed to efficaciously warn civilians in combat zones, impeded relief efforts, plundered property, in some instances engaged in murder and violence, and mistreated detainees during mass arrests. According to HRW, the implicated TFG forces included military, police and intelligence personnel, as well as the private guards of senior TFG officials. Victims were often unable to identify TFG personnel, and confused militiamen aligned with TFG officials with TFG police officers and other state security personnel.
In May 2007, U.S. diplomats spoke with the TFG's Ambassador to Ethiopia. Among the topics of conversation were Somali security forces, and Ambassador Abdulkarim Farah said that the TFG had trained nearly 7,000 militia in Baledogle who were now patrolling throughout Somalia, from Kismayo to Puntland. Another 3,500 militia were undergoing training. Farah said that on 18 May he planned to his hometown of Beledweyne to establish a militia training camp there, at the instruction of President Yusuf. Farah estimated that approximately 60 per cent of the militia were Darod, 30 per cent were Hawiye, and the remaining 10 per cent were from other clans; the majority of security forces in Mogadishu were Darod. He said that the TFG had not sought to exclude Darod from the militia, and attributed the imbalance to Hawiye having primarily supported the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC).
In December 2008, the International Crisis Group reported:
Yusuf has built a largely subservient and loyal apparatus by putting his fellow Majerteen clansmen in strategic positions. The National Security Agency (NSA) under General Mohamed Warsame ("Darwish") and the so-called "Majerteen militia" units in the TFG army operate in parallel and often above other security agencies. Their exact number is hard to ascertain, but estimates suggest about 2,000. They are well catered for, well armed and often carry out counter-insurgency operations with little or no coordination with other security agencies. In the short term, this strategy may appear effective for the president, who can unilaterally employ the force essentially as he pleases. However, it undermines morale in the security services and is a cause of their high desertion rates.
Much of the problem building armed forces was the lack of functioning TFG government institutions:
Beyond the endemic internal power struggles, the TFG has faced far more serious problems in establishing its authority and rebuilding the structures of governance. Its writ has never extended much beyond Baidoa. Its control of Mogadishu is ever more contested, and it is largely under siege in the rest of the country. There are no properly functioning government institutions.
Also in December 2008, Human Rights Watch described the Somali National Army as the 'TFG's largely theoretical professional military force.' It said that 'where trained TFG military forces appear, 'they were identified by their victims as Ethiopian-trained forces, often acting in concert with ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Force) forces or under the command of ENDF officers.' HRW also said that 'Human Rights Watch's own research has uncovered a pattern of violent abuses by TFG forces including widespread acts of murder, rape, looting, assault, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture. Those responsible include police, military, and intelligence personnel as well as the personal militias of high-ranking TFG officials.'
HRW went on to say: 'The TFG has deployed a confusing array of security forces and armed militias to act on its behalf. Victims of the widespread abuses in which these forces have been implicated often have trouble identifying whether their attackers were TFG police officers, other TFG security personnel, or militias linked to TFG officials. Furthermore, formal command-and-control structures are to a large degree illusory. TFG security forces often wear multiple hats, acting on orders from their formal superiors one day, as clan militias another day, and as autonomous self-interested armed groups the next.'
In April 2009, donors at a UN-sponsored conference pledged over $250 million to help improve security. The funds were earmarked for AMISOM and supporting Somalia's security, including the build-up of a security force of 6,000 members as well as an augmented police force of 10,000 men. In June 2009, the Somali military received 40 tonnes worth of arms and ammunition from the U.S. government to assist it in combating the insurgency.
In November 2010, a new technocratic government was elected to office. In its first 50 days in office, the new administration completed its first monthly payment of stipends to government soldiers. It was the first of many Somali administrations to announce plans for a full biometric register for the security forces. While it aimed to complete the biometric register within four months, little further was reported. By August 2011, AMISOM and Somali forces had managed to capture all of Mogadishu from Al-Shabaab.
In October 2011, following a weekend preparatory meeting between Somali and Kenyan military officials in the town of Dhobley, the Kenya Defence Forces launched an attack across the border against Al-Shabaab, aiming for Kismayo. In early June 2012, Kenyan troops were formally integrated into AMISOM.
In January 2012, Somali government forces and their AMISOM allies launched offensives on Al-Shabaab's last foothold on the northern outskirts of Mogadishu. The following month, Somali forces fighting alongside AMISOM seized Baidoa from the insurgent group. By June 2012, the allied forces had also captured El Bur, Afgooye, and Balad. Progress by the Kenya Army from the border towards Kismayo was slow, but Afmadow was also reported captured on 1 June 2012.
The Federal Government of Somalia was established in August/September 2012. On 6 March 2013, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2093 was passed. The resolution lifted the purchase ban on light weapons for a provisional period of one year, but retained restrictions on the procurement of heavy arms such as surface-to-air missiles and artillery.
On 13 March 2013, Dahir Adan Elmi was appointed Chief of Army at a transfer ceremony in Mogadishu, where he replaced Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini. Abdirizak Khalif Elmi was appointed as Elmi's new Deputy Chief of Army.
In August 2013, Federal Government of Somalia officials and Jubaland regional representatives signed an agreement in Addis Ababa brokered by the Government of Ethiopia, which stipulated that all Jubaland security elements will be integrated into the Somali National Army. The Juba Interim Administration would control the regional police.
In November 2013, the United Nations Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA) was directed to support the SNA across South Central Somalia. They were to better supply a force of 10,900 Somalis to fight al-Shabaab forces. The SNA force would initially be trained by the AMISOM contingents. On the passing of specific UN requirements, designated SNA battalions would then participate in joint operations with AMISOM. UNSOA's support during the period comprised food supplements, shelter, fuel, water and medical support.
In early March 2014, Somali security forces and AMISOM troops launched another operation against Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia. According to Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, the government subsequently launched stabilization efforts in the newly liberated areas, which included Rab Dhuure, Hudur, Wajid and Burdhubo. However, there were continuing concerns that not enough was being done to revitalise and secure the newly liberated areas. By 26 March, the allied forces had liberated ten towns within the month, including Qoryoley and El Buur. UN Special Representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay described the military advance as the most significant and geographically extensive offensive since AU troops began operations in 2007.
In August 2014, the Somali government launched Operation Indian Ocean. On 1 September 2014, a U.S. drone strike carried out as part of the broader mission killed Al-Shabaab leader Moktar Ali Zubeyr. U.S. authorities hailed the raid as a major symbolic and operational loss for Al-Shabaab, and the Somali government offered a 45-day amnesty to all moderate members of the militant group.
In October 2014, Federal Government officials signed an agreement in Garowe with Puntland, which said that the Federal and Puntland authorities will work to form an integrated national army. In April 2015, another bilateral treaty stipulated that Puntland would contribute 3,000 troops to the Somali National Army. In May 2015, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the heads of the Puntland, Jubaland and Interim South West Administrations signed a seven-point agreement in Garowe authorizing the immediate deployment of 3,000 troops from Puntland for the Somali National Army. The leaders also agreed to integrate soldiers from the other regional states into the SNA.
In 2016 "The Economist" reported that the SNA did not exist as a cohesive force due to high rates of desertions and many soldiers being primarily loyal to clan leaders rather than the government.
In November 2009, the European Union announced its intention to train two Somali battalions (around 2,000 troops), which would complement other training missions and bring the total number of better-trained Somali soldiers to 6,000. The two battalions were expected to be ready by August 2011. In April 2011, 1,000 recruits completed training in Uganda as a part of the agreement with the EU.
Powerful vested interests and corrupt commanders were, as of February 2011, the largest obstacle to reforming the army. Some newly delivered weaponry was sold by officers. The International Crisis Group also said that AMISOM's efforts at assisting in formalizing the military's structure and providing training to the estimated 8,000 SNA soldiers were problematic. Resistance continued to the establishment of an effective chain of command, logical military formations and a credible troop roster. Although General Mohamed Gelle Kahiye, the respected former army chief, attempted to instill reforms, he was marginalized and eventually dismissed.
In August 2011, as part of the European Union Training Mission Somalia (EUTM Somalia), 900 Somali soldiers graduated from the Bihanga Military Training School in the Ibanda District of Uganda. 150 personnel from the EU took part in the training process, which trained around 2,000 Somali troops per year. In May 2012, 603 Somali army personnel completed training at the facility. They were the third batch of Somali nationals to be trained there under the auspices of EUTM Somalia. In total, the EU mission had trained 3,600 Somali soldiers, before permanently transferring all of its advisory, mentoring and training activities to Mogadishu in December 2013.
In September 2011, President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed laid down the foundation for a new military camp for the army in the Jazeera District of Mogadishu. The $3.2 million construction project was funded by the EU and was expected to take six months to complete.
In June 2013, Egyptian engineers arrived to build new headquarters for the Somalia Ministry of Defence.
In February 2014, EUTM Somalia began its first "Train the Trainers" programme at the Jazeera Training Camp in Mogadishu. 60 Somali National Army soldiers that had been previously trained by EUTM in Uganda would take part in a four-week refresher course on infantry techniques and procedures, including international humanitarian law and military ethics. The training would be conducted by 16 EU trainers. Following the course's completion, the Somali soldiers would be qualified as instructors to then train SNA recruits, with mentoring provided by EUTM Somalia personnel. A team of EUTM Somalia advisors also started offering strategic advice to the Somali Ministry of Defence and General Staff. Additionally, capacity building, advice and specific mentoring with regard to security sector development and training are envisioned for 2014.
In February 2014, Chief of Staff Brigadier General Dahir Adan Elmi announced that Somalia's Ministry of Defence began holding military training inside the country for the first time, with Somali instructors now teaching courses to units that joined the armed forces. He also indicated that SNA leaders had created new numbered units for the army, and that the soldiers were slated to have their respective name and unit placed on their uniform. Additionally, Elmi stated that the military had implemented a new biometric registration system, wherein each recently trained and armed soldier is photographed and fingerprinted. By the end of 2014, 17,000 national army soldiers and police officers had registered for the new biometric remuneration system. 13,829 SNA soldiers and 5,134 Somali Police Force officials were biometrically registered in the system as of May 2015.
In July 2014, the governments of the United States and France announced that they would start providing training to the Somali National Army. According to U.S. Defense Department officials, American military advisers are also stationed in Somalia.
In September 2014, 20 Somali federal soldiers began training courses in Djibouti, which were organized by the government of Djibouti.
In September 2014, a Somali government delegation led by Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed attended an international conference in London hosted by the British government, which centered on rebuilding the Somali National Army and strengthening the security sector in Somalia. Ahmed presented to the participants his administration's plan for the development of the Somali Armed Forces, as well as fiscal planning, human rights protection, arms embargo compliance, and ways to integrate regional militias. The summit also aimed to arrange funding for the armed forces. British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the meeting sought to outline a long-term security plan to strengthen Somalia's army, police and judiciary.
In March 2015, the Federal Cabinet agreed to establish a new commission tasked with overseeing the nationalization and integration of security forces in the country. In April 2015, the Commission on Regional Militia Integration presented its plan for the formal integration of regional forces, with UNSOM providing support and strategic advice.
In April 2015, the federal Ministry of Defence launched its new Guulwade Plan (Victory Plan), which provides a roadmap for long-term development of the military. It was formulated with technical support from UNSOM. The framework stipulates that international partners are slated to provide capacity-building as well as assistance for joint operations to 10,900 Somali national army troops, with these units drawn from various regions in the country.
As of April 2015, UNSOM coordinates international security sector assistance for the SNA in accordance with the Somali federal government's priority areas. It also provides advice on recruitment of female officers, strictures on age appropriate military personnel, legal frameworks vis-a-vis the defence institutions, and a development strategy for the Ministry of Defence. Beginning in the month, the US government also funded the payment of 9,495 army allowances.
In May 2015, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud officially opened a new military training camp in Mogadishu. Construction of the centre began in 2014 in conjunction with the government of the United Arab Emirates. Situated in the Hodan district, it is one of several new military academies in the country.
As of May 2015, the federal government in conjunction with UNSOM was working toward establishing a comprehensive, international standards and obligations-compliant ammunition and weapons management system. To this end, capacity-building for the physical management of arms and bookkeeping was being developed, and new storage facilities and armouries for weapons and explosives were being constructed.
In August 2011, the TFG announced the creation of a new Special Force. Consisting of 300 trained soldiers, the unit was initially mandated with protecting relief shipments and distribution centers in Mogadishu. Besides helping to stabilize the city, the protection force is also tasked with combating banditry and other vices.
In 2013, divisions, effectively serving as area commands, began to be reformed: initially Division 60 at Baidoa (1 July 2013), later joined by Division 21 at Dhusamareb (30 August 2013). Also established by 2014 was Division 12 April, supervising Somali troops in the areas of AMISOM Sectors 1 and 5 around Mogadishu.
In March 2013 there were six brigades around Mogadishu. Each brigade includes three to six battalions of around 1000 soldiers apiece, or 18,000 to 36,000 troops in total. Of these, an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 soldiers were in service.
The six SNA brigades around Mogadishu were as of July 2013 largely composed of officers from various Hawiye sub-clans, with some Marehan-Darod and minorities also present. Five brigades primarily consisted of Abgaal, Murosade and Hawadle soldiers. In February 2013 Brigade 2 was under the command of Brigadier General Abdullahi Osman Agey. Brigade 3 over the same period comprised 840 fighters, most of whom belong to the Hawiye-Habar Gidir/Ayr clan. The unit was around 30% to 50% smaller in size than the other five brigades that are garrisoned in the larger Banaadir region. Led by General Mohamed Roble Jimale 'Gobale', it occupied an area outside of Mogadishu and Merka and along the Afgoye corridor. The Monitoring Group reported that many Brigade 3 fighters had been drawn from militias controlled by Yusuf Mohamed Siyaad 'Indha Adde', a close associate of Jimale and the former Eritrean-backed chief of defence for the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia-Asmara.
As of May–June 2014, the army reportedly consists of an estimated 20,000 soldiers. Of these, the majority are men, with around 1,500 female SNA officials.
Brigade 5 was identified in reporting about a New Zealand UN advisor. Later, on June 9, 2014, Garowe Online referred to the Brigade 5 and Brigade 6 of the SNA, in Lower Shabelle. Brigades 5 and 6 have fought against Al-Shabaab including in Mogadishu and Afgoye. With a post-training drop-out rate of around 10%, the vast majority of the EUTM-trained personnel have continued to serve in the SNA after their initial period of training abroad.
In February 2014, the Federal Government concluded a six-month training course for the first Commandos, Danab (Somali: "Lightning"), since 1991. Training had been carried out by Bancroft Global Development, a U.S. private military contractor, paid by AMISOM which is then reimbursed by the U.S. State Department. The aim was to create a mixed-clan unit. The Danab unit was established at Baledogle Airfield, in Walaweyn District, Lower Shabelle. The training of the first Danab unit began in October 2013, with 150 recruits. As of July 2014, training of the second unit was underway. According to General Elmi, the training is geared toward both urban and rural environments, and is aimed at preparing the soldiers for guerrilla warfare and all other types of modern military operations. Elmi said that a total of 570 Commandos are expected to have completed training by U.S. security personnel by the end of 2014.
Somalia signed military cooperation agreements with Turkey in May 2010, February 2014, and January 2015.
In February 2012, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and Italian Defence Minister Gianpaolo Di Paola agreed that Italy would assist the Somali military as part of the National Security and Stabilization Plan, an initiative designed to strengthen and professionalize the national security forces. In November 2014, the Federal Parliament approved a new defense and cooperation treaty with Italy, which the Ministry of Defence had signed earlier in the year. The agreement included training and equipping of the army by Italy.
In November 2014, Somalia signed a military cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
Turkey signed an agreement with Somalia in early 2016, to open Camp TURKSOM, at which Turkish Armed Forces officers will train Somali recruits. The base was established in the capital Mogadishu. Over 1,500 Somalis were to be trained by 200 Turkish personnel. The Turkish army is also planning to build a military school in Somalia to train officers.
Somalia's Army had very little variation in their uniforms since their inception, the most common camouflage is woodland camouflage but in recent years, Somalia has now have access to digital camouflage as well. Somalia's more common service uniform consists of fatigues and coloured berets on which rank insignia can be displayed and coloured gorget patches, shoulder patches that display their unit although there is a more formal variant that resembles British Service Dress but is khaki in colour.
The following were the Somali National Army's major weapons in 1981:
Previous arms acquisitions included the following equipment, much of which was unserviceable ca. June 1989:
293 main battle tanks (30 Centurion from Kuwait, 123 M47 Patton, 30 T-34, 110 T-54/55 from various sources). Other armoured fighting vehicles included 10 M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks, 30 BRDM-2 and 15 Panhard AML-90 armored cars (formerly owned by Saudi Arabia). The IISS estimated in 1989 that there were 474 armoured personnel carriers, including 64 BTR-40/BTR-50/BTR-60, 100 BTR-152 wheeled armored personnel carriers, 310 Fiat 6614 and 6616s, and that BMR-600s had been reported. The IISS estimated that there were 210 towed artillery pieces (8 M-1944 100 mm, 100 M-56 105 mm, 84 M-1938 122 mm, and 18 M198 155 mm towed howitzers). Other equipment reported by the IISS included 82 mm and 120 mm mortars, 100 Milan and BGM-71 TOW anti-tank guided missiles, rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, and a variety of Soviet air defence guns of 20 mm, 23 mm, 37 mm, 40 mm, 57 mm, and 100 mm calibre.
Among firearms associated with the Somali National Army and reported by "Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/10" were Soviet TT pistols, British Sterling submachine guns; Heckler & Koch G3 and Belgian FN FAL assault rifles, U.S. M14 rifles,
Soviet RPD machine guns; Soviet RPK machine guns; Soviet RP-46 machine guns; French AA-52 machine guns; Belgian FN MAG machine guns; Soviet DShK heavy machine guns; U.S. M2 Browning .50 cal heavy machine guns; and U.S. M79 grenade launchers and Soviet RPG-2 grenade launchers.
In May 2012, over thirty-three vehicles were donated by the U.S. government to the SNA. The vehicles include 16 Magirus trucks, 4 Hilux pickups, 6 Land Cruiser pickups, 1 water tanker, and 6 water trailers. On 9 April 2013, the U.S. government approved the provision of defense articles and services by the American authorities to the Somali Federal Government. It handed over 15 vehicles to the new Commandos in March 2014.
In April 2013, Djibouti presented the SNA with 15 armoured military vehicles. The equipment was part of a larger consignment of 25 military trucks and 25 armoured military vehicles. The same month, the Italian government handed over 54 armored and personnel carrier vehicles to the army at a ceremony in Mogadishu.
As of April 2015, the Ministry of Defence's Guulwade Plan identifies the equipment and weaponry requirements of the army.
A Somali Aeronautical Corps (in Italian: "Corpo di Sicurezza della Somalia") was established in the 1950s during the trusteeship period prior to independence. It grew to become the Somali Air Force, with Italian aid, in the early 1960s. Original equipment included eight North American P-51D Mustangs, and Douglas C-47s, which remained in service until 1968. The air force operated most of its aircraft from bases near Mogadishu, Hargeisa and Galkayo. An air defence force equipped with Soviet surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns was in existence by January 1984. It was organised into seven anti-aircraft gun & missile brigades, and one radar brigade, numbering about 3,500 personnel.
By January 1991 the air force was in ruins. In 2012, Italy offered to help rebuild the air force. In 2016 the air force was described as 150 retirees from the Siad Barre era, without any aircraft. Other late 2016-early 2017 figures from the SJPER said 170. The air force's personnel were located in a camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu International Airport.
The Somali Navy was formed after independence in 1960. Prior to 1991, it participated in several joint exercises with the United States, Great Britain and Canada. It disintegrated during the beginning of the civil war in Somalia, from the late 1980s.
Announcement that naval rebuilding efforts would begin date from the first decade of the 21st century. Admiral Farrah Ahmed Omaar told a New Yorker reporter in December 2009 that the navy was 'practically nothing' at the time, though five hundred new recruits were in training. On 30 June 2012, the United Arab Emirates announced a contribution of $1 million toward enhancing Somalia's naval security. Boats, equipment and communication gear necessary for the rebuilding of the coast guard would be bought. A central operations naval command was also planned to be set up in Mogadishu.
General Mohammad Ali Samatar was Commander-in-Chief in 1976; Maslah Mohammed Siad Barre became SNA Commander-in-Chief in 1989; Brigadier General Mohammed Said Hersi Morgan became commander-in-chief on 25 November 1990.
From the mid-2010s, the title of the senior military officer has been Chief of Defence Force.
In July 2014, General Dahir Adan Elmi announced the completion of a review of the Somali National Army ranks. The SNA in conjunction with the Ministry of Defense is also slated to standardize the martial ranking system and eliminate any unauthorized promotions as part of a broader reform. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27366 |
Foreign relations of Somalia
Foreign relations of Somalia are handled by the President as the head of state, the Prime Minister as the head of government, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Federal Government of Somalia.
Somalia is a member of a number of international organizations, such as the United Nations, African Union, and Arab League.
Other memberships include:
ACP
AfDB
AFESD
AL
AMF
CAEU
ECA
FAO
G-77
IBRD
ICAO
ICRM
IDA
IDB
IFAD
IFC
IFRCS
IGAD
ILO
IMF
IMO
Intelsat
Interpol
IOC
IOM
ITU
NAM
OAU
OIC
UN
UNCTAD
UNESCO
UNHCR
UNIDO
UPU
WFTU
WHO
WIPO
WMO | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27367 |
Politics of South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The President of South Africa serves both as head of state and as head of government. The President is elected by the National Assembly (the lower house of the South African Parliament) and must retain the confidence of the Assembly in order to remain in office. South Africans also elect provincial legislatures which govern each of the country's nine provinces.
Since the end of apartheid in 1994 the African National Congress (ANC) has dominated South Africa's politics. The ANC is the ruling party in the national legislature, as well as in eight of the nine provinces (Western Cape is governed by the Democratic Alliance). The ANC received 62.15% of the vote during the 2014 general election. It had received 62.9%
of the popular vote in the 2011 municipal election. The main challenger to the ANC's rule is the Democratic Alliance, led by Mmusi Maimane (previously by Helen Zille), which received 22.23% of the vote in the 2014 election. Other major political parties represented in Parliament include the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Inkatha Freedom Party, which mainly represents Zulu voters. The formerly dominant New National Party, which both introduced and ended apartheid through its predecessor the National Party, disbanded in 2005 to merge with the ANC. Jacob Zuma served as President of South Africa since May 9, 2009 until his resignation in February 2018. Zuma was replaced by Cyril Ramaphosa. The country's 2019 general election was held on May 8.
South Africa is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, wherein the President of South Africa, elected by parliament, is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of Parliament, the Council of Provinces and the National Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Government is three-tiered, with representatives elected at the national, provincial and local levels.
Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was governed under an interim constitution. This constitution required the Constituent Assembly (CA) to draft and approve a permanent constitution by 9 May 1996.
The Government of National Unity (GNU) established under the interim constitution ostensibly remained in effect until the 1999 national elections. The parties originally comprising the GNU – the African National Congress (ANC), the National Party (NP), and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) – shared executive power. On 30 June 1996, the NP withdrew from the GNU to become part of the opposition.
Under the Constitution, the President is both head of state and head of government.
General elections take place every 5 years. The first fully multi-racial democratic election was held in 1994, the second in 1999, the third in 2004, the fourth in 2009, and the most recent in 2014. Until 2008, elected officials were allowed to change political party, while retaining their seats, during set windows which occurred twice each electoral term, due to controversial floor crossing legislative amendments made in 2002. The last two floor crossing windows occurred in 2005 and in 2007.
After the 2009 elections, the ANC lost its two-thirds majority in the national legislature which had allowed it to unilaterally alter the constitution.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) are in a formal alliance with the ruling ANC (the so-called "Tripartite Alliance"), and thus do not stand separately for election.
The constitution's bill of rights provides extensive guarantees, including equality before the law and prohibitions against discrimination; the right to life, privacy, property, and freedom and security of the person; prohibition against slavery and forced labour; and freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and association. The legal rights of criminal suspects also are enumerated. It also includes wide guarantees of access of food, water, education, health care, and social security. The constitution provides for an independent and impartial judiciary, and, in practice, these provisions are respected.
Citizens' entitlements to a safe environment, housing, education, and health care are included in the bill of rights, and are known as secondary constitutional rights. In 2003 the constitutional secondary rights were used by the HIV/AIDS activist group the Treatment Action Campaign as a means of forcing the government to change its health policy.
Violent crime, including violence against women and children, and organised criminal activity are at high levels and are a grave concern. Partly as a result, vigilante action and mob justice sometimes occur.
Some members of the police are accused of applying excessive force and abusing suspects in custody; as a result, the number of deaths in police custody remains a problem. In April 1997, the government established an Independent Complaints Directorate to investigate deaths in police custody and deaths resulting from police action.
Some discrimination against women continues, and discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS is becoming serious.
There has been growing political intolerance and repression.
Many leaders of former bantustans or homelands have had a role in South African politics since their abolition.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi was chief minister of his Kwa-Zulu homeland from 1976 until 1994. In post-apartheid South Africa he has served as President of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
He was a Minister in President Mandela's cabinet. He also served as acting President of South Africa when President Nelson Mandela was overseas.
Bantubonke Holomisa, who was a general in the homeland of Transkei from 1987, has served as the president of the United Democratic Movement since 1997. Today he is a Member of Parliament.
General Constand Viljoen was a former chief of the South African Defence Force, who, as a leader of the Afrikaner Volksfront, sent 1500 of his militiamen to prop up the government of Lucas Mangope and to contest the termination of Bophuthatswana as a homeland in 1994. He co-founded the Freedom Front in 1994. He retired from being a Member of Parliament before his death in 2020.
Lucas Mangope, former chief of the Motsweda Ba hurutshe-Boo-Manyane tribe of the Tswana, ex-president of the former bantustan of Bophuthatswana, was the leader of the United Christian Democratic Party. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27371 |
Economy of South Africa
The economy of South Africa is the second largest in Africa, after Nigeria. As a regional manufacturing hub, it is the most industrialized and diversified economy on the continent. South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy – one of only eight such countries in Africa. Since 1996, at the end of over twelve years of international sanctions, South Africa's Gross Domestic Product almost tripled to peak at $400 billion in 2011, but has since declined to roughly $385 billion in 2019. In the same period, foreign exchange reserves increased from $3 billion to nearly $50 billion creating a diversified economy with a growing and sizable middle class, within two decades of ending apartheid. South African state owned enterprises play a significant role in the country's economy with the government owning a share in around 700 SOEs involved in a wide array of important industries. In 2016 the top five challenges to doing business in the country were inefficient government bureaucracy, restrictive labour regulations, a shortage of skilled workers, political instability, and corruption, whilst the country's strong banking sector was rated as a strongly positive feature of the economy. The nation is among the G20, and is the only African member of the group.
The formal economy of South Africa has its beginnings in the arrival of Dutch settlers in 1652, originally sent by the Dutch East India Company to establish a provisioning station for passing ships. As the colony increased in size, with the arrival of French Huguenots and German citizens, some of the colonists were set free to pursue commercial farming, leading to the dominance of agriculture in the economy.
At the end of the 18th century, the British annexed the colony. This led to the Great Trek, spreading farming deeper into the mainland, as well as the establishment of the independent Boer Republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
In 1870 diamonds were discovered in Kimberley, while in 1886 some of the world's largest gold deposits were discovered in the Witwatersrand region of Transvaal, quickly transforming the economy into a resource-dominated one. The British annexed the area as a result of the Boer War which witnessed the placement of Boer women and children in British-built concentration camps. The country also entered a period of industrialization during this time, including the organization of the first South African trade unions.
The country soon started putting laws distinguishing between different races in place. In 1948 the National Party won the national elections, and immediately started implementing an even stricter race-based policy named Apartheid, effectively dividing the economy into a privileged white one, and an impoverished black one. The policy was widely criticised and led to crippling sanctions being placed against the country in the 1980s.
South Africa held its first non-racial elections in 1994, leaving the newly elected African National Congress (ANC) government the daunting task of trying to restore order to an economy harmed by sanctions, while also integrating the previously disadvantaged segment of the population into it.
The government refrained from resorting to economic populism. Inflation was brought down, public finances were stabilised, and some foreign capital was attracted. However, growth was still subpar. At the start of 2000, then President Thabo Mbeki vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment by relaxing restrictive labour laws, stepping up the pace of privatisation, raising governmental spending and cutting interest rates sharply from 1998 levels. His policies faced strong opposition from organised labour. From 2004 onward economic growth picked up significantly; both employment and capital formation increased.
In April 2009, amid fears that South Africa would soon join much of the rest of the world in the late-2000s recession, Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel differed on the matter: whereas Manuel foresaw a quarter of economic growth, Mboweni predicted further decline: "technically," he said, "that's a recession." In 2009 the Nobel-Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warned South Africa that inflation targeting should be a secondary concern amid the global financial crisis of 2007–2009.
South Africa, unlike other emerging markets, has struggled through the late 2000s recession, and the recovery has been largely led by private and public consumption growth, while export volumes and private investment have yet to fully recover. The long-term potential growth rate of South Africa under the current policy environment has been estimated at 3.5%. Per capita GDP growth has proved mediocre, though improving, growing by 1.6% a year from 1994 to 2009, and by 2.2% over the 2000–09 decade, compared to world growth of 3.1% over the same period.
The high levels of unemployment, at over 25%, and inequality are considered by the government and most South Africans to be the most salient economic problems facing the country. These issues, and others linked to them such as crime, have in turn hurt investment and growth, consequently having a negative feedback effect on employment. Crime is considered a major or very severe constraint on investment by 30% of enterprises in South Africa, putting crime among the four most frequently mentioned constraints.
In April 2017, political tensions in the country arose over the sacking of nine cabinet members including Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan by the president Jacob Zuma. The finance minister was seen as central to efforts to restore confidence in South Africa. As a result of the tensions, S&P Global cut South Africa's credit rating to junk status on Monday 3 April 2017. Fitch Ratings followed suit on Friday 7 April 2017 and cut the country's credit status to the sub-investment grade of BBB-. The South African rand lost more than 11% in the week following the cabinet reshuffling.
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2017. Inflation under 5% is in green.
This is a chart of the trend of South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund:
South Africa has a comparative advantage in the production of agriculture, mining and manufacturing products relating to these sectors. South Africa has shifted from a primary and secondary economy in the mid-twentieth century to an economy driven primarily by the tertiary sector in the present day which accounts for an estimated 65% of GDP or $230 billion in nominal GDP terms. The country's economy is reasonably diversified with key economic sectors including mining, agriculture and fisheries, vehicle manufacturing and assembly, food processing, clothing and textiles, telecommunication, energy, financial and business services, real estate, tourism, transportation, and wholesale and retail trade.
Mining has been the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa's most advanced economy. Large-scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1867 by Erasmus Jacobs and the subsequent discovery and exploitation of the Kimberley pipes a few years later. Gold rushes to Pilgrim's Rest and Barberton were precursors to the biggest discovery of all, the Main Reef/Main Reef Leader on Gerhardus Oosthuizen's farm Langlaagte, Portion C, in 1886, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the subsequent rapid development of the gold field there, the biggest of them all.
South Africa is one of the world's leading mining and mineral-processing countries. Though mining's contribution to the national GDP has fallen from 21% in 1970 to 6% in 2011, it still represents almost 60% of exports. The mining sector accounts for up to 9% of value added.
In 2008, South Africa's estimated share of world platinum production amounted to 77%; kyanite and other materials, 55%; chromium, 45%; palladium, 39%; vermiculite, 39%; vanadium, 38%; zirconium, 30%; manganese, 21%; rutile, 20%; ilmenite, 19%; gold, 11%; fluorspar, 6%; aluminium, 2%; antimony, 2%; iron ore, 2%; nickel, 2%; and phosphate rock, 1%. South Africa also accounted for nearly 5% of the world's polished diamond production by value. The country's estimated share of world reserves of platinum group metals amounted to 89%; hafnium, 46%; zirconium, 27%; vanadium, 23%; manganese, 19%; rutile, 18%; fluorspar, 18%; gold, 13%; phosphate rock, 10%; ilmenite, 9%; and nickel, 5%. It is also the world's third largest coal exporter.
The mining sector has a mix of privately owned and state-controlled mines, the latter including African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation.
The agricultural industry contributes around 5% of formal employment, relatively low compared to other parts of Africa, as well as providing work for casual labourers and contributing around 2.8% of GDP for the nation. However, due to the aridity of the land, only 13.5% can be used for crop production, and only 3% is considered high potential land. The sector continues to face problems, with increased foreign competition and crime being two of the major challenges for the industry. The government has been accused of either putting in too much effort, or not enough effort, to tackle the problem of farm attacks as opposed to other forms of violent crime.
Maize production, which contributes to a 36% majority of the gross value of South Africa's field crops, has also experienced negative effects due to climate change. The estimated value of loss, which takes into consideration scenarios with and without the carbon dioxide fertilisation effect, ranges between tens and hundreds of millions of Rands.
According to FAOSTAT, South Africa is one of world's largest producers of: chicory roots (4th); grapefruit (4th); cereals (5th); green maize and maize (7th); castor oil seed (9th); pears (9th); sisal (10th); fibre crops (10th). In the first quarter of 2010, the agricultural sector earned export revenues for R10.1 billion and used R8.4 billion to pay for imported agricultural products, therefore earning a positive trade balance of R1.7 billion.
The most important agricultural exports of South Africa include: edible fruit and nuts, beverages, preserved food, tobacco, cereals, wool not carded or combed, miscellaneous food, sugar, meat, milling products, malt and starch. These products accounted for over 80% of agricultural export revenue in the first quarter of 2010. The most important agricultural imports, which accounted for over 60% of agricultural import value during the same period, include: cereals, meat, soya-bean oil cake, beverages, soya-bean oil and its fractions, tobacco, palm oil and its fractions, miscellaneous food, spices, coffee, tea, and preserved food.
The dairy industry consists of around 4,300 milk producers providing employment for 60,000 farm workers and contributing to the livelihoods of around 40,000 others.
The food sub-sector is the largest employer within the agro-processing sector – contributing 1.4% to total employment, and 11.5% within the manufacturing sector. In 2006, the agro-processing sector represented 24.7% of the total manufacturing output. Although the economy as a whole gained 975,941 jobs between 1995 and 2006, the agro-processing sector lost 45,977 jobs. The competitive pressures from abroad, particularly from China and India, played a role in the decline of exports for the food, textiles and paper sub-sectors, as firms in these sectors increasingly compete with lower cost producers. Increased exports from the beverages, tobacco, wood and leather sub-sectors over the period are probably due to the presence of large dominant firms within these sectors in South Africa, that have managed to remain competitive.
The manufacturing industry's contribution to the economy is relatively small, providing just 13.3% of jobs and 15% of GDP. Labour costs are low, but not nearly as low as in most other emerging markets, and the cost of the transport, communications and general living is much higher.
The South African automotive industry accounts for about 10% of South Africa's manufacturing exports, contributes 7.5% to the country's GDP and employs around 36,000 people. Annual production in 2007 was 535,000 vehicles, out of a global production of 73 million units in the same year. Vehicle exports were in the region of 170,000 units in 2007, exported mainly to Japan (about 29% of the value of total exports), Australia (20%), the UK (12%) and the US (11%). South Africa also exported ZAR 30.3 billion worth of auto components in 2006.
BMW, Ford, Volkswagen, Daimler-Chrysler, General Motors, Nissan and Toyota all have production plants in South Africa. Large component manufacturers with bases in the country are Arvin Exhaust, Bloxwitch, Corning and Senior Flexonics. There are also about 200 automotive component manufacturers in South Africa, and more than 150 others that supply the industry on a non-exclusive basis. The industry is concentrated in two provinces, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. Companies producing in South Africa can take advantage of the low production costs and the access to new markets as a result of trade agreements with the European Union and the Southern African Development Community.
After a steep decline of 10.4% in 2009, the manufacturing sector performed well in 2010, growing by 5%, though this rebound was limited to the automotive, basic chemicals, iron and steel and food and beverages industries. The performance of this sector remains curtailed by the low demand in South Africa's main export markets in the developed world.
The domestic telecommunications infrastructure provides modern and efficient service to urban areas, including cellular and internet services. In 1997, Telkom, the South African telecommunications parastatal, was partly privatised and entered into a strategic equity partnership with a consortium of two companies, including SBC, a U.S. telecommunications company. In exchange for exclusivity (a monopoly) to provide certain services for 5 years, Telkom assumed an obligation to facilitate network modernisation and expansion into the unserved areas. A Second Network Operator was to be licensed to compete with Telkom across its spectrum of services in 2002, although this license was only officially handed over in late 2005 and has recently begun operating under the name, Neotel. Five mobile-phone companies provide service to over 20 million subscribers, with South Africa considered to have the 4th most advanced mobile telecommunications network worldwide. The five major cellular providers are Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, 8ta (owned by the parastatal, Telkom) and Virgin Mobile.
Over the last few decades, South Africa and particularly the Cape Town region has established itself as a successful call centre and business process outsourcing destination. With a highly talented pool of productive labour and with Cape Town sharing cultural affinity with Britain, large overseas firms such as Lufthansa, Amazon.com, ASDA, The Carphone Warehouse, Delta Airlines and many more have established inbound call centres within Cape Town as a means of utilising Cape Town's low labour costs and talented labour force.
South Africa is a popular tourist destination, with around 860,000 arrivals per month (March 2008) of which around 210,000 is from outside the African continent. In 2012 South Africa received 9.2 million international arrivals. In August 2017 3.5 million travellers came to South Africa. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, travel and tourism directly contributed ZAR102 billion to South African GDP in 2012 and supports 10.3% of jobs in the country. Among the main attractions are the diverse and picturesque landscape, the game reserves and the highly regarded local wines.
South Africa has a sophisticated financial structure with the JSE Securities Exchange, a large and active stock exchange that ranks 18th in the world in terms of total market capitalisation of $1.2 Trillion as of March 2018.
The banking industry, overseen by the South African Reserve Bank, is dominated by four local players: Nedbank, ABSA, Standard Bank and First Rand. These banks provide both retail and investment banking services as the sector has become highly competitive with the re-entry of many experienced foreign banks, which returned to the market in the mid-1990s, having left in the late 1980s. Banks operating in South Africa, when left short of liquidity, need to borrow from the SARB at a fluctuating repo rate, which in turn allows the central bank to monitor liquidity positions.
South Africa's informal sector contributes 8% of the country's GDP and supports 27% of all working people. The South African Local Economic Development Network values the informal economy at 28% of SA's GDP. Given the relevance of this input, there is a constant interest in developing actions on an inclusive urban planning for the working poor.
Principal international trading partners of South Africa—besides other African countries—include Germany, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Spain. Chief exports include corn, diamonds, fruits, gold, metals and minerals, sugar, and wool. Machinery and transportation equipment make up more than one-third of the value of the country's imports. Other imports include chemicals, manufactured goods, and petroleum.
As a result of a November 1993 bilateral agreement, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) can assist US investors in the South African market with services such as political risk insurance and loans and loan guarantees. In July 1996, the US and South Africa signed an investment fund protocol for a $120 million OPIC fund to make equity investments in South and Southern Africa. OPIC is establishing an additional fund – the Sub-Saharan Africa Infrastructure Fund, capitalised at $350 million – to investment in infrastructure projects. The Trade and Development Agency also has been actively involved in funding feasibility studies and identifying investment opportunities in South Africa for U.S. businesses.
Despite the numerous positive economic achievements since 1994, South Africa has struggled to attract significant foreign direct investment. The situation may have started to change however, with 2005 seeing the largest single FDI into South Africa when Barclays bought a majority share in local bank Absa Group Limited. Deals between the British-based Vodafone and South Africa's Vodacom have taken place in 2006. In 2010, two multibillion-dollar deals, one by HSBC to acquire Nedbank and one by Walmart to acquire Massmart Holdings, fell through. (Walmart did buy Massmart in 2011)
South Africa has been riven by arguments over whether the state should take over mineral resources. A study commissioned by the African National Congress recommended against the policy, saying nationalisation would be an "economic disaster." However, the ANC Youth Employment supporters disagree and state that it will give the government direct control over the mining sector which is also in alignment with the Freedom Charter signed in 1995.
The government aimed to transfer 30% of the 82 million hectares presumed to be in the hands of white farmers by Gugile Nkwinti, Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, amounting to 24.5 million hectares, to black farmers by 2014. 6.7 million hectares had been transferred by early 2012 via redistribution and restitution.
The land reform program has been criticised both by farmers' groups and by landless workers, the latter alleging that the pace of change has not been fast enough, and the former alleging anti white racist treatment with threats of genocide, voiced openly on multiple occasions by the ANC, including the former president Zuma, and expressing concerns that a similar situation to Zimbabwe's land reform policy may develop, a fear exacerbated by comments made by former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
South Africa has an extreme and persistent high unemployment rate of over 25%, which interacts with other socioeconomic problems such as: inadequate education, poor health and high levels of crime. The poorest have limited access to economic opportunities and basic services. According to a 2013 Goldman Sachs report, that number increases to 35% when including people who have given up looking for work. A quarter of South Africans live on less than US$1.25 a day.
South Africa's mass unemployment dates back to the 1970s, and continued to rise throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Unemployment has increased substantially since the African National Congress came to power in 1994, increasing from 15.6% in 1995 to 30.3% in 2001. In the second quarter of 2010, the jobless rate increased to 25.3%, and the number of people with work fell by 61,000 to 12,700,000. The biggest decline in employment was recorded in the manufacturing industry, which lost 53,000 jobs. Agriculture lost 32,000 jobs, employment in the construction industry fell by 15,000. In the third quarter of 2010, 29.80% of Blacks were recorded as unemployed, compared with 22.30% of Coloureds, 8.60 of Asians and 5.10% of Whites.
The official unemployment rate, though very high by international standards, understates its magnitude because it includes only adults who are actively looking for work. Therefore, excluding those who have given up looking for employment. Only 41% of the population of working age have any kind of job (formal or informal). This rate is 30% points lower than that of China, and about 25% lower than that of Brazil or Indonesia. The relatively generous social grants reduces the political cost of unemployment. There is some evidence that households view paid employment and social grants as substitutes at the margin: households that lose a pension-eligible member subsequently report increased labour force participation.
The unemployment problem is characterised by its lengthy duration. In the mid-1990s, nearly two-thirds of unemployed people had never worked for a salary. The 2005 Labour Force Survey found that 40% of unemployed individuals have been unemployed for more than three years, while 59% had never had a job at all. The unemployment rate has fuelled crime, inequality and social unrest. The global economic downturn made the problem worse, wiping out more than one million jobs. In September 2010, over one-third of South Africa's workforce were out of work, and so were more than half of Blacks aged 15–34, three times the level than Whites.
Some experts contend that higher wages negotiated by politically powerful trade unions have suppressed job growth. According to a study by Dani Rodrik, the shrinkage of the non-mineral tradable sector since the early-1990s and the weakness of the export-oriented manufacturing were more to blame for the low level of employment.
There has been a large degree of human capital flight from South Africa in recent years. South Africa's Bureau of Statistics estimates that between 1 million and 1.6 million people in skilled, professional, and managerial occupations have emigrated overseas since 1994 and that, for every emigrant, 10 unskilled people lose their jobs. There are a range of causes cited for the migration of skilled South Africans.
In mid-1998, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) undertook a study to examine and assess the range of factors that contribute to skilled South Africans’ desire to leave the country: over two-thirds of the sample said that they had given the idea of emigration some thought while 38% said they had given it a "great deal of thought". Among the reasons cited for wishing to leave the country was the declining quality of life and high levels of crime. Furthermore, the government's affirmative action policy was identified as another factor influencing the emigration of skilled White South Africans. The results of the survey indicate that skilled Whites are strongly opposed to this policy and the arguments advanced in support of it, due to the negative impact it has had on South Africa.
However, flight of human capital in South Africa should not be attributed solely to regional factors. For example, the demand for skilled labourers in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia has led to active recruitment programs by those countries in South Africa. These countries accounted for 75% (by volume) of recent skilled emigration with the UK receiving approximately half of annual skilled South African emigration from 1990-96. It has been suggested that the role of domestic socio-political variables may be negligible. The health sector has been hit particularly hard.
A widespread skills drain in South Africa and in the developing world in general is generally considered to be a cause for concern.
For the medical sector, the loss of returns from investment for all doctors emigrating is $1.41bn for South Africa. The benefit to destination countries is huge: $2.7bn for the United Kingdom alone.
In a case of reverse brain drain a net 359,000 high-skilled South Africans have returned to South Africa from foreign work assignments over a five-year period from 2008 to 2013. This was catalysed by the global financial crisis of 2007-8 and perceptions of higher quality of life in South Africa relative to the countries from which they first emigrated to. It is estimated that around 37% of those returning are professionals such as lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants.
Refugees from poorer neighbouring countries include many immigrants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and others, representing a large portion of the informal sector. With high unemployment levels amongst poorer South Africans, xenophobia is prevalent and many South Africans feel resentful of immigrants who are seen to be depriving the native population of jobs, a feeling which has been given credibility by the fact that many South African employers have employed migrants from other countries for lower pay than South African citizens, especially in the construction, tourism, agriculture and domestic service industries. Illegal immigrants are also heavily involved in informal trading. However, many immigrants to South Africa continue to live in poor conditions, and the South African immigration policy has become increasingly restrictive since 1994.
Since 2007 the South African unions representing public sector workers recurrently went on strike, demanding pay rises significantly above inflation, in a practice that some experts argue is suppressing job growth, harming millions of South Africans who are out of a job.
In August and September 2010, South African unions organised a crippling four-week national strike involving 1.3 million public sector workers, demanding an 8.6% wage increase. The strike ended after the government had raised its 5.2% wage increase to 7.5%. The deal swelled state spending by about 1%.
Protesters sought to block hospitals, and South African media have reported numerous acts of violence against health and education staff who insisted on going to work. Volunteers and army medics were called in to help at hospitals, and some patients were moved to private medical facilities.
There is a persistent wage differential between unionised and non-unionised workers in South Africa, suggesting that unions are keeping wages higher for their members, thereby posing additional challenges to the unemployment problem.
In July 2014, amidst a national strike by 220,000 metalworkers, General Motors temporarily shut down its vehicle assembly plant, frustrating its plans to build 50,000 cars a year in the country. "The ongoing labour disruptions are harming the South African economy and are affecting the country's image around the globe," the company said in a statement at the time.
The demise of apartheid in 1994 left a skewed racial economic hierarchy that placed Whites firmly at the top, followed by Indians, Coloureds, and then Blacks. Since then, the African National Congress government has made Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) a policy centre-piece, but by the party's own admission it has failed to improve the lot of the vast majority of Black South Africans and has taken much opportunity from the White minority, who are mainly a skilled minority. As of 2014 roughly ten percent of the Top 100 companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange were directly held by black investors though Black Economic Empowerment schemes. Black Economic Empowerment policies have been credited with creating a class of Black South Africans with a level of wealth on the same order of magnitude as very rich White South Africans.
Black Economic Empowerment—its purpose the "economic empowerment of all black people, including women, workers, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas"—requires the Minister of Trade and Industry to develop and publish Codes of Good Practice, aimed at setting guidelines for the process of BEE in the whole economy. A scorecard is used by the Department to measure compliance with the BEE requirements, and is used for public procurement, public-private partnerships, sale of state-owned enterprises, when licenses are applied for, and for any other relevant economic activity.
The government's Black Economic Empowerment policies have drawn criticism from the Development Bank of Southern Africa for focusing "almost exclusively on promoting individual ownership by black people (which) does little to address broader economic disparities, though the rich may become more diverse." The System has also been criticised for placing lesser educated people in more important positions in the workplace and their failure to perform to the standards required has had an immense impact on the economy. Another criticism also includes that the system goes against the constitution's preaching of equality by having preference over people, not on merit, but for their skin colour and is considered the opposite of what many people fought for during the Apartheid era. Official affirmative action policies have seen a rise in black economic wealth and an emerging black middle class. An increasing number of black candidates who are supposed to be beneficiaries of affirmative action are dissociating themselves from it, largely because of the perception that the appointments are not based on merit. The policy has also been criticised for having a negative impact on employment levels as it is viewed as being more of an additional burden for employees than as a transformative agent for the unemployed. Particularity in an economy where a major cause of inequality has been a growing disparity of income within the majority black population divided along lines of employment.
South Africans in general, regardless of race, hold what would be considered "traditional" stances on gender roles for men and women. The majority of the workforce is composed of males, while the majority of women do not participate. This viewpoint on males as "breadwinners" is very much in line with traditional African values across the continent. Additionally, females face a problem in terms of earnings, with 77% of women earning the same as their male counterparts. However, more women are becoming part of the agricultural workforce (55%) as of 2012, marking a move towards modernisation for women's participation in the economy.
South African legislation is strongly geared to promoting gender equality in the workplace. This is characterised by several comprehensive government programs and organisations that provide resources and services to females, both adult and adolescent. Such initiatives include the Employment Equity Act, No. 55 of 1988 (aimed at promoting women's participation in mainly private sector jobs). UNFPA South Africa is one such promoter of these policies and programs. Internally, the South African government has founded the Commission for Gender Equality. The commissions main focus is on securing adequate education and job training for women who are disenfranchised or otherwise at a disadvantage when attempting to enter the workforce.
Not uncommon in Africa, gender equality seems to be a very cogent problem in the South African workforce. According to Bain & Company, around 31% of companies have no form of female leadership, either in management or executive positions. 22% of board directors are women, however, only 7% were designated as "executives", lower than the global average of 12%. Additionally, the eNPE (Employee Net Promoter Score) for women is a net negative (- 4) as compared to men (8), according to a survey conducted of 1000 participants. This indicated a low level of actual economic promotion for women, despite public and international initiative towards the contrary.
After years of sub-standard maintenance and the South African government's inability to manage strategic resources, the state-owned power supplier Eskom started experiencing deficiency in capacity in the electrical generating and reticulation infrastructure in 2007. Such lack led to inability to meet the routine demands of industry and consumers, resulting in countrywide rolling blackouts. Initially, the lack of capacity was triggered by a failure at Koeberg nuclear power station, but a general lack of capacity due to increased demand and lack of government planning soon came to light. The supplier and the South African government has been widely criticised for failing to adequately plan for and construct sufficient electrical generating capacity, although ultimately the government has admitted that it was at fault for refusing to approve funding for investment in infrastructure.
The margin between national demand and available capacity is still low (particularly in peak hours), and power stations are under strain, such that surges in demand, which are common during winter, or drops in supply, often a result of a lack of coal for power plants, result in another phase of rolling blackouts. The government and Eskom are currently planning new power stations, at cost to the South African consumer. The power utility plans to have 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power in its grid by 2025.
Some predictions show surface water supply could decrease by 60% by the year 2070 in parts of the Western Cape.
The South African government planned to spend R69 billion on water infrastructure between 2008 and 2015. This involves building new dams and ancillary infrastructure, and repairing existing infrastructure. South Africa has an estimated total water capacity of 38 billion cubic metres, but will need 65 billion by 2025 if the economy is to keep on growing. The massive urban migration has placed further strain on the country's ageing water infrastructure and created a large backlog.
As part of an international attempt to modernize infrastructure, South Africa has faced increasing pressure to invest government funds into its water and electricity sectors. At current, these sectors are underfunded by approximately US$464 billion (This is according to the G20 GI Hub).
South Africa has extreme differences in incomes and wealth. The good level of economic growth in the post-apartheid period has led to a measurable decline in income poverty, but inequality has increased. The high level of overall income inequality has further accentuated: the country's Gini coefficient increased by four percentage points, from 0.66 to 0.70, between 1993 and 2008, and income has become increasingly concentrated in the top decile. Inequality between urban and rural areas is changing: while rural poverty rates remain substantially higher than those in urban areas, urban poverty rates are rising and rural rates seem to be falling.
While between-race inequality is slowly falling, an increase in intra-race inequality is preventing the aggregate measures from declining. Despite that, between-race inequality remains a central issue: real incomes have been rising for all groups, but many blacks in the country still live in poverty. At any poverty line, blacks are very much poorer than coloureds, who are very much poorer than Indians, who are poorer than whites. In 2002, according to one estimate, 62% of Black Africans, 29% of Coloureds, 11% of Asians, and 4% of Whites lived in poverty.
The mean per-capita income has risen from R10,741 in 1993 to R24,409 in 2008, but these figures hide large differences in household welfare, both within and across population groups: the average Black income increased from R6,018 in 1993 to R9,718 in 2008; for Coloured households, the increase was from R7,498 to R25,269; for Whites, the increase was from R29,372 to R110,195. While mean income rose about 130% from 1993 to 2008, the median income rose just 15% over the same period, from R4,444 to R5,096, indicating that the increases are being driven by a small number of very large incomes, especially for Whites.
In 2000 the average white household was earning six times more than the average black household. In 2004, 29.8% of all households had an income (at constant 2001 prices) of less than R9,600 per annum, while 10.3% of all households enjoyed an annual income (at constant 2001 prices) of more than R153,601 per annum.
One study using calculations based on National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data suggests that 47% of South Africans live below the poverty line: 56% of blacks live in poverty compared to 2% of whites, using an arbitrary income poverty line of R502 per capita. Although, it should also be noted that black South Africans make up the majority of the population at 79.2% while white South Africans make up only 8.9% of the population according to the Statistics South Africa census released in 2011. The United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index (HDI) ranked South Africa 110 out of 169 countries in 2010. The report notes, however, that the region's assessment has improved slowly since 1980. The HDI includes a Human Poverty Index (HPI-1), which ranked South Africa 85 out of 135 countries.
The number of South Africans living below the poverty line, identified according to Apartheid-era social categories, was calculated in one study as 56% "black", 27% "coloured", 9% "Indian", and 2% "white". In the past inequality in South Africa was largely defined along race lines, but it has become increasingly defined by inequality within population groups as the gap between rich and poor within each group has increased substantially.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development proposals for addressing income inequality included: encouraging more saving and investment; a liberalisation of product-market regulation; easier access to credit for small businesses; greater co-ordination in wage bargaining; and measures to tackle the high level of youth unemployment. Some proposals have included wage subsidies for people being trained, a minimum wage differentiated by age, and extended periods of probation for young workers.
A 2011 study published by the University of Cape Town about the richest 10% found that nearly 40% are black, where this group had once been almost exclusively white. While only 29% of the absolute wealthiest South Africans are black, this jumps to 50% among the "entry-level" rich (defined as earning more than $4,000 per month). Factors that were found to be common among those in the entry-level rich group include being young, entrepreneurial and having some post-secondary education.
According to one estimate, 10.4% of South Africans belonged to the "higher middle class" in 2004, defined as having a per capita income of over R40,000 (in 2000 Rand).
The top rate of personal income tax rate in South Africa is 45%; the corporate tax rate is 28%. Other taxes include a value-added tax and a capital gains tax, with the overall tax burden amounting to 23.4% of total domestic income.
South Africa has about three times as many recipients of social benefits as it has income tax-payers, an extremely high ratio by international standards. After 1994 resources have been rapidly reallocated to black households: while approximately 40% of aggregate social spending was directed to whites and 43% to blacks in the mid-1980s, by the late 1990s fully 80% of total social spending was assigned to blacks and less than 10% to whites.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund is financed out of premiums, contributions and benefits depend on earnings, and focuses on insuring workers against the risk of income loss.
Social assistance grants are non-contributory, income-tested benefits provided by the state to the poor, and are financed out of general tax revenues without any links between contributions and benefits. They are provided in the form of: grants for older persons; disability grants; war veterans grants; care dependency grants; foster child grants; child support grants; grant-in-aid; social relief of distress.
The state old age pension, received by over 80% of the elderly, is a non-contributory pension and pays more than twice median per capita Black income, thus representing an important source of income for a third of all Black households in the country. It pays a maximum of R1,780 (as of July 2019) to people who reach pension age without access to private pensions.
The child support grant provides R420 per month, per child (as of July 2019) for every child in the household younger than 18, and benefited 9.1 million children by April 2009.
The war veterans grant is provided to former soldiers who fought in the Second World War or the Korean War, and pays a maximum amount of R1,800 per month (as of July 2019).
According to a December 2010 article by the South African Government Communication and Information System's now-defunct BuaNews news service, South Africa was said to compare well to other emerging markets on affordability and availability of capital, financial market sophistication, business tax rates and infrastructure, but to fare poorly on the cost and availability of labour, education, and the use of technology and innovation.
Released in early December 2010 and no longer available online, the survey by Brazil's National Confederation of Industry, “Competitividade Brasil 2010: Comparaçao com Paises Selecionados“, (Competition Brazil: A comparison with selected countries), found South Africa to have the second most sophisticated financial market and the second-lowest effective business tax rate (business taxes as a percentage of company profits), out of 14 surveyed countries. The country was also ranked fourth for ease of accessing capital, fourth for cost of capital, sixth for its transport infrastructure (at the time considered better than that of China, India, Mexico, Brazil and Poland, but behind that of Korea and Chile), and seventh for foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP: in 2008 it was over 3% of the GDP.
Nevertheless, South Africa is falling behind other emerging markets, such as India and China, owing to several factors: the country is relatively small, without the advantage of a huge domestic customer base; it has had for decades an unusually low rate of saving and investment, partly because of low disposable income; an inadequate education system results in an acute shortage of skilled manpower; a strong and volatile currency deters investors and makes its exports less competitive; the infrastructure, though far better than in the rest of Africa, suffers from severe bottlenecks, including scheduled power shortages, and urgently needs upgrading.
In 2011, after a year of observer status, South Africa officially joined the BRICS group of now-five emerging-market nations at the summit held in Sanya, Hainan, China. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27372 |
Telecommunications in South Africa
Telecommunications infrastructure in South Africa provides modern and efficient service to urban areas, including cellular and internet services. In 1997, Telkom, the South African telecommunications parastatal, was partly privatised and entered into a strategic equity partnership with a consortium of two companies, including SBC, a U.S. telecommunications company. In exchange for exclusivity (a monopoly) to provide certain services for 5 years, Telkom assumed an obligation to facilitate network modernisation and expansion into the unserved areas.
A Second Network Operator was to be licensed to compete with Telkom across its spectrum of services in 2002, although this license was only officially handed over in late 2005 and has recently begun operating under the name, Neotel. South Africa has four licensed mobile operators: MTN, Vodacom (majority owned by the UK’s Vodafone), Cell C (75% owned by Saudi Oger, an international telecommunications holdings firm), and 8ta, a subsidiary of Telkom. Mobile penetration is estimated at more than 10%, one of the highest rates in the world. The five cellular providers are Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom (Mobile), which is run by Telkom, and from early 2018 Rain (Pty) Ltd.
The first use of telecommunication in the Republic of South Africa was a single line telegraph connecting Cape Town and Simonstown. At about the time of the Bell Telephone Company's development of the telephone industry post-1876, early undersea telegraph links were introduced, first connecting Durban and Europe, and later connecting the country to the rest of the world. In the mid-twentieth century undersea telephone cables were also commissioned.
The network continued to develop through internal financing in a heavily regulated market as international technology developed. At this point, telephone services were operated by the South African Post Office. In the 1960s, South Africa was connected to 72 nations and total outgoing annual international calls numbered over 28,800.
In the 1990s, South Africa launched a mobile operations, underwritten by Telkom in partnership with Vodafone. This subsidiary grew to be Vodacom, which Telkom sold in late 2008 in preference for its own 3G network. Vodacom has a subscriber base of more than R45M, with an average revenue per user of more than R60 across both rural and urban subscribers. Vodacom, together with the other operators, have come under criticism in late 2009 by government and the public for high interconnect charges. This issue was currently being discussed by the Parliamentary Committee on Telecommunications.
In 2004, the Department of Communications redefined the Electronics Communications Act, which consolidated and redefined the landscape of telecommunications licensing in South Africa (both mobile and fixed). The Independent Communications Authority (ICASA) currently licenses more than 400 independent operators with the Electronic Communications Network License (with the ability to self-provision) as well as issuing Electronic Communications Service Licenses for service deployment over infrastructure in the retail domain.
Telkom is no longer the single operator in South Africa, and faces competition from the second Fixed Network Operator Licensee, Neotel, as well as the four mobile operators, Vodacom, MTN, Cell-C and Rain. However, it still receives criticisms (see later) from smaller operators and the Competition Commission for setting South African broadband pricing in its favour.
Four main television stations are available to the public. These are namely SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3 and eTV. Other community-based stations are also on offer, such as Soweto TV and Cape Town TV (ctv).
DStv is currently South Africa's only operating and Africa's largest satellite television provider. The company provides over 100 video and over 78 audio channels, and in 2008 introduced its first HD video channel. Since then an additional five HD channels have been introduced - namely M-Net HD, SuperSport HD, Discovery HD, SuperSport HD 2, M-Net Movies 1 HD and SuperSport HD 3.
In 2008, additional pay-TV licenses were granted to various companies in South Africa. As of January 2010, none of the companies granted a license have begun providing services. However, On Digital Media (ODM), have stated that they are on track to begin sale of their product in May 2010, and that prices will be significantly cheaper than their competitor DStv. In 2012, DSTV now has added 8 more channels all for movies.
Although expensive compared to more developed nations, broadband is easily obtainable in South Africa. Fixed line options such as ADSL, ISDN, Diginet and Leased Lines are available from the national operator Telkom. Recently, legislation was passed by government allowing all licensed telecommunications providers to build their own fixed line networks, resulting in a scramble by companies such as Vodacom, MTN South Africa and Neotel to construct their own country and citywide fibre-optic networks. Individual South African cities such as Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria are also in the process of, or have completed construction of city-owned fibre-optic networks. These will provide services to city and government-owned establishments, and will act as an extra source of income through the sale of excess bandwidth mainly to companies.
Wireless options are available from Sentech, iBurst, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom and a number of other ISP's. They typically provide speeds of up to 7.6 Mbit/s with HSDPA. HSUPA is also available. MTN South Africa was among the very first mobile networks in the world to offer HSDPA services to its customers. Satellite options are available from both Sentech and Telkom.
A SNO, Neotel, has been licensed in South Africa and is currently offering a wireless service in selected areas. According to Neotel, up-take of its services has exceeded expectations, and as a result Neotel are rapidly expanding services throughout major metropolitan areas in South Africa. In 2009, SEACOM - the second undersea cable to land in South Africa - jointly owned and operated by Neotel - was switched on. Neotel have stated that sale of SEACOM bandwidth, too, has exceeded expectations, and will drive the continual downward-spiral of internet prices in the country. As of January 2010, South Africa has over 2 million broadband subscribers. Whilst this is the largest number in Africa, South Africa's broadband penetration of 4% is significantly below international standards.
The first telephone patent was issued to Alexander Graham Bell in March 1876. The first use of telecommunication in the Union of South Africa was a single line telegraph connecting Cape Town and Simonstown. After Bell Labs' development of undersea telephone signal repeaters, the first undersea links were introduced connecting Durban and Europe, and soon after to the rest of the world. The network continued in a heavily regulated market as international technology developed. Until 1991 telephone services were operated by the South African Postal Service.
Telkom was incorporated on 30 September 1991 as a public limited liability company registered under the South African Companies Act, 61 of 1973, as amended.
In 1993 GSM was demonstrated for the first time in Africa at Telkom '93 in Cape Town. In 1994 the first GSM networks in Africa were launched in South Africa.
The first public videoconference between the continent of Africa and North America occurred on 24 June 1995 (2:00-3:00 p.m. PST). The Cybersafari Digital Be-In and Internet Love-Fest linked a technology fair at Fort Mason in San Francisco with a techno "rave" and cyber-deli in Woodstock, Cape Town. For one hour, members of the public communicated with each other via a simple Picturetel system using a 128kb ISDN line. "Cognitive dissident" and communications activist David Robert Lewis initiated the video conference and peacecast on the San Francisco side, and Freddie Bell answered the call in Woodstock, Cape Town. Because of different ISDN standards, a video bridge via Boston was used to achieve the link, which also featured interactive dancing. Organisations which took credit were technology sponsors Picturetel and Telkom, plus Peacecast organisors Unity 95, Parallel University, Vortex, Creativity Cafe and line producer "Cybersafari to Africa". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27373 |
Transport in South Africa
Different methods of Transport in South Africa include roads, railways, airports, water, and pipelines for petroleum oil. The majority of people in South Africa use informal minibus taxis as their main mode of transport. BRT has been implemented in some South African cities in an attempt to provide more formalised and safer public transport services. These systems have been widely criticised due to their large capital and operating costs. A "freeway" is different from most countries as certain things are forbidden which include certain motorcycles, no hand signals, and motor tricycles. South Africa has many major ports including Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth that allow ships and other boats to pass through, some carrying passengers and some carrying petroleum tankers.
The national speed limit is 60 km/h in residential areas and 120 national roads/freeways/motorways.
In 2002 the country had 362,099 km of highways, 73,506 km (17%) of which was paved (including 239 km of expressways).
In South Africa, the term "freeway" differs from most other parts of the world. A freeway is a road where certain restrictions apply.
The following are forbidden from using a freeway:
Drivers may not use hand signals on a freeway (except in emergencies) and the minimum speed on a freeway is . Drivers in the rightmost lane of multi-carriageway freeways must move to the left if a faster vehicle approaches from behind to overtake.
Despite popular opinion that "freeway" means a road with at least two carriageways, single carriageway freeways exist, as is evidenced by the statement that "the roads include 1400 km of dual carriageway freeway, 440 km of single carriageway freeway and 5300 km of single carriage main road with unlimited access."
The Afrikaans translation of "freeway" is "snelweg" (literally "fast road" or "expressway").
The Department of Transport is responsible for the regulation of all transportation in South Africa, including public transport, rail transportation, civil aviation, shipping, freight, and motor vehicles. According to the Department's vision statement, "Transport [is] the heartbeat of South Africa's economic growth and social development!"
Minibus Taxis are the predominant form of transport for people in urban areas of South Africa. This is due to their availability and affordability to the public. Most minibus taxis are not subsidized by the state and the taxi industry is notorious for using vehicles that are not well maintained are that are often not roadworthy to keep costs low. Because many taxi owners own just a few taxis and each owner may choose to manage their business differently, there is not much known as to the inner workings of the industry that is rife with violence. Since 1994 there have been efforts to formalize the industry but as taxi organisations often don't abide by labour regulations, relationships between taxi operators and the state are often strained.
The City of Cape Town has made it clear that developing public transportation must be a priority, if it is to achieve its long-term developmental goals. As such, the City has planned out the development of an Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) system called "MyCiTi IRT". In 2007, the construction of this system began with the implementation of Cape Town's "Bus Rapid Transit" system. This first phase has been designed to enable easy integration of other forms of public transport - ranging from cycling to South Africa's famous minibuses in later phases of the IRT development - including rail transit, seen currently as "the backbone of public transportation in Cape Town."
In 2000, South Africa had 20,384 km of rail transport, all of it narrow gauge. 20,070 km was gauge (9,090 km of that electrified), with the remaining 314 km gauge. The operation of the country's rail systems is accomplished by Transnet subsidiaries Transnet Freight Rail, Shosholoza Meyl, Metrorail, Transnet Rail Engineering, Protekon et al.
A feasibility study is to be conducted into the construction of a 720 km of (standard gauge) line from Johannesburg to Durban for double-stack container trains.
On 2010-06-07 the Gautrain opened between Oliver R Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) and Sandton. This is the first stage of a standard gauge passenger line connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria and ORTIA.
Links exist to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. Railways linking Mozambique are under repair.
South Africa has International Airports in four cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Nelspruit. The main international airports are in Johannesburg, and to a lesser extent Cape Town. Nespruit's international airport mainly serves travellers en route to the Kruger National park.
There are many international airlines travelling to South Africa, giving travellers a healthy number of options. These include British Airways, Delta Airlines, Ethiopian Airways, Kenya Airways, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss International Airlines, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Air Mauritius, Air Namibia, Air Botswana, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Malaysia Airlines, and Qatar Airways.
South Africa's major ports and harbours are Cape Town, Durban, East London, Mossel Bay, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, and Saldanha Bay. In 2006 the new port is to open: Ngqura, at Coega, which is 20 km northeast of Port Elizabeth. The administration and operation of the country's port facilities are done by two subsidiaries of Transnet, the Transnet National Ports Authority and South African Port Operations (SAPO).
As of March 2018, the merchant marine consisted of 15 ships totalling 431,133 GT.
There are 931 km of crude oil pipeline transport, 1,748 km for other petroleum products, and 322 km for natural gas. Petronet, a subsidiary of Transnet, which in turn is majority-owned by the government, is principally responsible for the operation of South Africa's pipelines.
A number of urban tramway systems operated in South Africa but no longer do so. The last system (in Johannesburg) began in 1890 as Rand Tramway (electrified in 1906) and ceased operations in 1961. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27374 |
Snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport that originated among British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century. It is played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth (or "baize"), with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick and 21 coloured balls, players must strike the white ball (or "cue ball") to or the remaining balls in the correct sequence, accumulating points for each pot. An individual game (or ), is won by the player scoring the most points. A match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames.
Snooker gained its identity in 1875 when army officer Sir Neville Chamberlain (1856–1944), stationed in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid and black pool. The word "snooker" was a long-used military term for inexperienced or first-year personnel. The game grew in popularity in the United Kingdom, and the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed in 1919. It is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927. Joe Davis, a key figure and pioneer in the early growth of the sport, won the championship 15 straight times between 1927 and 1946. The "modern era" began in 1969 after the broadcaster BBC commissioned the snooker television show "Pot Black" and later began to air the World Championship in 1978. Key figures in the game were Ray Reardon in the 1970s, Steve Davis in the 1980s, and Stephen Hendry in the 1990s, each winning six or more World championships. Since 2000, Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the most world titles, with five. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and earn millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour, which features players from across the world.
The origin of snooker dates back to the latter half of the 19th century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity among British Army officers stationed in Jabalpur, India, and several variations of the game were devised during this time. One variation that originated at the officers' mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875 combined the rules of two pocket billiards games: pyramid and black pool. The former was played with fifteen red coloured balls positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated balls. The game was developed in 1884 when its first set of rules was finalised by Sir Neville Chamberlain, an English army officer who helped develop and popularise the game at Stone House in Ooty (Ootacamund) on a table built by Burroughes & Watts that was brought over by boat.
The word "snooker" was a slang term for first-year cadets and inexperienced military personnel, but Chamberlain would often use it for the performance of one of his fellow officers at the table. In 1887, snooker was given its first definite reference in England in a copy of "Sporting Life" which caused a growth in popularity. Chamberlain came out as the game's inventor in a letter to "The Field" published on 19 March 1938, 63 years after the fact.
Snooker grew in popularity across the Indian colonies and the United Kingdom, but it remained a game mainly for the gentry, and many gentlemen's clubs that had a billiards table would not allow non-members inside to play. To accommodate the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed. In 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) and a new, standard set of rules for snooker first became official.
In 1927 the first World Snooker Championship was organised by Joe Davis. Davis, as a professional English billiards and snooker player, moved the game from a pastime to a professional activity. Davis won every world championship until 1946, when he retired from the championships. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played. In 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game known as "Snooker Plus" to try to improve the game's popularity by adding two extra colours, but this failed to gain interest.
In 1969, David Attenborough commissioned the snooker television series "Pot Black" to demonstrate the potential of colour television, with the green table and multi-coloured balls being ideal for showing off the advantages of colour broadcasting. The series became a ratings success and was for a time the second-most popular show on BBC2. Interest in the game increased and the 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first to be fully televised. The game quickly became a mainstream game in the United Kingdom, Ireland and much of the Commonwealth, and has enjoyed much success since the late 1970s, with most of the ranking tournaments being televised. By the 1985 World Snooker Championship a total of 18.5 million viewers watched the concluding frame of the final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, a record viewership for the United Kingdom for any broadcast after midnight. In the early 2000s, a ban on tobacco advertising led to a decrease in the number of professional tournaments, with professional tournaments being cut to only 15 events in 2003, from 22 in 1999. However, the popularity of the game in Asia, with emerging talents such as Liang Wenbo and more established players such as Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, boosted the sport in the Far East. By 2007, the BBC dedicated 400 hours to snooker coverage, compared to just 14 minutes 40 years earlier.
In 2010, promoter Barry Hearn gained a controlling interest in World Snooker Ltd. and the World Snooker Tour, pledging to revitalise the "moribund" professional game. Since this time, the number of professional tournaments has increased, with 44 events in the 2019/20 season. Events have also been made to be more suitable for television broadcasts, such as the Snooker Shoot-Out, a timed, one- tournament. Prize money for professional events has also increased, with top players making several million pounds during their careers. The winner of the 2020 World Snooker Championship will receive £500,000 out of a total fund of £2,395,000.
The objective of the game is to score more than one's opponent by potting in the correct order. At the start of a frame, the balls are positioned as shown in the first image, and the players then take turns hitting shots by striking the cue ball with the of the cue, their aim being to pot one of the red balls into a pocket and thereby score a point. Failure to make contact with the red ball constitutes a foul shot. If the striker pots a red ball, he or she must then pot one of the six "colours". If the player successfully pots a colour, the value of that ball is added to the player's score, and the ball is returned to its starting position on the table. After that, the player must pot another red ball, then another colour, in sequence. This process continues until the striker fails to pot the desired ball, at which point the opponent comes to the table to play the next shot. The act of scoring sequentially in this manner is to make a (see scoring below).
The game continues in this manner until all the reds are potted and only the six colours are left on the table. At this point the colours must be potted in the order from least to most valuable ball, as per the table to the right. The shots are: yellow first (two points), then green (three points), brown (four points), blue (five points), pink (six points) and black (seven points), the balls not being returned to play. When the final ball is potted, the player with more points wins. If the scores are equal when all the balls have been potted, the black is placed back on its spot as a tiebreaker. In this situation, called , the black ball is placed on its designated spot and the cue ball is played as . The referee then tosses a coin and the winner decides which player goes first. The frame continues until one of the players pots the black ball or commits a foul. A player may also concede a frame while on strike if he or she thinks there are not enough points available on the table to beat the opponent's score. In professional snooker this is a common occurrence.
Professional and competitive amateur matches are officiated by a referee. The referee also replaces the colours on the table when necessary and calls out how many points the player has scored during a break. Professional players usually play the game in a sporting manner, declaring fouls which they have committed but the referee has missed, acknowledging good shots from their opponent, and holding up a hand to apologise for fortunate shots, known as "flukes".
Points in snooker are gained from potting the correct balls in sequence. The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one to the table is known as a break. A player attaining a break of 15, for example, could have reached it by potting a red then a black, then a red then a pink, before failing to pot the next red. A maximum break in snooker is achieved by potting all reds with blacks then all colours, yielding 147 points; this is often known as a "147" or just as a "maximum".
Points may also be scored in a game when a player's opponent . A foul can occur for various reasons, most commonly for failing to hit the correct ball (e.g. hitting a colour first when the player was attempting to hit a red), or for sending the cue ball into a pocket. The former may occur when the player fails to escape from a "" – a situation in which the previous player leaves the cue ball positioned such that no legal ball can be struck directly without obstruction by an illegal ball. Points gained from a foul vary from a minimum of four to a maximum of seven if the black ball is involved.
A foul shot that leaves no valid shot for the opponent can leave them a . A free ball allows a player to use any other coloured ball in place of the shot they were supposed to play. Doing so with all 15 red balls in play can result in a break exceeding a maximum, with the highest possible being a 155 break, achieved via the opponent leaving a , with the black being potted as the additional colour, and then potting 15 reds and blacks with the colours. Jamie Cope has the distinction of being the first player in snooker history to post a verified 155 break, achieved in a practice frame in 2005, with other players such as Alex Higgins also claiming to have made a similar break.
One , from the balls in their starting position until the last ball is potted, is called a "". A generally consists of a predetermined number of frames and the player who wins the most frames wins the match. Most professional matches require a player to win five frames, and are called "best of nine" in reference to the maximum possible number of frames. Tournament finals are usually best of 17 or best of 19, while the world championship uses longer matches – ranging from best of 19 in the qualifiers and the first round up to best of 35 for the final (first to 18), and is played over four sessions of play held over two days.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA, also known as World Snooker), founded in 1968 as the Professional Billiard Players' Association, is the governing body for the professional competition. The amateur game (including youth competition) is governed by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF). Events held specifically for women and events for seniors are handled by World Snooker under World Women's Snooker and the World Seniors Tour, respectively. The highest levels of the sport are the IBSF World Snooker Championship, World Seniors Championship and the Ladies World Snooker Championship.
Professional snooker players play on the World Snooker Tour. Events on the Tour are only open to players on the Tour and selected amateur players, but most events require qualification. Players can qualify for the Tour either by being high enough on the world rankings from prior seasons, winning continental championships, or through the Challenge Tour or Q School events. Players on the Tour generally gain two-year participation for the events.
Reflecting the game's aristocratic origins, the majority of tournaments on the professional circuit require players to wear waistcoats and bow ties. In recent years the necessity for this has been questioned, and players such as Stephen Maguire have been granted medical exemptions from wearing a bow tie.
The Tour also has an official world rankings scheme, with only players on the Tour receiving a ranking. Ranking points, earned by players through their performances over the previous two seasons, determine the current world rankings. A player's ranking determines what level of qualification he or she requires for specific tournaments. The elite of professional snooker are generally regarded as the "top-16" ranking players. They are not required to pre-qualify for some of the tournaments, such as the Shanghai Masters, the Masters and the World Snooker Championship. Certain other events, such as those in the Coral Cup series, use the one-year ranking list to qualify; these use the results of the current season to denote participants. Currently, the Tour contains 125 players, with players either in the top 64 on the official ranking list, or finishing as one of the top eight prize money earners during the most recent season, guaranteed a tour place for the next season, this being assessed after the World Championship.
The oldest professional snooker tournament is the World Championship, held annually since 1927 (except during World War II and between 1958 and 1963). The tournament has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, since 1977, and was sponsored by Embassy from 1976 to 2005. Since the ban on advertising tobacco products, the championships have been sponsored by betting companies.
The World Championship is the most highly valued prize in professional snooker in terms of financial reward (£500,000 for the winner, formerly £300,000), ranking points and prestige. It is televised extensively in the UK by the BBC and gains significant coverage in Europe on Eurosport and in East Asia on CCTV-5. The World Championships is part of the Triple Crown along with the UK Championship and the non-ranking Masters. These events are valued by some players as the most prestigious, and are also some of the oldest competitions. Winning all three events is a difficult task, and has only been done by 11 players.
With some events having been criticised for matches taking too long, an alternative series of timed tournaments has been organised by Matchroom Sport chairman Barry Hearn. The shot-timed Premier League Snooker was established, with seven players invited to compete at regular United Kingdom venues, televised on Sky Sports. Players had twenty-five seconds to take each shot, with five time-outs per player per match. While some success was achieved with this format, it generally did not receive the same amount of press attention or status as the regular ranking tournaments. This event has been taken out of the tour since 2013, when the Champion of Champions was established. The Champion of Champions saw players qualify by virtue of winning other events in the season, with 16 champions competing.
In 2015, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association submitted an unsuccessful bid for snooker to be played at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Another bid has been put forward for 2024 Summer Olympics through the World Snooker Federation, founded in 2017. A trial for the format for cue sports to be played at the 2024 games was put forward at the 2019 World Team Trophy, also featuring nine-ball and carom billiards. Snooker has been contested at the World Games since 2001, and was included as an event at the 2019 African Games.
Several players, such as Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Allen and Steve Davis, have warned that there are too many tournaments during the season, and that players risk burning out. In 2012, O'Sullivan played fewer tournaments in order to spend more time with his children, and ended the 2012–13 season ranked 19th in the world. Furthermore, he did not play any tournament in 2013 except the World Championship, which he won. O'Sullivan has suggested that a "breakaway tour" with fewer events would be beneficial to the sport, but as of 2019 no such tour has been organised.
Some leagues have allowed clubs to refuse to accept women players in tournaments. League committee leadership defended the practice, saying, "If we lose two of these clubs [with the men-only policies] we would lose four teams and we can't afford to lose four teams otherwise we would have no league." A World Women's Snooker spokesperson said, "It is disappointing and unacceptable that in 2019 that players such as Rebecca Kenna have been the victim of antiquated discriminatory practices." The All-Party Parliamentary Group said, "The group believes that being prevented from playing in a club because of gender is archaic."
Accessories used for snooker include for the tip of the cue, of various sorts used for playing shots that cannot be played by hand, a triangle to the reds, and a scoreboard. One drawback of snooker on a full-size () table is the size of the room (), which is the minimum required for comfortable cueing room on all sides. This limits the number of locations in which the game can easily be played. While pool tables are common to many pubs, snooker tends to be played either in private surroundings or in public snooker halls. The game can also be played on smaller tables using fewer red balls. Variant table sizes include , , , (the smallest for realistic play) and . Smaller tables can come in a variety of styles, such as fold-away or dining-table convertible.
A traditional snooker scoreboard resembles an abacus and records the score for each frame in units and twenties and the frame scores. They are typically attached to a wall by the snooker table. A simple scoring bead is also sometimes used, called a "scoring string", or "scoring wire". Each bead (segment of the string) represents a single point. Snooker players typically move one or several beads with their cue.
The playing surface is 356.9 cm (11 feet 8.5 inches) by 177.8 cm (5 feet 10 inches) for a standard full-size table, with six pocket holes, one at each corner and one at the centre of each of the longer side cushions.
The felt is usually a form of fully wool green baize, with a directional nap running from the baulk end of the table towards the end with the black ball spot. The nap will affect the direction of the cue ball depending on which direction the cue ball is shot and also on whether left or right side (spin) is placed on the ball. Even if the cue ball is hit in exactly the same way, the nap will cause a different effect depending on whether the ball is hit down table (towards the black ball spot) or up table (towards the baulk line). The cloth on a snooker table is not vacuumed, as this can destroy the nap. The cloth is brushed in a straight line from the baulk end to the far end with multiple brush strokes that are straight in direction (i.e. not across the table). Some table men will also then drag a dampened cloth wrapped around a short piece of board (like a two by four), or straight back of a brush to collect any remaining fine dust and help lay the nap down. The table is then ironed. Strachan cloth, used in official snooker tournaments, is 100% wool. Some other cloths include a small percentage of nylon.
In the professional era that began with Joe Davis in the 1930s and continues until the present day, a relatively small number of players have succeeded at the top level. Joe Davis was world champion for twenty years, retiring unbeaten after claiming his fifteenth world title in 1946 when the tournament was reinstated after the Second World War. Davis was unbeaten in World Championship play, and was only ever beaten four times in his entire life, with all four defeats coming after his World Championship retirement and inflicted by his own brother Fred Davis. He did lose matches in handicapped tournaments, but on level terms these four defeats were the only losses of his entire career. He was also world billiards champion. It is regarded as highly unlikely that anyone will ever dominate the game to this level again.
After Davis retired from World Championship play, the next dominant force was his younger brother Fred Davis, who had lost the 1940 final to Joe. By 1947, Fred Davis was deemed ready by his brother to take over the mantle, but lost the world final to the Scotsman Walter Donaldson. Davis and Donaldson would contest the next four finals. After the abandonment of the World Championship in 1953, with the 1952 final boycotted by British professionals, the World Professional Match-play Championship became the unofficial world championship. Fred Davis won the event every year until its penultimate one, in 1957, which he did not enter.
John Pulman was the most successful player of the 1960s, when the world championship was contested on a challenge basis. However, when the tournament reverted to a knockout formula in 1969, he did not prosper. Ray Reardon became the dominant force in the 1970s, winning six titles (1970, 1973–1976 and 1978), with John Spencer winning three.
Steve Davis' first world title in 1981 made him only the 11th world champion since 1927, including the winner of the boycotted 1952 title, Horace Lindrum. Davis would win six World Championships (1981, 1983, 1984 and 1987–1989), and competed in the most watched snooker match ever, the 1985 World Snooker Championship final with Dennis Taylor. Stephen Hendry became the 14th in 1990 and dominated through the 1990s, winning seven titles (1990, 1992–1996 and 1999). Ronnie O'Sullivan is the closest to dominance in the modern era, having won the title on five occasions in the 21st century (2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013). Mark Williams has won three times (2000, 2003 and 2018) and John Higgins four times (1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011), but since the beginning of the century, there has not been a dominant force like in previous decades, and the modern era has seen many players playing to a similar standard, instead of one player raising the bar. Davis, for example, won more ranking tournaments than the rest of the top 64 players put together by 1985. By retaining his title in 2013, O'Sullivan became the first player to successfully defend the World Championship since Hendry in 1996 (Mark Selby would also do this in 2017). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27378 |
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is long and wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is . The Falkland Islands are about west-northwest from its nearest point.
No permanent native population lives in the South Sandwich Islands, and a very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia. There are no scheduled passenger flights or ferries to or from the territory, although visits by cruise liners to South Georgia are increasingly popular, with several thousand visitors each summer.
The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" was formed in 1985; previously, it had been governed as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938.
Argentina maintained a naval station, Corbeta Uruguay, on Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the Royal Navy. The Argentine claim over South Georgia contributed to the 1982 Falklands War, during which Argentine forces briefly occupied the island. Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
Toothfish are vital to the islands' economy; as a result, Toothfish Day is celebrated on 4 September as a bank holiday in the territory.
The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and an Englishman despite his French name. The island was named "Roche Island" on early maps. It was sighted by the commercial Spanish ship "León" operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756. At one time it was confused with Pepys Island, which was "discovered" by William Dampier and Ambrose Cowley in 1683 but later proved to be a phantom island.
James Cook circumnavigated the island in 1775 and made the first landing. He claimed the territory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, and named it the Isle of Georgia, in honour of King George III. British arrangements for the government of South Georgia were established under the 1843 British Letters Patent.
In 1882–1883, a German expedition for the first International Polar Year was stationed at Royal Bay on the southeast side of the island. The scientists of this group observed the transit of Venus and recorded waves produced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. Seal hunting at South Georgia began in 1786 and continued throughout the 19th century. The waters proved treacherous and a number of vessels were wrecked there, such as , in late-1801.
South Georgia became a base for whaling beginning in the 20th century, until whaling ended in the 1960s. A Norwegian, Carl Anton Larsen, established the first land-based whaling station and first permanent habitation at Grytviken in 1904. It operated through his Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytviken. The station operated until 1965. Whaling stations operated under leases granted by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. The seven stations, all on the north coast with its sheltered harbours, were, from the west to east:
The whaling stations' tryworks were unpleasant and dangerous places to work. One was called "a charnel house boiling wholesale in Vaseline" by an early 20th-century visitor. Tim Flannery wrote that its "putrid vapors [resembled] the pong of bad fish, manure, and a tanning works mixed together", and noted one bizarre peril: "A rotting whale could fill with gas to bursting, ejecting a fetus the size of a motor vehicle with sufficient force to kill a man."
With the end of the whaling industry, the stations were abandoned. Apart from a few preserved buildings such as the South Georgia Museum and Norwegian Lutheran Church at Grytviken, only their decaying remains survive. From 1905, the Argentine Meteorological Office cooperated in maintaining a meteorological observatory at Grytviken under the British lease requirements of the whaling station until these changed in 1949.
In 1908, the United Kingdom issued further letters patent that established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the South Atlantic. The letters covered South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, the South Sandwich Islands, and Graham Land. The claim was extended in 1917 to include a sector of Antarctica reaching to the South Pole. In 1909, an administrative centre and residence were established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, near the whaling station of Grytviken. A permanent local British administration and resident magistrate exercised effective possession, enforcement of British law, and regulation of all economic, scientific, and other activities in the territory, which was then governed as the Falkland Islands Dependencies. In about 1912, what is according to some accounts the largest whale ever caught, a blue whale of , was landed at Grytviken.
In April 1916, Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition became stranded on Elephant Island, some southwest of South Georgia. Shackleton and five companions set out in a small boat to summon help, and on 10 May, after an epic voyage, they landed at King Haakon Bay on South Georgia's south coast. While three stayed at the coast, Shackleton and the two others, Tom Crean and Frank Worsley, went on to cover over the spine of the mountainous island to reach help at Stromness whaling station. The remaining 22 members of the expedition, who had stayed on Elephant Island, were subsequently rescued. In January 1922, during a later expedition, Shackleton died on board ship while moored in King Edward Cove, South Georgia. He is buried at Grytviken. The ashes of another noted Antarctic explorer, Frank Wild, who had been Shackleton's second-in-command on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, were interred next to Shackleton in 2011.
Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927. The basis of this claim, and of a later claim in 1938 to the South Sandwich Islands has been questioned. During the Second World War, the Royal Navy deployed an armed merchant vessel to patrol South Georgian and Antarctic waters against German raiders, along with two four-inch shore guns (still present) protecting Cumberland Bay and Stromness Bay, which were manned by volunteers from among the Norwegian whalers. The base at King Edward Point was expanded as a research facility in 1949/1950 by the British Antarctic Survey, which until 1962 was called the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey.
The Falklands War was precipitated on 19 March 1982 when a group of Argentinians (most of them Argentine Marines in "mufti"), posing as scrap-metal merchants, occupied the abandoned whaling station at Leith Harbour on South Georgia. On 3 April, the Argentine troops attacked and occupied Grytviken. Among the commanding officers of the Argentine garrison was Alfredo Astiz, a captain in the Argentine Navy who was convicted years later of crimes against humanity committed during the Dirty War in Argentina.
The island was recaptured by British forces on 25 April, in Operation Paraquet. In 1985, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ceased to be administered as a Falkland Islands Dependency and became a separate territory. The King Edward Point base, which had become a small military garrison after the Falklands War, returned to civilian use in 2001 and is now operated by the British Antarctic Survey.
Captain James Cook discovered the southern eight islands of the Sandwich Islands Group in 1775, although he lumped the southernmost three together, and their status as separate islands was not established until 1820 by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The northern three islands were discovered by Bellingshausen in 1819. The islands were tentatively named "Sandwich Land" by Cook, although he also commented that they might be a group of islands rather than a single body of land. The name was chosen in honour of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty. The word "South" was later added to distinguish them from the "Sandwich Islands", now known as the Hawaiian Islands.
Argentina claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938, and challenged British sovereignty in the Islands on several occasions. From 25 January 1955 to mid-1956, Argentina maintained the summer station Teniente Esquivel at Ferguson Bay on the southeastern coast of Thule Island. Argentina maintained a naval base (Corbeta Uruguay) from 1976 to 1982, in the lee (southern east coast) of the same island. Although the British discovered the presence of the Argentine base in 1976, protested and tried to resolve the issue by diplomatic means, no effort was made to remove them by force until after the Falklands War. The base was removed on 20 June 1982.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are a collection of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. Most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous. At higher elevations, the islands are permanently covered with ice and snow.
The South Georgia group lies about east-southeast of the Falkland Islands, at 54°–55°S, 36°–38°W. It comprises South Georgia Island itself, by far the largest island in the territory, and the islands that immediately surround it and some remote and isolated islets to the west and east-southeast. It has a total land area of , including satellite islands, but excluding the South Sandwich Islands which form a separate island group.
South Georgia Island lies at and has an area of . It is mountainous and largely barren. Eleven peaks rise to over high, their slopes furrowed with deep gorges filled with glaciers; the largest is Fortuna Glacier. The highest peak is Mount Paget in the Allardyce Range at .
Geologically, the island consists of gneiss and argillaceous schists with occasional tufts and other sedimentary layers from which fossils have been recovered. The island is a fragment of some greater land-mass now vanished and was probably a former extension of the Andean system.
Smaller islands and islets off the coast of South Georgia Island include:
These remote rocks are also considered part of the South Georgia group:
The South Sandwich Islands () comprise 11 mostly volcanic islands (excluding tiny satellite islands and offshore rocks), with some active volcanoes. They form an island arc running north–south in the region 56°18'–59°27'S, 26°23'–28°08'W, between about southeast of South Georgia.
The northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands form the Traversay Islands and Candlemas Islands groups, while the southernmost make up Southern Thule. The three largest islandsSaunders, Montagu, and Bristollie between the two. The Islands' highest point is Mount Belinda () on Montagu Island.
The South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited, though a permanently manned Argentine research station was located on Thule Island from 1976 to 1982 (for details, see above). Automatic weather stations are on Thule Island and Zavodovski. To the northwest of Zavodovski Island is the Protector Shoal, a submarine volcano.
The South Sandwich Islands from north to south are:
A series of six passages separates each of the islands or island groups in the chain. They are, from north to south: Zavodovski Isl., "Traverse passage", Visokoi Isl., "Brown's passage", Candlemas Isl., "Shackleton's passage", Saunders Isl., "Larsen's passage", Montagu Isl., Biscoe's passage, Bristol Isl., Forsters Passage, Southern Thule. Nelson Channel is the passage between Candlemas and Vindication Island.
The climate is classified as polar, and the weather is highly variable and harsh; making a tundra (ET) in Köppen climate classification. Typical daily maximum temperatures in South Georgia at sea level are around in winter (August) and in summer (January). Winter minimum temperatures are typically about and rarely dip below . Annual precipitation in South Georgia is about , much of which falls as sleet or snow, which is possible the entire year. Inland, the snow line in summer is at an altitude of about .
Westerly winds blow throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm—indeed, in 1963, 25% of winds were in the calm category at King Edward point, and the mean wind speed of around is around half that of the Falkland Islands. This gives the eastern side of South Georgia (leeward side) a more pleasant climate than the exposed western side. The prevailing weather conditions generally make the islands difficult to approach by ship, though the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays which provide good anchorage.
Sunshine, as with many South Atlantic Islands, is low, at a maximum of just 21.5%. This amounts to around 1,000 hours of sunshine annually. The local topography, however, also contributes significantly to the low insolation. A study published during the early 1960s indicated that sunshine recording instruments remained significantly obscured throughout the year and entirely obscured during June. It was estimated that the theoretical sunshine exposure minus obstructions would be around 14% at Bird Island and 35% at King Edward Pointor, in hourly terms, ranging from around 650 hours in the west to 1,500 hours in the east. This illustrates the effect the Allardyce range has in breaking up cloud cover.
Mountain winds blow straight up the western side and straight down the eastern side of the mountains and become much warmer and drier due to the Föhn effect; this produces the most pleasant conditions when temperatures can occasionally rise over on summer days. The highest recorded temperature was at Grytviken. and at nearby King Edward point, both on the sheltered east side of the Islands. Conversely, the highest recorded temperature at Bird Island on the windward western side is a mere . As one might expect, the sheltered eastern side can also record lower winter temperatures—the absolute minimum for Grytviken being , King Edward Point , but Bird Island just .
The seas surrounding South Georgia are cold throughout the year due to the proximity of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. They usually remain free of pack ice in winter, though thin ice may form in sheltered bays, and icebergs are common. Sea temperatures drop to in late August and rise to around only in early April.
The South Sandwich Islands are much colder than South Georgia, being farther south and more exposed to cold outbreaks from the Antarctic continent. They are also surrounded by sea ice from the middle of May to late November (even longer at their southern end). Recorded temperature extremes at South Thule Island have ranged from .
Executive power is vested in the Monarch of the United Kingdom and is exercised by the commissioner, a post held by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. The current commissioner is Nigel Phillips, who became commissioner on 12 September 2017. A chief executive officer (Martin Collins) deals with policy matters and is director of SGSSI Fisheries, responsible for the allocation of fishing licences. An executive officer (Richard McKee) deals with administrative matters relating to the territory. Also, an environmental officer (Jennifer Lee) and a marine and Fisheries officer (Katherine Ross) are appointed. The financial secretary and attorney general of the territory are appointed "ex officio" similar appointments in the Falkland Islands' government.
As no permanent inhabitants live on the islands, no legislative council and no elections are needed. The UK Foreign Office manages the foreign relations of the territory. Since 1982, the territory celebrates Liberation Day on 14 June.
The constitution of the territory (adopted 3 October 1985), the manner in which its government is directed and the availability of judicial review were discussed in a series of litigations between 2001 and 2005 (see, in particular, "Regina v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Appellant) ex parte Quark Fishing Limited" [2005] UKHL 57). Although its government is entirely directed by the UK Foreign Office, it was held that, since it was acting as an agent of the Crown in right of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands rather than in right of the UK, its decisions under that direction could not be challenged as if they were in law decisions of a UK government department; thus the European Convention on Human Rights did not apply.
Commercial sealing occurred on the islands between 1817 and 1909. During that period twenty visits are recorded by sealing vessels.
Economic activity in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is limited. The territory has revenues of £4.5 million, 80% of which is derived from fishing licences (2011 figures). Other sources of revenue are the sale of postage stamps and coins, tourism, and customs and harbour dues.
Fishing takes place around South Georgia and in adjacent waters in some months of the year, with fishing licences sold by the territory for Patagonian toothfish, cod icefish and krill. Fishing licences bring in millions of pounds a year, most of which is spent on fishery protection and research. All fisheries are regulated and managed in accordance with the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) system.
In 2001 the South Georgia government was cited by the Marine Stewardship Council for its sustainable Patagonian toothfish fishery, certifying that South Georgia met the MSC's environmental standards. The certificate places limits on the timing and quantity of Patagonian toothfish that may be caught.
Tourism has become a larger source of income in recent years, with many cruise ships and sailing yachts visiting the area (the only way to visit South Georgia is by sea; there are no airstrips on the Islands). The territory gains income from landing charges and the sale of souvenirs. Cruise ships often combine a Grytviken visit with a trip to the Antarctic Peninsula.
Charter yacht visits usually begin in the Falkland Islands, last between four and six weeks, and enable guests to visit remote harbours of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Sailing vessels are now required to anchor out and can no longer tie up to the old whaling piers on shore. One exception to this is the recently upgraded/repaired yacht berth at Grytviken. All other jetties at former whaling stations lie inside a exclusion zone; and berthing, or putting ropes ashore, at these is forbidden. Yachts visiting South Georgia are normally expected to report to the Government Officers at King Edward Point before moving round the island.
A large source of income from abroad also comes from the issue of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands postage stamps which are produced in the UK.
A reasonable issue policy (few sets of stamps are issued each year) along with attractive subject matter (especially whales) makes them popular with topical stamp collectors.
There are only four genuine first day cover sets from 16 March 1982 in existence. They were stamped at the South Georgia Post Office; all those in circulation were stamped elsewhere and sent out, but the only genuine ones were kept at the Post Office on South Georgia. These four sets were removed during the Falklands War by a member of staff of the British Antarctic Survey in the few moments the Argentinians allowed them to gather their belongings. Everything else was burnt, but these four sets were saved and brought to the UK by Robert Headland, BAS.
The pound sterling is the official currency of the islands, and the same notes and coins are used as in the United Kingdom.
The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is .gs. Although the territory has no permanent residents, the domain suffix has some popularity for website registrations, with approximately 6 million instances as of November 2018.
The parts of the islands that are not permanently covered in snow or ice are part of the Scotia Sea Islands tundra ecoregion. In total there are 26 species of vascular plant native to South Georgia; six species of grass, four rushes, a single sedge, six ferns, one clubmoss and nine small forbs. There are also about 125 species of moss, 85 of liverworts and 150 lichens, as well as about 50 species of macrofungi. A number of introduced species have become naturalised; many of these were introduced by whalers in cattle fodder, and some are considered invasive. There are no trees or shrubs on the islands.
The largest plant is the tussock grass "Poa flabellata". This grows mostly on raised beaches and steep slopes near the shore and may reach . Other grasses include the tufted fescue ("Festuca contracta"), the Alpine cat's-tail ("Phleum alpinum") and Antarctic hair-grass ("Deschampsia antarctica"), and one of the most common flowering plants is the greater burnet ("Acaena magellanica").
South Georgia supports many sea birds, including albatross, a large colony of king penguins, Macaroni penguins and penguins of various other species, along with petrels, prions, shags, skuas, gulls and terns. Birds unique to the archipelago are the South Georgia shag, South Georgia pipit, and the South Georgia pintail. Both South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands have been identified as Important Bird Areas (IBA) by BirdLife International.
Seals frequent the islands, and whales may be seen in the surrounding waters. There are no native land mammals, though reindeer, brown rats and mice were introduced to South Georgia through human activities.
Rats, brought to the island as stowaways on sealing and whaling ships in the late 18th century, have caused much damage to native wildlife, destroying tens of millions of ground-nesting birds' eggs and chicks. While previously the island's glaciers formed a natural barrier to the spread of rats, these glaciers are now slowly melting as the climate warms. In 2011, scientists instituted a four-year programme to entirely eradicate the rats and mice, in what would be by far the largest rodent eradication attempt in the world to date. The project was led by zoologist Anthony Martin of The University of Dundee who stated, "This is a man-induced problem and it's about time that man put right earlier errors." In July 2013, the success of the main phase of the extermination of the rats, which took place in May that year, was announced. 180 tonnes of rat poison, brodifacoum, were dropped over 70% of the island, in what was the world's largest ever operation of this kind. Another 95 tonnes of rat poison was planned to be dropped by three helicopters in January 2015. In June 2015 the eradication programme concluded, apparently successfully, with the island believed "very likely" to be rat free. In 2017/18, an intensive six-month search by the South Georgia Heritage Trust, using sniffer dogs and baited traps, found no evidence of rodent presence. Monitoring will continue for a further two or three years.
Reindeer were introduced to South Georgia in 1911 by Norwegian whalers for meat and for sport hunting. In February 2011, the authorities announced that due to the reindeer's detrimental effect on native species and the threat of their spreading to presently pristine areas, a complete cull would take place, leading to the eradication of reindeer from the island. The eradication began in 2013 with 3,500 reindeer killed. Nearly all the rest were killed in early 2014, with the last (about 50) cleared in the 2014/15 southern summer.
The seas around South Georgia have a high level of biodiversity. In a recent study (2009–2011), South Georgia has been discovered to contain one of the highest levels of biodiversity among all the ecosystems on Earth. In respect to species, marine inhabitants endemic to this ecosystem outnumber and (in respect to biodiversity) surpass well-known regions such as the Galápagos or Ecuador. The marine ecosystem is thought to be vulnerable because its low temperatures mean that it can repair itself only very slowly. On 23 February 2012, to protect marine biodiversity, the territory's government created the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Areacomprising .
After the Falklands War in 1982, a full-time British military presence was maintained at King Edward Point on South Georgia. This was scaled down during the 1990s until the last detachment left South Georgia in March 2001, after a new station had been built and occupied by the British Antarctic Survey.
The main British military facility in the region is at RAF Mount Pleasant and the adjacent Mare Harbour naval base on East Falkland, and three Remote Radar Heads on the Falklands: RRH Mount Kent, RRH Byron Heights and RRH Mount Alice. A handful of British naval vessels patrol the region, visiting South Georgia a few times each year and sometimes deploying small infantry patrols. Flights by RAF C-130 Hercules and Vickers VC10 (replaced by Voyager) aircraft also occasionally patrol the territory.
A Royal Navy destroyer or frigate and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel carry out the Atlantic Patrol Task (South) mission in the surrounding area.
, the Royal Navy ice-patrol ship, operated in the South Georgia area during part of most southern summer seasons until her near loss due to flooding in 2008. She carried out hydrological and mapping work as well as assisting with scientific fieldwork for the British Antarctic Survey, film and photographic units, and youth expedition group BSES Expeditions. While the final decision on the fate of "Endurance" was pending, the Royal Navy chartered a Norwegian icebreaker, renamed , to act as replacement for three years. In September 2013 the British Ministry of Defence purchased the ship outright. It was announced on 7 October 2013 that "Endurance" would be sold for scrap. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=27380 |
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