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Cold War (1948–1953)
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The Cold War (1948–1953) is the period within the Cold War from the incapacitation of the Allied Control Council in 1948 to the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953.
The list of world leaders in these years is as follows:
* 1948–49: Clement Attlee (UK); Harry Truman (US); Vincent Auriol (France); Joseph Stalin (USSR); Chiang Kai-shek (China)
* 1950–51: Clement Attlee (UK); Harry Truman (US); Vincent Auriol (France); Joseph Stalin (USSR); Mao Zedong (Communist China)
* 1952–53: Winston Churchill (UK); Harry Truman (US); Vincent Auriol (France); Joseph Stalin (USSR); Mao Zedong (Communist China)
Europe
Berlin Blockade
After the Marshall Plan, the introduction of a new currency to Western Germany to replace the debased Reichsmark and massive electoral losses for communist parties in 1946, in June 1948, the Soviet Union cut off surface road access to Berlin.
On the day of the Berlin Blockade, a Soviet representative told the other occupying powers "We are warning both you and the population of Berlin that we shall apply economic and administrative sanctions that will lead to circulation in Berlin exclusively of the currency of the Soviet occupation zone."
Thereafter, street and water communications were severed, rail and barge traffic was stopped and the Soviets initially stopped supplying food to the civilian population in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin. Because Berlin was located within the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany and the other occupying powers had previously relied on Soviet good will for access to Berlin, the only available methods of supplying the city were three limited air corridors.
By February 1948, because of massive post-war military cuts, the entire United States army had been reduced to 552,000 men. Military forces in non-Soviet Berlin sectors totaled only 8,973 Americans, 7,606 British and 6,100 French. Soviet military forces in the Soviet sector that surrounded Berlin totaled one and a half million men. The two United States regiments in Berlin would have provided little resistance against a Soviet attack. Believing that Britain, France and the United States had little option other than to acquiesce, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany celebrated the beginning of the blockade. Thereafter, a massive aerial supply campaign of food, water and other goods was initiated by the United States, Britain, France and other countries. The Soviets derided "the futile attempts of the Americans to save face and to maintain their untenable position in Berlin." The success of the airlift eventually caused the Soviets to lift their blockade in May 1949.
However, the Soviet Army was still capable of conquering Western Europe without much difficulty. In September 1948, US military intelligence experts estimated that the Soviets had about 485,000 troops in their German occupation zone and in Poland, and some 1.785 million troops in Europe in total. At the same time, the number of US troops in 1948 was about 140,000.
Tito–Stalin Split
After disagreements between Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito and the Soviet Union regarding Greece and the People's Republic of Albania, a Tito–Stalin Split occurred, followed by Yugoslavia being expelled from the Cominform in June 1948 and a brief failed Soviet putsch in Belgrade. The split created two separate communist forces in Europe.
was split up and dissolved in 1954 and 1975, also because of the détente between the West and Tito.
NATO
v. the Warsaw Pact]]
The United States joined Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Portugal, Norway, Belgium, Iceland, Luxembourg, Italy, and the Netherlands in 1949 to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United States' first "entangling" European alliance in 170 years. West Germany, Spain, Greece, and Turkey would later join this alliance. The Eastern leaders retaliated against these steps by integrating the economies of their nations in Comecon, their version of the Marshall Plan; exploding the first Soviet atomic device in 1949; signing an alliance with People's Republic of China in February 1950; and forming the Warsaw Pact, Eastern Europe's counterpart to NATO, in 1955. The Soviet Union, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland founded this military alliance.
NSC 68
U.S. officials quickly moved to escalate and expand "containment." In a secret 1950 document, NSC 68, they proposed to strengthen their alliance systems, quadruple defense spending, and embark on an elaborate propaganda campaign to convince the U.S. public to fight this costly cold war. Truman ordered the development of a hydrogen bomb. In early 1950, the U.S. took its first efforts to oppose communist forces in Vietnam; planned to form a West German army, and prepared proposals for a peace treaty with Japan that would guarantee long-term U.S. military bases there.
Outside Europe
The Cold War took place worldwide, but it had a partially different timing and trajectory outside Europe.
In Africa, decolonization took place first; it was largely accomplished in the 1950s. The main rivals then sought bases of support in the new national political alignments. In Latin America, the first major confrontation took place in Guatemala in 1954. When the new Castro government of Cuba turned to Soviets support in 1960, Cuba became the center of the anti-American Cold War forces, supported by the Soviet Union.
Chinese Civil War
As Japan's empire collapsed in 1945 the civil war resumed in China between the Kuomintang (KMT) led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong. The USSR had signed a Treaty of Friendship with the Kuomintang in 1945 and disavowed support for the Chinese Communists. The outcome was closely fought, with the Communists finally prevailing with superior military tactics. Although the Nationalists had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, initially controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries, and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by the long war with Japan and the attendant internal responsibilities. In addition, the Chinese Communists were able to fill the political vacuum left in Manchuria after Soviet forces withdrew from the area and thus gained China's prime industrial base. The Chinese Communists were able to fight their way from the north and northeast, and virtually all of mainland China was taken by the end of 1949. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chiang Kai-shek and 600,000 Nationalist troops and 2 million refugees, predominantly from the government and business community, fled from the mainland to the island of Taiwan. In December 1949, Chiang proclaimed Taipei the temporary capital of the Republic of China (ROC) and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority in China.
The continued hostility between the Communists on the mainland and the Nationalists on Taiwan continued throughout the Cold War. Though the United States refused to aide Chiang Kai-shek in his hope to "recover the mainland," it continued supporting the Republic of China with military supplies and expertise to prevent Taiwan from falling into PRC hands. Through the support of the Western bloc (most Western countries continued to recognize the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China), the Republic of China on Taiwan retained China's seat in the United Nations until 1971.
Madiun Affair
Madiun Affair took place on September 18, 1948, in the city of Madiun, East Java. This rebellion was carried out by the Front Demokrasi Rakyat (FDR, People's Democratic Front) which united all socialist and communist groups in Indonesia. This rebellion ended 3 months later after its leaders were arrested and executed by the TNI.
This revolt began with the fall of the Amir Syarifuddin Cabinet due to the signing of the Renville Agreement which benefited the Dutch and was eventually replaced by the Hatta Cabinet which did not belong to the left wing. This led Amir Syarifuddin to declare opposition to the Hatta Cabinet government and to declare the formation of the People's Democratic Front.
Before it, In the PKI Politburo session on August 13–14, 1948, Musso, an Indonesian communist figure, introduced a political concept called "Jalan Baru". He also wanted a single Marxism party called the PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia) consisting of illegal communists, the Labour Party of Indonesia, and Partai Sosialis(Socialist Party).
On September 18, 1948, the FDR declared the formation of the Republic of Soviet-Indonesia. In addition, the communists also carried out a rebellion in the Pati Residency and the kidnapping of groups who were considered to be against communists. Even this rebellion resulted in the murder of the Governor of East Java at the time, Raden Mas Tumenggung Ario Soerjo.
The crackdown operation against this movement began. This operation was led by A.H. Nasution. The Indonesian government also applied Commander General Sudirman to the Military Operations Movement I where General Sudirman ordered Colonel Gatot Soebroto and Colonel Sungkono to mobilize the TNI and police to crush the rebellion.
On September 30, 1948, Madiun was captured again by the Republic of Indonesia. Musso was shot dead on his escape in Sumoroto and Amir Syarifuddin was executed after being captured in Central Java. In early December 1948, the Madiun Affair crackdown was declared complete.
Korean War
In early 1950, the United States made its first commitment to form a peace treaty with Japan that would guarantee long-term U.S. military bases. Some observers (including George Kennan) believed that the Japanese treaty led Stalin to approve a plan to invade U.S.-supported South Korea on June 25, 1950. Korea had been divided at the end of World War II along the 38th parallel into Soviet and U.S. occupation zones, in which a communist government was installed in the North by the Soviets, and an elected government in the South came to power after UN-supervised elections in 1948.
In June 1950, Kim Il Sung's North Korean People's Army invaded South Korea. Fearing that communist Korea under a Kim Il Sung dictatorship could threaten Japan and foster other communist movements in Asia, Truman committed U.S. forces and obtained help from the United Nations to counter the North Korean invasion. The Soviets boycotted UN Security Council meetings while protesting the council's failure to seat the People's Republic of China and, thus, did not veto the council's approval of UN action to oppose the North Korean invasion. A joint UN force of personnel from South Korea, the United States, Britain, Turkey, Canada, Australia, France, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand and other countries joined to stop the invasion. After a Chinese invasion to assist the North Koreans, fighting stabilized along the 38th parallel, which had separated the Koreas. Truman faced a hostile China, a Sino-Soviet partnership, and a defense budget that had quadrupled in eighteen months.
The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in July 1953 after the death of Stalin, who had been insisting that the North Koreans continue fighting. In North Korea, Kim Il Sung created a highly centralized and brutal dictatorship, according himself unlimited power and generating a formidable cult of personality.Hydrogen bombA hydrogen bomb—which produced nuclear fusion instead of nuclear fission—was first tested by the United States in November 1952 and the Soviet Union in August 1953. Such bombs were first deployed in the 1960s.Culture and media
Fear of a nuclear war spurred the production of public safety films by the United States federal government's Civil Defense branch that demonstrated ways on protecting oneself from a Soviet nuclear attack. The 1951 children's film Duck and Cover is a prime example.
George Orwell's classic dystopia Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in 1949. The novel explores life in an imagined future world where a totalitarian government has achieved terrifying levels of power and control. With Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell taps into the anti-communist fears that would continue to haunt so many in the West for decades to come. In a Cold War setting his descriptions could hardly fail to evoke comparison to Soviet communism and the seeming willingness of Stalin and his successors to control those within the Soviet bloc by whatever means necessary. Orwell's famous allegory of totalitarian rule, Animal Farm, published in 1945, provoked similar anti-communist sentiments.
See also
* Western Union
* History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)
* History of the United States (1945–1964)
* Timeline of events in the Cold War
* Animal Farm
Notes
References
* Ball, S. J. The Cold War: An International History, 1947–1991 (1998). British perspective
*
* Brzezinski, Zbigniew. The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century (1989);
* Brune, Lester Brune and Richard Dean Burns. Chronology of the Cold War: 1917–1992 (2005) 700pp; highly detailed month-by-month summary for many countries
*
*
*
*
* Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History (2005)
* Gaddis, John Lewis. Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War (1987)
* Gaddis, John Lewis. Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy (1982)
*
*
*
* LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–1992 7th ed. (1993)
* Lewkowicz, Nicolas (2018) The United States, the Soviet Union and the Geopolitical Implications of the Origins of the Cold War, Anthem Press, London
*
*
*
* Mitchell, George. The Iron Curtain: The Cold War in Europe (2004)
*
*
* Ninkovich, Frank. Germany and the United States: The Transformation of the German Question since 1945 (1988)
* Paterson, Thomas G. Meeting the Communist Threat: Truman to Reagan (1988)
*
*
*
* Sivachev, Nikolai and Nikolai Yakolev, Russia and the United States (1979), by Soviet historians
*
*
* Ulam, Adam B. Expansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1973, 2nd ed. (1974)
* Walker, J. Samuel. "Historians and Cold War Origins: The New Consensus", in Gerald K. Haines and J. Samuel Walker, eds., American Foreign Relations: A Historiographical Review (1981), 207–236.
*
* Cumings, Bruce The Origins of the Korean War (2 vols., 1981–90), friendly to North Korea and hostile to U.S.
* Holloway, David. Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1959-1956 (1994)
* Goncharov, Sergei, John Lewis and Xue Litai, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao and the Korean War (1993)
* Leffler, Melvyn. A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration and the Cold War (1992).
* Mastny, Vojtech. ''Russia's Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1941–1945 (1979)
* Zhang, Shu Guang. Beijing's Economic Statecraft during the Cold War, 1949-1991'' (2014). [https://www.academia.edu/33254125/Review_of_Shu_Guang_Zhang_Chinas_Economic_Statecraft_During_the_Cold_War_1949-1991_Washington_DC_and_Baltimore_Wilson_Center_Press_and_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_2014_._In_H-Diplo_Round_Table_Review_XVIII_27_May_29_2017_19-32?email_work_cardview-paper online review]External links* [http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/marshall/large/documents/index.php?documentdate0000-00-00&documentid18&pagenumber1&studycollectionidmp Draft, Report on Communist Expansion, February 28, 1947]
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_division_of_europe-en-d01c006d-55ec-4c69-a3d2-f4577f0e9b4c.html The division of Europe] on CVCE website
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/james_f_byrnes_speaking_frankly-en-b382d69f-63b0-40a6-a12e-d127198030ab.html James F. Byrnes, Speaking Frankly] The division of Germany. From BYRNES, James F. Speaking Frankly. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. 324 p, Available on the CVCE website.
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_beginning_of_the_cold_war-en-7cdac004-8c66-4217-93f8-239cd029ad53.html The beginning of the Cold War] on CVCE website
* [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/address_given_by_winston_churchill_the_sinews_of_peace_fulton_5_march_1946-en-ce2084a4-8529-4ebc-b801-e1e39abe9476.html The Sinews of Peace] Winston Churchill speech in 5, March, 1946, warning about the advance of communism in central Europe. Sound extract on the CVCE website.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140308002236/http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_division_of_europe_according_to_winston_churchill_and_joseph_stalin_1944-en-d95dc91b-9c1e-47f3-9344-5d4d4da1434d.html Dividing up Europe] The 1944 division of Europe between the Soviet Union and Britain into zones of influence. On CVCE website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080705193541/http://www.daz.org/enJamesFByrnes.html James Francis Byrnes and U.S. Policy towards Germany 1945–1947] Deutsch-Amerikanische Zentrum / James-F.-Byrnes-Institut e.V
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110623010431/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2006/march/policy_germany.htm UK Policy towards Germany] National Archives excerpts of Cabinet meetings.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070228220638/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/corpshistory/rem_corps_part19.htm Royal Engineers Museum] Royal Engineers and the Cold War
* [http://histclo.com/essay/war/cold/war-cold.html Cold War overview]
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Category:1948 in international relations
Category:1949 in international relations
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Category:1952 in international relations
Category:1953 in international relations
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Crony capitalism
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Crony capitalism, sometimes also called simply cronyism, is a pejorative term used in political discourse to describe a situation in which businesses profit from a close relationship with state power, either through an anti-competitive regulatory environment, direct government largesse, or corruption. Examples given for crony capitalism include obtainment of permits, government grants, tax breaks, In other words, it is used to describe a situation where businesses thrive not as a result of free enterprise, but rather collusion between a business class and the political class.
Wealth is then accumulated not merely by making a profit in the market, but through profiteering by rent seeking using this monopoly or oligopoly. Entrepreneurship and innovative practices that seek to reward risk are stifled since the value-added is little by crony businesses, as hardly anything of significant value is created by them, with transactions taking the form of trading. Crony capitalism spills over into the government, the politics, and the media, when this nexus distorts the economy and affects society to an extent it corrupts public-serving economic, political, and social ideals. Early uses of this term to describe the economic practices of the Marcos regime included that of Ricardo Manapat, who introduced it in his 1979 pamphlet "Some are Smarter than Others", which was later published in 1991;
The term crony capitalism made a significant impact in the public as an explanation of the Asian financial crisis.
It is also used to describe governmental decisions favoring cronies of governmental officials.
The term is used largely interchangeably with the related term corporate welfare, although the latter is by definition specific to corporations.
In practice
at a breakfast meeting with business magnates Lee Kun-hee and Chung Mong-koo. A group of massive, mostly family-run business conglomerates, called chaebol, dominates South Korea's economy.]]
Crony capitalism exists along a continuum. In its lightest form, crony capitalism consists of collusion among market players which is officially tolerated or encouraged by the government. While perhaps lightly competing against each other, they will present a unified front (sometimes called a trade association or industry trade group) to the government in requesting subsidies aid or regulation. For instance, newcomers to a market then need to surmount significant barriers to entry in seeking loans, acquiring shelf space, or receiving official sanction. Some such systems are very formalized, such as sports leagues and the Medallion System of the taxicabs of New York City, but often the process is more subtle, such as expanding training and certification exams to make it more expensive for new entrants to enter a market and thereby limiting potential competition. In technological fields, there may evolve a system whereby new entrants may be accused of infringing on patents that the established competitors never assert against each other. In spite of this, some competitors may succeed when the legal barriers are light. The term crony capitalism is generally used when these practices either come to dominate the economy as a whole, or come to dominate the most valuable industries in an economy.
The term crony capitalism was initially applied to states involved in the 1997 Asian financial crisis such as Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. In these cases, the term was used to point out how family members of the ruling leaders became extremely wealthy with no non-political justification. Southeast Asian nations, such as Hong Kong and Malaysia, still score very poorly in rankings measuring this. It was also used in this context as part of a broader liberal critique of economic dirigisme. The term has also been applied to the system of oligarchs in Russia.<!-- Please do not list every country in the world, just the ones that are both corrupt AND capitalist enough. Every country has a little, this is only for the best examples. --> Other states to which the term has been applied include India, in particular the system after the 1990s liberalization, whereby land and other resources were given at throwaway prices in the name of public-private partnerships, the more recent coal-gate scam and cheap allocation of land and resources to Adani SEZ under the Congress and BJP governments. Similar references to crony capitalism have been made to other countries such as Argentina and Greece. Wu Jinglian, one of China's leading economists and a longtime advocate of its transition to free markets, says that it faces two starkly contrasting futures, namely a market economy under the rule of law or crony capitalism. A dozen years later, prominent political scientist Pei Minxin concluded that the latter course had become deeply embedded in China. The anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping (2012–) has seen more than 100,000 high- and low-ranking Chinese officials indicted and jailed.
Many prosperous nations have also had varying amounts of cronyism throughout their history, including the United Kingdom, especially in the 1600s and 1700s, the United States and Japan.
Crony capitalism index
The Economist benchmarks countries based on a crony-capitalism index calculated via how much economic activity occurs in industries prone to cronyism. Its 2014 Crony Capitalism Index ranking listed Hong Kong, Russia and Malaysia in the top three spots.
The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act in 1999 completely removed Glass–Steagall’s separation between commercial banks and investment banks. After this repeal, commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies combined their lobbying efforts. Critics claim this was instrumental in the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. In sections of an economy
as giant money bags looming over U.S. senators]]
if it had kept pace with productivity. Also, the real minimum wage.]]
More direct government involvement in a specific sector can also lead to specific areas of crony capitalism, even if the economy as a whole may be competitive. This is most common in natural resource sectors through the granting of mining or drilling concessions, but it is also possible through a process known as regulatory capture where the government agencies in charge of regulating an industry come to be controlled by that industry. Governments will often establish in good faith government agencies to regulate an industry. However, the members of an industry have a very strong interest in the actions of that regulatory body while the rest of the citizenry are only lightly affected. As a result, it is not uncommon for current industry players to gain control of the watchdog and use it against competitors. This typically takes the form of making it very expensive for a new entrant to enter the market. An 1824 landmark United States Supreme Court ruling overturned a New York State-granted monopoly ("a veritable model of state munificence" facilitated by Robert R. Livingston, one of the Founding Fathers) for the then-revolutionary technology of steamboats. Leveraging the Supreme Court's establishment of Congressional supremacy over commerce, the Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1887 with the intent of regulating railroad robber barons. President Grover Cleveland appointed Thomas M. Cooley, a railroad ally, as its first chairman and a permit system was used to deny access to new entrants and legalize price fixing.
The defense industry in the United States is often described as an example of crony capitalism in an industry. Connections with the Pentagon and lobbyists in Washington are described by critics as more important than actual competition due to the political and secretive nature of defense contracts. In the Airbus-Boeing WTO dispute, Airbus (which receives outright subsidies from European governments) has stated Boeing receives similar subsidies which are hidden as inefficient defense contracts. Other American defense companies were put under scrutiny for no-bid contracts for the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina related contracts purportedly due to having cronies in the Bush administration.
Gerald P. O'Driscoll, former vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, stated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became examples of crony capitalism as government backing let Fannie and Freddie dominate mortgage underwriting, saying: "The politicians created the mortgage giants, which then returned some of the profits to the pols—sometimes directly, as campaign funds; sometimes as "contributions" to favored constituents". In developing economies In its worst form, crony capitalism can devolve into simple corruption where any pretense of a free market is dispensed with, bribes to government officials are considered de rigueur and tax evasion is common. This is seen in many parts of Africa and is sometimes called plutocracy (rule by wealth) or kleptocracy (rule by theft). Kenyan economist David Ndii has repeatedly brought to light how this system has manifested over time, occasioned by the reign of Uhuru Kenyatta as president.
Corrupt governments may favor one set of business owners who have close ties to the government over others. This may also be done with, religious, or ethnic favoritism. For instance, Alawites in Syria have a disproportionate share of power in the government and business there (President Assad himself is an Alawite). This can be explained by considering personal relationships as a social network. As government and business leaders try to accomplish various things, they naturally turn to other powerful people for support in their endeavors. These people form hubs in the network. In a developing country, those hubs may be very few, thus concentrating economic and political power in a small interlocking group.
Normally, this will be untenable to maintain in business as new entrants will affect the market. However, if business and government are entwined, then the government can maintain the small-hub network.
Raymond Vernon, a specialist in economics and international affairs, wrote that the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain because they were the first to successfully limit the power of veto groups (typically cronies of those with power in government) to block innovations, writing: "Unlike most other national environments, the British environment of the early 19th century contained relatively few threats to those who improved and applied existing inventions, whether from business competitors, labor, or the government itself. In other European countries, by contrast, the merchant guilds ... were a pervasive source of veto for many centuries. This power was typically bestowed upon them by government." Vermon further stated that "a steam-powered horseless carriage produced in France in 1769 was officially suppressed." James Watt began experimenting with steam in 1763, got a patent in 1769 and began commercial production in 1775.
Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has said: "One of the greatest dangers to the growth of developing countries is the middle income trap, where crony capitalism creates oligarchies that slow down growth. If the debate during the elections is any pointer, this is a very real concern of the public in India today". Tavleen Singh, columnist for The Indian Express, has disagreed. According to Singh, India's corporate success is not a product of crony capitalism, but because India is no longer under the influence of crony socialism. Political viewpoints
While the problem is generally accepted across the political spectrum, ideology shades the view of the problem's causes and therefore its solutions. Political views mostly fall into two camps which might be called the socialist and capitalist critique. The socialist position is that crony capitalism is the inevitable result of any strictly capitalist system and thus broadly democratic government must regulate economic, or wealthy, interests to restrict monopoly. The capitalist position is that natural monopolies are rare, therefore governmental regulations generally abet established wealthy interests by restricting competition.
Socialist critique
Critics of crony capitalism including socialists and anti-capitalists often assert that so-called crony capitalism is simply the inevitable result of any strictly capitalist system. Jane Jacobs described it as a natural consequence of collusion between those managing power and trade while Noam Chomsky has argued that the word crony is superfluous when describing capitalism. Since businesses make money and money leads to political power, business will inevitably use their power to influence governments. Much of the impetus behind campaign finance reform in the United States and in other countries is an attempt to prevent economic power from being used to take political power.
Ravi Batra argues that "all official economic measures adopted since 1981 ... have devastated the middle class" and that the Occupy Wall Street movement should push for their repeal and thus end the influence of the super wealthy in the political process which he considers a manifestation of crony capitalism.
Socialist economists, such as Robin Hahnel, have criticized the term as an ideologically motivated attempt to cast what is in their view the fundamental problems of capitalism as avoidable irregularities. Socialist economists dismiss the term as an apologetic for failures of neoliberal policy and more fundamentally their perception of the weaknesses of market allocation.
Capitalist critique
Supporters of capitalism also generally oppose crony capitalism. Further, supporters such as classical liberals, neoliberals and right-libertarians consider it an aberration brought on by governmental favors incompatible with the free market.. In the capitalist view, cronyism is the result of an excess of interference in the market which inevitably will result in a toxic combination of corporations and government officials running sectors of the economy. For instance, the Financial Times observed that, in Vietnam during the 2010s, the primary beneficiaries of cronyism were Communist party officials, noting also the "common practice of employing only party members and their family members and associates to government jobs or to jobs in state-owned enterprises."
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro prefers to equate this problem with terms such as corporatocracy or corporatism, considered "a modern form of mercantilism", to emphasize that the only way to run a profitable business in such a system is to have help from corrupt government officials. Likewise, Hernando de Soto said that mercantilism "is also known as 'crony' or 'noninclusive' capitalism".
Even if the initial regulation was well-intentioned (to curb actual abuses) and even if the initial lobbying by corporations was well-intentioned (to reduce illogical regulations), the mixture of business and government stifles competition, a collusive result called regulatory capture. Burton W. Folsom Jr. distinguishes those who engage in crony capitalism—designated by him political entrepreneurs—from those who compete in the marketplace without special aid from the government, whom he calls market entrepreneurs. While market entrepreneurs such as James J. Hill, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller succeeded by producing a quality product at a competitive price, political entrepreneurs such as Edward Collins in steamships and the leaders of the Union Pacific Railroad in railroads were men who used the power of government to succeed. They tried to gain subsidies or in some way use the government to stop competitors.
See also
* Actually existing capitalism
* Corporatocracy
* Cronyism
* Cronies of Ferdinand Marcos
* Economic History of the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos
* Government failure
* Government-owned corporation
* Inverted totalitarianism
* Iron triangle (US politics)
* Licence Raj (concept in Indian political-economics)
* Mercantilism
* Patrimonialism
* Political family
* Political machine
* Regulatory capture
* Rent-seeking
* Stamocap
* State capture
* Supercapitalism
* Zhao family
Notes
References
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Further reading
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* Khatri, Naresh (2013). Anatomy of Indian Brand of Crony Capitalism. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2335201.
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* http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/19626/1/WP0802.pdf
Category:Bribery
Category:Capitalism
Category:Management cybernetics
Category:Political corruption
Category:Political terminology
Category:Public choice theory
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Lists of universities and colleges
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This is a list of lists of universities and colleges.
Subject of study
Aerospace engineering
Agriculture
Art schools
Business
Chiropractic
Engineering
Forestry
Law
Maritime studies
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Constitution
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(First French Republic)]]
in 1848]]
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a notable example of an uncodified constitution; it is instead written in numerous fundamental acts of a legislature, court cases, and treaties.
Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign countries to companies and unincorporated associations. A treaty that establishes an international organization is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states, a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made, and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights. Changes to constitutions frequently require consensus or supermajority.
The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any country in the world, with 146,385 words while the Constitution of Monaco is the shortest written constitution with 3,814 words. The Constitution of San Marino might be the world's oldest active written constitution, since some of its core documents have been in operation since 1600, while the Constitution of the United States is the oldest active codified constitution. The historical life expectancy of a constitution since 1789 is approximately 19 years.
Etymology
The term constitution comes through French from the Latin word , used for regulations and orders, such as the imperial enactments (constitutiones principis: edicta, mandata, decreta, rescripta). Later, the term was widely used in canon law for an important determination, especially a decree issued by the Pope, now referred to as an apostolic constitution.
William Blackstone used the term for significant and egregious violations of public trust, of a nature and extent that the transgression would justify a revolutionary response. The term as used by Blackstone was not for a legal text, nor did he intend to include the later American concept of judicial review: "for that were to set the judicial power above that of the legislature, which would be subversive of all government".General featuresGenerally, every modern written constitution confers specific powers on an organization or institutional entity, established upon the primary condition that it abides by the constitution's limitations. According to Scott Gordon, a political organization is constitutional to the extent that it "contain[s] institutionalized mechanisms of power control for the protection of the interests and liberties of the citizenry, including those that may be in the minority".
Activities of officials within an organization or polity that fall within the constitutional or statutory authority of those officials are termed "within power" (or, in Latin, intra vires); if they do not, they are termed "beyond power" (or, in Latin, ultra vires). For example, a students' union may be prohibited as an organization from engaging in activities not concerning students; if the union becomes involved in non-student activities, these activities are considered to be ultra vires of the union's charter, and nobody would be compelled by the charter to follow them. An example from the constitutional law of sovereign states would be a provincial parliament in a federal state trying to legislate in an area that the constitution allocates exclusively to the federal parliament, such as ratifying a treaty. Action that appears to be beyond power may be judicially reviewed and, if found to be beyond power, must cease. Legislation that is found to be beyond power will be "invalid" and of no force; this applies to primary legislation, requiring constitutional authorization, and secondary legislation, ordinarily requiring statutory authorization. In this context, "within power", intra vires, "authorized" and "valid" have the same meaning; as do "beyond power", ultra vires, "not authorized" and "invalid".
In most but not all modern states the constitution has supremacy over ordinary statutory law (see Uncodified constitution below); in such states when an official act is unconstitutional, i.e. it is not a power granted to the government by the constitution, that act is null and void, and the nullification is ab initio, that is, from inception, not from the date of the finding. It was never "law", even though, if it had been a statute or statutory provision, it might have been adopted according to the procedures for adopting legislation. Sometimes the problem is not that a statute is unconstitutional, but that the application of it is, on a particular occasion, and a court may decide that while there are ways it could be applied that are constitutional, that instance was not allowed or legitimate. In such a case, only that application may be ruled unconstitutional. Historically, the remedies for such violations have been petitions for common law writs, such as quo warranto.
Scholars debate whether a constitution must necessarily be autochthonous, resulting from the nation's "spirit". Hegel said "A constitution...is the work of centuries; it is the idea, the consciousness of rationality so far as that consciousness is developed in a particular nation."
History and development
Since 1789, along with the Constitution of the United States of America (U.S. Constitution), which is the oldest and shortest written constitution still in force, close to 800 constitutions have been adopted and subsequently amended around the world by independent states. Indeed, according to recent studies, the average life of any newly written constitution is around 19 years. However, a great number of constitutions do not last more than 10 years, and around 10% do not last more than one year, as was the case of the French Constitution of 1791. A study in 2009 showed that the average time taken to draft a constitution is around 16 months, however there were also some extreme cases registered. For example, the Myanmar 2008 Constitution was being secretly drafted for more than 17 years, The record for the shortest overall process of drafting, adoption, and ratification of a national constitution belongs to the Romania's 1938 constitution, which installed a royal dictatorship in less than a month. Studies showed that typically extreme cases where the constitution-making process either takes too long or is extremely short were non-democracies.
In principle, constitutional rights are not a specific characteristic of democratic countries. Autocratic states have constitutions, such as that of North Korea, which officially grants every citizen, among other things, the freedom of expression. However, the extent to which governments abide by their own constitutional provisions varies. In North Korea, for example, the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System are said to have eclipsed the constitution in importance as a frame of government in practice. Developing a legal and political tradition of strict adherence to constitutional provisions is considered foundational to the rule of law.Pre-modern constitutionsAncient
's stele shows him receiving the laws of Babylon from the seated sun deity.]]
Excavations in modern-day Iraq by Ernest de Sarzec in 1877 found evidence of the earliest known code of justice, issued by the Sumerian king Urukagina of Lagash . Perhaps the earliest prototype for a law of government, this document itself has not yet been discovered; however, it is known that it allowed some rights to his citizens. For example, it is known that it relieved tax for widows and orphans, and protected the poor from the usury of the rich.
After that, many governments ruled by special codes of written laws. The oldest such document still known to exist seems to be the Code of Ur-Nammu of Ur (c. 2050 BC). Some of the better-known ancient law codes are the code of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin, the code of Hammurabi of Babylonia, the Hittite code, the Assyrian code, and Mosaic law.
In 621 BC, a scribe named Draco codified the oral laws of the city-state of Athens; this code prescribed the death penalty for many offenses (thus creating the modern term "draconian" for very strict rules). In 594 BC, Solon, the ruler of Athens, created the new Solonian Constitution. It eased the burden of the workers and determined that membership of the ruling class was to be based on wealth (plutocracy), rather than on birth (aristocracy). Cleisthenes again reformed the Athenian constitution and set it on a democratic footing in 508 BC.
]]
Aristotle (c. 350 BC) was the first to make a formal distinction between ordinary law and constitutional law, establishing ideas of constitution and constitutionalism, and attempting to classify different forms of constitutional government. The most basic definition he used to describe a constitution in general terms was "the arrangement of the offices in a state". In his works Constitution of Athens, Politics, and Nicomachean Ethics, he explores different constitutions of his day, including those of Athens, Sparta, and Carthage. He classified both what he regarded as good and what he regarded as bad constitutions, and came to the conclusion that the best constitution was a mixed system including monarchic, aristocratic, and democratic elements. He also distinguished between citizens, who had the right to participate in the state, and non-citizens and slaves, who did not.
The Romans initially codified their constitution in 450 BC as the Twelve Tables. They operated under a series of laws that were added from time to time, but Roman law was not reorganized into a single code until the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD); later, in the Eastern Empire, the Codex repetitæ prælectionis (534) was highly influential throughout Europe. This was followed in the east by the Ecloga of Leo III the Isaurian (740) and the Basilica of Basil I (878).
The Edicts of Ashoka established constitutional principles for the 3rd century BC Maurya king's rule in India. For constitutional principles almost lost to antiquity, see the code of Manu.
Early Middle Ages
Many of the Germanic peoples that filled the power vacuum left by the Western Roman Empire in the Early Middle Ages codified their laws. One of the first of these Germanic law codes to be written was the Visigothic Code of Euric (471 AD). This was followed by the Lex Burgundionum, applying separate codes for Germans and for Romans; the Pactus Alamannorum; and the Salic Law of the Franks, all written soon after 500. In 506, the Breviarum or "Lex Romana" of Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, adopted and consolidated the Codex Theodosianus together with assorted earlier Roman laws. Systems that appeared somewhat later include the Edictum Rothari of the Lombards (643), the Lex Visigothorum (654), the Lex Alamannorum (730), and the Lex Frisionum (c. 785). These continental codes were all composed in Latin, while Anglo-Saxon was used for those of England, beginning with the Code of Æthelberht of Kent (602). Around 893, Alfred the Great combined this and two other earlier Saxon codes, with various Mosaic and Christian precepts, to produce the Doom book code of laws for England.
Japan's Seventeen-article constitution written in 604, reportedly by Prince Shōtoku, is an early example of a constitution in Asian political history. Influenced by Buddhist teachings, the document focuses more on social morality than on institutions of government, and remains a notable early attempt at a government constitution.
The Constitution of Medina (, Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna), also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad after his flight (hijra) to Yathrib where he became political leader. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of Yathrib (later known as Medina), including Muslims, Jews, and pagans. The document was drawn up with the explicit concern of bringing to an end the bitter intertribal fighting between the clans of the Aws (Aus) and Khazraj within Medina. To this effect it instituted a number of rights and responsibilities for the Muslim, Jewish, and pagan communities of Medina bringing them within the fold of one community – the Ummah. The precise dating of the Constitution of Medina remains debated, but generally, scholars agree it was written shortly after the Hijra (622).
In Wales, the Cyfraith Hywel (Law of Hywel) was codified by Hywel Dda c. 942–950. It served as the main law code in Wales until it was superseded by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.
Middle Ages after 1000
The Pravda Yaroslava, originally combined by Yaroslav the Wise the Grand Prince of Kiev, was granted to Great Novgorod around 1017, and in 1054 was incorporated into the Russkaya Pravda; it became the law for all of Kievan Rus'. It survived only in later editions of the 15th century.
In England, Henry I's proclamation of the Charter of Liberties in 1100 bound the king for the first time in his treatment of the clergy and the nobility. This idea was extended and refined by the English barony when they forced King John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. The most important single article of Magna Carta, related to "habeas corpus", provided that the king was not permitted to imprison, outlaw, exile or kill anyone at a whim – there must be due process of law first. This article, Article 39, of Magna Carta read:
This provision became the cornerstone of English liberty after that point. The social contract in the original case was between the king and the nobility but was gradually extended to all of the people. It led to the system of Constitutional Monarchy, with further reforms shifting the balance of power from the monarchy and nobility to the House of Commons.
The Nomocanon of Saint Sava () was the first Serbian constitution from 1219. St. Sava's Nomocanon was the compilation of civil law, based on Roman Law, and canon law, based on Ecumenical Councils. Its basic purpose was to organize the functioning of the young Serbian kingdom and the Serbian church. Saint Sava began the work on the Serbian Nomocanon in 1208 while he was at Mount Athos, using The Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles, Synopsis of Stefan the Efesian, Nomocanon of John Scholasticus, and Ecumenical Council documents, which he modified with the canonical commentaries of Aristinos and Joannes Zonaras, local church meetings, rules of the Holy Fathers, the law of Moses, the translation of Prohiron, and the Byzantine emperors' Novellae (most were taken from Justinian's Novellae). The Nomocanon was a completely new compilation of civil and canonical regulations, taken from Byzantine sources but completed and reformed by St. Sava to function properly in Serbia. Besides decrees that organized the life of the church, there are various norms regarding civil life; most of these were taken from Prohiron. Legal transplants of Roman-Byzantine law became the basis of the Serbian medieval law. The essence of Zakonopravilo was based on Corpus Iuris Civilis.
Stefan Dušan, emperor of Serbs and Greeks, enacted Dušan's Code () in Serbia, in two state congresses: in 1349 in Skopje and in 1354 in Serres. It regulated all social spheres, so it was the second Serbian constitution, after St. Sava's Nomocanon (Zakonopravilo). The Code was based on Roman-Byzantine law. The legal transplanting within articles 171 and 172 of Dušan's Code, which regulated juridical independence, is notable. They were taken from the Byzantine code Basilika (book VII, 1, 16–17).
In 1222, Hungarian King Andrew II issued the Golden Bull of 1222.
Between 1220 and 1230, a Saxon administrator, Eike von Repgow, composed the Sachsenspiegel, which became the supreme law used in parts of Germany as late as 1900.
Around 1240, the Coptic Egyptian Christian writer, 'Abul Fada'il Ibn al-'Assal, wrote the Fetha Negest in Arabic. 'Ibn al-Assal took his laws partly from apostolic writings and Mosaic law and partly from the former Byzantine codes. There are a few historical records claiming that this law code was translated into Ge'ez and entered Ethiopia around 1450 in the reign of Zara Yaqob. Even so, its first recorded use in the function of a constitution (supreme law of the land) is with Sarsa Dengel beginning in 1563. The Fetha Negest remained the supreme law in Ethiopia until 1931, when a modern-style Constitution was first granted by Emperor Haile Selassie I.
In the Principality of Catalonia, the Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Court from 1283 (or even two centuries before, if Usatges of Barcelona is considered part of the compilation of Constitutions) until 1716, when Philip V of Spain gave the Nueva Planta decrees, finishing with the historical laws of Catalonia. These Constitutions were usually made formally as a royal initiative, but required for its approval or repeal the favorable vote of the Catalan Courts, the medieval antecedent of the modern Parliaments. These laws, like other modern constitutions, had preeminence over other laws, and they could not be contradicted by mere decrees or edicts of the king.
The Kouroukan Founga was a 13th-century charter of the Mali Empire in West Africa, reconstructed from oral tradition in 1988 by Siriman Kouyaté. It included the "right to life and to the preservation of physical integrity" and significant protections for women.
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by a Reichstag in Nuremberg headed by Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, an important aspect of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire.
In China, the Hongwu Emperor created and refined a document he called Ancestral Injunctions (first published in 1375, revised twice more before he died in 1398). These rules served as a constitution for the Ming dynasty for the next 250 years.
The oldest written document still governing a sovereign nation today is that of San Marino. The Leges Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini was written in Latin and consists of six books. The first book, with 62 articles, establishes councils, courts, various executive officers, and the powers assigned to them. The remaining books cover criminal and civil law and judicial procedures and remedies. Written in 1600, the document was based upon the Statuti Comunali (Town Statute) of 1300, itself influenced by the Codex Justinianus, and it remains in force today.
In 1392 the Carta de Logu was legal code of the Giudicato of Arborea promulgated by the giudicessa Eleanor. It was in force in Sardinia until it was superseded by the code of Charles Felix in April 1827. The Carta was a work of great importance in Sardinian history. It was an organic, coherent, and systematic work of legislation encompassing the civil and penal law.
The Gayanashagowa, the oral constitution of the Haudenosaunee nation also known as the Great Law of Peace, established a system of governance as far back as 1190 AD (though perhaps more recently at 1451) in which the Sachems, or tribal chiefs, of the Iroquois League's member nations made decisions based on universal consensus of all chiefs following discussions that were initiated by a single nation. The position of Sachem descends through families and are allocated by the senior female clan heads, though, prior to the filling of the position, candidacy is ultimately democratically decided by the community itself.
Modern constitutions
, 1710]]
of 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution]]
In 1634 the Kingdom of Sweden adopted the 1634 Instrument of Government, drawn up under the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden Axel Oxenstierna after the death of king Gustavus Adolphus. This can be seen as the first written constitution adopted by a modern state.
English civil war era
On 4 January 1649, the Rump Parliament declared "that the people are, under God, the original of all just power; that the Commons of England, being chosen by and representing the people, have the supreme power in this nation".
The English Protectorate set up by Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War promulgated the first detailed written constitution adopted by a modern state; it was called the Instrument of Government. This formed the basis of government for the short-lived republic from 1653 to 1657 by providing a legal rationale for the increasing power of Cromwell after Parliament consistently failed to govern effectively. Most of the concepts and ideas embedded into modern constitutional theory, especially bicameralism, separation of powers, the written constitution, and judicial review, can be traced back to the experiments of that period. Drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653, the Instrument of Government included elements incorporated from an earlier document "Heads of Proposals", which had been agreed to by the Army Council in 1647, as a set of propositions intended to be a basis for a constitutional settlement after King Charles I was defeated in the First English Civil War. Charles had rejected the propositions, but before the start of the Second Civil War, the Grandees of the New Model Army had presented the Heads of Proposals as their alternative to the more radical Agreement of the People presented by the Agitators and their civilian supporters at the Putney Debates. The Instrument of Government was adopted by Parliament on 15 December 1653, and Oliver Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector on the following day. The constitution set up a state council consisting of 21 members while executive authority was vested in the office of "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth." This position was designated as a non-hereditary life appointment. The Instrument also required the calling of triennial Parliaments, with each sitting for at least five months.
The Instrument of Government was replaced in May 1657 by England's second, and last, codified constitution, the Humble Petition and Advice, proposed by Sir Christopher Packe. The Petition offered hereditary monarchy to Oliver Cromwell, asserted Parliament's control over issuing new taxation, provided an independent council to advise the king and safeguarded "Triennial" meetings of Parliament. A modified version of the Humble Petition with the clause on kingship removed was ratified on 25 May. This finally met its demise in conjunction with the death of Cromwell and the Restoration of the monarchy.
British colonies in North America
In 1639, the Colony of Connecticut adopted the Fundamental Orders, which was the first North American constitution. It is the basis for every new Connecticut constitution since, and is also the reason for Connecticut's nickname, "the Constitution State".
All of the British colonies in North America that were to become the 13 original United States, adopted their own constitutions in 1776 and 1777, during the American Revolution (and before the later Articles of Confederation and United States Constitution), with the exceptions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts adopted its Constitution in 1780, the oldest still-functioning constitution of any U.S. state; while Connecticut and Rhode Island officially continued to operate under their old colonial charters, until they adopted their first state constitutions in 1818 and 1843, respectively.
Democratic constitutions: 18th century
'' (painting by Jan Matejko, 1891). Polish King Stanisław August (left, in regal ermine-trimmed cloak), enters St. John's Cathedral, where Sejm deputies will swear to uphold the new Constitution; in the background, Warsaw's Royal Castle, where the Constitution has just been adopted.]]
What is sometimes called the "enlightened constitution" model was developed by philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke. The model proposed that constitutional governments should be stable, adaptable, accountable, open and should represent the people (i.e., support democracy).
Agreements and Constitutions of Laws and Freedoms of the Zaporizian Host was written in 1710 by Pylyp Orlyk, hetman of the Zaporozhian Host. It was written to establish a free Zaporozhian-Ukrainian Republic, with the support of Charles XII of Sweden. It is notable in that it established a democratic standard for the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. This Constitution also limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council. However, Orlyk's project for an independent Ukrainian State never materialized, and his constitution, written in exile, never went into effect.
Corsican Constitutions of 1755 and 1794 were inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The latter introduced universal suffrage for property owners.
The Swedish constitution of 1772 was enacted under King Gustavus III and was inspired by the separation of powers by Montesquieu. The king also cherished other enlightenment ideas (as an enlighted despot) and repealed torture, liberated agricultural trade, diminished the use of the death penalty and instituted a form of religious freedom. The constitution was commended by Voltaire.
The United States Constitution, ratified 21 June 1788, was influenced by the writings of Polybius, Locke, Montesquieu, and others. The document became a benchmark for republicanism and codified constitutions written thereafter.
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Constitution was passed on 3 May 1791. Its draft was developed by the leading minds of the Enlightenment in Poland such as King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, Stanisław Staszic, Scipione Piattoli, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj. It was adopted by the Great Sejm and is considered the first constitution of its kind in Europe and the world's second oldest one after the American Constitution.
Another landmark document was the French Constitution of 1791.
The 1811 Constitution of Venezuela was the first Constitution of Venezuela and Latin America, promulgated and drafted by Cristóbal Mendoza and Juan Germán Roscio and in Caracas. It established a federal government but was repealed one year later.
On 19 March 1812, the Spanish Constitution of 1812 was ratified by a parliament gathered in Cadiz, the only Spanish continental city which was safe from French occupation. The Spanish Constitution served as a model for other liberal constitutions of several South European and Latin American nations, for example, the Portuguese Constitution of 1822, constitutions of various Italian states during Carbonari revolts (i.e., in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), the Norwegian constitution of 1814, or the Mexican Constitution of 1824.
In Brazil, the Constitution of 1824 expressed the option for the monarchy as a political system after Brazilian Independence. The leader of the national emancipation process was the Portuguese prince Pedro I, the elder son of the king of Portugal. Pedro was crowned in 1822 as the first emperor of Brazil. The country was ruled by a Constitutional Monarchy until 1889 when it adopted the Republican model.
In Denmark, as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, the absolute monarchy lost its personal possession of Norway to Sweden. Sweden had already enacted its 1809 Instrument of Government, which saw the division of power between the Riksdag, the king and the judiciary. However the Norwegians managed to infuse a radically democratic and liberal constitution in 1814, adopting many facets from the American constitution and the revolutionary French ones, but maintaining a hereditary monarch limited by the constitution, like the Spanish one.
The first Swiss Federal Constitution was put in force in September 1848 (with official revisions in 1878, 1891, 1949, 1971, 1982 and 1999).
The Serbian revolution initially led to a proclamation of a proto-constitution in 1811; the full-fledged Constitution of Serbia followed few decades later, in 1835. The first Serbian constitution (Sretenjski ustav) was adopted at the national assembly in Kragujevac on 15 February 1835.
The Constitution of Canada came into force on 1 July 1867, as the British North America Act, an act of the British Parliament. Over a century later, the BNA Act was patriated to the Canadian Parliament and augmented with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Apart from the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982, Canada's constitution also has unwritten elements based in common law and convention.
Principles of constitutional design
After tribal people first began to live in cities and establish nations, many of these functioned according to unwritten customs, while some developed autocratic, even tyrannical monarchs, who ruled by decree, or mere personal whim. Such rule led some thinkers to take the position that what mattered was not the design of governmental institutions and operations, as much as the character of the rulers. This view can be seen in Plato, who called for rule by "philosopher-kings". Later writers, such as Aristotle, Cicero and Plutarch, would examine designs for the government from a legal and historical standpoint.
The Renaissance brought a series of political philosophers who wrote implied criticisms of the practices of monarchs and sought to identify principles of constitutional design that would be likely to yield more effective and just governance from their viewpoints. This began with revival of the Roman law of nations concept and its application to the relations among nations, and they sought to establish customary "laws of war and peace" to ameliorate wars and make them less likely. This led to considerations of what authority monarchs or other officials have and don't have, from where that authority derives, and the remedies for the abuse of such authority.
A seminal juncture in this line of discourse arose in England from the Civil War, the Cromwellian Protectorate, the writings of Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Rutherford, the Levellers, John Milton, and James Harrington, leading to the debate between Robert Filmer, arguing for the divine right of monarchs, on the one side, and on the other, Henry Neville, James Tyrrell, Algernon Sidney, and John Locke. What arose from the latter was a concept of government being erected on the foundations of first, a state of nature governed by natural laws, then a state of society, established by a social contract or compact, which bring underlying natural or social laws, before governments are formally established on them as foundations.
Along the way, several writers examined how the design of government was important, even if the government were headed by a monarch. They also classified various historical examples of governmental designs, typically into democracies, aristocracies, or monarchies, and considered how just and effective each tended to be and why, and how the advantages of each might be obtained by combining elements of each into a more complex design that balanced competing tendencies. Some, such as Montesquieu, also examined how the functions of government, such as legislative, executive, and judicial, might appropriately be separated into branches. The prevailing theme among these writers was that the design of constitutions was not completely arbitrary or a matter of taste. They generally held that there are underlying principles of design that constrain all constitutions for every polity or organization. Each built on the ideas of those before concerning what those principles might be.
The later writings of Orestes Brownson would try to explain what constitutional designers were trying to do. According to Brownson there are, in a sense, three "constitutions" involved: The first the constitution of nature that includes all of what was called "natural law". The second is the constitution of society, an unwritten and commonly understood set of rules for the society formed by a social contract before it establishes a government, by which it establishes the third, a constitution of government. The second would include such elements as the making of decisions by the public conventions called by public notice and conducted by established rules of procedure. Each constitution must be consistent with, and derive its authority from, the ones before it, as well as from a historical act of society formation or constitutional ratification. Brownson argued that a state is a society with effective dominion over a well-defined territory, that consent to a well-designed constitution of government arises from presence on that territory, and that provisions of a written constitution of government can be "unconstitutional" if they are inconsistent with the constitutions of nature or society. Brownson argued that it is not ratification alone that makes a written constitution of government legitimate, but that it must also be competently designed and applied.
Other writers have argued that such considerations apply not only to all national constitutions of government, but also to the constitutions of private organizations, that it is not an accident that the constitutions that tend to satisfy their members contain certain elements, as a minimum, or that their provisions tend to become very similar as they are amended after experience with their use. Provisions that give rise to certain kinds of questions are seen to need additional provisions for how to resolve those questions, and provisions that offer no course of action may best be omitted and left to policy decisions. Provisions that conflict with what Brownson and others can discern are the underlying "constitutions" of nature and society tend to be difficult or impossible to execute, or to lead to unresolvable disputes.
Constitutional design has been treated as a kind of metagame in which play consists of finding the best design and provisions for a written constitution that will be the rules for the game of government, and that will be most likely to optimize a balance of the utilities of justice, liberty, and security. An example is the metagame Nomic.
Political economy theory regards constitutions as coordination devices that help citizens to prevent rulers from abusing power. If the citizenry can coordinate a response to police government officials in the face of a constitutional fault, then the government have the incentives to honor the rights that the constitution guarantees. An alternative view considers that constitutions are not enforced by the citizens at-large, but rather by the administrative powers of the state. Because rulers cannot themselves implement their policies, they need to rely on a set of organizations (armies, courts, police agencies, tax collectors) to implement it. In this position, they can directly sanction the government by refusing to cooperate, disabling the authority of the rulers. Therefore, constitutions could be characterized by a self-enforcing equilibria between the rulers and powerful administrators.
Key features
}}
copy of the Russian Constitution]]
Most commonly, the term constitution refers to a set of rules and principles that define the nature and extent of government. Most constitutions seek to regulate the relationship between institutions of the state, in a basic sense the relationship between the executive, legislature and the judiciary, but also the relationship of institutions within those branches. For example, executive branches can be divided into a head of government, government departments/ministries, executive agencies and a civil service/administration. Most constitutions also attempt to define the relationship between individuals and the state, and to establish the broad rights of individual citizens. It is thus the most basic law of a territory from which all the other laws and rules are hierarchically derived; in some territories it is in fact called "Basic Law".
Classification
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Type !! Form !! Example
|-
| Codified || In single act (document) || Most of the world (first: United States)
|-
| rowspan=2 | Uncodified || Fully written (in few documents) || San Marino, Israel, Saudi Arabia
|-
| Partially unwritten (see constitutional convention) || Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom
|}
A fundamental classification is codification or lack of codification. A codified constitution is one that is contained in a single document, which is the single source of constitutional law in a state. An uncodified constitution is one that is not contained in a single document, consisting of several different sources, which may be written or unwritten; see constitutional convention.
Codified constitution
Most states in the world have codified constitutions.
Codified constitutions are often the product of some dramatic political change, such as a revolution. The process by which a country adopts a constitution is closely tied to the historical and political context driving this fundamental change. The legitimacy (and often the longevity) of codified constitutions has often been tied to the process by which they are initially adopted and some scholars have pointed out that high constitutional turnover within a given country may itself be detrimental to the separation of powers and the rule of law.
States that have codified constitutions normally give the constitution supremacy over ordinary statute law. That is, if there is any conflict between a legal statute and the codified constitution, all or part of the statute can be declared ultra vires by a court and struck down as unconstitutional. In addition, exceptional procedures are often required to amend a constitution. These procedures may include: the convocation of a special constituent assembly or constitutional convention, requiring a supermajority of legislators' votes, approval in two terms of parliament, the consent of regional legislatures, a referendum process, and/or other procedures that make amending a constitution more difficult than passing a simple law.
Constitutions may also provide that their most basic principles can never be abolished, even by amendment. In case a formally valid amendment of a constitution infringes these principles protected against any amendment, it may constitute a so-called unconstitutional constitutional law.
Codified constitutions normally consist of a ceremonial preamble, which sets forth the goals of the state and the motivation for the constitution, and several articles containing the substantive provisions. The preamble, which is omitted in some constitutions, may contain a reference to God and/or to fundamental values of the state such as liberty, democracy or human rights. In ethnic nation-states such as Estonia, the mission of the state can be defined as preserving a specific nation, language and culture.
Uncodified constitution
]]
only two sovereign states, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, have wholly uncodified constitutions. The Basic Laws of Israel have since 1950 been intended to be the basis for a constitution, but as of 2017 it had not been drafted. The various Laws are considered to have precedence over other laws, and give the procedure by which they can be amended, typically by a simple majority of members of the Knesset (parliament).
Uncodified constitutions are the product of an "evolution" of laws and conventions over centuries (such as in the Westminster System that developed in Britain). By contrast to codified constitutions, uncodified constitutions include both written sources – e.g. constitutional statutes enacted by the Parliament – and unwritten sources – constitutional conventions, observation of precedents, royal prerogatives, customs and traditions, such as holding general elections on Thursdays; together these constitute British constitutional law.
Mixed constitutions
Some constitutions are largely, but not wholly, codified. For example, in the Constitution of Australia, most of its fundamental political principles and regulations concerning the relationship between branches of government, and concerning the government and the individual are codified in a single document, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia. However, the presence of statutes with constitutional significance, namely the Statute of Westminster, as adopted by the Commonwealth in the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and the Australia Act 1986 means that Australia's constitution is not contained in a single constitutional document. It means the Constitution of Australia is uncodified, it also contains constitutional conventions, thus is partially unwritten.
The Constitution of Canada resulted from the passage of several British North America Acts from 1867 to the Canada Act 1982, the act that formally severed British Parliament's ability to amend the Canadian constitution. The Canadian constitution includes specific legislative acts as mentioned in section 52(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. However, some documents not explicitly listed in section 52(2) are also considered constitutional documents in Canada, entrenched via reference; such as the Proclamation of 1763. Although Canada's constitution includes a number of different statutes, amendments, and references, some constitutional rules that exist in Canada are derived from unwritten sources and constitutional conventions.
The terms written constitution and codified constitution are often used interchangeably, as are unwritten constitution and uncodified constitution, although this usage is technically inaccurate. A codified constitution is a single document; states that do not have such a document have uncodified, but not entirely unwritten, constitutions, since much of an uncodified constitution is usually written in laws such as the Basic Laws of Israel and the Parliament Acts of the United Kingdom. Uncodified constitutions largely lack protection against amendment by the government of the time. For example, the U.K. Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 legislated by simple majority for strictly fixed-term parliaments; until then the ruling party could call a general election at any convenient time up to the maximum term of five years. This change would require a constitutional amendment in most nations.
Amendments
]]
A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, they can be appended to the constitution as supplemental additions (codicils), thus changing the frame of government without altering the existing text of the document.
Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation.
Methods of amending
{| class="wikitable"
|+Procedures for amending national constitutions
!Approval by
!Supermajority needed
!Countries
|-
| rowspan="9" |Legislature (unicameral, joint session or lower house only)
|>50% + >50% after an election
|Iceland, Sweden
|-
|>50% + 60% after an election
|Estonia, Greece
|-
|60% + >50% after an election
|Greece
|-
|60%
|France, Senegal, Slovakia
|-
|
|Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Honduras, Laos, Libya, Malawi, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen
|-
|>50% + | after an election
|Ukraine
|-
|2/3 + | after an election
|Belgium
|-
|3/4
|Bulgaria, Solomon Islands (in some cases)
|-
|4/5
|Estonia, Portugal (in the five years following the last amendment)
|-
| rowspan="9" |Legislature + referendum
|>50% + >50%
|Djibouti, Ecuador, Venezuela
|-
|>50% before and after an election + >50%
|Denmark
|-
|3/5 + >50%
|Russia, Turkey
|-
|2/3 + >50%
|Albania, Andorra, Armenia (some amendments), Egypt, Slovenia, Tunisia, Uganda, Yemen (some amendments), Zambia
|-
|2/3 + >60%
|Seychelles
|-
|3/4 + >50%
|Romania
|-
|3/4 + >50% of eligible voters
|Taiwan
|-
| +
|Namibia, Sierra Leone
|-
|75% + 75%
|Fiji
|-
| rowspan="2" |Legislature + sub-national legislatures
| + >50%
|Mexico
|-
| +
|Ethiopia
|-
| rowspan="4" |Lower house + upper house
|| + >50%
|Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina
|-
|| +
|Bahrain, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe
|-
|60% + 60%
|Brazil, Czech Republic
|-
|75% + 75%
|Kazakhstan
|-
|Lower house + upper house + joint session
|>50% + >50% +
|Gabon
|-
|Either house of legislature + joint session
| +
|Haiti
|-
| rowspan="8" |Lower house + upper house + referendum
|>50% + >50% + >50%
|Algeria, France, Ireland, Italy
|-
|>50% + >50% + >50% (electors in majority of states/cantons)+ >50% (electors)
|Australia, Switzerland
|-
| 60% + 60% + >50% (optional)
|Spain (in most cases)
|-
| + + >50%
|Japan, Romania, Zimbabwe (some cases)
|-
| + before and after an election + >50%
|Spain (in some cases)
|-
| + >50% + |
|Antigua and Barbuda
|-
| + >50% + >50%
|Poland (some cases)
|-
|75% + 75% + >50%
|Madagascar
|-
| rowspan="5" |Lower house + upper house + sub-national legislatures
|12/12
|Canada (in some cases)
|-
|>50% + >50% +
|Canada (in most cases)
|-
|| + + >50%
|India (in some cases)
|-
|| + + 75%
|United States
|-
| + + 50%
|Ethiopia
|-
|Referendum
|>50%
|Estonia, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Palau, Philippines, Senegal, Serbia (in some cases), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
|-
| rowspan="2" |Sub-national legislatures
||
|Russia
|-
|75%
|United States
|-
| rowspan="2" |Constitutional convention
|
|Argentina
|-
|
|Bulgaria (some amendments)
|}
Some countries are listed under more than one method because alternative procedures may be used.
Entrenched clauses
An entrenched clause or entrenchment clause of a basic law or constitution is a provision that makes certain amendments either more difficult or impossible to pass, making such amendments inadmissible. Overriding an entrenched clause may require a supermajority, a referendum, or the consent of the minority party. For example, the U.S. Constitution has an entrenched clause that prohibits abolishing equal suffrage of the States within the Senate without their consent. The term eternity clause is used in a similar manner in the constitutions of the Czech Republic, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Brazil and Norway. The Constitution of Colombia also lacks explicit entrenched clauses, but has a similar substantive limit on amending its fundamental principles through judicial interpretations.
* Duty to serve in the military
* Duty to work
* Right to vote
* Freedom of assembly
* Freedom of association
* Freedom of expression
* Freedom of movement
* Freedom of thought
* Freedom of the press
* Right to dignity
* Right to civil marriage
* Right to petition
* Right to academic freedom
* Right to conscientious objection
* Right to a fair trial
* Right to personal development
* Right to start a family
* Right to information
* Right to marriage
* Right of revolution
* Right to privacy
* Right to protect one's reputation
* Right to renounce citizenship
* Rights of children
* Rights of debtors Separation of powers
Constitutions usually explicitly divide power between various branches of government. The standard model, described by the Baron de Montesquieu, involves three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. Some constitutions include additional branches, such as an auditory branch. Constitutions vary extensively as to the degree of separation of powers between these branches.
Accountability
In presidential and semi-presidential systems of government, department secretaries/ministers are accountable to the president, who has patronage powers to appoint and dismiss ministers. The president is accountable to the people in an election.
In parliamentary systems, Cabinet Ministers are accountable to Parliament, but it is the prime minister who appoints and dismisses them. In the case of the United Kingdom and other countries with a monarchy, it is the monarch who appoints and dismisses ministers, on the advice of the prime minister. In turn the prime minister will resign if the government loses the confidence of the parliament (or a part of it). Confidence can be lost if the government loses a vote of no confidence or, depending on the country, loses a particularly important vote in parliament, such as vote on the budget. When a government loses confidence, it stays in office until a new government is formed; something which normally but not necessarily required the holding of a general election.
Other independent institutions
Other independent institutions which some constitutions have set out include a central bank, an anti-corruption commission, an electoral commission, a judicial oversight body, a human rights commission, a media commission, an ombudsman, and a truth and reconciliation commission.
Power structure
Constitutions also establish where sovereignty is located in the state. There are three basic types of distribution of sovereignty according to the degree of centralisation of power: unitary, federal, and confederal. The distinction is not absolute.
In a unitary state, sovereignty resides in the state itself, and the constitution determines this. The territory of the state may be divided into regions, but they are not sovereign and are subordinate to the state. In the UK, the constitutional doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty dictates that sovereignty is ultimately contained at the centre. Some powers have been devolved to Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (but not England). Some unitary states (Spain is an example) devolve more and more power to sub-national governments until the state functions in practice much like a federal state.
A federal state has a central structure with at most a small amount of territory mainly containing the institutions of the federal government, and several regions (called states, provinces, etc.) which compose the territory of the whole state. Sovereignty is divided between the centre and the constituent regions. The constitutions of Canada and the United States establish federal states, with power divided between the federal government and the provinces or states. Each of the regions may in turn have its own constitution (of unitary nature).
A confederal state comprises again several regions, but the central structure has only limited coordinating power, and sovereignty is located in the regions. Confederal constitutions are rare, and there is often dispute to whether so-called "confederal" states are actually federal.
To some extent a group of states which do not constitute a federation as such may by treaties and accords give up parts of their sovereignty to a supranational entity. For example, the countries constituting the European Union have agreed to abide by some Union-wide measures which restrict their absolute sovereignty in some ways, e.g., the use of the metric system of measurement instead of national units previously used.
State of emergency
Many constitutions allow the declaration under exceptional circumstances of some form of state of emergency during which some rights and guarantees are suspended. This provision can be and has been abused to allow a government to suppress dissent without regard for human rights – see the article on state of emergency.
Facade constitutions
Italian political theorist Giovanni Sartori noted the existence of national constitutions which are a facade for authoritarian sources of power. While such documents may express respect for human rights or establish an independent judiciary, they may be ignored when the government feels threatened, or never put into practice. An extreme example was the Constitution of the Soviet Union that on paper supported freedom of assembly and freedom of speech; however, citizens who transgressed unwritten limits were summarily imprisoned. The example demonstrates that the protections and benefits of a constitution are ultimately provided not through its written terms but through deference by government and society to its principles. A constitution may change from being real to a facade and back again as democratic and autocratic governments succeed each other.
Constitutional courts
Constitutions are often, but by no means always, protected by a legal body whose job it is to interpret those constitutions and, where applicable, declare void executive and legislative acts which infringe the constitution. In some countries, such as Germany, this function is carried out by a dedicated constitutional court which performs this (and only this) function. In other countries, such as Ireland, the ordinary courts may perform this function in addition to their other responsibilities. While elsewhere, like in the United Kingdom, the concept of declaring an act to be unconstitutional does not exist.
A constitutional violation is an action or legislative act that is judged by a constitutional court to be contrary to the constitution, that is, unconstitutional. An example of constitutional violation by the executive could be a public office holder who acts outside the powers granted to that office by a constitution. An example of constitutional violation by the legislature is an attempt to pass a law that would contradict the constitution, without first going through the proper constitutional amendment process.
Some countries, mainly those with uncodified constitutions, have no such courts at all. For example, the United Kingdom has traditionally operated under the principle of parliamentary sovereignty under which the laws passed by United Kingdom Parliament could not be questioned by the courts.
By country
* Constitution of the Roman Republic
* Unratified European Union constitution
** Treaty of Lisbon (adopts same changes, but without constitutional name)
* United Nations Charter
See also
* Basic law, equivalent in some countries, often for a temporary constitution
* Apostolic constitution (a class of Catholic Church documents)
* Consent of the governed
* Constitutional amendment
* Constitutional court
* Constitutional crisis
* Constitutional documents
* Constitutional economics
* Constitutional interpretation
** Originalism
** Strict constructionism
** Textualism
* Constitutionalism
* International constitutional law
* Law
* Legal tradition
* International law
* Justice
* Judicial activism
* Judicial restraint
* Judicial review
* Philosophy of law
* Religious law
* Rule of law
* Rule according to higher law
Further reading
* Zachary Elkins and Tom Ginsburg. 2021. "What Can We Learn from Written Constitutions?" Annual Review of Political Science.
References
External links
<!-- NO MORE LINKS! Constitutions should be on Wikisource and we already link to them -->
* [http://constituteproject.org Constitute], an indexed and searchable database of all constitutions in force
*[https://amendmentsproject.org/ Amendments Project]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060623044421/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-61 Dictionary of the History of Ideas] Constitutionalism
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060502181213/http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/%7Ewroblew/html/en_pr_konst.html Constitutional Law], "Constitutions, bibliography, links"
* [http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/ International Constitutional Law:] English translations of various national constitutions
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091204190502/http://unrol.org/article.aspx?article_id=31 United Nations Rule of Law: Constitution-making], on the relationship between constitution-making, the rule of law and the United Nations.
* <!-- this is in addition to Portal:___, to which Sister project links point to -->
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/constitution-politics-and-law constitution | Theories, Features, Practices, & Facts | Britannica]
* [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/constitutionalism/ Constitutionalism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
* [https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/constitutions-and-constitutionalism Constitutions and Constitutionalism | Encyclopedia.com]
Category:Sources of law
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution
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Common law
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Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on precedent—judicial rulings made in previous similar cases. The presiding judge determines which precedents to apply in deciding each new case. When a similar case has been resolved, courts typically align their reasoning with the precedent set in that decision.
The common law, so named because it was common to all the king's courts across England, originated in the practices of the courts of the English kings in the centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066. It established a unified legal system, gradually supplanting the local folk courts and manorial courts. Today, approximately one-third of the world's population lives in common law jurisdictions or in mixed legal systems that integrate common law and civil law. Terminology According to ''Black's Law Dictionary,'' common law is "the body of law derived from judicial decisions, rather than from statutes or constitutions." Legal systems that rely on common law as precedent are known as "common law jurisdictions." According to William Blackstone's declaratory theory the common law reaffirmed pre-existing customs but did not make new law. The term "judge-made law" was introduced by Jeremy Bentham as a criticism of this pretense of the legal profession.
Many notable writers, including A. V. Dicey, William Markby, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Austin, Roscoe Pound, and Ezra Ripley Thayer, eventually adopted the modern definition of common law as "case law" or ratio decidendi, which serves as binding precedent. First, one must ascertain the facts. Then, one must locate any relevant statutes and cases. Then one must extract the principles, analogies and statements by various courts of what they consider important to determine how the next court is likely to rule on the facts of the present case. More recent decisions, and decisions of higher courts or legislatures carry more weight than earlier cases and those of lower courts. Finally, one integrates all the lines drawn and reasons given, and determines "what the law is". Then, one applies that law to the facts.
In practice, common law systems are considerably more complicated than the simplified system described above. The decisions of a court are binding only in a particular jurisdiction, and even within a given jurisdiction, some courts have more power than others. For example, in most jurisdictions, decisions by appellate courts are binding on lower courts in the same jurisdiction, and on future decisions of the same appellate court, but decisions of lower courts are only non-binding persuasive authority. Interactions between common law, constitutional law, statutory law and regulatory law also give rise to considerable complexity.
Common law evolves to meet changing social needs and improved understanding
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. cautioned that "the proper derivation of general principles in both common and constitutional law ... arise gradually, in the emergence of a consensus from a multitude of particularized prior decisions". Justice Cardozo noted the "common law does not work from pre-established truths of universal and inflexible validity to conclusions derived from them deductively", but "[i]ts method is inductive, and it draws its generalizations from particulars".
The common law is more malleable than statutory law. First, common law courts are not absolutely bound by precedent, but can (when extraordinarily good reason is shown) reinterpret and revise the law, without legislative intervention, to adapt to new trends in political, legal and social philosophy. Second, the common law evolves through a series of gradual steps, that gradually works out all the details, so that over a decade or more, the law can change substantially but without a sharp break, thereby reducing disruptive effects. In contrast to common law incrementalism, the legislative process is very difficult to get started, as the work begins much earlier than just introducing a bill. Once the legislation is introduced, the process to getting it passed is long, involving the committee system, debate, the potential of conference committee, voting, and President approval. Because of the involved process, many pieces must fall into place in order for it to be passed.
One example of the gradual change that typifies evolution of the common law is the gradual change in liability for negligence. The traditional common law rule through most of the 19th century was that a plaintiff could not recover for a defendant's negligent production or distribution of a harmful instrumentality unless the two were parties to a contract (privity of contract). Thus, only the immediate purchaser could recover for a product defect, and if a part was built up out of parts from parts manufacturers, the ultimate buyer could not recover for injury caused by a defect in the part. In an 1842 English case, Winterbottom v Wright, the postal service had contracted with Wright to maintain its coaches. Winterbottom was a driver for the post. When the coach failed and injured Winterbottom, he sued Wright. The Winterbottom court recognized that there would be "absurd and outrageous consequences" if an injured person could sue any person peripherally involved, and knew it had to draw a line somewhere, a limit on the causal connection between the negligent conduct and the injury. The court looked to the contractual relationships, and held that liability would only flow as far as the person in immediate contract ("privity") with the negligent party.
A first exception to this rule arose in 1852, in the case of Thomas v. Winchester, when New York's highest court held that mislabeling a poison as an innocuous herb, and then selling the mislabeled poison through a dealer who would be expected to resell it, put "human life in imminent danger". Thomas relied on this reason to create an exception to the "privity" rule. In 1909, New York held in Statler v. Ray Mfg. Co. that a coffee urn manufacturer was liable to a person injured when the urn exploded, because the urn "was of such a character inherently that, when applied to the purposes for which it was designed, it was liable to become a source of great danger to many people if not carefully and properly constructed".
Yet the privity rule survived. In Cadillac Motor Car Co. v. Johnson (decided in 1915 by the federal appeals court for New York and several neighboring states), the court held that a car owner could not recover for injuries from a defective wheel, when the automobile owner had a contract only with the automobile dealer and not with the manufacturer, even though there was "no question that the wheel was made of dead and 'dozy' wood, quite insufficient for its purposes". The Cadillac court was willing to acknowledge that the case law supported exceptions for "an article dangerous in its nature or likely to become so in the course of the ordinary usage to be contemplated by the vendor". However, held the Cadillac court, "one who manufactures articles dangerous only if defectively made, or installed, e.g., tables, chairs, pictures or mirrors hung on the walls, carriages, automobiles, and so on, is not liable to third parties for injuries caused by them, except in case of willful injury or fraud".
Finally, in the famous case of MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co., in 1916, Judge Benjamin Cardozo for New York's highest court pulled a broader principle out of these predecessor cases. The facts were almost identical to Cadillac a year earlier: a wheel from a wheel manufacturer was sold to Buick, to a dealer, to MacPherson, and the wheel failed, injuring MacPherson. Judge Cardozo held:
Cardozo's new "rule" exists in no prior case, but is inferrable as a synthesis of the "thing of danger" principle stated in them, merely extending it to "foreseeable danger" even if "the purposes for which it was designed" were not themselves "a source of great danger". MacPherson takes some care to present itself as foreseeable progression, not a wild departure. Cardozo continues to adhere to the original principle of Winterbottom, that "absurd and outrageous consequences" must be avoided, and he does so by drawing a new line in the last sentence quoted above: "There must be knowledge of a danger, not merely possible, but probable." But while adhering to the underlying principle that some boundary is necessary, MacPherson overruled the prior common law by rendering the formerly dominant factor in the boundary, that is, the privity formality arising out of a contractual relationship between persons, totally irrelevant. Rather, the most important factor in the boundary would be the nature of the thing sold and the foreseeable uses that downstream purchasers would make of the thing.
The example of the evolution of the law of negligence in the preceding paragraphs illustrates two crucial principles: (a) The common law evolves, this evolution is in the hands of judges, and judges have "made law" for hundreds of years. The United States federal courts relied on private publishers until after the Civil War, and only began publishing as a government function in 1874. West Publishing in Minnesota is the largest private-sector publisher of law reports in the United States. Government publishers typically issue only decisions "in the raw", while private sector publishers often add indexing, including references to the key principles of the common law involved, editorial analysis, and similar finding aids. Comparison with statutory law Statutes are generally understood to supersede common law. They may codify existing common law, create new causes of action that did not exist in the common law, or legislatively overrule the common law. Common law still has practical applications in some areas of law. Examples are contract law and the law of torts.
"Legislating from the bench"
At earlier stages in the development of modern legal systems and government, courts exercised their authority in performing what Roscoe Pound described as an essentially legislative function. As legislation became more comprehensive, courts began to operate within narrower limits of statutory interpretation.
Jeremy Bentham famously criticized judicial lawmaking when he argued in favor of codification and narrow judicial decisions. Pound comments that critics of judicial lawmaking are not always consistent – sometimes siding with Bentham and decrying judicial overreach, at other times unsatisfied with judicial reluctance to sweep broadly and employ case law as a means to redress certain challenges to established law. Oliver Wendell Holmes once dissented: "judges do and must legislate".Statutory constructionThere is a controversial legal maxim in American law that "Statutes in derogation of the common law ought to be narrowly construed". Henry Campbell Black once wrote that the canon "no longer has any foundation in reason". It is generally associated with the Lochner era.
The presumption is that legislatures may take away common law rights, but modern jurisprudence will look for the statutory purpose or legislative intent and apply rules of statutory construction like the plain meaning rule to reach decisions. held that a Michigan statute that established rules for solemnization of marriages did not abolish pre-existing common-law marriage, because the statute did not affirmatively require statutory solemnization and was silent as to preexisting common law.
Court decisions that analyze, interpret and determine the fine boundaries and distinctions in law promulgated by other bodies are sometimes called "interstitial common law", which includes judicial interpretation of fundamental laws, such as the US Constitution, of legislative statutes, and of agency regulations, and the application of law to specific facts. Overruling precedent—the limits of stare decisis
The United States federal courts are divided into twelve regional circuits, each with a circuit court of appeals (plus a thirteenth, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears appeals in patent cases and cases against the federal government, without geographic limitation). Decisions of one circuit court are binding on the district courts within the circuit and on the circuit court itself, but are only persuasive authority on sister circuits. District court decisions are not binding precedent at all, only persuasive.
Most of the U.S. federal courts of appeal have adopted a rule under which, in the event of any conflict in decisions of panels (most of the courts of appeal almost always sit in panels of three), the earlier panel decision is controlling, and a panel decision may only be overruled by the court of appeals sitting en banc (that is, all active judges of the court) or by a higher court. In these courts, the older decision remains controlling when an issue comes up the third time.
Other courts, for example, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (formerly known as Court of Customs and Patent Appeals) and the US Supreme Court, always sit en banc, and thus the later decision controls. These courts essentially overrule all previous cases in each new case, and older cases survive only to the extent they do not conflict with newer cases. The interpretations of these courts—for example, Supreme Court interpretations of the constitution or federal statutes—are stable only so long as the older interpretation maintains the support of a majority of the court. Older decisions persist through some combination of belief that the old decision is right, and that it is not sufficiently wrong to be overruled.
In the jurisdictions of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland, since 2009, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has the authority to overrule and unify criminal law decisions of lower courts; it is the final court of appeal for civil law cases in all three of the UK jurisdictions, but not for criminal law cases in Scotland, where the High Court of Justiciary has this power instead (except on questions of law relating to reserved matters such as devolution and human rights). From 1966 to 2009, this power lay with the House of Lords, as it declared in the Practice Statement of 1966.
Canada's federal system, described below, avoids regional variability of federal law by giving national jurisdiction to both layers of appellate courts.
Common law as a foundation for commercial economies
The reliance on judicial opinion is a strength of common law systems, and is a significant contributor to the robust commercial systems in the United Kingdom and United States. Because there is reasonably precise guidance on almost every issue, parties (especially commercial parties) can predict whether a proposed course of action is likely to be lawful or unlawful, and have some assurance of consistency. As Justice Brandeis famously expressed it, "in most matters it is more important that the applicable rule of law be settled than that it be settled right." This ability to predict gives more freedom to come close to the boundaries of the law. For example, many commercial contracts are more economically efficient, and create greater wealth, because the parties know ahead of time that the proposed arrangement, though perhaps close to the line, is almost certainly legal. Newspapers, taxpayer-funded entities with some religious affiliation, and political parties can obtain fairly clear guidance on the boundaries within which their freedom of expression rights apply.
In contrast, in jurisdictions with very weak respect for precedent, fine questions of law are redetermined anew each time they arise, making consistency and prediction more difficult, and procedures far more protracted than necessary because parties cannot rely on written statements of law as reliable guides. Commercial contracts almost always include a "choice of law clause" to reduce uncertainty. Somewhat surprisingly, contracts throughout the world (for example, contracts involving parties in Japan, France and Germany, and from most of the other states of the United States) often choose the law of New York, even where the relationship of the parties and transaction to New York is quite attenuated. Because of its history as the United States' commercial center, New York common law has a depth and predictability not (yet) available in any other jurisdictions of the United States. Similarly, American corporations are often formed under Delaware corporate law, and American contracts relating to corporate law issues (merger and acquisitions of companies, rights of shareholders, and so on) include a Delaware choice of law clause, because of the deep body of law in Delaware on these issues. On the other hand, some other jurisdictions have sufficiently developed bodies of law so that parties have no real motivation to choose the law of a foreign jurisdiction (for example, England and Wales, and the state of California), but not yet so fully developed that parties with no relationship to the jurisdiction choose that law. Outside the United States, parties that are in different jurisdictions from each other often choose the law of England and Wales, particularly when the parties are each in former British colonies and members of the Commonwealth. The common theme in all cases is that commercial parties seek predictability and simplicity in their contractual relations, and frequently choose the law of a common law jurisdiction with a well-developed body of common law to achieve that result.
Likewise, for litigation of commercial disputes arising out of unpredictable torts (as opposed to the prospective choice of law clauses in contracts discussed in the previous paragraph), certain jurisdictions attract an unusually high fraction of cases, because of the predictability afforded by the depth of decided cases. For example, London is considered the pre-eminent centre for litigation of admiralty cases.
This is not to say that common law is better in every situation. For example, civil law can be clearer than case law when the legislature has had the foresight and diligence to address the precise set of facts applicable to a particular situation. For that reason, civil law statutes tend to be somewhat more detailed than statutes written by common law legislatures—but, conversely, that tends to make the statute more difficult to read.
History
Origins
The common lawso named because it was common to all the king's courts across Englandoriginated in the practices of the courts of the English kings in the centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066. Prior to the Norman Conquest, much of England's legal business took place in the local folk courts of its various shires and hundreds. A variety of other individual courts also existed across the land: urban boroughs and merchant fairs held their own courts, and large landholders also held their own manorial and seigniorial courts as needed. The degree to which common law drew from earlier Anglo-Saxon traditions such as the jury, ordeals, the penalty of outlawry, and writs all of which were incorporated into the Norman common law is still a subject of much discussion. Additionally, the Catholic Church operated its own court system that adjudicated issues of canon law, which included much of what would today be regarded as family law.
The main sources for the history of the common law in the Middle Ages are the plea rolls and the Year Books. The plea rolls, which were the official court records for the Courts of Common Pleas and King's Bench, were written in Latin. The rolls were made up in bundles by law term: Hilary, Easter, Trinity, and Michaelmas, or winter, spring, summer, and autumn. They are currently deposited in the UK National Archives, by whose permission images of the rolls for the Courts of Common Pleas, King's Bench, and Exchequer of Pleas, from the 13th century to the 17th, can be viewed online at the Anglo-American Legal Tradition site (The O'Quinn Law Library of the University of Houston Law Center).
The doctrine of precedent developed during the 12th and 13th centuries, as the collective judicial decisions that were based in tradition, custom and precedent.
The form of reasoning used in common law is known as casuistry or case-based reasoning. The common law, as applied in civil cases (as distinct from criminal cases), was devised as a means of compensating someone for wrongful acts known as torts, including both intentional torts and torts caused by negligence, and as developing the body of law recognizing and regulating contracts. The type of procedure practiced in common law courts is known as the adversarial system; this is also a development of the common law.
Medieval English common law
in the Palace of Westminster, London, early 19th century]]
In 1154, Henry II became the first Plantagenet king. Among many achievements, Henry institutionalized common law by creating a unified system of law "common" to the country through incorporating and elevating local custom to the national, ending local control and peculiarities, eliminating arbitrary remedies and reinstating a jury system—citizens sworn on oath to investigate reliable criminal accusations and civil claims. The jury reached its verdict through evaluating common local knowledge, not necessarily through the presentation of evidence, a distinguishing factor from today's civil and criminal court systems.
At the time, royal government centered on the Curia Regis (king's court), the body of aristocrats and prelates who assisted in the administration of the realm and the ancestor of Parliament, the Star Chamber, and Privy Council. Henry II developed the practice of sending judges (numbering around 20 to 30 in the 1180s) from his Curia Regis to hear the various disputes throughout the country, and return to the court thereafter. The king's itinerant justices would generally receive a writ or commission under the great seal. and Cornishmen fleeing to escape the eyre of 1233.
Henry II's creation of a powerful and unified court system, which curbed somewhat the power of canonical (church) courts, brought him (and England) into conflict with the church, most famously with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The murder of the archbishop gave rise to a wave of popular outrage against the King. International pressure on Henry grew, and in May 1172 he negotiated a settlement with the papacy in which the King swore to go on crusade as well as effectively overturned the more controversial clauses of the Constitutions of Clarendon. Henry nevertheless continued to exert influence in any ecclesiastical case which interested him and royal power was exercised more subtly with considerable success.
The English Court of Common Pleas was established after Magna Carta in 1215 to try lawsuits between commoners in which the monarch had no interest. Its judges sat in open court in the Great Hall of the king's Palace of Westminster, permanently except in the vacations between the four terms of the Legal year.
Judge-made common law operated as the primary source of law for several hundred years, before Parliament acquired legislative powers to create statutory law. In England, judges have devised a number of rules as to how to deal with precedent decisions. The early development of case-law in the thirteenth century has been traced to Bracton's On the Laws and Customs of England and led to the yearly compilations of court cases known as Year Books, of which the first extant was published in 1268, the same year that Bracton died. The Year Books are known as the law reports of medieval England, and are a principal source for knowledge of the developing legal doctrines, concepts, and methods in the period from the 13th to the 16th centuries, when the common law developed into recognizable form.
Influence of Roman law
The term "common law" is often used as a contrast to Roman-derived "civil law", and the fundamental processes and forms of reasoning in the two are quite different. Nonetheless, there has been considerable cross-fertilization of ideas, while the two traditions and sets of foundational principles remain distinct.
By the time of the rediscovery of the Roman law in Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries, the common law had already developed far enough to prevent a Roman law reception as it occurred on the continent. However, the first common law scholars, most notably Glanvill and Bracton, as well as the early royal common law judges, had been well accustomed with Roman law. Often, they were clerics trained in the Roman canon law. One of the first and throughout its history one of the most significant treatises of the common law, Bracton's De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (On the Laws and Customs of England), was heavily influenced by the division of the law in Justinian's Institutes. The impact of Roman law had decreased sharply after the age of Bracton, but the Roman divisions of actions into in rem (typically, actions against a thing or property for the purpose of gaining title to that property; must be filed in a court where the property is located) and in personam (typically, actions directed against a person; these can affect a person's rights and, since a person often owns things, his property too) used by Bracton had a lasting effect and laid the groundwork for a return of Roman law structural concepts in the 18th and 19th centuries. Signs of this can be found in Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, and Roman law ideas regained importance with the revival of academic law schools in the 19th century. As a result, today, the main systematic divisions of the law into property, contract, and tort (and to some extent unjust enrichment) can be found in the civil law as well as in the common law.
Early modern era
The "ancient unwritten universal custom" view was the foundation of the first treatises by Blackstone and Coke, and was universal among lawyers and judges from the earliest times to the mid-19th century. Coke
The first attempt at a comprehensive compilation of centuries of common law was by Lord Chief Justice Edward Coke, in his treatise, Institutes of the Lawes of England in the 17th century.
As Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634) put it in the preface to the eighth volume of his Reports (1600–1615), "the grounds of our common laws" were "beyond the memorie or register of any beginning".
Blackstone
According to William Blackstone the unwritten law derived its authority from immemorial usage and "universal reception throughout the kingdom". While its precise meaning may have changed since Blackstone's time, in modern usage it is generally understood to mean law that is independent of statutes. This was repeated by the United States Supreme Court in Levy v. McCartee: "It is too plain for argument that the common law is here spoken of, in its appropriate sense, as the unwritten law of the land, independent of statutory enactments". Jeremy Bentham The term "judge made law" comes from Jeremy Bentham and the modern practice of adjudication as application of precedent derived from case law begins with Jeremy Bentham's attack on the legitimacy of the common law. The modern legal practice of applying case law as precedent made obsolete the declaratory theory of common law that prevailed in Blackstone's time. Propagation of the common law to the colonies and Commonwealth by reception statutes A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent, by which the new nation adopts (i.e. receives) pre-independence common law, to the extent not explicitly rejected by the legislative body or constitution of the new nation. Reception statutes generally consider the English common law dating prior to independence, and the precedent originating from it, as the default law, because of the importance of using an extensive and predictable body of law to govern the conduct of citizens and businesses in a new state. All U.S. states, with the partial exception of Louisiana, have either implemented reception statutes or adopted the common law by judicial opinion.
Other examples of reception statutes in the United States, the states of the U.S., Canada and its provinces, and Hong Kong, are discussed in the reception statute article.
Yet, adoption of the common law in the newly independent United States was not a foregone conclusion, and was controversial. Immediately after the American Revolution, there was widespread distrust and hostility to anything British, and the common law was no exception. commented, "It is revolting to have no better reason for a rule of law than that so it was laid down in the time of Henry IV. It is still more revolting if the grounds upon which it was laid down have vanished long since, and the rule simply persists from blind imitation of the past." Justice Holmes noted that study of maxims might be sufficient for "the man of the present", but "the man of the future is the man of statistics and the master of economics". In an 1880 lecture at Harvard, he wrote:
In the early 20th century, Louis Brandeis, later appointed to the United States Supreme Court, became noted for his use of policy-driving facts and economics in his briefs, and extensive appendices presenting facts that lead a judge to the advocate's conclusion. By this time, briefs relied more on facts than on Latin maxims.
Reliance on old maxims is now deprecated. Common law decisions today reflect both precedent and policy judgment drawn from economics, the social sciences, business, decisions of foreign courts, and the like. The degree to which these external factors should influence adjudication is the subject of active debate, but it is indisputable that judges do draw on experience and learning from everyday life, from other fields, and from other jurisdictions.
1870 through 20th century, and the procedural merger of law and equity
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As early as the 15th century, it became the practice that litigants who felt they had been cheated by the common law system would petition the King in person. For example, they might argue that an award of damages (at common law (as opposed to equity)) was not sufficient redress for a trespasser occupying their land, and instead request that the trespasser be evicted. From this developed the system of equity, administered by the Lord Chancellor, in the courts of chancery. By their nature, equity and law were frequently in conflict and litigation would frequently continue for years as one court countermanded the other, even though it was established by the 17th century that equity should prevail.
In England, courts of law (as opposed to equity) were merged with courts of equity by the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, with equity prevailing in case of conflict.
In the United States, parallel systems of law (providing money damages, with cases heard by a jury upon either party's request) and equity (fashioning a remedy to fit the situation, including injunctive relief, heard by a judge) survived well into the 20th century. The United States federal courts procedurally separated law and equity: the same judges could hear either kind of case, but a given case could only pursue causes in law or in equity, and the two kinds of cases proceeded under different procedural rules. This became problematic when a given case required both money damages and injunctive relief. In 1937, the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure combined law and equity into one form of action, the "civil action". Fed.R.Civ.P. . The distinction survives to the extent that issues that were "common law (as opposed to equity)" as of 1791 (the date of adoption of the Seventh Amendment) are still subject to the right of either party to request a jury, and "equity" issues are decided by a judge.
The states of Delaware, Illinois, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee continue to have divided courts of law and courts of chancery, for example, the Delaware Court of Chancery. In New Jersey, the appellate courts are unified, but the trial courts are organized into a Chancery Division and a Law Division.
Common law pleading and its abolition in the early 20th century
For centuries, through to the 19th century, the common law acknowledged only specific forms of action, and required very careful drafting of the opening pleading (called a writ) to slot into exactly one of them: debt, detinue, covenant, special assumpsit, general assumpsit, trespass, trover, replevin, case (or trespass on the case), and ejectment. To initiate a lawsuit, a pleading had to be drafted to meet myriad technical requirements: correctly categorizing the case into the correct legal pigeonhole (pleading in the alternative was not permitted), and using specific legal terms and phrases that had been traditional for centuries. Under the old common law pleading standards, a suit by a pro se ("for oneself", without a lawyer) party was all but impossible, and there was often considerable procedural jousting at the outset of a case over minor wording issues.
One of the major reforms of the late 19th century and early 20th century was the abolition of common law pleading requirements. A plaintiff can initiate a case by giving the defendant "a short and plain statement" of facts that constitute an alleged wrong. This reform moved the attention of courts from technical scrutiny of words to a more rational consideration of the facts, and opened access to justice far more broadly.
Comparison with civil law
Civil law systems
Common law is usually contrasted with the civil law system, which is used in Continental Europe, most of Central and South America, and some African countries including Egypt and the Francophone countries of the Maghreb and west Africa.
Common law systems trace their history to the English common law, while civil law systems trace their history through the Napoleonic Code back to the of Roman law.
Role of precedent and judicial review
The primary contrast between the two systems is the role of written decisions and precedent as a source of law (one of the defining features of common law legal systems). civil law judges tend to give less weight to judicial precedent. For example, the Napoleonic Code expressly forbade French judges to pronounce general principles of law.
In some civil law jurisdictions the judiciary does not have the authority to invalidate legislative provisions. For example, after the fall of the Soviet Union the Armenian parliament, with substantial support from USAID, adopted new legal codes. Some of the codes introduced problems which the judiciary was not empowered to adjudicate under the established principles of the common law of contracts - they could only apply the code as written.
There is no doctrine of stare decisis in the French civil law tradition. Civil law codes must be changed constantly because the precedent of courts is not binding and because courts lack authority to act if there is no statute. There are regular, good quality law reports in France, but it is not a consistent practice in many of the existing civil law jurisdictions. In French-speaking colonial Africa there were no law reports and what little we know of those historical cases comes from publication in journals. Adversarial system vs. inquisitorial system Common law systems tend to give more weight to separation of powers between the judicial branch and the executive branch. In contrast, civil law systems are typically more tolerant of allowing individual officials to exercise both powers. One example of this contrast is the difference between the two systems in allocation of responsibility between prosecutor and adjudicator.
Common law courts usually use an adversarial system, in which two sides present their cases to a neutral judge. This principle applies with force in all issues in criminal matters, and to factual issues: courts seldom engage in fact gathering on their own initiative, but decide facts on the evidence presented (even here, there are exceptions, for "legislative facts" as opposed to "adjudicative facts").
On the other hand, on issues of law, common law courts regularly raise new issues (such as matters of jurisdiction or standing), perform independent research, and reformulate the legal grounds on which to analyze the facts presented to them. The United States Supreme Court regularly decides based on issues raised only in amicus briefs from non-parties. One of the most notable such cases was Erie Railroad v. Tompkins, a 1938 case in which neither party questioned the ruling from the 1842 case Swift v. Tyson that served as the foundation for their arguments, but which led the Supreme Court to overturn Swift during their deliberations. To avoid lack of notice, courts may invite briefing on an issue to ensure adequate notice. However, there are limits—an appeals court may not introduce a theory that contradicts the party's own contentions.
There are many exceptions in both directions. For example, most proceedings before U.S. federal and state agencies are inquisitorial in nature, at least the initial stages (e.g., a patent examiner, a social security hearing officer, and so on), even though the law to be applied is developed through common law processes.
Convergence of common law and civil law
The contrast between civil law and common law legal systems has become increasingly blurred, with the growing importance of jurisprudence (similar to case law but not binding) in civil law countries, and the growing importance of statute law and codes in common law countries.
Common law countries are increasingly adopting codes, similar to civil law systems, in areas such as bankruptcy, intellectual property, antitrust, banking regulation, securities, and tax law. In the United States, the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is an example of a codified framework governing various aspects of commercial law.
An example of convergence from the other direction is shown in the 1982 decision Srl CILFIT and Lanificio di Gavardo SpA v Ministry of Health (), in which the European Court of Justice held that questions it has already answered need not be resubmitted. This showed how a historically distinctly common law principle is used by a court composed of judges (at that time) of essentially civil law jurisdiction.
Common law legal systems in the present day
In jurisdictions around the world
The common law constitutes the basis of the legal systems of:
* Australia (both federally and in each of the states and territories)
* Bangladesh
* Belize
* Brunei
* Bhutan
* Canada (both federal and the individual provinces, with the exception of Quebec)
* the Caribbean jurisdictions of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago
* Cyprus
* Ghana
* Hong Kong (Except for Basic Law and National Security Law, which adopts civil law as a legal base.)
* India
* Ireland
* Israel
* Kenya
* Nigeria
* Malaysia
* Malta
* Myanmar
* New Zealand
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Singapore
* South Africa
* United Kingdom (in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland)
* United States (both the federal system and the individual states and Territories, with the partial exception of Louisiana and Puerto Rico)
and many other generally English-speaking countries or Commonwealth countries (except Scotland, which is bijuridicial, and Malta). Essentially, every country that was colonised at some time by England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom uses common law except those that were formerly colonised by other nations, such as Quebec (which follows the bijuridicial law or civil code of France in part), South Africa and Sri Lanka (which follow Roman Dutch law), where the prior civil law system was retained to respect the civil rights of the local colonists. Guyana and Saint Lucia have mixed common law and civil law systems.
The remainder of this section discusses jurisdiction-specific variants, arranged chronologically.
Scotland
Scotland is often said to use the civil law system, but it has a unique system that combines elements of an uncodified civil law dating back to the with an element of its own common law long predating the Treaty of Union with England in 1707 (see Legal institutions of Scotland in the High Middle Ages), founded on the customary laws of the tribes residing there. Historically, Scottish common law differed in that the use of precedent was subject to the courts' seeking to discover the principle that justifies a law rather than searching for an example as a precedent, and principles of natural justice and fairness have always played a role in Scots Law. From the 19th century, the Scottish approach to precedent developed into a stare decisis akin to that already established in England thereby reflecting a narrower, more modern approach to the application of case law in subsequent instances. This is not to say that the substantive rules of the common laws of both countries are the same, but in many matters (particularly those of UK-wide interest), they are similar.
Scotland shares the Supreme Court with England, Wales and Northern Ireland for civil cases; the court's decisions are binding on the jurisdiction from which a case arises but only influential on similar cases arising in Scotland. This has had the effect of converging the law in certain areas. For instance, the modern UK law of negligence is based on Donoghue v Stevenson, a case originating in Paisley, Scotland.
Scotland maintains a separate criminal law system from the rest of the UK, with the High Court of Justiciary being the final court for criminal appeals. The highest court of appeal in civil cases brought in Scotland is now the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (before October 2009, final appellate jurisdiction lay with the House of Lords). The United States – states, federal courts, and executive branch agencies (17th century on) New York (17th century)The original colony of New Netherland was settled by the Dutch and the law was also Dutch. When the English captured pre-existing colonies they continued to allow the local settlers to keep their civil law. However, the Dutch settlers revolted against the English and the colony was recaptured by the Dutch. In 1664, the colony of New York had two distinct legal systems: on Manhattan Island and along the Hudson River, sophisticated courts modeled on those of the Netherlands were resolving disputes learnedly in accordance with Dutch customary law. On Long Island, Staten Island, and in Westchester, on the other hand, English courts were administering a crude, untechnical variant of the common law carried from Puritan New England and practiced without the intercession of lawyers. When the English finally regained control of New Netherland they imposed common law upon all the colonists, including the Dutch. This was problematic, as the patroon system of land holding, based on the feudal system and civil law, continued to operate in the colony until it was abolished in the mid-19th century. New York began a codification of its law in the 19th century. The only part of this codification process that was considered complete is known as the Field Code applying to civil procedure. The influence of Roman-Dutch law continued in the colony well into the late 19th century. The codification of a law of general obligations shows how remnants of the civil law tradition in New York continued on from the Dutch days. Louisiana (1700s)
Under Louisiana's codified system, the Louisiana Civil Code, private law—that is, substantive law between private sector parties—is based on principles of law from continental Europe, with some common law influences. These principles derive ultimately from Roman law, transmitted through French law and Spanish law, as the state's current territory intersects the area of North America colonized by Spain and by France. Contrary to popular belief, the Louisiana code does not directly derive from the Napoleonic Code, as the latter was enacted in 1804, one year after the Louisiana Purchase. However, the two codes are similar in many respects due to common roots.
Louisiana's criminal law largely rests on English common law. Louisiana's administrative law is generally similar to the administrative law of the U.S. federal government and other U.S. states. Louisiana's procedural law is generally in line with that of other U.S. states, which in turn is generally based on the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Historically notable among the Louisiana code's differences from common law is the role of property rights among women, particularly in inheritance gained by widows.
California (1850s)
The U.S. state of California has a system based on common law, but it has codified the law in the manner of civil law jurisdictions. The reason for the enactment of the California Codes in the 19th century was to replace a pre-existing system based on Spanish civil law with a system based on common law, similar to that in most other states. California and a number of other Western states, however, have retained the concept of community property derived from civil law. The California courts have treated portions of the codes as an extension of the common-law tradition, subject to judicial development in the same manner as judge-made common law. (Most notably, in the case Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal.3d 804 (1975), the California Supreme Court adopted the principle of comparative negligence in the face of a California Civil Code provision codifying the traditional common-law doctrine of contributory negligence.)
United States federal courts (1789 and 1938)
and codification of federal statutes.]]
After Erie v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78 (1938) overruled Joseph Storey's decision in Swift v. Tyson, the federal common law was limited to some jurisdictions stated in the Constitution, such as admiralty, and possibly some areas that may not be the traditional jurisdiction of state law.
Later courts have limited Erie slightly, to create a few situations where United States federal courts are permitted to create federal common law rules without express statutory authority, for example, where a federal rule of decision is necessary to protect uniquely federal interests, such as foreign affairs, or financial instruments issued by the federal government. (giving federal courts the authority to fashion common law rules with respect to issues of federal power, in this case negotiable instruments backed by the federal government); International News Service v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215 (1918) (creating a cause of action for misappropriation of "hot news" that lacks any statutory grounding)}} Except on Constitutional issues, and some procedural issues, Congress is free to legislatively overrule federal courts' common law.
In Swift, the United States Supreme Court had held that federal courts hearing cases brought under their diversity jurisdiction (allowing them to hear cases between parties from different states) had to apply the statutory law of the states, but not the common law developed by state courts. Instead, the Supreme Court permitted the federal courts to make their own common law based on general principles of law. Erie overruled Swift v. Tyson, and instead held that federal courts exercising diversity jurisdiction had to use all of the same substantive law as the courts of the states in which they were located. As the Erie Court put it, there is no "general federal common law".
Post-1938, federal courts deciding issues that arise under state law are required to defer to state court interpretations of state statutes, or reason what a state's highest court would rule if presented with the issue, or to certify the question to the state's highest court for resolution. Outside diversity jurisdiction and when there is no federal statute, post-Erie federal courts have continued to create causes of action. Justice Lewis Powell strongly objected to this practice in an influential dissent for the case Cannon v. University of Chicago.
United States executive branch agencies (1946)
Most executive branch agencies in the United States federal government have some adjudicatory authority. To greater or lesser extent, agencies honor their own precedent to ensure consistent results. Agency decision making is governed by the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946.
For example, the National Labor Relations Board issues relatively few regulations, but instead promulgates most of its substantive rules through common law (connotation 1).
India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (19th century and 1948)
The law of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are largely based on English common law because of the long period of British colonial influence during the period of the British Raj.
Ancient India represented a distinct tradition of law, and had a historically independent school of legal theory and practice. The Arthashastra, dating from 400 BCE and the Manusmriti, from 100 CE, were influential treatises in India, texts that were considered authoritative legal guidance. Manu's central philosophy was tolerance and pluralism, and was cited across Southeast Asia. Early in this period, which finally culminated in the creation of the Gupta Empire, relations with ancient Greece and Rome were not infrequent. The appearance of similar fundamental institutions of international law in various parts of the world show that they are inherent in international society, irrespective of culture and tradition. Inter-State relations in the pre-Islamic period resulted in clear-cut rules of warfare of a high humanitarian standard, in rules of neutrality, of treaty law, of customary law embodied in religious charters, in exchange of embassies of a temporary or semi-permanent character.
When India became part of the British Empire, there was a break in tradition, and Hindu and Islamic law were supplanted by the common law. After the failed rebellion against the British in 1857, the British Parliament took over control of India from the British East India Company, and British India came under the direct rule of the Crown. The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1858 to this effect, which set up the structure of British government in India. It established in Britain the office of the Secretary of State for India through whom the Parliament would exercise its rule, along with a Council of India to aid him. It also established the office of the Governor-General of India along with an Executive Council in India, which consisted of high officials of the British Government. As a result, the present judicial system of the country derives largely from the British system and has little correlation to the institutions of the pre-British era. Post-partition India (1948)
is the longest written constitution for a country, containing 395 articles, 12 schedules, numerous amendments and 117,369 words.]]
Post-partition, India retained its common law system. Much of contemporary Indian law shows substantial European and American influence. Legislation first introduced by the British is still in effect in modified form today. During the drafting of the Indian Constitution, laws from Ireland, the United States, Britain, and France were all synthesized to produce a refined set of Indian laws. Indian laws also adhere to the United Nations guidelines on human rights law and environmental law. Certain international trade laws, such as those on intellectual property, are also enforced in India. Post-partition Pakistan (1948) Post-partition, Pakistan retained its common law system. Post-partition Bangladesh (1968) Post-partition, Bangladesh retained its common law system. Canada (1867) Canada has separate federal and provincial legal systems. Canadian provincial legal systems
Each province and territory is considered a separate jurisdiction with respect to case law. Each has its own procedural law in civil matters, statutorily created provincial courts and superior trial courts with inherent jurisdiction culminating in the Court of Appeal of the province. These Courts of Appeal are then subject to the Supreme Court of Canada in terms of appeal of their decisions.
All but one of the provinces of Canada use a common law system for civil matters (the exception being Quebec, which uses a French-heritage civil law system for issues arising within provincial jurisdiction, such as property ownership and contracts).
Canadian federal legal system
Canadian federal courts operate under a separate system throughout Canada and deal with narrower range of subject matter than superior courts in each province and territory. They only hear cases on subjects assigned to them by federal statutes, such as immigration, intellectual property, judicial review of federal government decisions, and admiralty. The Federal Court of Appeal is the appellate court for federal courts and hears cases in multiple cities; unlike the United States, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal is not divided into appellate circuits.
Canadian federal statutes must use the terminology of both the common law and civil law for civil matters; this is referred to as legislative bijuralism.
Canadian criminal law
Criminal law is uniform throughout Canada. It is based on the federal statutory Criminal Code, which in addition to substance also details procedural law. The administration of justice are the responsibilities of the provinces. Canadian criminal law uses a common law system no matter which province a case proceeds.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua's legal system is a mixture of the English common law and civil law. This situation was brought through the influence of British administration of the Eastern half of the Mosquito Coast from the mid-17th century until about 1894, the William Walker period from about 1855 through 1857, US interventions/occupations during the period from 1909 to 1933, the influence of US institutions during the Somoza family administrations (1933–1979), and the considerable importation between 1979 and the present of US culture and institutions.
Israel (1948)
Israel has no formal written constitution. Its basic principles are inherited from the law of the British Mandate of Palestine and thus resemble those of British and American law, namely: the role of courts in creating the body of law and the authority of the supreme court in reviewing and if necessary overturning legislative and executive decisions, as well as employing the adversarial system. However, because Israel has no written constitution, basic laws can be changed by a vote of 61 out of 120 votes in the parliament. One of the primary reasons that the Israeli constitution remains unwritten is the fear by whatever party holds power that creating a written constitution, combined with the common-law elements, would severely limit the powers of the Knesset (which, following the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, holds near-unlimited power).
Roman Dutch common law
Roman Dutch common law is a bijuridical or mixed system of law similar to the common law system in Scotland and Louisiana. Roman Dutch common law jurisdictions include South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Many of these jurisdictions recognise customary law, and in some, the Constitution requires that the common law be developed in accordance with a bill of rights, such as Chapter Two of the Constitution of South Africa. Roman Dutch common law is a development of Roman Dutch law by courts in the Roman Dutch common law jurisdictions. During the Napoleonic wars the Kingdom of the Netherlands adopted the French code civil in 1809, but the Dutch colonies in the Cape of Good Hope and Sri Lanka, at the time called Ceylon, were seized by the British to prevent them being used as bases by the French Navy. The system was developed by the courts and spread with the expansion of British colonies in Southern Africa. Roman Dutch common law relies on legal principles set out in Roman law sources such as Justinian's Institutes and Digest, and also on the writing of Dutch jurists of the 17th century such as Grotius and Voet. In practice, the majority of decisions rely on recent precedent.
Ghana
Ghana follows the English common law tradition which was inherited from the British during her colonisation. Consequently, the laws of Ghana are, for the most part, a modified version of imported law that is continuously adapting to changing socio-economic and political realities of the country. The Bond of 1844 marked the period when the people of Ghana (then Gold Coast) ceded their independence to the British and gave the British judicial authority. Later, the Supreme Court Ordinance of 1876 formally introduced British law, be it the common law or statutory law, in the Gold Coast. Section 14 of the Ordinance formalised the application of the common-law tradition in the country.
Ghana, after independence, did not do away with the common law system inherited from the British, and today it has been enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of the country. Chapter four of Ghana's Constitution, entitled "The Laws of Ghana", has in Article 11(1) the list of laws applicable in the state. This comprises (a) the Constitution; (b) enactments made by or under the authority of the Parliament established by the Constitution; (c) any Orders, Rules and Regulations made by any person or authority under a power conferred by the Constitution; (d) the existing law; and (e) the common law. Thus, the modern-day Constitution of Ghana, like those before it, embraced the English common law by entrenching it in its provisions. The doctrine of judicial precedence which is based on the principle of stare decisis as applied in England and other pure common law countries also applies in Ghana.
Scholarly works
as illustrated in his Commentaries on the Laws of England]]
Edward Coke, a 17th-century Lord Chief Justice of England and a Member of Parliament (MP), wrote several legal texts that collected and integrated centuries of case law. Lawyers in both England and America learned the law from his Institutes and Reports until the end of the 18th century. His works are still cited by common law courts around the world.
The next definitive historical treatise on the common law is Commentaries on the Laws of England, written by Sir William Blackstone and first published in 1765–1769. Since 1979, a facsimile edition of that first edition has been available in four paper-bound volumes. Today it has been superseded in the English part of the United Kingdom by Halsbury's Laws of England that covers both common and statutory English law.
While he was still on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and before being named to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. published a short volume called The Common Law, which remains a classic in the field. Unlike Blackstone and the Restatements, Holmes' book only briefly discusses what the law is; rather, Holmes describes the common law process. Law professor John Chipman Gray's The Nature and Sources of the Law, an examination and survey of the common law, is also still commonly read in U.S. law schools.
In the United States, Restatements of various subject matter areas (Contracts, Torts, Judgments, and so on.), edited by the American Law Institute, collect the common law for the area. The ALI Restatements are often cited by American courts and lawyers for propositions of uncodified common law, and are considered highly persuasive authority, just below binding precedential decisions. The Corpus Juris Secundum is an encyclopedia whose main content is a compendium of the common law and its variations throughout the various state jurisdictions.
Scots common law covers matters including murder and theft, and has sources in custom, in legal writings and previous court decisions. The legal writings used are called Institutional Texts and come mostly from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Examples include Craig, Jus Feudale (1655) and Stair, The Institutions of the Law of Scotland (1681).
See also
* Outline of law
* List of common law national legal systems
* Books of authority
* Lists of case law
* Doom book, or Code of Alfred the Great
* Time immemorial
* Slavery at common law
* Rule against perpetuities
* Rule in Shelley's Case
* Fee simple
* Life estate
References
Notelist
Further reading
* Chapters 1–6.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Milsom, S.F.C., A Natural History of the Common Law. Columbia University Press (2003)
* Milsom, S.F.C., Historical Foundations of the Common Law (2nd ed.). Lexis Law Publishing (Va), (1981)
*
*
*
* External links
* [https://archive.org/details/historycommonla01hallgoog The History of the Common Law of England, and An analysis of the civil part of the law], Matthew Hale
* [https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00polluoft The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I, Pollock and Maitland]
* Select [https://web.archive.org/web/20160622144219/http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/maitland-formsofaction.asp#Select Writs. (F.W.Maitland)]
* [https://archive.org/details/commonlawpleadin00perr/page/n8/mode/1up Common-law Pleading: its history and principles, R.Ross Perry, (Boston, 1897)]
* ; also available at [http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/Books/Holmes/claw_c.htm The Climate Change and Public Health Law Site]
* [http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article4147&contextpenn_law_review The Principle of stare decisis] American Law Register
* [http://ausicl.com/ The Australian Institute of Comparative Legal Systems]
* [http://www.iilss.org/ The International Institute for Law and Strategic Studies (IILSS)]
* [http://legislation.nsw.gov.au/ New South Wales Legislation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070628162957/http://xml.lib.hku.hk/gsdl/db/oelawhk/search.shtml Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online] – University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives
* [http://www.lawfulpath.com/ref/bouvier/maxims.shtml Maxims of Common Law] from Bouvier's 1856 Law Dictionary
Category:Legal history
Category:Legal systems
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Civil law
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Civil law may refer to:
Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons
Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law
Private law, the branch of law in a civil law legal system that concerns relations among private individuals
Municipal law, the domestic law of a state, as opposed to international law
See also
Civil code
Civil (disambiguation)
Ius civile, Latin for "civil law"
Common law (disambiguation)
Criminal law
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Court of appeals (disambiguation)
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A court of appeals is generally an appellate court.
Court of Appeals may refer to:
Israeli Military Court of Appeals
(Italy)
Court of Appeals of the Philippines
High Court of Appeals of Turkey
Court of Appeals (Vatican City)
United States
Courts of appeals
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Emergency Court of Appeals
Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals (defunct)
Alabama Court of Appeals (existed until 1969)
Alaska Court of Appeals
Arizona Court of Appeals
Arkansas Court of Appeals
Colorado Court of Appeals
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Georgia Court of Appeals
Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
Idaho Court of Appeals
Illinois Court of Appeals
Indiana Court of Appeals
Iowa Court of Appeals
Kansas Court of Appeals
Kentucky Court of Appeals
Louisiana Court of Appeals
Maryland Court of Appeals
Michigan Court of Appeals
Minnesota Court of Appeals
Mississippi Court of Appeals
Missouri Court of Appeals
Nebraska Court of Appeals
New Mexico Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
North Carolina Court of Appeals
North Dakota Court of Appeals
Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals
Ohio Eleventh District Court of Appeals
Oregon Court of Appeals
South Carolina Court of Appeals
Tennessee Court of Appeals
Texas Courts of Appeals
Fifth Court of Appeals
Utah Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals of Virginia
Washington Court of Appeals
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
Wisconsin Court of Appeals
See also
Court of Appeal (disambiguation)
Court of Criminal Appeal (disambiguation)
Appeal
State court (United States)#Nomenclature
List of legal topics
Federal Court of Appeals (disambiguation)
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Common descent
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Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all life on Earth.
Common descent is an effect of speciation, in which multiple species derive from a single ancestral population. The more recent the ancestral population two species have in common, the more closely they are related. The most recent common ancestor of all currently living organisms is the last universal ancestor, The two earliest pieces of evidence for life on Earth are graphite found to be biogenic in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks discovered in western Greenland and microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. All currently living organisms on Earth share a common genetic heritage, though the suggestion of substantial horizontal gene transfer during early evolution has led to questions about the monophyly (single ancestry) of life.}}
History
The idea that all living things (including things considered non-living by science) are related is a recurring theme in many indigenous worldviews across the world. Later on, in the 1740s, the French mathematician Pierre Louis Maupertuis arrived at the idea that all organisms had a common ancestor, and had diverged through random variation and natural selection.
In 1790, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote in Kritik der Urteilskraft (Critique of Judgment) that the similarity of animal forms implies a common original type, and thus a common parent.
In 1794, Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin asked:
<blockquote>[W]ould it be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations; and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down those improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end?</blockquote>
Charles Darwin's views about common descent, as expressed in On the Origin of Species, were that it was probable that there was only one progenitor for all life forms:
<blockquote>Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed.</blockquote>
But he precedes that remark by, "Analogy would lead me one step further, namely, to the belief that all animals and plants have descended from some one prototype. But analogy may be a deceitful guide." And in the subsequent edition, he asserts rather, <blockquote>"We do not know all the possible transitional gradations between the simplest and the most perfect organs; it cannot be pretended that we know all the varied means of Distribution during the long lapse of years, or that we know how imperfect the Geological Record is. Grave as these several difficulties are, in my judgment they do not overthrow the theory of descent from a few created forms with subsequent modification". </blockquote>
Common descent was widely accepted amongst the scientific community after Darwin's publication. In 1907, Vernon Kellogg commented that "practically no naturalists of position and recognized attainment doubt the theory of descent."
In 2008, biologist T. Ryan Gregory noted that:
<blockquote>No reliable observation has ever been found to contradict the general notion of common descent. It should come as no surprise, then, that the scientific community at large has accepted evolutionary descent as a historical reality since Darwin's time and considers it among the most reliably established and fundamentally important facts in all of science.</blockquote>EvidenceCommon biochemistryAll known forms of life are based on the same fundamental biochemical organization: genetic information encoded in DNA, transcribed into RNA, through the effect of protein- and RNA-enzymes, then translated into proteins by (highly similar) ribosomes, with ATP, NADPH and others as energy sources. Analysis of small sequence differences in widely shared substances such as cytochrome c further supports universal common descent. Some 23 proteins are found in all organisms, serving as enzymes carrying out core functions like DNA replication. The fact that only one such set of enzymes exists is convincing evidence of a single ancestry. 6,331 genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago in the Precambrian.
Common genetic code
{| class"wikitable floatright" style"border: none; text-align: center;"
| Amino acids
| style="background-color:#ffe75f; width: 50px;" | nonpolar
| style="background-color:#b3dec0; width: 50px;" | polar
| style="background-color:#bbbfe0; width: 50px;" | basic
| style="background-color:#f8b7d3; width: 50px;" | acidic
| style="border: none; width: 75px;" |
| style="background-color:#B0B0B0;" | Stop codon
|}
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Standard genetic code
!rowspan=2| 1st<br />base
!colspan=8| 2nd base
|-
!colspan=2| }
!colspan=2| C
!colspan=2| A
!colspan=2| G
|-
!rowspan=4| }
| }}}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Phenyl-<br>alanine
| }C}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Serine
| }A}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Tyrosine
| }G}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Cysteine
|-
| }}C
| }CC
| }AC
| }GC
|-
| }}A
|rowspan6 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Leucine
| }CA
| }AA
| style="background-color:#B0B0B0;" | Stop <!--(Ochre)-->
| }GA
| style="background-color:#B0B0B0;" | Stop <!--(Opal)-->
|-
| }}G
| }CG
| }AG
| style="background-color:#B0B0B0;" | Stop <!--(Amber)-->
| }GG
| style="background-color:#ffe75f;" | Tryptophan <!-- to make the columns roughly the same width -->
|-
! rowspan="4" | C
| C}}
| CC}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Proline
| CA}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#bbbfe0" | Histidine
|CG}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#bbbfe0" | Arginine
|-
|C}C
|CCC
|CAC
|CGC
|-
|C}A
|CCA
|CAA
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Glutamine
|CGA
|-
|C}G
|CCG
|CAG
|CGG
|-
! rowspan="4" | A
|A}}
|rowspan3 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Isoleucine
|AC}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Threonine <!-- to make the columns roughly the same width -->
|AA}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Asparagine
|AG}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#b3dec0" | Serine
|-
|A}C
|ACC
|AAC
|AGC
|-
|A}A
|ACA
|AAA
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#bbbfe0" | Lysine
|AGA
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#bbbfe0" | Arginine
|-
|A}G
| style="background-color:#ffe75f;" | Methionine
|ACG
|AAG
|AGG
|-
! rowspan="4" | G
|G}}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Valine
|GC}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Alanine
|GA}
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#f8b7d3" | Aspartic<br>acid
|GG}
|rowspan4 style"background-color:#ffe75f" | Glycine
|-
|G}C
|GCC
|GAC
|GGC
|-
|G}A
|GCA
|GAA
|rowspan2 style"background-color:#f8b7d3" | Glutamic<br>acid
|GGA
|-
|G}G
|GCG
|GAG
|GGG
|-
|}
The genetic code (the "translation table" according to which DNA information is translated into amino acids, and hence proteins) is nearly identical for all known lifeforms, from bacteria and archaea to animals and plants. The universality of this code is generally regarded by biologists as definitive evidence in favor of universal common descent.
Selectively neutral similarities
Similarities which have no adaptive relevance cannot be explained by convergent evolution, and therefore they provide compelling support for universal common descent. Such evidence has come from two areas: amino acid sequences and DNA sequences. Proteins with the same three-dimensional structure need not have identical amino acid sequences; any irrelevant similarity between the sequences is evidence for common descent. In certain cases, there are several codons (DNA triplets) that code redundantly for the same amino acid. Since many species use the same codon at the same place to specify an amino acid that can be represented by more than one codon, that is evidence for their sharing a recent common ancestor. Had the amino acid sequences come from different ancestors, they would have been coded for by any of the redundant codons, and since the correct amino acids would already have been in place, natural selection would not have driven any change in the codons, however much time was available. Genetic drift could change the codons, but it would be extremely unlikely to make all the redundant codons in a whole sequence match exactly across multiple lineages. Similarly, shared nucleotide sequences, especially where these are apparently neutral such as the positioning of introns and pseudogenes, provide strong evidence of common ancestry.Other similaritiesBiologists often point to the universality of many aspects of cellular life as supportive evidence to the more compelling evidence listed above. These similarities include the energy carrier adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and the fact that all amino acids found in proteins are left-handed. It is, however, possible that these similarities resulted because of the laws of physics and chemistry - rather than through universal common descent - and therefore resulted in convergent evolution. In contrast, there is evidence for homology of the central subunits of transmembrane ATPases throughout all living organisms, especially how the rotating elements are bound to the membrane. This supports the assumption of a LUCA as a cellular organism, although primordial membranes may have been semipermeable and evolved later to the membranes of modern bacteria, and on a second path to those of modern archaea also.
Phylogenetic trees
Another important piece of evidence is from detailed phylogenetic trees (i.e., "genealogic trees" of species) mapping out the proposed divisions and common ancestors of all living species. In 2010, Douglas L. Theobald published a statistical analysis of available genetic data,
Objections
shows many horizontal gene transfers, implying multiple possible origins.]]
Gene exchange clouds phylogenetic analysis
Theobald noted that substantial horizontal gene transfer could have occurred during early evolution. Bacteria today remain capable of gene exchange between distantly-related lineages. This weakens the basic assumption of phylogenetic analysis, that similarity of genomes implies common ancestry, because sufficient gene exchange would allow lineages to share much of their genome whether or not they shared an ancestor (monophyly). This has led to questions about the single ancestry of life. for not including consideration of convergence. They argued that Theobald's test was insufficient to distinguish between the competing hypotheses. Theobald has defended his method against this claim, arguing that his tests distinguish between phylogenetic structure and mere sequence similarity. Therefore, Theobald argued, his results show that "real universally conserved proteins are homologous."RNA world
The possibility is mentioned, above, that all living organisms may be descended from an original single-celled organism with a DNA genome, and that this implies a single origin for life. Although such a universal common ancestor may have existed, such a complex entity is unlikely to have arisen spontaneously from non-life and thus a cell with a DNA genome cannot reasonably be regarded as the origin of life. To understand the origin of life, it has been proposed that DNA based cellular life descended from relatively simple pre-cellular self-replicating RNA molecules able to undergo natural selection. During the course of evolution, this RNA world was replaced by the evolutionary emergence of the DNA world. A world of independently self-replicating RNA genomes apparently no longer exists (RNA viruses are dependent on host cells with DNA genomes). Because the RNA world is apparently gone, it is not clear how scientific evidence could be brought to bear on the question of whether there was a single origin of life event from which all life descended.
See also
* ''The Ancestor's Tale
* Urmetazoan
Bibliography
*
* The book is available from [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq1&itemIDF373&viewtypeside The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online]. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
* Retrieved 2015-11-23.
*
*
*
*
Notes
References
External links
* [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/ 29+ Evidences for Macroevolution: The Scientific Case for Common Descent] from the TalkOrigins Archive.
* [http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html The Tree of Life Web Project]
Category:Evolutionary biology
Category:Descent
Category:Most recent common ancestors
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Celtic music
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performing in 2010]]
Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerably to include everything from traditional music to a wide range of hybrids.
Description and definition
]]
|sectionyes}}Celtic music means two things mainly. First, it is the music of the people that identify themselves as Celts. Secondly, it refers to whatever qualities may be unique to the music of the Celtic nations. Many notable Celtic musicians such as Alan Stivell and Paddy Moloney claim that the different Celtic music genres have a lot in common.
These styles are known because of the importance of Irish and Scottish people in the English speaking world, especially in the United States, where they had a profound impact on American music, particularly bluegrass and country music. The music of Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Brittany, Galician traditional music (Spain) and music of Portugal are also considered Celtic music, the tradition being particularly strong in Brittany, where Celtic festivals large and small take place throughout the year, and in Wales, where the ancient eisteddfod tradition has been revived and flourishes. Additionally, the musics of ethnically Celtic peoples abroad are vibrant, especially in Canada and the United States. In Canada the provinces of Atlantic Canada are known for being a home of Celtic music, most notably on the islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. The traditional music of Atlantic Canada is heavily influenced by the Irish, Scottish and Acadian ethnic makeup of much of the region's communities. In some parts of Atlantic Canada, such as Newfoundland, Celtic music is as or more popular than in the old country. Further, some older forms of Celtic music that are rare in Scotland and Ireland today, such as the practice of accompanying a fiddle with a piano, or the Gaelic spinning songs of Cape Breton remain common in the Maritimes. Much of the music of this region is Celtic in nature, but originates in the local area and celebrates the sea, seafaring, fishing and other primary industries.
Instruments associated with Celtic Music include the Celtic harp, uilleann pipes or Great Highland bagpipe, fiddle, tin whistle, flute, bodhrán, bones, concertina, accordion and a recent addition, the Irish bouzouki.
Divisions
In Celtic Music: A Complete Guide, June Skinner Sawyers acknowledges six Celtic nationalities divided into two groups according to their linguistic heritage. The Q-Celtic nationalities are the Irish, Scottish and Manx peoples, while the P-Celtic groups are the Cornish, Bretons and Welsh peoples. Musician Alan Stivell uses a similar dichotomy, between the Gaelic (Irish/Scottish/Manx) and the Brythonic (Breton/Welsh/Cornish) branches, which differentiate "mostly by the extended range (sometimes more than two octaves) of Irish and Scottish melodies and the closed range of Breton and Welsh melodies (often reduced to a half-octave), and by the frequent use of the pure pentatonic scale in Gaelic music."
There is also tremendous variation between Celtic regions. Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany have living traditions of language and music, and there has been a recent major revival of interest in Celtic heritage in the Isle of Man. Galicia has a Celtic language revival movement to revive the Q-Celtic Gallaic language used into Roman times, which is not an attested language, unlike Celtiberian. A Brythonic language may have been spoken in parts of Galicia and Asturias into early Medieval times brought by Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain via Brittany., but here again there are several hypotheses and very little traces of it : lack of archeological, linguistic evidence and documents. The Romance language currently spoken in Galicia, Galician (Galego) is closely related to the Portuguese language used mainly in Brazil and Portugal and in many ways closer to Latin than other Romance languages. with the term quickly catching on with other artists worldwide. Today, the genre is well established and incredibly diverse. Forms There are musical genres and styles specific to each Celtic country, due in part to the influence of individual song traditions and the characteristics of specific languages:
* Celtic traditional music
* Music of Ireland
* Music of Scotland
* Music of Wales
* Strathspeys are specific to Highland Scotland and Cape Breton, for example, and it has been hypothesized that they mimic the rhythms of the Scottish Gaelic language.
* Reels
* Pibroch
* Cerdd Dant (string music) or Canu Penillion (verse singing) is the art of vocal improvisation over a given melody in Welsh musical tradition. It is an important competition in eisteddfodau. The singer or (small) choir sings a counter melody over a harp melody.
* Waulking song
* Puirt à beul
* Kan ha diskan
* Sean-nós singing
* Celtic hip hop
* Celtic rock
* Celtic metal
* Celtic punk
* Celtic fusion
* Progressive music
* Folk music
Festivals
:See list of Celtic festivals for a more complete list of Celtic festivals by country, including music festivals. Festivals focused largely or partly on Celtic music can be found at :Category:Celtic music festivals.
The modern Celtic music scene involves a large number of music festivals, as it has traditionally. Some of the most prominent festivals focused solely on music include:
*Festival Internacional do Mundo Celta de Ortigueira (Ortigueira, Galicia, Spain)
*Festival Intercéltico de Avilés (Avilés, Asturies, Spain)
*Folixa na Primavera (Mieres, Asturies, Spain)
*Festival Celta Internacional Reino de León, (León, Spain)
*Festival Internacional de Música Celta de Collado Villalba (Collado Villalba, Spain)
*Yn Chruinnaght (Isle of Man)
*Celtic Connections (Glasgow, Scotland)
*Hebridean Celtic Festival (Stornoway, Scotland)
*Fleadh ceol na hÉireann (Tullamore, Ireland)
*Festival Intercéltico de Sendim (Sendim, Portugal)
*Galaicofolia (Esposende, Portugal)
*Festival Folk Celta Ponte da Barca (Ponte da Barca, Portugal)
*Douro Celtic Fest (Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal)
*Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Lorient, France)
*Festival del Kan ar Bobl (Lorient, France)
*Festival de Cornouaille (Quimper, France)
*Les Nuits Celtiques du Stade de France (Paris, France)
*Montelago Celtic Night (Colfiorito, Macerata, Italy)
*Triskell International Celtic Festival (Trieste, Italy)
* Festival celtique de Québec or Québec city celtic festival, (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
*Festival Mémoire et Racines (Saint-Charles-Borromée, Quebec, Canada)
*Celtic Colours (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada)
*Paganfest (Tour through Europe)
Celtic fusion
The oldest musical tradition which fits under the label of Celtic fusion originated in the rural American south in the early colonial period and incorporated English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, German, and African influences. Variously referred to as roots music, American folk music, or old-time music, this tradition has exerted a strong influence on all forms of American music, including country, blues, and rock and roll. In addition to its lasting effects on other genres, it marked the first modern large-scale mixing of musical traditions from multiple ethnic and religious communities within the Celtic diaspora.
In the 1960s several bands put forward modern adaptations of Celtic music pulling influences from several of the Celtic nations at once to create a modern pan-celtic sound. A few of those include bagadoù (Breton pipe bands), Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span and Horslips.
In the 1970s Clannad made their mark initially in the folk and traditional scene, and then subsequently went on to bridge the gap between traditional Celtic and pop music in the 1980s and 1990s, incorporating elements from new-age, smooth jazz, and folk rock. Traces of Clannad's legacy can be heard in the music of many artists, including Altan, Anúna, Capercaillie, the Corrs, Dexys Midnight Runners, Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Riverdance, Donna Taggart, and U2. The solo music of Clannad's lead singer, Moya Brennan (often referred to as the First Lady of Celtic Music) has further enhanced this influence.
Later, beginning in 1982 with the Pogues' invention of Celtic folk-punk and Stockton's Wing blend of Irish traditional and Pop, Rock and Reggae, there has been a movement to incorporate Celtic influences into other genres of music. Bands like Flogging Molly, Black 47, Dropkick Murphys, the Young Dubliners, the Tossers introduced a hybrid of Celtic rock, punk, reggae, hardcore and other elements in the 1990s that has become popular with Irish-American youth.
Today there are Celtic-influenced subgenres of virtually every type of popular music including electronica, rock, metal, punk, hip hop, reggae, new-age, Latin, Andean and pop. Collectively these modern interpretations of Celtic music are sometimes referred to as Celtic fusion.
Other modern adaptations
Outside of America, the first deliberate attempts to create a "Pan-Celtic music" were made by the Breton Taldir Jaffrennou, having translated songs from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales into Breton between the two world wars. One of his major works was to bring "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (the Welsh national anthem) back in Brittany and create lyrics in Breton. Eventually this song became "Bro goz va zadoù" ("Old land of my fathers") and is the most widely accepted Breton anthem. In the 70s, the Breton Alan Cochevelou (future Alan Stivell) began playing a mixed repertoire from the main Celtic countries on the Celtic harp his father created.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> <br />
Probably the most successful all-inclusive Celtic music composition in recent years is Shaun Daveys composition The Pilgrim. This suite depicts the journey of St. Colum Cille through the Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia. The suite which includes a Scottish pipe band, Irish and Welsh harpists, Galician gaitas, Irish uilleann pipes, the bombardes of Brittany, two vocal soloists and a narrator is set against a background of a classical orchestra and a large choir.
Modern music may also be termed "Celtic" because it is written and recorded in a Celtic language, regardless of musical style. Many of the Celtic languages have experienced resurgences in modern years, spurred on partly by the action of artists and musicians who have embraced them as hallmarks of identity and distinctness. In 1971, the Irish band Skara Brae recorded its only LP (simply called Skara Brae), all songs in Irish. In 1978 Runrig recorded an album in Scottish Gaelic. In 1992 Capercaillie recorded "A Prince Among Islands", the first Scottish Gaelic language record to reach the UK top 40. In 1996, a song in Breton represented France in the 41st Eurovision Song Contest, the first time in history that France had a song without a word in French. Since about 2005, Oi Polloi (from Scotland) have recorded in Scottish Gaelic. Mill a h-Uile Rud (a Scottish Gaelic punk band from Seattle) recorded in the language in 2004.
Several contemporary bands have Welsh language songs, such as Ceredwen, which fuses traditional instruments with trip hop beats, the Super Furry Animals, Fernhill, and so on (see the Music of Wales article for more Welsh and Welsh-language bands). The same phenomenon occurs in Brittany, where many singers record songs in Breton, traditional or modern (hip hop, rap, and so on.).
See also
*Celtic music in Poland
*Folk music of Ireland
*Music of Brittany
*Music of Cornwall
*Galician traditional music
*Music of the Isle of Man
*Music of Scotland
*Music of Wales
*Music of Portugal
*Traditional Gaelic music
References
External links
* [http://sites.google.com/site/jcorelisceltic/ Celtic melody library]
* [http://www.celticscores.com/ Free sheet music on CelticScores.com]
* [http://www.vashonceltictunes.net/irish/ Free sheet music, chords, midis at Vashon Celtic Tunes]
Category:Music of Europe
Category:Culture of Ireland
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Constellation
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star atlas Firmamentum Sobiescianum, showing the stars as they would appear to an observer looking down upon the imaginary celestial sphere from the outside (left); and illustration from the medieval Persian astronomical text Book of Fixed Stars (right)
* Bottom: Contemporary map of Orion from the IAU (left); and photograph of the night sky with drawn lines (right)
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A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The first constellations were likely defined in prehistory. People used them to relate stories of their beliefs, experiences, creation, and mythology. Different cultures and countries invented their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before today's constellations were internationally recognized. The recognition of constellations has changed significantly over time. Many changed in size or shape. Some became popular, only to drop into obscurity. Some were limited to a single culture or nation. Naming constellations also helped astronomers and navigators identify stars more easily.
Twelve (or thirteen) ancient constellations belong to the zodiac (straddling the ecliptic, which the Sun, Moon, and planets all traverse). The origins of the zodiac remain historically uncertain; its astrological divisions became prominent in Babylonian or Chaldean astronomy. Constellations appear in Western culture via Greece and are mentioned in the works of Hesiod, Eudoxus and Aratus. The traditional 48 constellations, consisting of the zodiac and 36 more (now 38, following the division of Argo Navis into three constellations) are listed by Ptolemy, a Greco-Roman astronomer from Alexandria, Egypt, in his Almagest. The formation of constellations was the subject of extensive mythology, most notably in the Metamorphoses of the Latin poet Ovid. Constellations in the far southern sky were added from the 15th century until the mid-18th century when European explorers began traveling to the Southern Hemisphere. Due to Roman and European transmission, each constellation has a Latin name.
In 1922, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally accepted the modern list of 88 constellations, and in 1928 adopted official constellation boundaries that together cover the entire celestial sphere. Any given point in a celestial coordinate system lies in one of the modern constellations. Some astronomical naming systems include the constellation where a given celestial object is found to convey its approximate location in the sky. The Flamsteed designation of a star, for example, consists of a number and the genitive form of the constellation's name.
Other star patterns or groups called asterisms are not constellations under the formal definition, but are also used by observers to navigate the night sky. Asterisms may be several stars within a constellation, or they may share stars with more than one constellation. Examples of asterisms include the teapot within the constellation Sagittarius, or the big dipper in the constellation of Ursa Major.
Terminology
The word constellation comes from the Late Latin term , which can be translated as "set of stars"; it came into use in Middle English during the 14th century. The Ancient Greek word for constellation is ἄστρον (). These terms historically referred to any recognisable pattern of stars whose appearance was associated with mythological characters or creatures, earthbound animals, or objects.
A constellation or star that never sets below the horizon when viewed from a particular latitude on Earth is termed circumpolar. From the North Pole or South Pole, all constellations south or north of the celestial equator are circumpolar. Depending on the definition, equatorial constellations may include those that lie between declinations 45° north and 45° south, Astronomers can predict the past or future constellation outlines by measuring common proper motions of individual stars by accurate astrometry and their radial velocities by astronomical spectroscopy.
The 88 constellations recognized by the IAU as well as those by cultures throughout history are imagined figures and shapes derived from the patterns of stars in the observable sky. Many officially recognized constellations are based on the imaginations of ancient, Near Eastern and Mediterranean mythologies. Some of these stories seem to relate to the appearance of the constellations, e.g. the assassination of Orion by Scorpius, their constellations appearing at opposite times of year.
Observation
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Constellation positions change throughout the year due to night on Earth occurring at gradually different portions of its orbit around the Sun. As Earth rotates toward the east, the celestial sphere appears to rotate west, with stars circling counterclockwise around the northern pole star and clockwise around the southern pole star.
Because of Earth's 23.5° axial tilt, the zodiac is distributed equally across hemispheres (along the ecliptic), approximating a great circle. Zodiacal constellations of the northern sky are Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and Leo. In the southern sky are Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Aquarius. between Taurus and Gemini (north) and Scorpius and Sagittarius (south and near which the Galactic Center can be found).
From latitudes of around 35° north, in January, Ursa Major (containing the Big Dipper) appears to the northeast, while Cassiopeia is the northwest. To the west are Pisces (above the horizon) and Aries. To the southwest Cetus is near the horizon. Up high and to the south are Orion and Taurus. To the southeast above the horizon is Canis Major. Appearing above and to the east of Orion is Gemini: also in the east (and progressively closer to the horizon) are Cancer and Leo. In addition to Taurus, Perseus and Auriga appear overhead.
In July, Ara (adjacent to Triangulum Australe) and Scorpius can be seen.
Constellations near the pole star include Chamaeleon, Apus and Triangulum Australe (near Centaurus), Pavo, Hydrus, and Mensa.
Sigma Octantis is the closest star approximating a southern pole star, but is faint in the night sky. Thus, the pole can be triangulated using the constellation Crux as well as the stars Alpha and Beta Centauri (about 30° counterclockwise from Crux) of the constellation Centaurus (arching over Crux). Mesopotamia Inscribed stones and clay writing tablets from Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq) dating to 3000 BC provide the earliest generally accepted evidence for humankind's identification of constellations. It seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a relatively short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BC. Mesopotamian constellations appeared later in many of the classical Greek constellations. Ancient Near East
in 164 BC]]
The oldest Babylonian catalogues of stars and constellations date back to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, most notably the Three Stars Each texts and the MUL.APIN, an expanded and revised version based on more accurate observation from around 1000 BC. However, the numerous Sumerian names in these catalogues suggest that they built on older, but otherwise unattested, Sumerian traditions of the Early Bronze Age.
The classical Zodiac is a revision of Neo-Babylonian constellations from the 6th century BC. The Greeks adopted the Babylonian constellations in the 4th century BC. Twenty Ptolemaic constellations are from the Ancient Near East. Another ten have the same stars but different names. with the Lion as Leo, the Bull as Taurus, the Man representing Aquarius, and the Eagle standing in for Scorpio. The biblical Book of Job also makes reference to a number of constellations, including "bier", "fool" and "heap" (Job 9:9, 38:31–32), rendered as "Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades" by the KJV, but ‘Ayish "the bier" actually corresponding to Ursa Major. The term Mazzaroth , translated as a garland of crowns, is a hapax legomenon in Job 38:32, and it might refer to the zodiacal constellations. Classical antiquity
, ]]
There is only limited information on ancient Greek constellations, with some fragmentary evidence being found in the Works and Days of the Greek poet Hesiod, who mentioned the "heavenly bodies". Greek astronomy essentially adopted the older Babylonian system in the Hellenistic era, first introduced to Greece by Eudoxus of Cnidus in the 4th century BC. The original work of Eudoxus is lost, but it survives as a versification by Aratus, dating to the 3rd century BC. The most complete existing works dealing with the mythical origins of the constellations are by the Hellenistic writer termed pseudo-Eratosthenes and an early Roman writer styled pseudo-Hyginus. The basis of Western astronomy as taught during Late Antiquity and until the Early Modern period is the Almagest by Ptolemy, written in the 2nd century.
In the Ptolemaic Kingdom, native Egyptian tradition of anthropomorphic figures represented the planets, stars, and various constellations. Some of these were combined with Greek and Babylonian astronomical systems culminating in the Zodiac of Dendera; it remains unclear when this occurred, but most were placed during the Roman period between 2nd to 4th centuries AD. The oldest known depiction of the zodiac showing all the now familiar constellations, along with some original Egyptian constellations, decans, and planets. Ptolemy's Almagest remained the standard definition of constellations in the medieval period both in Europe and in Islamic astronomy. Ancient China
with a cylindrical projection (Su Song)]]
Ancient China had a long tradition of observing celestial phenomena. Nonspecific Chinese star names, later categorized in the twenty-eight mansions, have been found on oracle bones from Anyang, dating back to the middle Shang dynasty. These constellations are some of the most important observations of Chinese sky, attested from the 5th century BC. The Chinese system developed independently from the Greco-Roman system, although there may have been earlier mutual influence, suggested by parallels to ancient Babylonian astronomy.
Three schools of classical Chinese astronomy in the Han period are attributed to astronomers of the earlier Warring States period. The constellations of the three schools were conflated into a single system by Chen Zhuo, an astronomer of the 3rd century (Three Kingdoms period). Chen Zhuo's work has been lost, but information on his system of constellations survives in Tang period records, notably by Qutan Xida. The oldest extant Chinese star chart dates to that period and was preserved as part of the Dunhuang Manuscripts. Native Chinese astronomy flourished during the Song dynasty, and during the Yuan dynasty became increasingly influenced by medieval Islamic astronomy (see Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era).
A well-known map from the Song period is the Suzhou Astronomical Chart, which was prepared with carvings of stars on the planisphere of the Chinese sky on a stone plate; it is done accurately based on observations, and it shows the 1054 supernova in Taurus.Early modern astronomyHistorically, the origins of the constellations of the northern and southern skies are distinctly different. Most northern constellations date to antiquity, with names based mostly on Classical Greek legends. Evidence of these constellations has survived in the form of star charts, whose oldest representation appears on the statue known as the Farnese Atlas, based perhaps on the star catalogue of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus. Southern constellations are more modern inventions, sometimes as substitutes for ancient constellations (e.g. Argo Navis). Some southern constellations had long names that were shortened to more usable forms; e.g. Musca Australis became simply Musca. Today they now follow officially accepted designated lines of right ascension and declination based on those defined by Benjamin Gould in epoch 1875.0 in his star catalogue Uranometria Argentina.
The 1603 star atlas "Uranometria" of Johann Bayer assigned stars to individual constellations and formalized the division by assigning a series of Greek and Latin letters to the stars within each constellation. These are known today as Bayer designations. Subsequent star atlases led to the development of today's accepted modern constellations.
Origin of the southern constellations
(1 May 1500)]]
from the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography, by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit]]
The southern sky, below about −65° declination, was only partially catalogued by ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, and Persian astronomers of the north. The knowledge that northern and southern star patterns differed goes back to Classical writers, who describe, for example, the African circumnavigation expedition commissioned by Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II in c. 600 BC and those of Hanno the Navigator in c. 500 BC.
The history of southern constellations is not straightforward. Different groupings and different names were proposed by various observers, some reflecting national traditions or designed to promote various sponsors. Southern constellations were important from the 14th to 16th centuries, when sailors used the stars for celestial navigation. Italian explorers who recorded new southern constellations include Andrea Corsali, Antonio Pigafetta, and Amerigo Vespucci. and Frederick de Houtman. These became widely known through Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603. Fourteen more were created in 1763 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who also split the ancient constellation Argo Navis into three; these new figures appeared in his star catalogue, published in 1756.
Several modern proposals have not survived. The French astronomers Pierre Lemonnier and Joseph Lalande, for example, proposed constellations that were once popular but have since been dropped. The northern constellation Quadrans Muralis survived into the 19th century (when its name was attached to the Quadrantid meteor shower), but is now divided between Boötes and Draco.
88 modern constellations
A list of 88 constellations was produced for the IAU in 1922. who introduced fourteen new constellations. Lacaille studied the stars of the southern hemisphere from 1751 until 1752 from the Cape of Good Hope, when he was said to have observed more than 10,000 stars using a refracting telescope with an aperture of .
In 1922, Henry Norris Russell produced a list of 88 constellations with three-letter abbreviations for them. However, these constellations did not have clear borders between them. In 1928, the IAU formally accepted the 88 modern constellations, with contiguous boundaries along vertical and horizontal lines of right ascension and declination developed by Eugene Delporte that, together, cover the entire celestial sphere; this list was finally published in 1930. a suggestion on which Delporte based his work. The consequence of this early date is that because of the precession of the equinoxes, the borders on a modern star map, such as epoch J2000, are already somewhat skewed and no longer perfectly vertical or horizontal. This effect will increase over the years and centuries to come.Symbols
The constellations have no official symbols, though those of the ecliptic may take the signs of the zodiac. Symbols for the other modern constellations, as well as older ones that still occur in modern nomenclature, have occasionally been published.
Dark cloud constellations
s labeled in black]]
The Great Rift, a series of dark patches in the Milky Way, is most visible in the southern sky. Some cultures have discerned shapes in these patches. Members of the Inca civilization identified various dark areas or dark nebulae in the Milky Way as animals and associated their appearance with the seasonal rains. Australian Aboriginal astronomy also describes dark cloud constellations, the most famous being the "emu in the sky" whose head is formed by the Coalsack, a dark nebula, instead of the stars.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Emu public.jpg|The Emu in the sky – a constellation defined by dark clouds rather than by stars. The head of the emu is the Coalsack with Crux directly above. Scorpius is to the left.
File:Coricancha museum marker graphically explaining the Inca astronomical system.jpg|Inca dark cloud constellations in the Mayu (Celestial River), or the Milky Way; Crux is above Yutu, while the eyes of the Llama are Alpha and Beta Centauri.
</gallery>
List of dark cloud constellations
* Great Rift (astronomy)
** Cygnus Rift
** Serpens–Aquila Rift
** Dark Horse (astronomy)
** Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
** Emu in the sky
See also
* Celestial cartography
* Constellation family
* Former constellations
* Lists of stars by constellation
* Constellations listed by Johannes Hevelius
* Constellations listed by Lacaille
* Constellations listed by Petrus Plancius
* Constellations listed by Ptolemy
References
Footnotes
Citations
<!-- end of refs -->
Further reading
Mythology, lore, history, and archaeoastronomy
* Allen, Richard Hinckley. (1899) Star-Names And Their Meanings, G. E. Stechert, New York, hardcover; reprint 1963 as Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY, softcover.
* Olcott, William Tyler. (1911); Star Lore of All Ages, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, hardcover; reprint 2004 as Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts, Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY, softcover.
* Kelley, David H. and Milone, Eugene F. (2004) Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy, Springer, hardcover.
* Ridpath, Ian. (2018) Star Tales 2nd ed., Lutterworth Press, softcover.
* Staal, Julius D. W. (1988) The New Patterns in the Sky: Myths and Legends of the Stars, McDonald & Woodward Publishing Co., hardcover, softcover.
*
*
Atlases and celestial maps
)]]
* Becvar, Antonin. Atlas Coeli. Published as Atlas of the Heavens, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, MA, with coordinate grid transparency overlay.
* Becvar, Antonin. (1962) Atlas Borealis 1950.0, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Praha, Czechoslovakia, 1st Edition, elephant folio hardcover, with small transparency overlay coordinate grid square and separate paper magnitude legend ruler. 2nd Edition 1972 and 1978 reprint, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, MA, oversize folio softcover spiral-bound, with transparency overlay coordinate grid ruler.
* National Geographic Society. (1957, 1970, 2001, 2007) The Heavens (1970), Cartographic Division of the National Geographic Society (NGS), Washington, DC, two-sided large map chart depicting the constellations of the heavens; as a special supplement to the August 1970 issue of National Geographic. Forerunner map as A Map of The Heavens, as a special supplement to the December 1957 issue. Current version 2001 (Tirion), with 2007 reprint.
* Norton, Arthur Philip. (1910) Norton's Star Atlas, 20th Edition 2003 as Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook, edited by Ridpath, Ian, Pi Press, , hardcover.
* Sinnott, Roger W. and Perryman, Michael A.C. (1997) Millennium Star Atlas, Epoch 2000.0, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, MA, and European Space Agency (ESA), ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands. Subtitle: "An All-Sky Atlas Comprising One Million Stars to Visual Magnitude Eleven from the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues and Ten Thousand Nonstellar Objects". 3 volumes, hardcover, . Vol. 1, 0–8 Hours (Right Ascension), hardcover; Vol. 2, 8–16 Hours, hardcover; Vol. 3, 16–24 Hours, hardcover. Softcover version available. Supplemental separate purchasable coordinate grid transparent overlays.
* Tirion, Wil; et al. (1987) Uranometria 2000.0, Willmann-Bell, Inc., Richmond, VA, 3 volumes, hardcover. Vol. 1 (1987): "The Northern Hemisphere to −6°", by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and George Lovi, hardcover, printed boards. Vol. 2 (1988): "The Southern Hemisphere to +6°", by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport and George Lovi, hardcover, printed boards. Vol. 3 (1993) as a separate added work: The Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000.0, by Murray Cragin, James Lucyk, and Barry Rappaport, hardcover, printed boards. 2nd Edition 2001 as collective set of 3 volumes – Vol. 1: Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Atlas, by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and Will Remaklus, hardcover, printed boards; Vol. 2: Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Atlas, by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and Will Remaklus, hardcover, printed boards; Vol. 3: Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Field Guide by Murray Cragin and Emil Bonanno, , hardcover, printed boards.
* Tirion, Wil and Sinnott, Roger W. (1998) Sky Atlas 2000.0, various editions. 2nd Deluxe Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
Catalogs
* Becvar, Antonin. (1959) Atlas Coeli II Katalog 1950.0, Praha, 1960 Prague. Published 1964 as Atlas of the Heavens – II Catalogue 1950.0, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, MA
* Hirshfeld, Alan and Sinnott, Roger W. (1982) Sky Catalogue 2000.0, Cambridge University Press and Sky Publishing Corporation, 1st Edition, 2 volumes. both vols., and vol. 1. "Volume 1: Stars to Magnitude 8.0", (Cambridge) and hardcover, softcover. Vol. 2 (1985) – "Volume 2: Double Stars, Variable Stars, and Nonstellar Objects", (Cambridge) hardcover, (Cambridge) softcover. 2nd Edition (1991) with additional third author François Ochsenbein, 2 volumes, . Vol. 1: (Cambridge) hardcover; (Cambridge) softcover . Vol. 2 (1999): (Cambridge) softcover and 0-933346-38-7 softcover – reprint of 1985 edition.
* Yale University Observatory. (1908, et al.) Catalogue of Bright Stars'', New Haven, CN. Referred to commonly as "Bright Star Catalogue". Various editions with various authors historically, the longest term revising author as (Ellen) Dorrit Hoffleit. 1st Edition 1908. 2nd Edition 1940 by Frank Schlesinger and Louise F. Jenkins. 3rd Edition (1964), 4th Edition, 5th Edition (1991), and 6th Edition (pending posthumous) by Hoffleit.
External links
* [https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/ IAU: The Constellations], including high quality maps.
* [http://www.atlascoelestis.com Atlascoelestis], di Felice Stoppa.
* [http://celestia.sourceforge.net Celestia] free 3D realtime space-simulation (OpenGL)
* [http://stellarium.org/ Stellarium] realtime sky rendering program (OpenGL)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050410212059/http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?VI%2F49 Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center Files on official IAU constellation boundaries]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130830160349/http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/ Studies of Occidental Constellations and Star Names to the Classical Period: An Annotated Bibliography]
* [http://www.ianridpath.com/constellations1.html Table of Constellations]
* [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusAstronomica.html Online Text: Hyginus, Astronomica translated by Mary Grant] Greco-Roman constellation myths
* [http://www.neave.com/planetarium/ Neave Planetarium] Adobe Flash interactive web browser planetarium and stardome with realistic movement of stars and the planets.
* Audio – Cain/Gay (2009) [http://www.astronomycast.com/2009/10/ep-157-constellations/ Astronomy Cast] Constellations
* [https://solariapublications.com/2015/04/13/the-greek-star-map/ The Greek Star-Map] short essay by Gavin White
* [https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272270 Bucur D. The network signature of constellation line figures]. PLOS ONE 17(7): e0272270 (2022). A comparative analysis on the structure of constellation line figures across 56 sky cultures.
Constellations
Category:Celestial cartography
Constellations
Category:Concepts in astronomy
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Character
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Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
Character (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
Characters (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theophrastus
Music
Character (Dark Tranquillity album), 2005
Character (Julia Kent album), 2013
Character, an album by Rachael Sage, 2020
Characters (John Abercrombie album), 1977
Characters (Stevie Wonder album), 1987
"Character", a song by Ryokuoushoku Shakai, 2022
Types of entity
Character (arts), an agent within a work of art, including literature, drama, cinema, opera, etc.
Character sketch or character, a literary description of a character type
Game character (disambiguation), various types of characters in a video game or role playing game
Player character, as above but who is controlled or whose actions are directly chosen by a player
Non-player character, as above but not player-controlled, frequently abbreviated as NPC
Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media
Character (film), a 1997 Dutch film based on Bordewijk's novel
Charaktery, a monthly magazine in Poland
Netflix Presents: The Characters, an improvised sketch comedy show on Netflix
Mathematics
Character (mathematics), a homomorphism from a group to a field
Characterization (mathematics), the logical equivalency between objects of two different domains.
Character theory, the mathematical theory of special kinds of characters associated to group representations
Dirichlet character, a type of character in number theory
Multiplicative character, a homomorphism from a group to the multiplicative subgroup of a field
Morality and social science
Character education, a US term for values education
Character structure, a person's traits
Moral character, an evaluation of a particular individual's durable moral qualities
Symbols
Character (symbol), a sign or symbol
Character (computing), a unit of information roughly corresponding to a grapheme
Other uses
Character (biology), the abstraction of an observable physical or biochemical trait of an organism
Character (income tax), a type of income for tax purposes in the US
Sacramental character, a Catholic teaching
Neighbourhood character, the look and feel of a built environment
See also
(character) (disambiguation)
Virtual character (disambiguation)
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Car (disambiguation)
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A car is a motor vehicle with wheels.
Car, Cars, CAR or CARS may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
Cars (franchise), an animated film series
Cars (film), a 2006 animated film
The Car (1977 film), an American horror film
The Car (1997 film), a Malayalam film
Car, one of the BBC Two 1991–2001 idents
"The Car", an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball season 1
"The Car", an episode of The Assistants
"Car", an episode of My Hero
Literature
Car (magazine), a British auto-enthusiast publication
The Car (novel), by Gary Paulsen, 1993
Music
The Cars, an American band
The Cars (album), 1978
Peter Gabriel (1977 album), or Car
Cars (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the 2006 film
Cars (Now, Now Every Children album), 2009
CARS, a 2011 album by Kris Delmhorst
C.A.R. (album), by Serengeti, 2012
The Car (album), by Arctic Monkeys, 2022
"The Car" (song), by Jeff Carson, 1995
"Cars" (song), by Gary Numan, 1979
"Car", a song by Built to Spill from the 1994 album There's Nothing Wrong with Love
Other uses in arts and entertainment
Cars (painting), a series of paintings by Andy Warhol
The Car (Brack), a 1955 painting by John Brack
Cars (video game), a 2006 video game based on the film
Businesses and organisations
CAR Group, a global digital marketplace company
Children of the American Revolution, a youth organization
Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based investigative organization
Comité d'Action pour la Renouveau ('Action Committee for Renewal'), a political party of Togo
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, in reconciliation in Australia
Council for Aboriginal Rights (1951–1980s), in Australia
Rugby Africa, formerly known as Confederation of African Rugby (CAR)
World Skate Asia, formerly known as Confederation of Asia Roller Sports (CARS)
Military
Canadian Airborne Regiment, a Canadian Forces formation
Colt Automatic Rifle, a firearm
Combat Action Ribbon, a United States military decoration
U.S. Army Combat Arms Regimental System, a 1950s reorganisation of the regiments of the US Army
People
Car (surname), including a list of people with the name
Cars (surname), including a list of people with the name
Places
Car, Azerbaijan
Čar, Serbia
Cars, Gironde, France
Les Cars, Haute-Vienne, France
Central African Republic (CAR)
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Philippines
Science and technology
Computing
C.a.R., geometry software
CAR and CDR, commands in LISP computer programming
Clock with Adaptive Replacement, a page replacement algorithm
Computer-assisted reporting
Computer-assisted reviewing
Biology and medicine
CAR T cell, receptor proteins
Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), a behavior rating scale
Conditioned avoidance response test, an animal test used to identify drug effects
Constitutive androstane receptor, a protein
Cortisol awakening response, on waking from sleep
Coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor, a protein
Other uses in science and technology
Cable television relay service station (CARS), in telecommunications
Carina (constellation), abbreviation Car
CCR and CAR algebras (canonical anticommutation relations), in quantum mechanics
Central apparatus room, in broadcast facilities and television studios
Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), a form of spectroscopy
Transportation
Railroad car, a vehicle on a rail transport network
Canada Atlantic Railway, 1879–1914
Canadian Atlantic Railway, 1986–1994
Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs)
Carlisle railway station, England, station code CAR
Carrum railway station, Australia, station code CAR
Car, the cab of an elevator
Other uses
Car (mythology), one or two figures in Greek mythology
Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), a vehicle scrappage program
Car language, a language of the Nicobar Islands
Carib language, ISO 639 language code car, a Cariban language of South America
Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship, at Boston University
Capital adequacy ratio, a measure of a bank's capital
Club Always Ready, a Bolivian football club
Cost accrual ratio, in finance
Cumulative abnormal return, in investing
Criminal Appeal Reports, in England & Wales
See also
Carr (disambiguation)
CARS (disambiguation)
Le Car (disambiguation)
ICAR (disambiguation)
Tram, or streetcar
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Printer (computing)
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thumb|HP LaserJet 5 printer
thumb|The Game Boy Pocket Printer, a thermal printer released as a peripheral for the Nintendo Game Boy
thumb|This is an example of a wide-carriage dot matrix printer, designed for wide paper, shown with legal paper. Wide carriage printers were often used in the field of businesses, to print accounting records on tractor-feed paper. They were also called "132-column printers".
thumb|A video showing an inkjet printer while printing a page
In computing, a printer is a peripheral machine which makes a durable representation of graphics or text, usually on paper. While most output is human-readable, bar code printers are an example of an expanded use for printers. Different types of printers include 3D printers, inkjet printers, laser printers, and thermal printers.
History
The first computer printer designed was a mechanically driven apparatus by Charles Babbage for his difference engine in the 19th century; however, his mechanical printer design was not built until 2000.
The first patented printing mechanism for applying a marking medium to a recording medium or more particularly an electrostatic inking apparatus and a method for electrostatically depositing ink on controlled areas of a receiving medium, was in 1962 by C. R. Winston, Teletype Corporation, using continuous inkjet printing. The ink was a red stamp-pad ink manufactured by Phillips Process Company of Rochester, NY under the name Clear Print. This patent (US3060429) led to the Teletype Inktronic Printer product delivered to customers in late 1966.
The first compact, lightweight digital printer was the EP-101, invented by Japanese company Epson and released in 1968, according to Epson.
The first commercial printers generally used mechanisms from electric typewriters and Teletype machines. The demand for higher speed led to the development of new systems specifically for computer use. In the 1980s there were daisy wheel systems similar to typewriters, line printers that produced similar output but at much higher speed, and dot-matrix systems that could mix text and graphics but produced relatively low-quality output. The plotter was used for those requiring high-quality line art like blueprints.
The introduction of the low-cost laser printer in 1984, with the first HP LaserJet, and the addition of PostScript in next year's Apple LaserWriter set off a revolution in printing known as desktop publishing. Laser printers using PostScript mixed text and graphics, like dot-matrix printers, but at quality levels formerly available only from commercial typesetting systems. By 1990, most simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on personal computers and then laser printed; expensive offset printing systems were being dumped as scrap. The HP Deskjet of 1988 offered the same advantages as a laser printer in terms of flexibility, but produced somewhat lower-quality output (depending on the paper) from much less-expensive mechanisms. Inkjet systems rapidly displaced dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers from the market. By the 2000s, high-quality printers of this sort had fallen under the $100 price point and became commonplace.
The rapid improvement of internet email through the 1990s and into the 2000s has largely displaced the need for printing as a means of moving documents, and a wide variety of reliable storage systems means that a "physical backup" is of little benefit today.
Starting around 2010, 3D printing became an area of intense interest, allowing the creation of physical objects with the same sort of effort as an early laser printer required to produce a brochure. As of the 2020s, 3D printing has become a widespread hobby due to the abundance of cheap 3D printer kits, with the most common process being Fused deposition modeling.
Types
Personal printer
Personal printers are mainly designed to support individual users, and may be connected to only a single computer. These printers are designed for low-volume, short-turnaround print jobs, requiring minimal setup time to produce a hard copy of a given document. They are generally slow devices ranging from 6 to around 25 pages per minute (ppm), and the cost per page is relatively high. However, this is offset by the on-demand convenience. Some printers can print documents stored on memory cards or from digital cameras and scanners.
Networked printer
Networked or shared printers are "designed for high-volume, high-speed printing". They are usually shared by many users on a network and can print at speeds of 45 to around 100 ppm. The Xerox 9700 could achieve 120 ppm.
An ID Card printer is used for printing plastic ID cards. These can now be customised with important features such as holographic overlays, HoloKotes and watermarks. This is either a direct to card printer (the more feasible option) or a retransfer printer.
Virtual printer
A virtual printer is a piece of computer software whose user interface and API resembles that of a printer driver, but which is not connected with a physical computer printer. A virtual printer can be used to create a file which is an image of the data which would be printed, for archival purposes or as input to another program, for example to create a PDF or to transmit to another system or user.
Barcode printer
A barcode printer is a computer peripheral for printing barcode labels or tags that can be attached to, or printed directly on, physical objects. Barcode printers are commonly used to label cartons before shipment, or to label retail items with UPCs or EANs.
3D printer
thumb|A 3D printer
A 3D printer is a device for making a three-dimensional object from a 3D model or other electronic data source through additive processes in which successive layers of material (including plastics, metals, food, cement, wood, and other materials) are laid down under computer control. It is called a printer by analogy with an inkjet printer which produces a two-dimensional document by a similar process of depositing a layer of ink on paper.
ID card printer
A card printer is an electronic desktop printer with single card feeders which print and personalize plastic cards. In this respect they differ from, for example, label printers which have a continuous supply feed. Card dimensions are usually 85.60 × 53.98 mm, standardized under ISO/IEC 7810 as ID-1. This format is also used in EC-cards, telephone cards, credit cards, driver's licenses and health insurance cards. This is commonly known as the bank card format. Card printers are controlled by corresponding printer drivers or by means of a specific programming language. Generally card printers are designed with laminating, striping, and punching functions, and use desktop or web-based software. The hardware features of a card printer differentiate a card printer from the more traditional printers, as ID cards are usually made of PVC plastic and require laminating and punching. Different card printers can accept different card thickness and dimensions.
The principle is the same for practically all card printers: the plastic card is passed through a thermal print head at the same time as a color ribbon. The color from the ribbon is transferred onto the card through the heat given out from the print head. The standard performance for card printing is 300 dpi (300 dots per inch, equivalent to 11.8 dots per mm). There are different printing processes, which vary in their detail:
Thermal transferMainly used to personalize pre-printed plastic cards in monochrome. The color is "transferred" from the (monochrome) color ribbon; Dye sublimation:This process uses four panels of color according to the CMYK color ribbon. The card to be printed passes under the print head several times each time with the corresponding ribbon panel. Each color in turn is diffused (sublimated) directly onto the card. Thus it is possible to produce a high depth of color (up to 16 million shades) on the card. Afterwards a transparent overlay (O) also known as a topcoat (T) is placed over the card to protect it from mechanical wear and tear and to render the printed image UV resistant.
Reverse image technologyThe standard for high-security card applications that use contact and contactless smart chip cards. The technology prints images onto the underside of a special film that fuses to the surface of a card through heat and pressure. Since this process transfers dyes and resins directly onto a smooth, flexible film, the print-head never comes in contact with the card surface itself. As such, card surface interruptions such as smart chips, ridges caused by internal RFID antennae and debris do not affect print quality. Even printing over the edge is possible.
Thermal rewrite print processIn contrast to the majority of other card printers, in the thermal rewrite process the card is not personalized through the use of a color ribbon, but by activating a thermal sensitive foil within the card itself. These cards can be repeatedly personalized, erased and rewritten. The most frequent use of these are in chip-based student identity cards, whose validity changes every semester.
Common printing problemsMany printing problems are caused by physical defects in the card material itself, such as deformation or warping of the card that is fed into the machine in the first place. Printing irregularities can also result from chip or antenna embedding that alters the thickness of the plastic and interferes with the printer's effectiveness. Other issues are often caused by operator errors, such as users attempting to feed non-compatible cards into the card printer, while other printing defects may result from environmental abnormalities such as dirt or contaminants on the card or in the printer. Reverse transfer printers are less vulnerable to common printing problems than direct-to-card printers, since with these printers the card does not come into direct contact with the printhead.
Variations
Broadly speaking there are three main types of card printers, differing mainly by the method used to print onto the card. They are:
Near to EdgeThis term designates the cheapest type of printing by card printers. These printers print up to 5 mm from the edge of the card stock.
Direct to CardAlso known as "Edge to Edge Printing". The print-head comes in direct contact with the card. This printing type is the most popular nowadays, mostly due to cost factor. The majority of identification card printers today are of this type.
Reverse TransferAlso known as "High Definition Printing" or "Over the Edge Printing". The print-head prints to a transfer film backwards (hence the reverse) and then the printed film is rolled onto the card with intense heat (hence the transfer). The term "over the edge" is due to the fact that when the printer prints onto the film it has a "bleed", and when rolled onto the card the bleed extends to completely over the edge of the card, leaving no border.
Different ID Card Printers use different encoding techniques to facilitate disparate business environments and to support security initiatives. Known encoding techniques are:
Contact Smart Card The Contact Smart Cards use RFID technology and require direct contact to a conductive plate to register admission or transfer of information. The transmission of commands, data, and card status held between the two physical contact points.
Contactless Smart Card Contactless Smart Cards exhibit integrated circuit that can store and process data while communicating with the terminal via Radio Frequency. Unlike Contact Smart Card, contact less cards feature intelligent re-writable microchip that can be transcribed through radio waves.
HiD Proximity HID's proximity technology allows fast, accurate reading while offering card or key tag read ranges from 4" to 24" inches (10 cm to 60.96 cm), dependent on the type of proximity reader being used. Since these cards and key tags do not require physical contact with the reader, they are virtually maintenance and wear-free.
ISO Magnetic Stripe A magnetic stripe card is a type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card. The magnetic stripe, sometimes called swipe card or magstripe, is read by physical contact and swiping past a magnetic reading head.
Software
There are basically two categories of card printer software: desktop-based, and web-based (online). The biggest difference between the two is whether or not a customer has a printer on their network that is capable of printing identification cards. If a business already owns an ID card printer, then a desktop-based badge maker is probably suitable for their needs. Typically, large organizations who have high employee turnover will have their own printer. A desktop-based badge maker is also required if a company needs their IDs make instantly. An example of this is the private construction site that has restricted access. However, if a company does not already have a local (or network) printer that has the features they need, then the web-based option is a perhaps a more affordable solution. The web-based solution is good for small businesses that do not anticipate a lot of rapid growth, or organizations who either can not afford a card printer, or do not have the resources to learn how to set up and use one. Generally speaking, desktop-based solutions involve software, a database (or spreadsheet) and can be installed on a single computer or network.
Other options
Alongside the basic function of printing cards, card printers can also read and encode magnetic stripes as well as contact and contact free RFID chip cards (smart cards). Thus card printers enable the encoding of plastic cards both visually and logically. Plastic cards can also be laminated after printing. Plastic cards are laminated after printing to achieve a considerable increase in durability and a greater degree of counterfeit prevention. Some card printers come with an option to print both sides at the same time, which cuts down the time taken to print and less margin of error. In such printers one side of id card is printed and then the card is flipped in the flip station and other side is printed.
Applications
Alongside the traditional uses in time attendance and access control (in particular with photo personalization), countless other applications have been found for plastic cards, e.g. for personalized customer and members' cards, for sports ticketing and in local public transport systems for the production of season tickets, for the production of school and college identity cards as well as for the production of national ID cards.
Technology
The choice of print technology has a great effect on the cost of the printer and cost of operation, speed, quality and permanence of documents, and noise. Some printer technologies do not work with certain types of physical media, such as carbon paper or transparencies.
A second aspect of printer technology that is often forgotten is resistance to alteration: liquid ink, such as from an inkjet head or fabric ribbon, becomes absorbed by the paper fibers, so documents printed with liquid ink are more difficult to alter than documents printed with toner or solid inks, which do not penetrate below the paper surface.
Cheques can be printed with liquid ink or on special cheque paper with toner anchorage so that alterations may be detected. The machine-readable lower portion of a cheque must be printed using MICR toner or ink. Banks and other clearing houses employ automation equipment that relies on the magnetic flux from these specially printed characters to function properly.
Modern print technology
The following printing technologies are routinely found in modern printers:
Laser printers and other toner-based printers
A laser printer rapidly produces high quality text and graphics. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers (MFPs), laser printers employ a xerographic printing process but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor.
Another toner-based printer is the LED printer which uses an array of LEDs instead of a laser to cause toner adhesion to the print drum.
Liquid inkjet printers
thumb|Liquid ink cartridge from Hewlett-Packard HP 845C inkjet printer
thumb|300px|right|HP Deskjet, an inkjet printer
Inkjet printers operate by propelling variably sized droplets of liquid ink onto almost any sized page. They are the most common type of computer printer used by consumers.
Solid ink printers
Solid ink printers, also known as phase-change ink or hot-melt ink printers, are a type of thermal transfer printer, graphics sheet printer or 3D printer . They use solid sticks, crayons, pearls or granular ink materials. Common inks are CMYK-colored ink, similar in consistency to candle wax, which are melted and fed into a piezo crystal operated print-head. A Thermal transfer printhead jets the liquid ink on a rotating, oil coated drum. The paper then passes over the print drum, at which time the image is immediately transferred, or transfixed, to the page. Solid ink printers are most commonly used as color office printers and are excellent at printing on transparencies and other non-porous media. Solid ink is also called phase-change or hot-melt ink and was first used by Data Products and Howtek, Inc., in 1984. Solid ink printers can produce excellent results with text and images. Some solid ink printers have evolved to print 3D models, for example, Visual Impact Corporation of Windham, NH was started by retired Howtek employee, Richard Helinski whose 3D patents US4721635 and then US5136515 was licensed to Sanders Prototype, Inc., later named Solidscape, Inc. Acquisition and operating costs are similar to laser printers. Drawbacks of the technology include high energy consumption and long warm-up times from a cold state. Also, some users complain that the resulting prints are difficult to write on, as the wax tends to repel inks from pens, and are difficult to feed through automatic document feeders, but these traits have been significantly reduced in later models. This type of thermal transfer printer is only available from one manufacturer, Xerox, manufactured as part of their Xerox Phaser office printer line. Previously, solid ink printers were manufactured by Tektronix, but Tektronix sold the printing business to Xerox in 2001.
Dye-sublimation printers
thumb|300px|A disassembled dye sublimation cartridge
A dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a printer that employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic card, paper, or canvas. The process is usually to lay one color at a time using a ribbon that has color panels. Dye-sub printers are intended primarily for high-quality color applications, including color photography; and are less well-suited for text. While once the province of high-end print shops, dye-sublimation printers are now increasingly used as dedicated consumer photo printers.
Thermal printers
thumb|Receipt printer printing an X timeline
Thermal printers work by selectively heating regions of special heat-sensitive paper. Monochrome thermal printers are used in cash registers, ATMs, gasoline dispensers and some older inexpensive fax machines. Colors can be achieved with special papers and different temperatures and heating rates for different colors; these colored sheets are not required in black-and-white output. One example is Zink (a portmanteau of "zero ink").
Obsolete and special-purpose printing technologies
thumb|Epson MX-80, a popular model of dot-matrix printer in use for many years
The following technologies are either obsolete, or limited to special applications though most were, at one time, in widespread use.
Impact printers
Impact printers rely on a forcible impact to transfer ink to the media. The impact printer uses a print head that either hits the surface of the ink ribbon, pressing the ink ribbon against the paper (similar to the action of a typewriter), or, less commonly, hits the back of the paper, pressing the paper against the ink ribbon (the IBM 1403 for example). All but the dot matrix printer rely on the use of fully formed characters, letterforms that represent each of the characters that the printer was capable of printing. In addition, most of these printers were limited to monochrome, or sometimes two-color, printing in a single typeface at one time, although bolding and underlining of text could be done by "overstriking", that is, printing two or more impressions either in the same character position or slightly offset. Impact printers varieties include typewriter-derived printers, teletypewriter-derived printers, daisywheel printers, dot matrix printers, and line printers. Dot-matrix printers remain in common use in businesses where multi-part forms are printed. An overview of impact printing contains a detailed description of many of the technologies used.
Typewriter-derived printers
thumb|left|Typeball print element from IBM Selectric-type printer
Several different computer printers were simply computer-controllable versions of existing electric typewriters. The Friden Flexowriter and IBM Selectric-based printers were the most-common examples. The Flexowriter printed with a conventional typebar mechanism while the Selectric used IBM's well-known "golf ball" printing mechanism. In either case, the letter form then struck a ribbon which was pressed against the paper, printing one character at a time. The maximum speed of the Selectric printer (the faster of the two) was 15.5 characters per second.
Teletypewriter-derived printers
The common teleprinter could easily be interfaced with the computer and became very popular except for those computers manufactured by IBM. Some models used a "typebox" that was positioned, in the X- and Y-axes, by a mechanism, and the selected letter form was struck by a hammer. Others used a type cylinder in a similar way as the Selectric typewriters used their type ball. In either case, the letter form then struck a ribbon to print the letterform. Most teleprinters operated at ten characters per second although a few achieved 15 CPS.
Daisy wheel printers
thumb|left|"Daisy wheel" print element
Daisy wheel printers operate in much the same fashion as a typewriter. A hammer strikes a wheel with petals, the "daisy wheel", each petal containing a letter form at its tip. The letter form strikes a ribbon of ink, depositing the ink on the page and thus printing a character. By rotating the daisy wheel, different characters are selected for printing. These printers were also referred to as letter-quality printers because they could produce text which was as clear and crisp as a typewriter. The fastest letter-quality printers printed at 30 characters per second.
Dot-matrix printers
thumb|right|Sample output from 9-pin dot matrix printer (one character expanded to show detail)
The term dot matrix printer is used for impact printers that use a matrix of small pins to transfer ink to the page. The advantage of dot matrix over other impact printers is that they can produce graphical images in addition to text; however the text is generally of poorer quality than impact printers that use letterforms (type).
Dot-matrix printers can be broadly divided into two major classes:
Ballistic wire printers
Stored energy printers
Dot matrix printers can either be character-based or line-based (that is, a single horizontal series of pixels across the page), referring to the configuration of the print head.
In the 1970s and '80s, dot matrix printers were one of the more common types of printers used for general use, such as for home and small office use. Such printers normally had either 9 or 24 pins on the print head (early 7 pin printers also existed, which did not print descenders). There was a period during the early home computer era when a range of printers were manufactured under many brands such as the Commodore VIC-1525 using the Seikosha Uni-Hammer system. This used a single solenoid with an oblique striker that would be actuated 7 times for each column of 7 vertical pixels while the head was moving at a constant speed. The angle of the striker would align the dots vertically even though the head had moved one dot spacing in the time. The vertical dot position was controlled by a synchronized longitudinally ribbed platen behind the paper that rotated rapidly with a rib moving vertically seven dot spacings in the time it took to print one pixel column. 24-pin print heads were able to print at a higher quality and started to offer additional type styles and were marketed as Near Letter Quality by some vendors. Once the price of inkjet printers dropped to the point where they were competitive with dot matrix printers, dot matrix printers began to fall out of favour for general use.
Some dot matrix printers, such as the NEC P6300, can be upgraded to print in color. This is achieved through the use of a four-color ribbon mounted on a mechanism (provided in an upgrade kit that replaces the standard black ribbon mechanism after installation) that raises and lowers the ribbons as needed. Color graphics are generally printed in four passes at standard resolution, thus slowing down printing considerably. As a result, color graphics can take up to four times longer to print than standard monochrome graphics, or up to 8-16 times as long at high resolution mode.
Dot matrix printers are still commonly used in low-cost, low-quality applications such as cash registers, or in demanding, very high volume applications like invoice printing. Impact printing, unlike laser printing, allows the pressure of the print head to be applied to a stack of two or more forms to print multi-part documents such as sales invoices and credit card receipts using continuous stationery with carbonless copy paper. It also has security advantages as ink impressed into a paper matrix by force is harder to erase invisibly. Dot-matrix printers were being superseded even as receipt printers after the end of the twentieth century.
Line printers
Line printers print an entire line of text at a time. Four principal designs exist.
thumb|left|Print drum from drum printer
Drum printers, where a horizontally mounted rotating drum carries the entire character set of the printer repeated in each printable character position. The IBM 1132 printer is an example of a drum printer. Drum printers are also found in adding machines and other numeric printers (POS), the dimensions are compact as only a dozen characters need to be supported.
thumb|IBM 1403 line printer
Chain or train printers, where the character set is arranged multiple times around a linked chain or a set of character slugs in a track traveling horizontally past the print line. The IBM 1403 is perhaps the most popular and comes in both chain and train varieties. The band printer is a later variant where the characters are embossed on a flexible steel band. The LP27 from Digital Equipment Corporation is a band printer.
Bar printers, where the character set is attached to a solid bar that moves horizontally along the print line, such as the IBM 1443.
A fourth design, used mainly on very early printers such as the IBM 402, features independent type bars, one for each printable position. Each bar contains the character set to be printed. The bars move vertically to position the character to be printed in front of the print hammer.
In each case, to print a line, precisely timed hammers strike against the back of the paper at the exact moment that the correct character to be printed is passing in front of the paper. The paper presses forward against a ribbon which then presses against the character form and the impression of the character form is printed onto the paper. Each system could have slight timing issues, which could cause minor misalignment of the resulting printed characters. For drum or typebar printers, this appeared as vertical misalignment, with characters being printed slightly above or below the rest of the line. In chain or bar printers, the misalignment was horizontal, with printed characters being crowded closer together or farther apart. This was much less noticeable to human vision than vertical misalignment, where characters seemed to bounce up and down in the line, so they were considered as higher quality print.
Comb printers, also called line matrix printers, represent the fifth major design. These printers are a hybrid of dot matrix printing and line printing. In these printers, a comb of hammers prints a portion of a row of pixels at one time, such as every eighth pixel. By shifting the comb back and forth slightly, the entire pixel row can be printed, continuing the example, in just eight cycles. The paper then advances, and the next pixel row is printed. Because far less motion is involved than in a conventional dot matrix printer, these printers are very fast compared to dot matrix printers and are competitive in speed with formed-character line printers while also being able to print dot matrix graphics. The Printronix P7000 series of line matrix printers are still manufactured as of 2013.
Line printers are the fastest of all impact printers and are used for bulk printing in large computer centres. A line printer can print at 1100 lines per minute or faster, frequently printing pages more rapidly than many current laser printers. On the other hand, the mechanical components of line printers operate with tight tolerances and require regular preventive maintenance (PM) to produce a top quality print. They are virtually never used with personal computers and have now been replaced by high-speed laser printers. The legacy of line printers lives on in many operating systems, which use the abbreviations "lp", "lpr", or "LPT" to refer to printers.
Liquid ink electrostatic printers
Liquid ink electrostatic printers use a chemical coated paper, which is charged by the print head according to the image of the document. The paper is passed near a pool of liquid ink with the opposite charge. The charged areas of the paper attract the ink and thus form the image. This process was developed from the process of electrostatic copying. Color reproduction is very accurate, and because there is no heating the scale distortion is less than ±0.1%. (All laser printers have an accuracy of ±1%.)
Worldwide, most survey offices used this printer before color inkjet plotters become popular. Liquid ink electrostatic printers were mostly available in width and also 6 color printing. These were also used to print large billboards. It was first introduced by Versatec, which was later bought by Xerox. 3M also used to make these printers.
Plotters
thumb|right|A Calcomp 565 drum plotter
Pen-based plotters were an alternate printing technology once common in engineering and architectural firms. Pen-based plotters rely on contact with the paper (but not impact, per se) and special purpose pens that are mechanically run over the paper to create text and images. Since the pens output continuous lines, they were able to produce technical drawings of higher resolution than was achievable with dot-matrix technology. Some plotters used roll-fed paper, and therefore had a minimal restriction on the size of the output in one dimension. These plotters were capable of producing quite sizable drawings.
Other printers
thumb|right|Brother QL-500 label printer
A number of other sorts of printers are important for historical reasons, or for special purpose uses.
Digital minilab (photographic paper)
Electrolytic printers
Spark printer
Barcode printer multiple technologies, including: thermal printing, inkjet printing, and laser printing barcodes
Label printer
Billboard / sign paint spray printers
Laser etching (product packaging) industrial printers
Microsphere (special paper)
Attributes
Connectivity
Printers can be connected to computers in many ways: directly by a dedicated data cable such as the USB, through a short-range radio like Bluetooth, a local area network using cables (such as the Ethernet) or radio (such as WiFi), or on a standalone basis without a computer, using a memory card or other portable data storage device.
Printer control languages
Most printers other than line printers accept control characters or unique character sequences to control various printer functions. These may range from shifting from lower to upper case or from black to red ribbon on typewriter printers to switching fonts and changing character sizes and colors on raster printers. Early printer controls were not standardized, with each manufacturer's equipment having its own set. The IBM Personal Printer Data Stream (PPDS) became a commonly used command set for dot-matrix printers.
Today, most printers accept one or more page description languages (PDLs). Laser printers with greater processing power frequently offer support for variants of Hewlett-Packard's Printer Command Language (PCL), PostScript or XML Paper Specification. Most inkjet devices support manufacturer proprietary PDLs such as ESC/P. The diversity in mobile platforms have led to various standardization efforts around device PDLs such as the Printer Working Group (PWG's) PWG Raster.
Printing speed
The speed of early printers was measured in units of characters per minute (cpm) for character printers, or lines per minute (lpm) for line printers. Modern printers are measured in pages per minute (ppm). These measures are used primarily as a marketing tool, and are not as well standardised as toner yields. Usually pages per minute refers to sparse monochrome office documents, rather than dense pictures which usually print much more slowly, especially color images. Speeds in ppm usually apply to A4 paper in most countries in the world, and letter paper size, about 6% shorter, in North America.
Printing mode
The data received by a printer may be:
A string of characters
A bitmapped image
A vector image
A computer program written in a page description language, such as PCL or PostScript
Some printers can process all four types of data, others not.
Character printers, such as daisy wheel printers, can handle only plain text data or rather simple point plots.
Pen plotters typically process vector images. Inkjet based plotters can adequately reproduce all four.
Modern printing technology, such as laser printers and inkjet printers, can adequately reproduce all four. This is especially true of printers equipped with support for PCL or PostScript, which includes the vast majority of printers produced today.
Today it is possible to print everything (even plain text) by sending ready bitmapped images to the printer. This allows better control over formatting, especially among machines from different vendors. Many printer drivers do not use the text mode at all, even if the printer is capable of it.
For a fair comparison, many laser printer manufacturers use the ISO/IEC 19752 process to measure the toner cartridge yield.
Economics
In order to fairly compare operating expenses of printers with a relatively small ink cartridge to printers with a larger, more expensive toner cartridge that typically holds more toner and so prints more pages before the cartridge needs to be replaced, many people prefer to estimate operating expenses in terms of cost per page (CPP). – produced by color printers, including Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, IBM, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lanier, Lexmark, Ricoh, Toshiba and Xerox brand color laser printers, where tiny yellow dots are added to each page. The dots are barely visible and contain encoded printer serial numbers, as well as date and time stamps.
Manufacturers and market share
As of 2020–2021, the largest worldwide vendor of printers is Hewlett-Packard, followed by Canon, Brother, Seiko Epson and Kyocera. Other known vendors include NEC, Ricoh, Xerox, Lexmark, OKI, Sharp, Konica Minolta, Samsung, Kodak, Dell, Toshiba, Star Micronics, Citizen and Panasonic.
See also
Campus card
Cardboard modeling
Dye-sublimation printer
History of printing
Label printer
List of printer companies
Print (command)
Printer driver
Print screen button
Print server
Printer friendly (also known as a printable version)
Printer point
Printer (publishing)
Printmaking
See What You Print
Smart card
Typewriter ribbon
3D printing
References
External links
Category:Computer printers
Category:Office equipment
Category:Typography
Category:Articles containing video clips
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_(computing)
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Copyright
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A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself. A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States and fair dealings doctrine in the United Kingdom.
Some jurisdictions require "fixing" copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders. These rights normally include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered "territorial rights". This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works "cross" national borders or national rights are inconsistent.
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities It was associated with a common law and rooted in the civil law system. The printing press made it much cheaper to produce works, but as there was initially no copyright law, anyone could buy or rent a press and print any text.
Popular new works were immediately re-set and re-published by competitors, so printers needed a constant stream of new material. Fees paid to authors for new works were high and significantly supplemented the incomes of many academics.
Printing brought profound social changes. The rise in literacy across Europe led to a dramatic increase in the demand for reading matter. Prices of reprints were low, so publications could be bought by poorer people, creating a mass audience.
The Statute of Anne, enacted in 1710 in England and Scotland, provided the first legislation to protect copyrights (but not authors' rights). The Copyright Act 1814 extended more rights for authors but did not protect British publications from being reprinted in the US. The Berne International Copyright Convention of 1886 finally provided protection for authors among the countries who signed the agreement, although the US did not join the Berne Convention until 1989.
In the US, the Constitution grants Congress the right to establish copyright and patent laws. Shortly after the Constitution was passed, Congress enacted the Copyright Act of 1790, modeling it after the Statute of Anne. While the national law protected authors' published works, authority was granted to the states to protect authors' unpublished works. The most recent major overhaul of copyright in the US, the Copyright Act of 1976, extended federal copyright to works as soon as they are created and "fixed", without requiring publication or registration. State law continues to apply to unpublished works that are not otherwise copyrighted by federal law.
Copyright has developed into a concept that has a significant effect on nearly every modern industry, including not just literary work, but also forms of creative work such as sound recordings, films, photographs, software, and architecture.
National copyrights
(the Copyright Act 1709) came into force in 1710.]]
Often seen as the first real copyright law, the 1709 British Statute of Anne gave authors and the publishers to whom they did chose to license their works, the right to publish the author's creations for a fixed period, after which the copyright expired. It was "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or the Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned."
The act also alluded to individual rights of the artist. It began:
A right to benefit financially from the work is articulated, and court rulings and legislation have recognized a right to control the work, such as ensuring that the integrity of it is preserved. An irrevocable right to be recognized as the work's creator appears in some countries' copyright laws.
The Copyright Clause of the United States, Constitution (1787) authorized copyright legislation: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." That is, by guaranteeing them a period of time in which they alone could profit from their works, they would be enabled and encouraged to invest the time required to create them, and this would be good for society as a whole. A right to profit from the work has been the philosophical underpinning for much legislation extending the duration of copyright, to the life of the creator and beyond, to their heirs. Yet scholars like Lawrence Lessig have argued that copyright terms have been extended beyond the scope imagined by the Framers. Lessig refers to the Copyright Clause as the "Progress Clause" to emphasize the social dimension of intellectual property rights.
The original length of copyright in the United States was 14 years, and it had to be explicitly applied for. If the author wished, they could apply for a second 14‑year monopoly grant, but after that the work entered the public domain, so it could be used and built upon by others.
Continental law
In many jurisdictions of the European continent, comparable legal concepts to copyright did exist from the 16th century on but did change under Napoleonic rule into another legal concept: ''authors' rights or creator's right laws, from French: droits d'auteur and German Urheberrecht. In many modern-day publications the terms copyright and authors' rights are being mixed, or used as translations, but in a juridical sense the legal concepts do essentially differ. Authors' rights are, generally speaking, from the start absolute property rights of an author of original work that one does not have to apply for. The law is automatically connecting an original work as intellectual property to its creator. Although the concepts throughout the years have been mingled globally, due to international treaties and contracts, distinct differences between jurisdictions continue to exist.
Creator's law was enacted rather late in German speaking states and the economic historian Eckhard Höffner argues that the absence of possibilities to maintain copyright laws in all these states in the early 19th century, encouraged the publishing of low-priced paperbacks for the masses. This was profitable for authors and led to a proliferation of books, enhanced knowledge, and was ultimately an important factor in the ascendency of Germany as a power during that century. After the introduction of creator's rights, German publishers started to follow English customs, in issuing only expensive book editions for wealthy customers.
Empirical evidence derived from the exogenous differential introduction of author's right (Italian: diritto d’autore) in Napoleonic Italy shows that "basic copyrights increased both the number and the quality of operas, measured by their popularity and durability".
International copyright treaties
that has the Longest Run on Record, from Puck'', 1886, satirizes the then-existing situation where a publisher could profit by simply copying newly published works from one country, and publishing them in another, and vice versa.]]
The 1886 Berne Convention first established recognition of authors' rights among sovereign nations, rather than merely bilaterally. Under the Berne Convention, protective rights for creative works do not have to be asserted or declared, as they are automatically in force at creation: an author need not "register" or "apply for" these protective rights in countries adhering to the Berne Convention. As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all intellectual property rights in the work, and to any derivative works unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them, or until the rights expires. The Berne Convention also resulted in foreign authors being treated equivalently to domestic authors, in any country signed onto the convention. The UK signed the Berne Convention in 1887 but did not implement large parts of it until 100 years later with the passage of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Specially, for educational and scientific research purposes, the Berne Convention provides the developing countries issue compulsory licenses for the translation or reproduction of copyrighted works within the limits prescribed by the convention. This was a special provision that had been added at the time of 1971 revision of the convention, because of the strong demands of the developing countries. The United States did not sign the Berne Convention until 1989.
The United States and most Latin American countries instead entered into the Buenos Aires Convention in 1910, which required a copyright notice on the work (such as all rights reserved), and permitted signatory nations to limit the duration of copyrights to shorter and renewable terms. The Universal Copyright Convention was drafted in 1952 as another less demanding alternative to the Berne Convention, and ratified by nations such as the Soviet Union and developing nations.
The regulations of the Berne Convention are incorporated into the World Trade Organization's TRIPS agreement (1995), thus giving the Berne Convention effectively near-global application.
In 1961, the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property signed the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations. In 1996, this organization was succeeded by the founding of the World Intellectual Property Organization, which launched the 1996 WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty and the 2002 WIPO Copyright Treaty, which enacted greater restrictions on the use of technology to copy works in the nations that ratified it. The Trans-Pacific Partnership includes intellectual property provisions relating to copyright.
Copyright laws and authors' right laws are standardized somewhat through these international conventions such as the Berne Convention and Universal Copyright Convention. These multilateral treaties have been ratified by nearly all countries, and international organizations such as the European Union require their member states to comply with them. All member states of the World Trade Organization are obliged to establish minimum levels of copyright protection. Nevertheless, important differences between the national regimes continue to exist. For example, in English law the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 provides that if a copyrighted work is made by an employee in the course of that employment, the copyright is automatically owned by the employer which would be a "Work for Hire". Typically, the first owner of a copyright is the person who created the work i.e. the author. But when more than one person creates the work, then a case of joint authorship can be made provided some criteria are met. Eligible works Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or "works". Specifics vary by jurisdiction, but these can include poems, theses, fictional characters, plays and other literary works, motion pictures, choreography, musical compositions, sound recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, computer software, radio and television broadcasts, and industrial designs. Graphic designs and industrial designs may have separate or overlapping laws applied to them in some jurisdictions.
Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed. For example, the copyright to a Mickey Mouse cartoon restricts others from making copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works based on Disney's particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of other works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are different enough not to be judged copies of Disney's. In Australia and the United Kingdom it has been held that a single word is insufficient to comprise a copyright work. However, single words or a short string of words can sometimes be registered as a trademark instead.
Copyright law recognizes the right of an author based on whether the work actually is an original creation, rather than based on whether it is unique; two authors may own copyright on two substantially identical works, if it is determined that the duplication was coincidental, and neither was copied from the other.
Registration
In all countries where the Berne Convention standards apply, copyright is automatic and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce their exclusive rights. (In the US, registering after an infringement only enables one to receive actual damages and lost profits.)
A widely circulated strategy to avoid the cost of copyright registration is referred to as the poor man's copyright. It proposes that the creator send the work to themself in a sealed envelope by registered mail, using the postmark to establish the date. This technique has not been recognized in any published opinions of the United States courts. <!-- Note to editors: The previously-worded statement, "This technique has not been recognized by any United States court" is overbroad because not all such cases are reported, and it is impossible to know whether this is correct.--> The United States Copyright Office says the technique is not a substitute for actual registration. The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office discusses the technique and notes that the technique (as well as commercial registries) does not constitute dispositive proof that the work is original or establish who created the work. <!-- Note to editors: The previously-worded statement, "The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office discusses the technique but does not recommend its use." overstates the UK IPO position; the IPO does NOT recommend against the PMC approach.-->
Fixing
The Berne Convention allows member countries to decide whether creative works must be "fixed" to enjoy copyright. Article 2, Section 2 of the Berne Convention states:
Some countries do not require that a work be produced in a particular form to obtain copyright protection. For instance, Spain, France, and Australia do not require fixation for copyright protection. The United States and Canada, on the other hand, require that most works must be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression" to obtain copyright protection. US law requires that the fixation be stable and permanent enough to be "perceived, reproduced or communicated for a period of more than transitory duration". Similarly, Canadian courts consider fixation to require that the work be "expressed to some extent at least in some material form, capable of identification and having a more or less permanent endurance".}}
Copyright notice
Before 1989, United States law required the use of a copyright notice, consisting of the copyright symbol (©, the letter C inside a circle; Unicode ), the abbreviation "Copr.", or the word "Copyright", followed by the year of the first publication of the work and the name of the copyright holder. Several years may be noted if the work has gone through substantial revisions. The proper copyright notice for sound recordings of musical or other audio works is a sound recording copyright symbol (℗, the letter P inside a circle, Unicode ), which indicates a sound recording copyright, with the letter P indicating a "phonorecord". In addition, the phrase All rights reserved which indicates that the copyright holder reserves, or holds for their own use was once required to assert copyright, but that phrase is now legally obsolete. Almost everything on the Internet has some sort of copyright attached to it. Whether these things are watermarked, signed, or have any other sort of indication of the copyright is a different story however.
In 1989 the United States enacted the Berne Convention Implementation Act, amending the Copyright Act of 1976 to conform to most of the provisions of the Berne Convention. As a result, the use of copyright notices has become optional to claim copyright, because the Berne Convention makes copyright automatic. However, the lack of notice of copyright using these marks may have consequences in terms of reduced damages in an infringement lawsuit – using notices of this form may reduce the likelihood of a defense of "innocent infringement" being successful.
Publisher's copyright
In the UK, the publisher of a work automatically owns the copyright in the "typographical arrangement of a published work", i.e. its layout and general appearance as a published work. This copyright lasts for 25 years after the end of the year in which the edition containing that arrangement was first published.
Enforcement
Copyrights are generally enforced by the holder in a civil law court, but there are also criminal infringement statutes in some jurisdictions. While central registries are kept in some countries which aid in proving claims of ownership, registering does not necessarily prove ownership, nor does the fact of copying (even without permission) necessarily prove that copyright was infringed. Criminal sanctions are generally aimed at serious counterfeiting activity, but are now becoming more commonplace as copyright collectives such as the RIAA are increasingly targeting the file sharing home Internet user. Thus far, however, most such cases against file sharers have been settled out of court. (See Legal aspects of file sharing)
In most jurisdictions the copyright holder must bear the cost of enforcing copyright. This will usually involve engaging legal representation, administrative or court costs. In light of this, many copyright disputes are settled by a direct approach to the infringing party in order to settle the dispute out of court.
Self-enforcement measures
With older technology like paintings, books, phonographs, and film, it is generally not feasible for consumers to make copies on their own, so producers can simply require payment when transferring physical possession of the storage medium. The equivalent for digital online content is a paywall.
The introduction of the photocopier, cassette tape, and videotape made it easier for consumers to copy materials like books and music, but each time a copy was made, it lost some fidelity. Digital media like text, audio, video, and software (even when stored on physical media like compact discs and DVDs) can be copied losslessly, and shared on the Internet, creating a much bigger threat to producer revenue. Some have used digital rights management technology to restrict non-playback access through encryption and other means. Digital watermarks can be used to trace copies, deterring infringement with a more credible threat of legal consequences. Copy protection is used for both digital and pre-Internet electronic media.
Copyright infringement
For a work to be considered to infringe upon copyright, its use must have occurred in a nation that has domestic copyright laws or adheres to a bilateral treaty or established international convention such as the Berne Convention or WIPO Copyright Treaty. Improper use of materials outside of legislation is deemed "unauthorized edition", not copyright infringement.
Statistics regarding the effects of copyright infringement are difficult to determine. Studies have attempted to determine whether there is a monetary loss for industries affected by copyright infringement by predicting what portion of pirated works would have been formally purchased if they had not been freely available. Other reports indicate that copyright infringement does not have an adverse effect on the entertainment industry, and can have a positive effect. In particular, a 2014 university study concluded that free music content, accessed on YouTube, does not necessarily hurt sales, instead has the potential to increase sales.
According to the IP Commission Report the annual cost of intellectual property infringement to the US economy "continues to exceed $225 billion in counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets and could be as high as $600 billion." A 2019 study sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), in partnership with NERA Economic Consulting "estimates that global online piracy costs the U.S. economy at least $29.2 billion in lost revenue each year." An August 2021 report by the Digital Citizens Alliance states that "online criminals who offer stolen movies, TV shows, games, and live events through websites and apps are reaping $1.34 billion in annual advertising revenues." This comes as a result of users visiting pirate websites who are then subjected to pirated content, malware, and fraud.
Rights granted
According to World Intellectual Property Organisation, copyright protects two types of rights. Economic rights allow right owners to derive financial reward from the use of their works by others. Moral rights allow authors and creators to take certain actions to preserve and protect their link with their work. The author or creator may be the owner of the economic rights, or those rights may be transferred to one or more copyright owners. Many countries do not allow the transfer of moral rights.
Economic rights
With any kind of property, its owner may decide how it is to be used, and others can use it lawfully only if they have the owner's permission, often through a license. The owner's use of the property must, however, respect the legally recognised rights and interests of other members of society. So the owner of a copyright-protected work may decide how to use the work and may prevent others from using it without permission. National laws usually grant copyright owners exclusive rights to allow third parties to use their works, subject to the legally recognised rights and interests of others. The Berne Convention, in Article 6bis, requires its members to grant authors the following rights:
# the right to claim authorship of a work (sometimes called the right of paternity or the right of attribution); and
# the right to object to any distortion or modification of a work, or other derogatory action in relation to a work, which would be prejudicial to the author's honour or reputation (sometimes called the right of integrity).
These and other similar rights granted in national laws are generally known as the moral rights of authors. The Berne Convention requires these rights to be independent of authors' economic rights. Moral rights are only accorded to individual authors and in many national laws they remain with the authors even after the authors have transferred their economic rights. This means that even where, for example, a film producer or publisher owns the economic rights in a work, in many jurisdictions the individual author continues to have moral rights.
In the copyright law of the United States, several exclusive rights are granted to the holder of a copyright, as are listed below:
* protection of the work;
* to determine and decide how, and under what conditions, the work may be marketed, publicly displayed, reproduced, distributed, etc.
* to produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies; (including, typically, electronic copies)
* to import or export the work;
* to create derivative works; (works that adapt the original work)
* to perform or display the work publicly;
* to sell or cede these rights to others;
* to transmit or display by radio, video or internet.
UK copyright law gives creators both economic rights and moral rights. While 'copying' someone else's work without permission may constitute an infringement of their economic rights, that is, the reproduction right or the right of communication to the public, whereas, 'mutilating' it might infringe the creator's moral rights. In the UK, moral rights include the right to be identified as the author of the work, which is generally identified as the right of attribution, and the right not to have your work subjected to 'derogatory treatment', that is the right of integrity.
Duration<!-- This section is linked from Little Nemo -->
Copyright subsists for a variety of lengths in different jurisdictions. The length of the term can depend on several factors, including the type of work (e.g. musical composition, novel), whether the work has been published, and whether the work was created by an individual or a corporation. In most of the world, the default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years. In the United States, the term for most existing works is a fixed number of years after the date of creation or publication. Under most countries' laws (for example, the United States and the United Kingdom), copyrights expire at the end of the calendar year in which they would otherwise expire.
The length and requirements for copyright duration are subject to change by legislation, and since the early 20th century there have been a number of adjustments made in various countries, which can make determining the duration of a given copyright somewhat difficult. For example, the United States used to require copyrights to be renewed after 28 years to stay in force, and formerly required a copyright notice upon first publication to gain coverage. In Italy and France, there were post-wartime extensions that could increase the term by approximately 6 years in Italy and up to about 14 in France. Many countries have extended the length of their copyright terms (sometimes retroactively). International treaties establish minimum terms for copyrights, but individual countries may enforce longer terms than those.
In the United States, all books and other works, except for sound recordings, published before 1929 have expired copyrights and are in the public domain. The applicable date for sound recordings in the United States is before 1923. In addition, works published before 1964 that did not have their copyrights renewed 28 years after first publication year also are in the public domain. Hirtle points out that the great majority of these works (including 93% of the books) were not renewed after 28 years and are in the public domain. Books originally published outside the US by non-Americans are exempt from this renewal requirement, if they are still under copyright in their home country.
But if the intended exploitation of the work includes publication (or distribution of derivative work, such as a film based on a book protected by copyright) outside the US, the terms of copyright around the world must be considered. If the author has been dead more than 70 years, the work is in the public domain in most, but not all, countries.
In 1998, the length of a copyright in the United States was increased by 20 years under the Copyright Term Extension Act. This legislation was the subject of substantial criticism following allegations that the bill was strongly promoted by corporations which had valuable copyrights which otherwise would have expired.
Limitations and exceptions
In many jurisdictions, copyright law makes exceptions to these restrictions when the work is copied for the purpose of commentary or other related uses. United States copyright law does not cover names, titles, short phrases or listings (such as ingredients, recipes, labels, or formulas). However, there are protections available for those areas copyright does not cover, such as trademarks and patents. Idea–expression dichotomy and the merger doctrine
The idea–expression divide differentiates between ideas and expression, and states that copyright protects only the original expression of ideas, and not the ideas themselves. This principle, first clarified in the 1879 case of Baker v. Selden, has since been codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 at 17 U.S.C. § 102(b).
The first-sale doctrine and exhaustion of rights
Copyright law does not restrict the owner of a copy from reselling legitimately obtained copies of copyrighted works, provided that those copies were originally produced by or with the permission of the copyright holder. It is therefore legal, for example, to resell a copyrighted book or CD. In the United States this is known as the first-sale doctrine, and was established by the courts to clarify the legality of reselling books in second-hand bookstores.
Some countries may have parallel importation restrictions that allow the copyright holder to control the aftermarket. This may mean for example that a copy of a book that does not infringe copyright in the country where it was printed does infringe copyright in a country into which it is imported for retailing. The first-sale doctrine is known as exhaustion of rights in other countries and is a principle which also applies, though somewhat differently, to patent and trademark rights. While this doctrine permits the transfer of the particular legitimate copy involved, it does not permit making or distributing additional copies.
In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'', in 2013, the United States Supreme Court held in a 6–3 decision that the first-sale doctrine applies to goods manufactured abroad with the copyright owner's permission and then imported into the US without such permission. The case involved a plaintiff who imported Asian editions of textbooks that had been manufactured abroad with the publisher-plaintiff's permission. The defendant, without permission from the publisher, imported the textbooks and resold on eBay. The Supreme Court's holding severely limits the ability of copyright holders to prevent such importation.
In addition, copyright, in most cases, does not prohibit one from acts such as modifying, defacing, or destroying one's own legitimately obtained copy of a copyrighted work, so long as duplication is not involved. However, in countries that implement moral rights, a copyright holder can in some cases successfully prevent the mutilation or destruction of a work that is publicly visible.
Fair use and fair dealing
Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication. In the United States, the fair use doctrine, codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 as 17 U.S.C. Section 107, permits some copying and distribution without permission of the copyright holder or payment to same. The statute does not clearly define fair use, but instead gives four non-exclusive factors to consider in a fair use analysis. Those factors are:
# the purpose and character of one's use;
# the nature of the copyrighted work;
# what amount and proportion of the whole work was taken;
# the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
In the United Kingdom and many other Commonwealth countries, a similar notion of fair dealing was established by the courts or through legislation. The concept is sometimes not well defined; however, in Canada, private copying for personal use has been expressly permitted by statute since 1999. In Alberta (Education) v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright), 2012 SCC 37, the Supreme Court of Canada concluded that limited copying for educational purposes could also be justified under the fair dealing exemption. In Australia, the fair dealing exceptions under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) are a limited set of circumstances under which copyrighted material can be legally copied or adapted without the copyright holder's consent. Fair dealing uses are research and study; review and critique; news reportage and the giving of professional advice (i.e. legal advice). Under current Australian law, although it is still a breach of copyright to copy, reproduce or adapt copyright material for personal or private use without permission from the copyright owner, owners of a legitimate copy are permitted to "format shift" that work from one medium to another for personal, private use, or to "time shift" a broadcast work for later, once and only once, viewing or listening. Other technical exemptions from infringement may also apply, such as the temporary reproduction of a work in machine readable form for a computer.
In the United States the AHRA (Audio Home Recording Act Codified in Section 10, 1992) prohibits action against consumers making noncommercial recordings of music, in return for royalties on both media and devices plus mandatory copy-control mechanisms on recorders.
Later acts amended US copyright law so that for certain purposes making 10 copies or more is construed to be commercial, but there is no general rule permitting such copying. Indeed, making one complete copy of a work, or in many cases using a portion of it, for commercial purposes will not be considered fair use. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits the manufacture, importation, or distribution of devices whose intended use, or only significant commercial use, is to bypass an access or copy control put in place by a copyright owner. An appellate court has held that fair use is not a defense to engaging in such distribution. In Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court decision, holding that "fair use is 'authorized by the law' and a copyright holder must consider the existence of fair use before sending a takedown notification" under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
EU copyright laws recognise the right of EU member states to implement some national exceptions to copyright. Examples of those exceptions are:
* photographic reproductions on paper or any similar medium of works (excluding sheet music) provided that the rightholders receives fair compensation;
* reproduction made by libraries, educational establishments, museums or archives, which are non-commercial;
* archival reproductions of broadcasts;
* uses for the benefit of people with a disability;
* for demonstration or repair of equipment;
* for non-commercial research or private study;
* when used in parody.
Accessible copies
It is legal in several countries including the United Kingdom and the United States to produce alternative versions (for example, in large print or braille) of a copyrighted work to provide improved access to a work for blind and visually impaired people without permission from the copyright holder.
Religious Service Exemption
In the US there is a Religious Service Exemption (1976 law, section 110[3]), namely "performance of a non-dramatic literary or musical work or of a dramatico-musical work of a religious nature or display of a work, in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly" shall not constitute infringement of copyright.
Useful articles
In Canada, items deemed useful articles such as clothing designs are exempted from copyright protection under the Copyright Act if reproduced more than 50 times. Fast fashion brands may reproduce clothing designs from smaller companies without violating copyright protections. Transfer, assignment and licensing
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A copyright, or aspects of it (e.g. reproduction alone, all but moral rights), may be assigned or transferred from one party to another. For example, a musician who records an album will often sign an agreement with a record company in which the musician agrees to transfer all copyright in the recordings in exchange for royalties and other considerations. The creator (and original copyright holder) benefits, or expects to, from production and marketing capabilities far beyond those of the author. In the digital age of music, music may be copied and distributed at minimal cost through the Internet; however, the record industry attempts to provide promotion and marketing for the artist and their work so it can reach a much larger audience. A copyright holder need not transfer all rights completely, though many publishers will insist. Some of the rights may be transferred, or else the copyright holder may grant another party a non-exclusive license to copy or distribute the work in a particular region or for a specified period of time.
A transfer or license may have to meet particular formal requirements in order to be effective, for example under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 the copyright itself must be expressly transferred in writing. Under the US Copyright Act, a transfer of ownership in copyright must be memorialized in a writing signed by the transferor. For that purpose, ownership in copyright includes exclusive licenses of rights. Thus, exclusive licenses, to be effective, must be granted in a written instrument signed by the grantor. No special form of transfer or grant is required. A simple document that identifies the work involved and the rights being granted is sufficient. Non-exclusive grants (often called non-exclusive licenses) need not be in writing under US law. They can be oral or even implied by the behavior of the parties. Transfers of copyright ownership, including exclusive licenses, may and should be recorded in the U.S. Copyright Office. (Information on recording transfers is available on the Office's web site.) While recording is not required to make the grant effective, it offers important benefits, much like those obtained by recording a deed in a real estate transaction.
Copyright may also be licensed. Failure to follow the proper procedures would place the copier at risk of an infringement suit. Because of the difficulty of following every individual work, copyright collectives or collecting societies and performing rights organizations (such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC) have been formed to collect royalties for hundreds (thousands and more) works at once. Though this market solution bypasses the statutory license, the availability of the statutory fee still helps dictate the price per work collective rights organizations charge, driving it down to what avoidance of procedural hassle would justify. Free licenses
Copyright licenses known as open or free licenses seek to grant several rights to licensees, either for a fee or not. Free in this context is not as much of a reference to price as it is to freedom. What constitutes free licensing has been characterised in a number of similar definitions, including by order of longevity the Free Software Definition, the Debian Free Software Guidelines, the Open Source Definition and the Definition of Free Cultural Works. Further refinements to these definitions have resulted in categories such as copyleft and permissive. Common examples of free licenses are the GNU General Public License, BSD licenses and some Creative Commons licenses.
Founded in 2001 by James Boyle, Lawrence Lessig, and Hal Abelson, the Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization which aims to facilitate the legal sharing of creative works. To this end, the organization provides a number of generic copyright license options to the public, gratis. These licenses allow copyright holders to define conditions under which others may use a work and to specify what types of use are acceptable. approximately 130 million individuals had received such licenses. Discussions include Free Culture, a 2004 book by Lawrence Lessig. Lessig coined the term permission culture to describe a worst-case system. The documentaries Good Copy Bad Copy and RiP!: A Remix Manifesto discuss copyright. Some suggest an alternative compensation system. In Europe consumers are acting up against the rising costs of music, film and books, and as a result Pirate Parties have been created. Some groups reject copyright altogether, taking an anti-copyright stance. The perceived inability to enforce copyright online leads some to advocate ignoring legal statutes when on the web.
Public domain
Copyright, like other intellectual property rights, is subject to a statutorily determined term. Once the term of a copyright has expired, the formerly copyrighted work enters the public domain and may be used or exploited by anyone without obtaining permission, and normally without payment. However, in paying public domain regimes the user may still have to pay royalties to the state or to an authors' association. Courts in common law countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, have rejected the doctrine of a common law copyright. Public domain works should not be confused with works that are publicly available. Works posted in the internet, for example, are publicly available, but are not generally in the public domain. Copying such works may therefore violate the author's copyright.
See also
* Adelphi Charter
* Artificial scarcity
* Authors' rights and related rights, roughly equivalent concepts in civil law countries
* Conflict of laws
* Copyfraud
* Copyleft
* Copyright abolition
* Copyright Alliance
* Copyright alternatives
* Copyright for Creativity
* Copyright in architecture in the United States
* Copyright on the content of patents and in the context of patent prosecution
* Criticism of copyright
* Criticism of intellectual property
* Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (European Union)
* Copyright infringement
* Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (CRCA)
* Digital rights management
* Digital watermarking
* Entertainment law
* Freedom of panorama
* Information literacies
* Intellectual property protection of typefaces
* List of Copyright Acts
* List of copyright case law
* Literary property
* Model release
* Paracopyright
* Philosophy of copyright
* Photography and the law
* Pirate Party
* Printing patent, a precursor to copyright
* Private copying levy
* Production music
* Rent-seeking
* Reproduction fees
* Samizdat
* Software copyright
* Threshold pledge system
* World Book and Copyright Day
References
Further reading
* Armstrong, E. (1990). Before copyright: the French book-privilege system, 1498-1526. Cambridge University Press.
*Atkinson, Juliette.(2012). Alexander the Great': Dumas's Conquest of Early-Victorian England". Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 106 (4): 417–47.
*
* Ellis, Sara R. Copyrighting Couture: An Examination of Fashion Design Protection and Why the DPPA and IDPPPA are a Step Towards the Solution to Counterfeit Chic, 78 Tenn. L. Rev. 163 (2010), available at [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1735745 Copyrighting Couture: An Examination of Fashion Design Protection and Why the DPPA and IDPPPA are a Step Towards the Solution to Counterfeit Chic].
* Ghosemajumder, Shuman. [http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8438 Advanced Peer-Based Technology Business Models]. MIT Sloan School of Management, 2002.
* Johns, A. (2009). Piracy: the intellectual property wars from Gutenberg to Gates. University of Chicago Press.
* Lehman, Bruce: [https://web.archive.org/web/20170812095023/https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/ipnii/ Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure] (Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, 1995)
* Lindsey, Marc: Copyright Law on Campus. Washington State University Press, 2003. .
* Loewenstein, J. (2002). ''The author's due: printing and the prehistory of copyright. The University of Chicago Press.
* Mazzone, Jason. Copyfraud. [https://ssrn.com/abstract=787244 SSRN]
* McDonagh, Luke. Is Creative use of Musical Works without a licence acceptable under Copyright? International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (IIC) 4 (2012) 401–426, available at [https://ssrn.com/abstract=2521081 SSRN]
*
*
* Rife, by Martine Courant. Convention, Copyright, and Digital Writing (Southern Illinois University Press; 2013) 222 pages; Examines legal, pedagogical, and other aspects of online authorship.
* Rose, M. (1995). Authors and Owners: The Invention of Copyright. Harvard University Press.
*
* Shipley, David E. "[https://ssrn.com/abstract=1076789 Thin But Not Anorexic: Copyright Protection for Compilations and Other Fact Works]" UGA Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-001; Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2007.
* Silverthorne, Sean. [http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id4206&tinnovation Music Downloads: Pirates- or Customers?]. . Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2004.
* Sorce Keller, Marcello. "Originality, Authenticity and Copyright", Sonus, VII(2007), no. 2, pp. 77–85.
*
*
*
*
*
External links
* A simplified guide.
* [https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/ WIPOLex] from WIPO; global database of treaties and statutes relating to intellectual property
* [https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?country_idALL&start_yearANY&end_yearANY&search_whatC&treaty_id=15 Copyright Berne Convention: Country List] List of the 164 members of the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works
*"[https://www.copyright.gov/policy/state-sovereign-immunity/Sovereign%20Immunity%20Report%20final.pdf Copyright and State Sovereign Immunity]", August 2021, U.S. Copyright Office
*"[https://illusionofmore.com/podcast-the-multi-billion-dollar-piracy-industry-with-tom-galvin-of-digital-citizens-alliance/ The Multi-Billion-Dollar Piracy Industry with Tom Galvin of Digital Citizens Alliance]", 27 August 2021 by David Newhoff, The Illusion of More'' podcast
* Education
** [https://copyrightcortex.org/ Copyright Cortex]
** [http://www.lawtech.jus.unitn.it/index.php/copyright-history/bibliography A Bibliography on the Origins of Copyright and Droit d'Auteur]
** [http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-912-introduction-to-copyright-law-january-iap-2006/ MIT OpenCourseWare 6.912 Introduction to Copyright Law] Free self-study course with video lectures as offered during the January 2006, Independent Activities Period (IAP)
* US
** [http://copyright.gov/title17/ Copyright Law of the United States Documents], US Government
** [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo55676 Compendium of Copyright Practices] (3rd ed.) United States Copyright Office
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054823/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/us/copyrite.htm Copyright] from UCB Libraries GovPubs
** [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/067.html Early Copyright Records] From the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress]
* UK
** [https://www.gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/copyright Copyright: Detailed information] at the UK Intellectual Property Office
** [https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law Fact sheet P-01: UK copyright law] (Issued April 2000, amended 25 November 2020) at the UK Copyright Service
Category:Data management
Category:Intellectual property law
Category:Monopoly (economics)
Category:Product management
Category:Public records
Category:Intangible assets
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
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Catalan language
|
SS Catala|the surname|Catalá (disambiguation)Catalá}}
<br />
| pronunciation = (, & ) / ( & ) <br /> ()
| states =
| region = Southern Europe
| speakers = L1: million
| date = 2022
| ref = e25
| speakers2 = L2: million<br />Total: million
| speakers_label = Speakers
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = Italic
| fam3 = Latino-Faliscan
| fam4 = Latin
| fam5 = Romance
| fam6 = Italo-Western
| fam7 = Western Romance
| fam8 = Gallo-Romance
| fam9 = Occitano-Romance
| ancestor = Old Latin
| ancestor2 = Vulgar Latin
| ancestor3 = Proto-Romance
| ancestor4 = Old Occitan
| ancestor5 = Old Catalan
| script =
| nation
| minority
| agency = ''Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) <br /> Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL)
| iso1 = ca
| iso2 = cat
| iso3 = cat
| lingua = 51-AAA-e
| map = Catalan language in Europe (cropped).png
| mapcaption =
| notice = IPA
| sign = Signed Catalan
| glotto = stan1289
| glottorefname = Catalan
}}
Catalan () is a Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called Valencian (). It has semi-official status in the Italian comune'' of Alghero, and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the or "Catalan Countries".
The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees. Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, culminating in the early 1900s.
Etymology and pronunciation
The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that () derives from the name or ('Land of the Goths'), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in the March of Gothia, whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Catalonia theoretically derived.
In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as (from Middle French). It is attested a language name since at least 1652. The word Catalan can be pronounced in English as or .
The endonym is pronounced in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community and Carche, the term is frequently used instead. Thus, the name "Valencian", although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche, is also used by Valencians as a name for the language as a whole, synonymous with "Catalan". and the ''Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC). (See also status of Valencian below).
History
Middle Ages
By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims, bringing their language with them. This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988.
In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080. Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance, diverging from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries.
During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river, and in the 13th century they conquered the lands that would become the Kingdoms of Valencia and the Majorca. The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia, which became Spanish-speaking in the 15th century.
In the Low Middle Ages, Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of the Crown of Aragon, and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language. Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th. During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".
Martorell's novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490) shows a transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge's work. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan.
<div class="center"><gallery>
File:Homilies d'Organya.jpg|''Homilies d'Organyà (12th century).
File:Greuges de Guitard Isarn.jpg|Fragment of the Greuges de Guitard Isarn (–1095), one of the earliest texts written almost completely in Catalan, predating the famous Homilies d'Organyà by a century.
</gallery></div>
[1208–1276] dictated his autobiographical chronicles entirely in Catalan. Some of this territory nowadays makes up the Catalan Countries.]]
Start of the modern era
Spain
With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479, the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms, each with its own cultural, linguistic and political particularities, and they had to swear by the laws of each territory before the respective parliaments. But after the War of the Spanish Succession, Spain became an absolute monarchy under Philip V, which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees, as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation-state; as in other contemporary European states, this meant the imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups. Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant.
The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory: they "will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language, for which purpose he will give the most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved, without the care being noticed". From there, actions in the service of assimilation, discreet or aggressive, were continued, and reached to the last detail, such as, in 1799, the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to "represent, sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish".
Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Alsatian, Breton, Occitan, Flemish, and Basque.
France: 19th to 20th century
After the French colony of Algeria was established in 1830, many Catalan-speaking settlers moved there. People from the Spanish province of Alicante settled around Oran, while those from French Catalonia and Menorca migrated to Algiers.
By 1911, there were around 100,000 speakers of Patuet, as their speech was called. After the Algerian declaration of independence in 1962, almost all the Pied-Noir Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia or Alicante.
The French government only recognizes French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007, the then General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the départment's languages and seeks to further promote it in public life and education. Spain: 18th to 20th century
In 1807, the Statistics Office of the French Ministry of the Interior asked the prefects for an official survey on the limits of the French language. The survey found that in Roussillon, almost only Catalan was spoken, and since Napoleon wanted to incorporate Catalonia into France, as happened in 1812, the consul in Barcelona was also asked. He declared that Catalan "is taught in schools, it is printed and spoken, not only among the lower class, but also among people of first quality, also in social gatherings, as in visits and congresses", indicating that it was spoken everywhere "with the exception of the royal courts". He also indicated that Catalan was spoken "in the Kingdom of Valencia, in the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Sardinia, Corsica and much of Sicily, in the Vall d "Aran and Cerdaña".
The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain. Because of this, use of the Catalan language declined into the 18th century.
However, the 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival (), which has continued up to the present day. This period starts with Aribau's Ode to the Homeland (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama). In the 19th century, the region of Carche, in the province of Murcia was repopulated with Valencian speakers. Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan lifted. The Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia, established during the Republic in 1931) made a normal use of Catalan in its administration and put efforts to promote it at the social level, including in schools and the University of Barcelona.
The Catalan language and culture were still vibrant during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), but were crushed at an unprecedented level throughout the subsequent decades due to Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), which abolished the official status of Catalan and imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain, while banning the use of Catalan in them. Between 1939 and 1943 newspapers and book printing in Catalan almost disappeared. Francisco Franco's desire for a homogeneous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime, primarily members of the upper class, who began to reject the use of Catalan. Despite all of these hardships, Catalan continued to be used privately within households, and it was able to survive Franco's dictatorship. At the end of World War II, however, some of the harsh measures began to be lifted and, while Spanish language remained the sole promoted one, limited number of Catalan literature began to be tolerated. Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature. Private initiative contests were created to reward works in Catalan, among them Joan Martorell prize (1947), Víctor Català prize (1953) Carles Riba award (1950), or the Honor Award of Catalan Letters (1969). The first Catalan-language TV show was broadcast in 1964. At the same time, oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools, through governmental bodies, and in religious centers.
In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to the diminished use of the language. These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan, and thus felt no need to learn or use it. Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain, so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country. Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual. Daily newspapers remained exclusively in Spanish until after Franco's death, when the first one in Catalan since the end of the Civil War, Avui, began to be published in 1976.
Present day
Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. In Catalonia, there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community. The teaching of Catalan is mandatory in all schools, but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations—if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan.
More recently, several Spanish political forces have tried to increase the use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system. As a result, in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25% of all lessons must be taught in Spanish.
According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia, in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish, as a native or self-defining language: 7% of the population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish. In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish. To promote use of Catalan, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous government) spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories, with entities such as (Consortium for Linguistic Normalization).
In Andorra, Catalan has always been the sole official language. Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution, several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, such as Catalan medium education.
On the other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004). Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary. The cultural association promotes a network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs.
In Alicante province, Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian. There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community, Ibiza, and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands.
During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, and other South American countries. They formed a large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language. They also founded many Catalan casals (associations). Classification and relationship with other Romance languages
One classification of Catalan is given by Pèire Bèc:
* Romance languages
** Italo-Western languages
*** Western Romance languages
**** Gallo-Iberian languages
***** Gallo-Romance languages
****** Occitano-Romance languages
******* Catalan language
However, the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal.
Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to the linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages.
Relationship with other Romance languages
Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as the Gascon dialect) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.
Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, French, Italian, Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others). However, despite being spoken mostly on the Iberian Peninsula, Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group (Spanish and Portuguese) in terms of pronunciation, grammar, and especially vocabulary; it shows instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy, particularly Occitan and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance (Franco-Provençal, French, Gallo-Italian).
According to Ethnologue, the lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin and Romansh; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian. || , || , || , ||
|-
| gray || || || || || || , || , || , ,
|-
| hot || || || || || || || ||
|-
| too much || || || || || || || ||
|-
| to want || || || || || || || ||
|-
| to take || || <br /> (or ) || || || || , || , ||
|-
| to pray || , , || || || || || , || , , ||
|-
| to ask || / || || , || || || , || , || ,
|-
| to search || / || || || || || || , ||
|-
| to arrive || || || || || || , || ||
|-
| to speak || || || , || || || , || , ||
|-
| to eat || || || || || || <br /> ( in lunfardo; <br /> in slang) || , <br /> ( in slang) ||
|}
During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish. This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity. Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing the language in features closer to Occitan (and French).
There is evidence that, at least from the 2nd century AD, the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania. Differentiation arose generally because Spanish, Asturian, and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish , Asturian and Portuguese vs. Catalan , Occitan "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Spanish , Asturian vs. Catalan , Occitan "bullock"), while Catalan has a shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan.
{| class"wikitable" style"float:right; text-align:center;"
|+ Catalan and Spanish cognates with different meanings
! Latin !! Catalan !! Spanish
|-
| || "to bring closer" || "to put to bed"
|-
| || "to remove;<br />wake up" || "to take"
|-
| || "to remove" || "to bring"
|-
| || "to search" || "to fence"
|-
| || "to bury" || "to hang"
|-
| || "wife" || "woman or wife"
|}
Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it, or rare elsewhere. These include:
* verbs: 'to fasten; transfix' > 'to compose, write up', > 'to combine, conjugate', > 'to wake; awaken', 'to thicken; crowd together' > 'to save, keep', > 'to miss, yearn, pine for', 'to investigate, track' > Old Catalan enagar 'to incite, induce', > Old Catalan ujar 'to exhaust, fatigue', > 'to appease, mollify', > 'to reject, refuse';
* nouns: > 'pomace', > 'reedmace', > 'catarrh', > 'snowdrift', > 'ardor, passion', > 'brake', > 'avalanche', > 'edge, border', 'sawfish' > pestriu > 'thresher shark, smooth hound; ray', 'live coal' > 'spark', > tardaó > 'autumn'.
The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan "mud" and "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish and , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan "spinning wheel" and "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish and , of Germanic origin.
The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan "large earthenware jar" and "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish and , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan "oil" and "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish and . However, the Arabic element is generally much more prevalent in Spanish.
Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as "to miss somebody", "to calm somebody down", and "reject". Geographic distribution Catalan-speaking territories
{| style="float: right;"
|+ Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories in dark gray; non-Catalan-speaking territories belonging to traditionally Catalan-speaking regions in light gray
| colspan"2" style"text-align: center;" |
|}
Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the (Catalan Countries), a denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Territories where Catalan is spoken
! State !! Territory !! Catalan name !! Notes
|-
| colspan="2" | Andorra || || A sovereign state where Catalan is the national and the sole official language. The Andorrans speak a Western Catalan variety.
|-
| France || Northern Catalonia || || Roughly corresponding to the of Pyrénées-Orientales, with the exception of the traditionally Occitan-speaking comarca of Fenouillèdes.
|-
| rowspan"5" | Spain || Catalonia || || In the Aran Valley (northwest corner of Catalonia), in addition to Occitan, which is the local language, Catalan, Spanish and French are also spoken.
|-
| Valencian Community <br /> ( Valencian Country) || <br /> (País Valencià) || Excepting some regions in the west and south which have been Aragonese/Spanish-speaking since at least the 18th century. The Western Catalan variety spoken there is known as "Valencian".
|-
| La Franja || || A part of the Autonomous Community of Aragon, specifically a strip bordering Western Catalonia. It comprises the of Ribagorça, Llitera, Baix Cinca, and Matarranya.
|-
| Balearic Islands || || Comprising the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.
|-
| Carche || || A small area of the Autonomous Community of Murcia, settled in the 19th century.
|-
| Italy || Alghero || || A city in the Province of Sassari, on the island of Sardinia, where the Algherese dialect is spoken.
|}
Number of speakers
The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching the percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken. The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan. These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population. According to Ethnologue, Catalan had 4.1 million native speakers and 5.1 million second-language speakers in 2021. Very few Catalan monoglots exist; virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with 99.7% of Catalan speakers in Catalonia able to speak Spanish and 99.9% able to understand it.
In Roussillon, only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift. According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia predominantly spoke Catalan at home whereas 52.7% spoke Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages.
Spanish was the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. According to 2013 census, Catalan was also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it was understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of two could speak it (1,137,816), 79% could read it (1,246.555), and 53% could write it (835,080). The share of Barcelona residents who could speak it (72.3%) was lower than that of the overall Catalan population, of whom 81.2% over the age of 15 spoke the language. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system. An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with French in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra, and with Spanish in the rest of the territories.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Territory !! State !! Understand
! Can speak
|- style="background:#efefef;"
| colspan="2" | Total Catalan-speaking territories || 11,150,218 || 9,062,637
|- style="background:#fff;"
| colspan="2" | Rest of World || No data || 350,000
|- style="background:#efefef;"
| colspan="2" | Total || 11,150,218 || 9,412,637
|}
:1. The number of people who understand Catalan includes those who can speak it.
:2. Figures relate to all self-declared capable speakers, not just native speakers.
Level of knowledge
{| style"margin: 0 0 0.5me 1.4me; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; float: center;" border1
|- style="font-size:110%; color: black; background-color: lawngreen;"
! Area
! Speak
! Understand
! Read
! Write
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Catalonia
| style="text-align: right;" | 81.2
| style="text-align: right;" | 94.4
| style="text-align: right;" | 85.5
| style="text-align: right;" | 65.3
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Valencian Community
| style="text-align: right;" | 57.5
| style="text-align: right;" | 78.1
| style="text-align: right;" | 54.9
| style="text-align: right;" | 32.5
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Balearic Islands
| style="text-align: right;" | 74.6
| style="text-align: right;" | 93.1
| style="text-align: right;" | 79.6
| style="text-align: right;" | 46.9
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Roussillon
| style="text-align: right;" | 37.1
| style="text-align: right;" | 65.3
| style="text-align: right;" | 31.4
| style="text-align: right;" | 10.6
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Andorra
| style="text-align: right;" | 78.9
| style="text-align: right;" | 96.0
| style="text-align: right;" | 89.7
| style="text-align: right;" | 61.1
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Franja Oriental of Aragón
| style="text-align: right;" | 88.8
| style="text-align: right;" | 98.5
| style="text-align: right;" | 72.9
| style="text-align: right;" | 30.3
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Alghero
| style="text-align: right;" | 67.6
| style="text-align: right;" | 89.9
| style="text-align: right;" | 50.9
| style="text-align: right;" | 28.4
|}
(% of the population 15 years old and older).
Social use
{| style"margin: 0 0 0.5me 1.4me; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; float: center;" border1
|- style="font-size:110%; color: black; background-color: lawngreen;"
! Area
! At home
! Outside home
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Catalonia
| style="text-align: right;" | 45
| style="text-align: right;" | 51
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Valencian Community
| style="text-align: right;" | 37
| style="text-align: right;" | 32
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Balearic Islands
| style="text-align: right;" | 44
| style="text-align: right;" | 41
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Roussillon
| style="text-align: right;" | 1
| style="text-align: right;" | 1
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Andorra
| style="text-align: right;" | 38
| style="text-align: right;" | 51
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Franja Oriental of Aragón
| style="text-align: right;" | 70
| style="text-align: right;" | 61
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Alghero
| style="text-align: right;" | 8
| style="text-align: right;" | 4
|}
(% of the population 15 years old and older).
Native language
To calculate the absolute number the figures have been proportioned to the whole population regardless of the age, rounded to the nearest 500.
{| class"wikitable sortable" | style"margin: 0 0 0.5me 1.4me; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; float: center;" border="1"
|- style="font-size:110%; color: black; background-color: lawngreen;"
! Area
! People
! Percentage
!Year
!Source
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Catalonia
| style="text-align: right;" | 3,101,500
| style="text-align: right;" | 40.6%
|2021
| style"text-align: right;" |
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Valencian Community
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,271,000
| style="text-align: right;" | 25.4%
|2021
| style"text-align: right;" |
|- style="background-color:#CCCCCC;"
| Roussillon
| style="text-align: right;" | 60,000
| style="text-align: right;" | 12.7%
|2015
| style"text-align: right;" |
|- style="background-color:#E4E4E4;"
| Alghero
| style="text-align: right;" | 10,500
| style="text-align: right;" | 24.1%
|2015
| style"text-align: right;" |
|- style="background-color: white;"
| TOTAL
| style="text-align: right;" | 4,989,500
| style="text-align: right;" |
|
|
|}
Phonology
<!--The Catalan phonology article is very well sourced. If you want to add something, pick it from there, don't put OR.-->
Catalan phonology varies by dialect. Notable features include:
* Marked contrast of the vowel pairs and , as in other Western Romance languages, other than Spanish.
* Lack of diphthongization of Latin short , , as in Galician and Portuguese, but unlike French, Spanish, or Italian.
* Abundance of diphthongs containing , as in Galician and Portuguese.
In contrast to other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words, and these may end in a wide variety of consonants, including some consonant clusters. Additionally, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, which gives rise to an abundance of such couplets as ("male friend") vs. ("female friend").
Central Catalan pronunciation is considered to be standard for the language. The descriptions below are mostly representative of this variety. For the differences in pronunciation between the different dialects, see the section on pronunciation of dialects in this article.<!--This is an internal link to the section about the pronunciation in the different dialects. It uses the Anchor template--> Vowels s of Standard Eastern Catalan]]
Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: , a common feature in Western Romance, with the exception of Spanish. Balearic also has instances of stressed . Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction, and the incidence of the pair .
In Central Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to three: ; ; remains distinct. The other dialects have different vowel reduction processes (see the section pronunciation of dialects in this article).
{| class"wikitable" style"margin:auto; text-align:center;"
|+ Examples of vowel reduction processes in Central Catalan<br />The root is stressed in the first word and unstressed in the second
|-
! !! colspan"3" | Front vowels !! colspan"2" | Back vowels
|-
! Word<br />pair
| ("ice") <br /> ("ice cream") || ("stone") <br /> ("quarry") || ("he bathes") <br /> / ("we bathe") || ("thing") <br /> ("little thing") || ("everything") <br /> ("total")
|-
! IPA<br />transcription
| <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br />
|}
Consonants
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Catalan consonants
! colspan="2" |
! Labial
! Alveolar<br />/ Dental
! Palatal
! Velar
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
|
|
|
| ()
|-
! rowspan="2" | Plosive
! voiceless
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|-
! voiced
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|-
! rowspan="2" | Affricate
! voiceless
|
|
|
|
|-
! voiced
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! voiceless
|
|
|
|
|-
! voiced
| ()
|
| ()
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Approximant
! central
|
|
|
|
|-
! lateral
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
|
|
|
|}
The consonant system of Catalan is rather conservative.
* has a velarized allophone in syllable coda position in most dialects. However, is velarized irrespective of position in Eastern dialects such as Majorcan and standard Eastern Catalan.
* occurs in Balearic, Algherese, standard Valencian and some areas in southern Catalonia. It has merged with elsewhere.
* The velar nasal /ŋ/ is an allophone of /n/ before /g/ or /k/. However, it has become phonemic in Central dialects that delete the final element of word-final consonant clusters, resulting in minimal pairs such as fan [ˈfan] (“they do”) and fang [ˈfaŋ] (“mud”, pronounced [ˈfaŋk] in other dialects).
* In Valencian, the fricative [ʒ] (and [jʒ]) appears only as a voiced allophone of /ʃ/ (and /jʃ/) before vowels and voiced consonants; e.g. peix al forn [ˈpejʒ al ˈfoɾn] ('oven fish'). The /ʒ/ phoneme in other Catalan dialects is pronounced /dʒ/ in standard Valencian.
* Voiced obstruents undergo final-obstruent devoicing: .
* Voiced stops become lenited to approximants in syllable onsets, after continuants: > , > , > . Exceptions include after lateral consonants, and after . In coda position, these sounds are realized as stops, except in some Valencian dialects where they are lenited.
* There is some confusion in the literature about the precise phonetic characteristics of , , , . Some sources describe them as "postalveolar". Others as "back alveolo-palatal", implying that the characters would be more accurate. However, in all literature only the characters for palato-alveolar affricates and fricatives are used, even when the same sources use for other languages such as Polish and Chinese.
* The distribution of the two rhotics and closely parallels that of Spanish. Between vowels, the two contrast, but they are otherwise in complementary distribution: in the onset of the first syllable in a word, appears unless preceded by a consonant. Dialects vary in regards to rhotics in the coda with Western Catalan generally featuring and Central Catalan dialects featuring a weakly trilled unless it precedes a vowel-initial word in the same prosodic unit, in which case appears.
* In careful speech, , , may be geminated. Geminated may also occur. Some analyze intervocalic as the result of gemination of a single rhotic phoneme. This is similar to the common analysis of Spanish and Portuguese rhotics.
Phonological evolution
Catalan shares features with neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, Italian, Sardinian, French, Spanish).
* Marked contrast of the vowel pairs and , as in other Western Romance languages, except Spanish and Sardinian.
* Lenition of voiced stops as in Galician and Spanish.
* Lack of diphthongization of Latin short , , as in Galician, Sardinian and Portuguese, and unlike French, Spanish and Italian.
* Abundance of diphthongs containing , as in Galician and Portuguese.
* Abundance of and occurring at the end of words, as for instance ("wet") and ("year"), unlike Spanish, Portuguese or Italian.
In contrast with other Romance languages, Catalan has many monosyllabic words; and those ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters. Also, Catalan has final obstruent devoicing, thus featuring many couplets like ('male friend') vs. ('female friend').
Sociolinguistics
, former president of Catalonia, discussing individual identity, collective identity and language]]
Catalan sociolinguistics studies the situation of Catalan in the world and the different varieties that this language presents. It is a subdiscipline of Catalan philology and other affine studies and has as an objective to analyze the relation between the Catalan language, the speakers and the close reality (including the one of other languages in contact).
Preferential subjects of study
* Dialects of Catalan
* Variations of Catalan by class, gender, profession, age and level of studies
* Process of linguistic normalization
* Relations between Catalan and Spanish or French
* Perception on the language of Catalan speakers and non-speakers
* Presence of Catalan in several fields: tagging, public function, media, professional sectors
Dialects
Overview
The dialects of the Catalan language feature a relative uniformity, especially when compared to other Romance languages; both in terms of vocabulary, semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology. Mutual intelligibility between dialects is very high, estimates ranging from 90% to 95%. There are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community.
Central Catalan is considered the standard pronunciation of the language and has the largest number of speakers. It is spoken in the densely populated regions of the Barcelona province, the eastern half of the province of Tarragona, and most of the province of Girona.
Catalan has an inflectional grammar. Nouns have two genders (masculine, feminine), and two numbers (singular, plural). Pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and gender. In terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center; "
|+ Main dialectal divisions of Catalan
|-
! Block
| colspan"2" | Western Catalan || colspan"4" | Eastern Catalan
|-
! Variety
| North-Western || Valencian || Central || Balearic || Northern (Roussillonese) || Alguerese (Algherese)
|-
! rowspan="2" | Area
| Spain, Andorra || colspan="3" | Spain || France || Italy
|-
| Andorra, Provinces of Lleida, western half of Tarragona, La Franja (Aragon) || Valencian Community, Carche (Murcia) || Provinces of Barcelona, eastern half of Tarragona, most of Girona || Balearic Islands || Roussillon (Northern Catalonia) || City of Alghero in Sardinia
|}
Pronunciation
Vowels
Catalan has inherited the typical vowel system of Vulgar Latin, with seven stressed phonemes: , a common feature in Western Romance, except Spanish. Balearic has also instances of stressed . Dialects differ in the different degrees of vowel reduction, and the incidence of the pair .
In Eastern Catalan (except Majorcan), unstressed vowels reduce to three: ; ; remains distinct. There are a few instances of unreduced , in some words. Algherese has lowered to .
In Majorcan, unstressed vowels reduce to four: follow the Eastern Catalan reduction pattern; however reduce to , with remaining distinct, as in Western Catalan.
In Western Catalan, unstressed vowels reduce to five: ; ; remain distinct. This reduction pattern, inherited from Proto-Romance, is also found in Italian and Portuguese. Some Western dialects present further reduction or vowel harmony in some cases.
Central, Western, and Balearic differ in the lexical incidence of stressed and . Usually, words with in Central Catalan correspond to in Balearic and in Western Catalan. Words with in Balearic almost always have in Central and Western Catalan as well. As a result, Central Catalan has a much higher incidence of .
{|
|
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Different incidence of stressed , ,
|-
! rowspan"2" | Word !! colspan"2" | Western !! colspan="3" | Eastern
|-
! North-Western !! Valencian !! Majorcan !! Central !! Northern
|-
| <br /> ("thirst")
| colspan="2" | || || ||
|-
| <br /> ("he sells")
| colspan="2" | || || ||
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ General differences in the pronunciation of unstressed vowels in different dialects
|-
! rowspan"2" | Word !! colspan"2" | Western !! colspan="4" | Eastern
|-
! North-Western !! Valencian !! Majorcan !! Central !! Northern
|-
| <br /> ("mother") || colspan"2" | || colspan"3" |
|-
| <br /> ("song") || colspan"2" | || colspan"2" | ||
|-
| <br /> ("to put") || colspan"3" | || colspan"2" |
|-
| <br /> ("iron") || colspan"3" | || colspan"2" |
|}
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Detailed examples of vowel reduction processes in different dialects
|-
! rowspan"2" | !! rowspan"2" | Word pairs:<br />the first with stressed root,<br />the second with unstressed root !! rowspan"2" | Western !! colspan"3" | Eastern
|-
! Majorcan !! Central !! Northern
|-
! rowspan="4" | Front <br /> vowels
| ("ice") <br /> ("ice cream")
| style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || colspan"2" style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#fafad2;"| <br />
|-
| ("pear") <br /> ("pear tree")
| style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#fafad2;"|<br />
|-
| ("stone") <br /> ("quarry")
| style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || colspan"3" style="background:#cef2da;"| <br />
|-
| ("he bathes") <br /> / ("we bathe")
| style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#fafad2;"| <br />
|-
! rowspan="2" | Back <br /> vowels
| ("thing") <br /> ("little thing")
| style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#fafad2;"| <br />
|-
| ("everything") <br /> ("total")
| colspan"2" style"background:#f2cee0;"| <br /> || style"background:#cef2da;"| <br /> || style"background:#fafad2;"| <br />
|}
Consonants
Catalan dialects are characterized by final-obstruent devoicing, lenition and voicing assimilation. Additionally, many dialects contrast two rhotics () and two laterals (().
Most Catalan dialects are also renowned by the usage of dark l (i.e. velarization of → ), which is especially noticeable in syllable final position, in comparison to neighbouring languages, such as Spanish, Italian and French (that lack this pronunciation).
There is dialectal variation in regard to:
* The pronunciation and distribution of sibilants (with different results according to voicing and affrication vs. deaffrication).
** While, arguably there are seven to eight sibilants in Standard Catalan and Standard Valencian, dialects like Central Valencian and Ribagorçan only have three or four.
* The usage of the voiced labiodental fricative phoneme .
* The pronunciation or not of yod () in the digraph .
* The elision and pronunciation of final rhotics (either or ).
* The delateralization of the palatal lateral approximant ().
* The alternation of lenition vs. fortition (such as in 'village, people' → vs. vs. vs. vs. ).
Morphology
Western Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is in verbs of the 1st conjugation and -∅ in verbs of the 2nd and 3rd conjugations in most of the Valencian Community, or in all verb conjugations in the Northern Valencian Community and Western Catalonia.<br />E.g. , , (Valencian); , , (North-Western Catalan).
Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the ending for 1st-person present indicative is , , or -∅ in all conjugations. <br />E.g. (Central), (Balearic), and (Northern), all meaning ('I speak').
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ 1st-person singular present indicative forms
|-
! colspan"3" , rowspan"2" | Conjugation !! colspan"3" | Eastern Catalan !! colspan"2" | Western Catalan !! rowspan="2" | Gloss
|-
! Central !! Northern !! Balearic !! Valencian !! North-Western
|-
! colspan="3" | 1st
| || || || || || 'I speak'
|-
! colspan="3" | 2nd
| || || || || || 'I fear'
|-
! colspan"2" , rowspan"2" | 3rd
!
| || || || || || 'I feel', 'I hear'
|-
!
| || || or || or || || 'I polish'
|}
Western Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are /, , , /.
Eastern Catalan: In verbs, the inchoative endings are , , , .
Western Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, maintenance of of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.<br />E.g. 'men', 'youth'.
Eastern Catalan: In nouns and adjectives, loss of of medieval plurals in proparoxytone words.<br />E.g. 'men', 'youth' (Ibicencan, however, follows the model of Western Catalan in this case). Vocabulary Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices. Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Selection of different words between Western and Eastern Catalan
|-
! Gloss !! "mirror" !! "boy" !! "broom" !! "navel" !! "to exit"
|-
! Eastern Catalan
| || || || ||
|-
! Western Catalan
| || || || ||
|}
Standards
{| class"wikitable" style"float:right; margin-left: 1em;"
|+ Written varieties
! Catalan (IEC)
! Valencian (AVL)
! gloss
|-
|
|
| English
|-
|
|
| to know
|-
|
|
| take out
|-
|
|
| to be born
|-
|
|
| pitcher
|-
|
|
| round
|-
|
|
| my, mine
|-
|
|
| almond
|-
|
|
| star
|-
|
|
| hit
|-
|
|
| lobster
|-
|
|
| men
|-
|
|
| service
|}
Standard Catalan, virtually accepted by all speakers, is mostly based on Eastern Catalan, which is the most widely used dialect. Nevertheless, the standards of the Valencian Community and the Balearics admit alternative forms, mostly traditional ones, which are not current in eastern Catalonia.
The most notable difference between both standards is some tonic accentuation, for instance: (IEC) – (AVL). Nevertheless, AVL's standard keeps the grave accent , while pronouncing it as rather than , in some words such as: ('what'), or . Other divergences include the use of (AVL) in some words instead of like in / ('almond'), / ('back'), the use of elided demonstratives ( 'this', 'that') in the same level as reinforced ones () or the use of many verbal forms common in Valencian, and some of these common in the rest of Western Catalan too, such as subjunctive mood or inchoative conjugation in at the same level as or the priority use of morpheme in 1st person singular in present indicative ( verbs): instead of ('I buy').
In the Balearic Islands, IEC's standard is used but adapted for the Balearic dialect by the University of the Balearic Islands's philological section. In this way, for instance, IEC says it is correct writing as much as ('we sing'), but the university says that the priority form in the Balearic Islands must be in all fields. Another feature of the Balearic standard is the non-ending in the 1st person singular present indicative: ('I buy'), ('I fear'), ('I sleep').
In Alghero, the IEC has adapted its standard to the Algherese dialect. In this standard one can find, among other features: the definite article instead of , special possessive pronouns and determinants ('mine'), ('his/her'), ('yours'), and so on, the use of in the imperfect tense in all conjugations: , , ; the use of many archaic words, usual words in Algherese: instead of ('less'), instead of ('someone'), instead of ('which'), and so on; and the adaptation of weak pronouns. In 1999, Catalan (Algherese dialect) was among the twelve minority languages officially recognized as Italy's "historical linguistic minorities" by the Italian State under Law No. 482/1999.
In 2011, the Aragonese government passed a decree approving the statutes of a new language regulator of Catalan in La Franja (the so-called Catalan-speaking areas of Aragon) as originally provided for by Law 10/2009. The new entity, designated as , shall allow a facultative education in Catalan and a standardization of the Catalan language in La Franja.
Status of Valencian
Valencian|Valencian language controversy|Blaverism|Anti-Catalanism}}
Valencian is classified as a Western dialect, along with the North-Western varieties spoken in Western Catalonia (provinces of Lleida and the western half of Tarragona). Central Catalan has 90% to 95% inherent intelligibility for speakers of Valencian.}}
The AVL, created by the Valencian parliament, is in charge of dictating the official rules governing the use of Valencian, and its standard is based on the Norms of Castelló (Normes de Castelló). Currently, everyone who writes in Valencian uses this standard, except the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana, RACV), which uses an independent standard for Valencian.
Despite the position of the official organizations, an opinion poll carried out between 2001 and 2004 showed that the majority of the Valencian people consider Valencian different from Catalan. This position is promoted by people who do not use Valencian regularly. Furthermore, the data indicates that younger generations educated in Valencian are much less likely to hold these views. A minority of Valencian scholars active in fields other than linguistics defends the position of the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (Real Acadèmia de Cultura Valenciana'', RACV), which uses for Valencian a standard independent from Catalan.
This clash of opinions has sparked much controversy. For example, during the drafting of the European Constitution in 2004, the Spanish government supplied the EU with translations of the text into Basque, Galician, Catalan, and Valencian, but the latter two were identical.
Vocabulary
Word choices
Despite its relative lexical unity, the two dialectal blocks of Catalan (Eastern and Western) show some differences in word choices. Any lexical divergence within any of the two groups can be explained as an archaism. Also, usually Central Catalan acts as an innovative element.
Literary Catalan allows the use of words from different dialects, except those of very restricted use. However, from the 19th century onwards, there has been a tendency towards favoring words of Northern dialects to the detriment of others.
Latin and Greek loanwords
Like other languages, Catalan has a large list of loanwords from Greek and Latin. This process started very early, and one can find such examples in Ramon Llull's work. In the 14th and 15th centuries Catalan had a far greater number of Greco-Latin loanwords than other Romance languages, as is attested for example in Roís de Corella's writings. The incorporation of learned, or "bookish" words from its own ancestor language, Latin, into Catalan is arguably another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, most literate Catalan speakers were also literate in Latin; and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing—and eventually speech—in Catalan.
Word formation
The process of morphological derivation in Catalan follows the same principles as the other Romance languages, where inflection is common. Many times, several affixes are appended to a preexisting lexeme, and some sound alternations can occur, for example ("electrical") vs. . Prefixes are usually appended to verbs, as in ("foresee").
There is greater regularity in the process of word-compounding, where one can find compounded words formed much like those in English.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Common types of word compounds in Catalan
|-
! Type !! Example !! Gloss
|-
| two nouns, the second assimilated to the first || || "banknote paper"
|-
| noun delimited by an adjective || || "military staff"
|-
| noun delimited by another noun and a preposition || || "typewriter"
|-
| verb radical with a nominal object || || "parachute"
|-
| noun delimited by an adjective, with adjectival value || || "robin" (bird)
|}
Writing system
(detail), showing the word ("illusion")]]
{| class"wikitable" style" text-align: center;"
! Main forms
| <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"2" | <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"2" | <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"2" | <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"2" | <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br /> || <br />
|-
! Modified forms
| <br /> || style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" | || <br /> || style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" | || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"3" style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" | || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"2" style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" | || <br /> || colspan"2" style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" | || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"5" style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" | || <br /> || <br /> || colspan"5" style"background-color:#f0f0f0;" |
|}
Catalan uses the Latin script, with some added symbols and digraphs. The Catalan orthography is systematic and largely phonologically based. Standardization of Catalan was among the topics discussed during the First International Congress of the Catalan Language, held in Barcelona October 1906. Subsequently, the Philological Section of the ''Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC, founded in 1911) published the Normes ortogràfiques in 1913 under the direction of Antoni Maria Alcover and Pompeu Fabra. In 1932, Valencian writers and intellectuals gathered in Castelló de la Plana to make a formal adoption of the so-called Normes de Castelló'', a set of guidelines following Pompeu Fabra's Catalan language norms.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Pronunciation of Catalan special characters and digraphs
|-
! !! Pronunciation !! Usage !! Examples
|-
!
| || before , and ; or final position || ("happy")
|-
! rowspan="2" |
| (phonetically ) || before and || ("war")
|-
| || elsewhere || ("glove")
|-
!
| || in final position || ("ray")
|-
!
| ( in most Western dialects) || medially and finally || ("box")
|-
!
| || in any position || ("place")
|-
!
| (normatively, but usually ) || between vowels || ("novel")
|-
!
| || in any position || ("Catalonia")
|-
! rowspan="2" |
| || before and || ("who")
|-
| || before other vowels || ("four")
|-
!
| || between vowels <br /> intervocalic is pronounced || ("street") <br /> ("he or she looks")
|-
!
| rowspan="2" | || between vowels, before and || ("rise")
|-
!
| between vowels <br /> intervocalic is pronounced || ("big, ") <br /> ("house")
|-
!
| rowspan="2" | || before and || ("liver")
|-
!
| elsewhere || ("sock")
|-
!
| || in any position || ("maybe")
|-
!
| || in any position || ("office")
|-
!
| || mainly word medially || ("twelve")
|-
| colspan"4" style"border-left: #fff solid 1px; border-right: #fff solid 1px" |
|-
! !! Pronunciation !! Usage !! Examples
|-
!
| || in final position || ("Llach")
|-
!
| || in any position || ("sikh")
|-
!
| || in any position <br /> in native words || ("theta") <br /> ("everybody")
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Letters and digraphs with contextually conditioned pronunciations
|-
! !! Notes !! Examples
|-
!
| before and <br /> corresponds to in other contexts || ("happy, ") vs. ("happy, ")<br /> ("I hunt") vs. ("you hunt")
|-
! rowspan="2" |
| before and <br /> corresponds to in other positions || ("to envy") vs. ("they envy")
|-
| final before and final before other vowels are pronounced <br /> corresponds to ~ or ~ in other positions || ("wish") vs. ("to wish") vs. ("we wish"), exception: ("punishment"), pronounced with <br /> ("mad, ") vs. ("mad, ") vs. ("mad, ")
|-
!
| before and <br /> corresponds to in other positions || ("shop") vs. ("shops")
|-
!
| before and <br /> corresponds to in other positions || ("language") vs. ("languages")
|-
!
| before and <br /> corresponds to in other positions || ("cow") vs. ("cows")
|-
!
| before and <br /> corresponds to in other positions || ("oblique, ") vs. ("oblique, ")
|-
!
| (also dialectally) initially and in onsets after a consonant; after <br /> between vowels and syllable final (except after in most cases) <br /> between vowels and syllable final before voiced consonants || ("bedbug"), ("chalk") <br /> ("taxi"), ("to fix"), ("extra") <br /> ("exact"), ("ex-director")
|}
Grammar
The grammar of Catalan is similar to other Romance languages. Features include:
* Use of definite and indefinite articles.
* Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles are inflected for gender (masculine and feminine), and number (singular and plural). There is no case inflexion, except in pronouns.
* Verbs are highly inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, and mood (including a subjunctive).
* There are no modal auxiliaries.
* Word order is freer than in English. Gender and number inflection
{|
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Regular noun with definite article: ("the cat")
|-
! !! masculine !! feminine
|-
! singular
| ||
|-
! plural
| ||
|}
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Adjective with 4 forms: <br /> ("green")
|-
! !! masculine !! feminine
|-
! singular
| ||
|-
! plural
| ||
|}
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Adjective with 3 forms: <br /> ("happy")
|-
! !! masculine !! feminine
|-
! singular
| colspan="2" |
|-
! plural
| ||
|}
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Adjective with 2 forms: <br />}} ("indifferent")
|-
! !! masculine !! feminine
|-
! singular
| colspan="2" | }}
|-
! plural
| colspan="2" | s}}
|}
|}
In gender inflection, the most notable feature is (compared to Portuguese, Spanish or Italian), the loss of the typical masculine suffix . Thus, the alternance of /, has been replaced by ø/. There are only a few exceptions, such as / ("scarce"). Many not completely predictable morphological alternations may occur, such as:
* Affrication: / ("insane") vs. / ("ugly")
* Loss of : / ("flat") vs. / ("second")
* Final obstruent devoicing: / ("felt") vs. / ("said")
Catalan has few suppletive couplets, like Italian and Spanish, and unlike French. Thus, Catalan has / ("boy"/"girl") and / ("cock"/"hen"), whereas French has / and /.
There is a tendency to abandon traditionally gender-invariable adjectives in favor of marked ones, something prevalent in Occitan and French. Thus, one can find / ("boiling") in contrast with traditional /.
As in the other Western Romance languages, the main plural expression is the suffix , which may create morphological alternations similar to the ones found in gender inflection, albeit more rarely. The most important one is the addition of before certain consonant groups, a phonetic phenomenon that does not affect feminine forms: / ("the pulse"/"the pulses") vs. / ("the dust"/"the dusts").
Determiners
{|
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Definite article in Standard Catalan <br />(elided forms in brackets)
|-
! !! masculine !! feminine
|-
! singular
| () || ()
|-
! plural
| ||
|}
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Contractions of the definite article
|-
! colspan"2" rowspan"2" |
! colspan="3" | preposition
|-
! a !! de !! per
|-
! rowspan="2" | article || el
| () || () || ()
|-
! els
| || ||
|}
|
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
|+ Indefinite article
|-
! !! masculine !! feminine
|-
! singular
| ||
|-
! plural
| ||
|}
|}
The inflection of determinatives is complex, specially because of the high number of elisions, but is similar to the neighboring languages. Catalan has more contractions of preposition + article than Spanish, such as ("of + the [plural]"), but not as many as Italian (which has , , , etc.).
Central Catalan has abandoned almost completely unstressed possessives (, etc.) in favor of constructions of article + stressed forms (, etc.), a feature shared with Italian. Personal pronouns {| class"wikitable" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin-left: 1em;"
|+ Catalan stressed pronouns
! colspan="2" | !! singular !! plural
|-
! colspan="2" | 1st person
| , ||
|-
! rowspan="3" | 2nd person !! informal
| ||
|-
! formal
| ||
|-
! respectful
| colspan="2" | ()
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person !! masculine
| ||
|-
! feminine
| ||
|}
The morphology of Catalan personal pronouns is complex, especially in unstressed forms, which are numerous (13 distinct forms, compared to 11 in Spanish or 9 in Italian). Features include the gender-neutral and the great degree of freedom when combining different unstressed pronouns (65 combinations).
Catalan pronouns exhibit T–V distinction, like all other Romance languages (and most European languages, but not Modern English). This feature implies the use of a different set of second person pronouns for formality.
This flexibility allows Catalan to use extraposition extensively, much more than French or Spanish. Thus, Catalan can have ("they recommended me to him"), whereas in French one must say , and Spanish . This allows the placement of almost any nominal term as a sentence topic, without having to use so often the passive voice (as in French or English), or identifying the direct object with a preposition (as in Spanish).
Verbs
{| class"wikitable" style"float:right; margin-left:1em"
|+ Simple forms of a regular verb of the first conjugation: ("to bring")
! style"background:#e0e0ff;"|Non-finite || colspan"6" style="background:#e0e0ff;"|Form
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Infinitive || colspan="6" |
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Gerund || colspan="6" |
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Past participle || colspan="6" | (, , , )
|- style="text-align: center;"
! style"background:#e0e0ff;"|Indicative || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[] || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[] || style="background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[]
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Present || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Imperfect || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Preterite (archaic) || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Future || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Conditional || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
! style"background:#e0e0ff;"|Subjunctive || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[] || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[] || style="background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[]
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Present || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
| Imperfect || || || || || ||
|- style="text-align: center;"
! style"background:#e0e0ff;"|Imperative || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[] || style"background:#e0e0ff;"| || style"background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[] || style="background:#e0e0ff;"|<br />[]
|- style="text-align: center;"
| — || — || || || || ||
|}
Like all the Romance languages, Catalan verbal inflection is more complex than the nominal. Suffixation is omnipresent, whereas morphological alternations play a secondary role. Vowel alternances are active, as well as infixation and suppletion. However, these are not as productive as in Spanish, and are mostly restricted to irregular verbs.
The Catalan verbal system is basically common to all Western Romance, except that most dialects have replaced the synthetic indicative perfect with a periphrastic form of ("to go") + infinitive.
Catalan verbs are traditionally divided into three conjugations, with vowel themes , , , the last two being split into two subtypes. However, this division is mostly theoretical. Only the first conjugation is nowadays productive (with about 3500 common verbs), whereas the third (the subtype of , with about 700 common verbs) is semiproductive. The verbs of the second conjugation are fewer than 100, and it is not possible to create new ones, except by compounding.
Syntax
The grammar of Catalan follows the general pattern of Western Romance languages. The primary word order is subject–verb–object. However, word order is very flexible. Commonly, verb-subject constructions are used to achieve a semantic effect. The sentence "The train has arrived" could be translated as or . Both sentences mean "the train has arrived", but the former puts a focus on the train, while the latter puts a focus on the arrival. This subtle distinction is described as "what you might say while waiting in the station" versus "what you might say on the train". Catalan names
In Spain, every person officially has two surnames, one of which is the father's first surname and the other is the mother's first surname. The law contemplates the possibility of joining both surnames with the Catalan conjunction i ("and").
Sample text
Selected text from Manuel de Pedrolo's 1970 novel ("A love affair outside the city").
{| border"0" style"width:100%; text-align:left;"
! Original || Word-for-word translation || Free translation
|-
| || I was having close to eighteen years, when I go know (=I met) || I was about eighteen years old when I met
|-
| || the Raül, at the station of (=in) Manresa. || Raül, at Manresa railway station.
|-
| || The my father had died, unexpectedly and still young, || My father had died, unexpectedly and still young,
|-
| || a couple of years before, and of those times || a couple of years before; and from that time
|-
| || I keep a memory of acute loneliness || I still harbor memories of great loneliness.
|-
| || The my relations with the mother || My relationship with my mother
|-
| || not had at all improved, all the contrary, || had not improved; quite the contrary,
|-
| || perhaps even they were worsening || and arguably it was getting even worse
|-
| || at step that (in proportion as) myself I was making big (I was growing up). || as I grew up.
|-
| || Not it was existing, not it existed never between us, || There did not exist, at no point had there ever existed between us
|-
| || a community of interests, of affections. || shared interests or affection.
|-
| || It is necessary to believe that I was seeking... a person || I guess I was seeking... a person
|-
| || in whom to center the my life affective. || in whom I could center my emotional life.
|}
See also
;Organizations
* ''Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Catalan Studies Institute)
* Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Academy of the Language)
* Òmnium Cultural
* Plataforma per la Llengua
;Scholars
* Marina Abràmova
* Germà Colón
* Dominique de Courcelles
* Martí de Riquer
* Arthur Terry
* Lawrence Venuti
;Other
* Languages of Catalonia
** Linguistic features of Spanish as spoken by Catalan speakers
* Languages of France
* Languages of Italy
* Languages of Spain
* Normes de Castelló
* Pompeu Fabra
* Chronology of the repression of the Catalan language
Notes
References
Works cited
* |access-date21 September 2013 |archive-date5 March 2009 |archive-urlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20090305161817/http://ca.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictamen_sobre_els_principis_i_criteris_per_a_la_defensa_de_la_denominaci%C3%B3_i_l%27entitat_del_valenci%C3%A0#Dictamen |url-statuslive}}
*
*
*
*
*
*
* }}
*
*
*
*
* |display-authorsetal}}
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
|last=Hall
|first=Jacqueline
|title=Convivència in Catalonia: Languages Living Together
|location=Barcelona
|publisher=Fundació Jaume Bofill
|date=2001
}}
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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*
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External links
Institutions
* [http://www.cpnl.cat/ Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística]
* [http://www.iec.cat/ Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC)]
* [https://www.avl.gva.es/ Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL)]
About the Catalan/Valencian language
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110529085634/http://www2.iec.cat/institucio/seccions/Filologica/gramatica/default.asp Gramàtica de la Llengua Catalana] (Catalan grammar), from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
* [https://www.avl.gva.es/documents/31987/65233/GNV Gramàtica Normativa Valenciana] (Valencian grammar). , from the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
* [https://www.apuntsdellengua.es/ Apunts de llengua], learning program by À Punt
* [https://llengua.gencat.cat/ca/inici llengua.gencat.cat], by the Government of Catalonia
* [http://www.verbs.cat/ verbs.cat] (Catalan verb conjugations with online trainers)
* [http://www.ub.edu/lexdialgram/ LEXDIALGRAM] (online portal of 19th-century dialectal lexicographical and grammatical works of Catalan hosted by the University of Barcelona)
Monolingual dictionaries
* [http://dlc.iec.cat/ DIEC2], from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
* [http://www.avl.gva.es/lexicval/ Diccionari Normatiu Valencià (DNV)], from the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua
* [http://ec.grec.net/cgi-bin/AppDLC3.exe?APPCERCADLC&GECART Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana]. , from Enciclopèdia Catalana
* [http://dcvb.iecat.net/ Diccionari Català-Valencià-Balear''] d'Alcover i Moll. , from the ''Institut d'Estudis Catalans
* [http://www.dilc.org/ Diccionari Invers de la Llengua Catalana] (Dictionary of Catalan words spelled backward)
* [http://www.trobat.com/servicis/dvo.php trobat.com] (online Valencian dictionary)
Bilingual and multilingual dictionaries
* [http://www.grec.cat/cgibin/mlt00.pgm Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana Multilingüe'']. (Catalan ↔ English, French, German and Spanish), from Enciclopèdia Catalana
Automated translation systems
* [https://traductor.gencat.cat/text.do Traductor] automated, online translations of text and web pages (Catalan ↔ English, French and Spanish), from gencat.cat by the Government of Catalonia
Learning resources
* [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Catalan_Swadesh_list Catalan Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words], from Wiktionary's [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists Swadesh-list appendix]
Catalan-language online encyclopedia
* [http://www.enciclopedia.cat/ Enciclopèdia Catalana]
}}
}}
}}
Category:Subject–verb–object languages
Category:Stress-timed languages
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language
|
2025-04-05T18:27:08.362988
|
5285
|
STS-51-F
|
s payload bay
| mission_type = Astronomical observations
| operator = NASA
| COSPAR_ID = <!-- Wikidata -->
| SATCAT = <!-- Wikidata -->
| mission_duration
| distance_travelled =
| orbits_completed = 127
| spacecraft =
| launch_mass =
| landing_mass =
| payload_mass =
| crew_size = 7
| crew_members =
| launch_date = (5:00pmEDT)
| launch_site = Kennedy, LC-39A
| launch_contractor = Rockwell International
| landing_date UTC (12:45:26pmPDT)
| landing_site = Edwards, Runway23
| orbit_reference = Geocentric orbit
| orbit_regime = Low Earth orbit
| orbit_periapsis =
| orbit_apoapsis =
| orbit_inclination = 49.49°
| orbit_period = 90.90 minutes
| apsis = gee
| instruments =
| insignia = STS-51-F patch.svg
| insignia_caption = STS-51-F mission patch
| crew_photo = STS-51-F crew.jpg
| crew_photo_caption = Front row (seated): C. Gordon Fullerton, Roy D. Bridges Jr.<br/>Back row (standing): Anthony W. England, Karl G. Henize, F. Story Musgrave, Loren W. Acton, John-David F. Bartoe
| programme = Space Shuttle program
| previous_mission = STS-51-G (18)
| next_mission = STS-51-I (20)
}}
STS-51-F (also known as Spacelab 2) was the 19th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 29, 1985, and landed eight days later on August 6, 1985.
While STS-51-F's primary payload was the Spacelab 2 laboratory module, the payload that received the most publicity was the Carbonated Beverage Dispenser Evaluation, which was an experiment in which both Coca-Cola and Pepsi tried to make their carbonated drinks available to astronauts. A helium-cooled infrared telescope (IRT) was also flown on this mission, and while it did have some problems, it observed 60% of the galactic plane in infrared light.
! Launch
! Landing
|rowspan=8| <br />Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.<br />Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
|-
! 1
|colspan=2| Fullerton
|-
! 2
|colspan=2| Bridges
|-
! 3
|colspan=2| Henize
|-
! 4
|colspan=2| Musgrave
|-
! 5
|colspan=2| England
|-
! 6
|colspan=2| Acton
|-
! 7
|colspan=2| Bartoe
|}
Launch
STS-51-F's first launch attempt on July 12, 1985, was halted with the countdown at T−3 seconds after main engine ignition, when a malfunction of the number two RS-25 coolant valve caused an automatic launch abort. Challenger launched successfully on its second attempt on July 29, 1985, at 17:00 p.m. EDT, after a delay of 1 hour 37 minutes due to a problem with the table maintenance block update uplink.
At 3 minutes 31 seconds into the ascent, one of the center engine's two high-pressure fuel turbopump turbine discharge temperature sensors failed. Two minutes and twelve seconds later, the second sensor failed, causing the shutdown of the center engine. This was the only in-flight RS-25 failure of the Space Shuttle program. Approximately 8 minutes into the flight, one of the same temperature sensors in the right engine failed, and the remaining right-engine temperature sensor displayed readings near the redline for engine shutdown. Booster Systems Engineer Jenny M. Howard acted quickly to recommend that the crew inhibit any further automatic RS-25 shutdowns based on readings from the remaining sensors, preventing the potential shutdown of a second engine and a possible abort mode that may have resulted in the loss of crew and vehicle (LOCV).
The failed RS-25 resulted in an Abort to Orbit (ATO) trajectory, whereby the shuttle achieved a lower-than-planned orbital altitude. The plan had been for a by orbit, but the mission was carried out at by .
Blue Team tested Coke, and Red Team tested Pepsi. As part of the experiment, each team was photographed with the cola logo. Acton said that while the sophisticated Coke system "dispensed soda kind of like what we're used to drinking on Earth", the Pepsi can was a shaving cream can with the Pepsi logo on a paper wrapper, which "dispensed soda filled with bubbles" that was "not very drinkable". Acton said that when he gives speeches in schools, audiences are much more interested in hearing about the cola experiment than in solar physics. Post-flight, the astronauts revealed that they preferred Tang, in part because it could be mixed on-orbit with existing chilled-water supplies, whereas there was no dedicated refrigeration equipment on board to chill the cans, which also fizzed excessively in microgravity.
In an experiment during the mission, thruster rockets were fired at a point over Tasmania and also above Boston to create two "holes" – plasma depletion regions – in the ionosphere. A worldwide group of geophysicists collaborated with the observations made from Spacelab 2.
Landing
Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on August 6, 1985, at 12:45:26 p.m. PDT. Its rollout distance was . The mission had been extended by 17 orbits for additional payload activities due to the Abort to Orbit. The orbiter arrived back at Kennedy Space Center on August 11, 1985.
Mission insignia
The mission insignia was designed by Houston, Texas, artist Skip Bradley. is depicted ascending toward the heavens in search of new knowledge in the field of solar and stellar astronomy, with its Spacelab 2 payload. The constellations Leo and Orion are shown in the positions they were in relative to the Sun during the flight. The nineteen stars indicate that the mission is the 19th shuttle flight.
Legacy
One of the purposes of the mission was to test how suitable the Shuttle was for conducting infrared observations, and the IRT was operated on this mission. However, the orbiter was found to have some draw-backs for infrared astronomy, and this led to later infrared telescopes being free-flying from the Shuttle orbiter.<ref name":0"/> See also
* List of human spaceflights
* List of Space Shuttle missions
* Salyut 7 (a space station of the Soviet Union also in orbit at this time)
** Soyuz T-13 (a mission to salvage that space station in the summer of 1985)
References
External links
* [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-f/mission-51-f.html NASA mission summary]
* [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-f/51-f-press-kit.txt Press Kit]
* [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle19.htm STS-51F Video Highlights]
* [http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/2008/02/coke-in-space.html Space Coke can]
* [http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/journals/space/kloeris/05-01-01.html Carbonated Drinks in Space]
*
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Classical period (music)
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thumb|right|upright=0.9|Young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a representative composer of the Classical period, seated at a keyboard.
The Classical Period was an era of classical music between roughly 1750 and 1820.
The classical period falls between the Baroque and Romantic periods. It is mainly homophonic, using a clear melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment, but counterpoint was by no means forgotten, especially in liturgical vocal music and, later in the period, secular instrumental music. It also makes use of style galant which emphasizes light elegance in place of the Baroque's dignified seriousness and impressive grandeur. Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before, and the orchestra increased in size, range, and power.
The harpsichord was replaced as the main keyboard instrument by the piano (or fortepiano). Unlike the harpsichord, which plucks strings with quills, pianos strike the strings with leather-covered hammers when the keys are pressed, which enables the performer to play louder or softer (hence the original name "fortepiano," literally "loud soft") and play with more expression; in contrast, the force with which a performer plays the harpsichord keys does not change the sound. Instrumental music was considered important by Classical period composers. The main kinds of instrumental music were the sonata, trio, string quartet, quintet, symphony (performed by an orchestra), and the solo concerto, which featured a virtuoso solo performer playing a solo work for violin, piano, flute, or another instrument, accompanied by an orchestra. Vocal music, such as songs for a singer and piano (notably the work of Schubert), choral works, and opera (a staged dramatic work for singers and orchestra), was also important during this period.
The best-known composers from this period are Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert; other names in this period include: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Luigi Boccherini, Domenico Cimarosa, Joseph Martin Kraus, Muzio Clementi, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, André Grétry, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn, Giovanni Paisiello, Johann Baptist Wanhal, François-André Danican Philidor, Niccolò Piccinni, Antonio Salieri, Etienne Nicolas Mehul, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Simon Mayr, Georg Matthias Monn, Johann Gottlieb Graun, Carl Heinrich Graun, Franz Benda, Georg Anton Benda, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Mauro Giuliani, Christian Cannabich and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Beethoven is regarded either as a Romantic composer or a Classical period composer who was part of the transition to the Romantic era. Schubert is also a transitional figure, as were Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Luigi Cherubini, Gaspare Spontini, Gioachino Rossini, Carl Maria von Weber, Jan Ladislav Dussek and Niccolò Paganini. The period is sometimes referred to as the era of Viennese Classicism (), since Gluck, Haydn, Salieri, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert all worked in Vienna.
Classicism
In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move toward a new style in architecture, literature, and the arts, generally known as Neoclassicism. This style sought to emulate the ideals of Classical antiquity, especially those of Classical Greece. Classical music used formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy and a "clearer", "cleaner" style that used divisions between parts (notably a clear, single melody accompanied by chords), brighter contrasts, and "timbre" (achieved by the use of dynamic changes and modulations to more keys). In contrast with the richly layered music of the Baroque era, Classical music moved towards simplicity rather than complexity. In addition, the typical size of orchestras began to increase, The sonata itself continued to be the principal form for solo and chamber music, while later in the Classical period, the string quartet became a prominent genre. The symphony form for orchestra was created in this period (this is popularly attributed to Joseph Haydn). The concerto grosso (a concerto for more than one musician), a very popular form in the Baroque era, began to be replaced by the solo concerto, featuring only one soloist. Composers began to place more importance on the particular soloist's ability to show off virtuoso skills, with challenging, fast scale and arpeggio runs. Nonetheless, some concerti grossi remained, the most famous of which was Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E-flat major.
right|thumb|300px|A modern string quartet. In the 2000s, string quartets from the Classical era are the core of the chamber music literature. From left to right: violin 1, violin 2, cello, viola
Main characteristics
In the classical period, the theme consists of phrases with contrasting melodic figures and rhythms. These phrases are relatively brief, typically four bars in length, and can occasionally seem sparse or terse. The texture is mainly homophonic,
Musically speaking, this "dramatic action" required more musical variety. Whereas Baroque music was characterized by seamless flow within individual movements and largely uniform textures, composers after the High Baroque sought to interrupt this flow with abrupt changes in texture, dynamic, harmony, or tempo. Among the stylistic developments which followed the High Baroque, the most dramatic came to be called Empfindsamkeit, (roughly "sensitive style"), and its best-known practitioner was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Composers of this style employed the above-discussed interruptions in the most abrupt manner, and the music can sound illogical at times. The Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti took these developments further. His more than five hundred single-movement keyboard sonatas also contain abrupt changes of texture, but these changes are organized into periods, balanced phrases that became a hallmark of the classical style. However, Scarlatti's changes in texture still sound sudden and unprepared. The outstanding achievement of the great classical composers (Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven) was their ability to make these dramatic surprises sound logically motivated, so that "the expressive and the elegant could join hands."
At first the new style took over Baroque forms—the ternary da capo aria, the sinfonia and the concerto—but composed with simpler parts, more notated ornamentation, rather than the improvised ornaments that were common in the Baroque era, and more emphatic division of pieces into sections. However, over time, the new aesthetic caused radical changes in how pieces were put together, and the basic formal layouts changed. Composers from this period sought dramatic effects, striking melodies, and clearer textures. One of the big textural changes was a shift away from the complex, dense polyphonic style of the Baroque, in which multiple interweaving melodic lines were played simultaneously, and towards homophony, a lighter texture which uses a clear single melody line accompanied by chords.
Baroque music generally uses many harmonic fantasies and polyphonic sections that focus less on the structure of the musical piece, and there was less emphasis on clear musical phrases. In the classical period, the harmonies became simpler. However, the structure of the piece, the phrases and small melodic or rhythmic motives, became much more important than in the Baroque period.
thumb|left|200px|Muzio Clementi's Sonata in G minor, No. 3, Op. 50, "Didone abbandonata", adagio movement
Another important break with the past was the radical overhaul of opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck, who cut away a great deal of the layering and improvisational ornaments and focused on the points of modulation and transition. By making these moments where the harmony changes more of a focus, he enabled powerful dramatic shifts in the emotional color of the music. To highlight these transitions, he used changes in instrumentation (orchestration), melody, and mode. Among the most successful composers of his time, Gluck spawned many emulators, including Antonio Salieri. Their emphasis on accessibility brought huge successes in opera, and in other vocal music such as songs, oratorios, and choruses. These were considered the most important kinds of music for performance and hence enjoyed greatest public success.
The phase between the Baroque and the rise of the Classical (around 1730), was home to various competing musical styles. The diversity of artistic paths are represented in the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who continued the Baroque tradition in a personal way; Johann Christian Bach, who simplified textures of the Baroque and most clearly influenced Mozart; and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who composed passionate and sometimes violently eccentric music of the Empfindsamkeit movement. Musical culture was caught at a crossroads: the masters of the older style had the technique, but the public hungered for the new. This is one of the reasons C. P. E. Bach was held in such high regard: he understood the older forms quite well and knew how to present them in new garb, with an enhanced variety of form.
1750–1775
thumb|left|Haydn portrait by Thomas Hardy, 1792
By the late 1750s there were flourishing centers of the new style in Italy, Vienna, Mannheim, and Paris; dozens of symphonies were composed and there were bands of players associated with musical theatres. Opera or other vocal music accompanied by orchestra was the feature of most musical events, with concertos and symphonies (arising from the overture) serving as instrumental interludes and introductions for operas and church services. Over the course of the Classical period, symphonies and concertos developed and were presented independently of vocal music.
thumb|right|200px|Mozart wrote a number of divertimentos, light instrumental pieces designed for entertainment. This is the 2nd movement of his Divertimento in E-flat major, K. 113.
The "normal" orchestra ensemble—a body of strings supplemented by winds—and movements of particular rhythmic character were established by the late 1750s in Vienna. However, the length and weight of pieces was still set with some Baroque characteristics: individual movements still focused on one "affect" (musical mood) or had only one sharply contrasting middle section, and their length was not significantly greater than Baroque movements. There was not yet a clearly enunciated theory of how to compose in the new style. It was a moment ripe for a breakthrough.
The first great master of the style was the composer Joseph Haydn. In the late 1750s he began composing symphonies, and by 1761 he had composed a triptych (Morning, Noon, and Evening) solidly in the contemporary mode. As a vice-Kapellmeister and later Kapellmeister, his output expanded: he composed over forty symphonies in the 1760s alone. And while his fame grew, as his orchestra was expanded and his compositions were copied and disseminated, his voice was only one among many.
While some scholars suggest that Haydn was later overshadowed by Mozart and Beethoven, it would be difficult to overstate Haydn's centrality to the new style, and therefore to the future of Western art music as a whole. At the time, before the pre-eminence of Mozart or Beethoven, and with Johann Sebastian Bach known primarily to connoisseurs of keyboard music, Haydn reached a place in music that set him above all other composers except perhaps the Baroque era's George Frideric Handel. Haydn took existing ideas, and radically altered how they functioned—earning him the titles "father of the symphony" and "father of the string quartet".
One of the forces that worked as an impetus for his pressing forward was the first stirring of what would later be called Romanticism—the Sturm und Drang, or "storm and stress" phase in the arts, a short period where obvious and dramatic emotionalism was a stylistic preference. Haydn accordingly wanted more dramatic contrast and more emotionally appealing melodies, with sharpened character and individuality in his pieces. This period faded away in music and literature: however, it influenced what came afterward and would eventually be a component of aesthetic taste in later decades.
The Farewell Symphony, No. 45 in F minor, exemplifies Haydn's integration of the differing demands of the new style, with surprising sharp turns and a long slow adagio to end the work. In 1772, Haydn completed his Opus 20 set of six string quartets, in which he deployed the polyphonic techniques he had gathered from the previous Baroque era to provide structural coherence capable of holding together his melodic ideas. For some, this marks the beginning of the "mature" Classical style, a transitional period in which reaction against late Baroque complexity yielded to integration of Baroque and Classical elements.
1775–1790
upright|thumb|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, posthumous painting by Barbara Krafft in 1819
Haydn, having worked for over a decade as the music director for a prince, had far more resources and scope for composing than most other composers. His position also gave him the ability to shape the forces that would play his music, as he could select skilled musicians. This opportunity was not wasted, as Haydn, beginning quite early on his career, sought to press forward the technique of building and developing ideas in his music. His next important breakthrough was in the Opus 33 string quartets (1781), in which the melodic and the harmonic roles segue among the instruments: it is often momentarily unclear what is melody and what is harmony. This changes the way the ensemble works its way between dramatic moments of transition and climactic sections: the music flows smoothly and without obvious interruption. He then took this integrated style and began applying it to orchestral and vocal music.
thumb|left|400px|The opening bars of the Commendatore's aria in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The orchestra starts with a dissonant diminished seventh chord (G# dim7 with a B in the bass) moving to a dominant seventh chord (A7 with a C# in the bass) before resolving to the tonic chord (D minor) at the singer's entrance.
Haydn's gift to music was a way of composing, a way of structuring works, which was at the same time in accord with the governing aesthetic of the new style. However, a younger contemporary, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, brought his genius to Haydn's ideas and applied them to two of the major genres of the day: opera, and the virtuoso concerto. Whereas Haydn spent much of his working life as a court composer, Mozart wanted public success in the concert life of cities, playing for the general public. This meant he needed to write operas and write and perform virtuoso pieces. Haydn was not a virtuoso at the international touring level; nor was he seeking to create operatic works that could play for many nights in front of a large audience. Mozart wanted to achieve both. Moreover, Mozart also had a taste for more chromatic chords (and greater contrasts in harmonic language generally), a greater love for creating a welter of melodies in a single work, and a more Italianate sensibility in music as a whole. He found, in Haydn's music and later in his study of the polyphony of J.S. Bach, the means to discipline and enrich his artistic gifts.
thumb|250px|left|Portrait of the Mozart Family, dated 1780-81
Mozart rapidly came to the attention of Haydn, who hailed the new composer, studied his works, and considered the younger man his only true peer in music. In Mozart, Haydn found a greater range of instrumentation, dramatic effect and melodic resource. The learning relationship moved in both directions. Mozart also had a great respect for the older, more experienced composer, and sought to learn from him.
Mozart's arrival in Vienna in 1780 brought an acceleration in the development of the Classical style. There, Mozart absorbed the fusion of Italianate brilliance and Germanic cohesiveness that had been brewing for the previous 20 years. His own taste for flashy brilliances, rhythmically complex melodies and figures, long cantilena melodies, and virtuoso flourishes was merged with an appreciation for formal coherence and internal connectedness. It is at this point that war and economic inflation halted a trend to larger orchestras and forced the disbanding or reduction of many theater orchestras. This pressed the Classical style inwards: toward seeking greater ensemble and technical challenges—for example, scattering the melody across woodwinds, or using a melody harmonized in thirds. This process placed a premium on small ensemble music, called chamber music. It also led to a trend for more public performance, giving a further boost to the string quartet and other small ensemble groupings.
It was during this decade that public taste began, increasingly, to recognize that Haydn and Mozart had reached a high standard of composition. By the time Mozart arrived at age 25, in 1781, the dominant styles of Vienna were recognizably connected to the emergence in the 1750s of the early Classical style. By the end of the 1780s, changes in performance practice, the relative standing of instrumental and vocal music, technical demands on musicians, and stylistic unity had become established in the composers who imitated Mozart and Haydn. During this decade Mozart composed his most famous operas, his six late symphonies that helped to redefine the genre, and a string of piano concerti that still stand at the pinnacle of these forms.
One composer who was influential in spreading the more serious style that Mozart and Haydn had formed is Muzio Clementi, a gifted virtuoso pianist who tied with Mozart in a musical "duel" before the emperor in which they each improvised on the piano and performed their compositions. Clementi's sonatas for the piano circulated widely, and he became the most successful composer in London during the 1780s. Also in London at this time was Jan Ladislav Dussek, who, like Clementi, encouraged piano makers to extend the range and other features of their instruments, and then fully exploited the newly opened up possibilities. The importance of London in the Classical period is often overlooked, but it served as the home to the Broadwood's factory for piano manufacturing and as the base for composers who, while less notable than the "Vienna School", had a decisive influence on what came later. They were composers of many fine works, notable in their own right. London's taste for virtuosity may well have encouraged the complex passage work and extended statements on tonic and dominant.
Around 1790–1820
When Haydn and Mozart began composing, symphonies were played as single movements—before, between, or as interludes within other works—and many of them lasted only ten or twelve minutes; instrumental groups had varying standards of playing, and the continuo was a central part of music-making.
In the intervening years, the social world of music had seen dramatic changes. International publication and touring had grown explosively, and concert societies formed. Notation became more specific, more descriptive—and schematics for works had been simplified (yet became more varied in their exact working out). In 1790, just before Mozart's death, with his reputation spreading rapidly, Haydn was poised for a series of successes, notably his late oratorios and London symphonies. Composers in Paris, Rome, and all over Germany turned to Haydn and Mozart for their ideas on form.
thumb|Portrait of Beethoven, 1820
In the 1790s, a new generation of composers, born around 1770, emerged. While they had grown up with the earlier styles, they heard in the recent works of Haydn and Mozart a vehicle for greater expression. In 1788 Luigi Cherubini settled in Paris and in 1791 composed Lodoiska, an opera that raised him to fame. Its style is clearly reflective of the mature Haydn and Mozart, and its instrumentation gave it a weight that had not yet been felt in the grand opera. His contemporary Étienne Méhul extended instrumental effects with his 1790 opera Euphrosine et Coradin, from which followed a series of successes. The final push towards change came from Gaspare Spontini, who was deeply admired by future romantic composers such as Weber, Berlioz and Wagner. The innovative harmonic language of his operas, their refined instrumentation and their "enchained" closed numbers (a structural pattern which was later adopted by Weber in Euryanthe and from him handed down, through Marschner, to Wagner), formed the basis from which French and German romantic opera had its beginnings.
thumb|upright|left|Hummel in 1814
The most fateful of the new generation was Ludwig van Beethoven, who launched his numbered works in 1794 with a set of three piano trios, which remain in the repertoire. Somewhat younger than the others, though equally accomplished because of his youthful study under Mozart and his native virtuosity, was Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Hummel studied under Haydn as well; he was a friend to Beethoven and Franz Schubert. He concentrated more on the piano than any other instrument, and his time in London in 1791 and 1792 generated the composition and publication in 1793 of three piano sonatas, opus 2, which idiomatically used Mozart's techniques of avoiding the expected cadence, and Clementi's sometimes modally uncertain virtuoso figuration. Taken together, these composers can be seen as the vanguard of a broad change in style and the center of music. They studied one another's works, copied one another's gestures in music, and on occasion behaved like quarrelsome rivals.
The crucial differences with the previous wave can be seen in the downward shift in melodies, increasing durations of movements, the acceptance of Mozart and Haydn as paradigmatic, the greater use of keyboard resources, the shift from "vocal" writing to "pianistic" writing, the growing pull of the minor and of modal ambiguity, and the increasing importance of varying accompanying figures to bring "texture" forward as an element in music. In short, the late Classical was seeking music that was internally more complex. The growth of concert societies and amateur orchestras, marking the importance of music as part of middle-class life, contributed to a booming market for pianos, piano music, and virtuosi to serve as exemplars. Hummel, Beethoven, and Clementi were all renowned for their improvising.
The direct influence of the Baroque continued to fade: the figured bass grew less prominent as a means of holding performance together, the performance practices of the mid-18th century continued to die out. However, at the same time, complete editions of Baroque masters began to become available, and the influence of Baroque style continued to grow, particularly in the ever more expansive use of brass. Another feature of the period is the growing number of performances where the composer was not present. This led to increased detail and specificity in notation; for example, there were fewer "optional" parts that stood separately from the main score.
The force of these shifts became apparent with Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, given the name Eroica, which is Italian for "heroic", by the composer. As with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, it may not have been the first in all of its innovations, but its aggressive use of every part of the Classical style set it apart from its contemporary works: in length, ambition, and harmonic resources as well making it the first symphony of the Romantic era.
First Viennese School
thumb|300px|View of Vienna in 1758, by Bernardo Bellotto
The First Viennese School is a name mostly used to refer to three composers of the Classical period in late-18th-century Vienna: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Franz Schubert is occasionally added to the list.
In German-speaking countries, the term Wiener Klassik (lit. Viennese classical era/art) is used. That term is often more broadly applied to the Classical era in music as a whole, as a means to distinguish it from other periods that are colloquially referred to as classical, namely Baroque and Romantic music.
The term "Viennese School" was first used by Austrian musicologist Raphael Georg Kiesewetter in 1834, although he only counted Haydn and Mozart as members of the school. Other writers followed suit, and eventually Beethoven was added to the list. The designation "first" is added today to avoid confusion with the Second Viennese School.
Whilst, Schubert apart, these composers certainly knew each other (with Haydn and Mozart even being occasional chamber-music partners), there is no sense in which they were engaged in a collaborative effort in the sense that one would associate with 20th-century schools such as the Second Viennese School, or Les Six. Nor is there any significant sense in which one composer was "schooled" by another (in the way that Berg and Webern were taught by Schoenberg), though it is true that Beethoven for a time received lessons from Haydn.
Attempts to extend the First Viennese School to include such later figures as Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler are merely journalistic, and never encountered in academic musicology. According to scholar James F. Daugherty, the Classical period itself from approximately 1775 to 1825 is sometimes referred to as "the Viennese Classic period".
Classical influence on later composers
upright|thumb|left|1875 oil painting of Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder, after his own 1825 watercolor portrait
Musical eras and their prevalent styles, forms and instruments seldom disappear at once; instead, features are replaced over time, until the old approach is simply felt as "old-fashioned". The Classical style did not "die" suddenly; rather, it gradually got phased out under the weight of changes. To give just one example, while it is generally stated that the Classical era stopped using the harpsichord in orchestras, this did not happen all of a sudden at the start of the Classical era in 1750. Rather, orchestras slowly stopped using the harpsichord to play basso continuo until the practice was discontinued by the end of the 1700s.
thumb|upright|alt=Felix Mendelssohn|Portrait of Mendelssohn by James Warren Childe, 1839
One crucial change was the shift towards harmonies centering on "flatward" keys: shifts in the subdominant direction. In the Classical style, major key was far more common than minor, chromaticism being moderated through the use of "sharpward" modulation (e.g., a piece in C major modulating to G major, D major, or A major, all of which are keys with more sharps). As well, sections in the minor mode were often used for contrast. Beginning with Mozart and Clementi, there began a creeping colonization of the subdominant region (the ii or IV chord, which in the key of C major would be the keys of d minor or F major). With Schubert, subdominant modulations flourished after being introduced in contexts in which earlier composers would have confined themselves to dominant shifts (modulations to the dominant chord, e.g., in the key of C major, modulating to G major). This introduced darker colors to music, strengthened the minor mode, and made structure harder to maintain. Beethoven contributed to this by his increasing use of the fourth as a consonance, and modal ambiguity—for example, the opening of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Carl Maria von Weber, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and John Field are among the most prominent in this generation of "Proto-Romantics", along with the young Felix Mendelssohn. Their sense of form was strongly influenced by the Classical style. While they were not yet "learned" composers (imitating rules which were codified by others), they directly responded to works by Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, and others, as they encountered them. The instrumental forces at their disposal in orchestras were also quite "Classical" in number and variety, permitting similarity with Classical works.
thumb|upright|Bernhard Crusell, a Swedish-Finnish composer and clarinetist, in 1826
However, the forces destined to end the hold of the Classical style gathered strength in the works of many of the above composers, particularly Beethoven. The most commonly cited one is harmonic innovation. Also important is the increasing focus on having a continuous and rhythmically uniform accompanying figuration: Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was the model for hundreds of later pieces—where the shifting movement of a rhythmic figure provides much of the drama and interest of the work, while a melody drifts above it. Greater knowledge of works, greater instrumental expertise, increasing variety of instruments, the growth of concert societies, and the unstoppable domination of the increasingly more powerful piano (which was given a bolder, louder tone by technological developments such as the use of steel strings, heavy cast-iron frames and sympathetically vibrating strings) all created a huge audience for sophisticated music. All of these trends contributed to the shift to the "Romantic" style.
Drawing the line between these two styles is very difficult: some sections of Mozart's later works, taken alone, are indistinguishable in harmony and orchestration from music written 80 years later—and some composers continued to write in normative Classical styles into the early 20th century. Even before Beethoven's death, composers such as Louis Spohr were self-described Romantics, incorporating, for example, more extravagant chromaticism in their works (e.g., using chromatic harmonies in a piece's chord progression). Conversely, works such as Schubert's Symphony No. 5, written during the chronological end of the Classical era and dawn of the Romantic era, exhibit a deliberately anachronistic artistic paradigm, harking back to the compositional style of several decades before.
However, Vienna's fall as the most important musical center for orchestral composition during the late 1820s, precipitated by the deaths of Beethoven and Schubert, marked the Classical style's final eclipse—and the end of its continuous organic development of one composer learning in close proximity to others. Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin visited Vienna when they were young, but they then moved on to other cities. Composers such as Carl Czerny, while deeply influenced by Beethoven, also searched for new ideas and new forms to contain the larger world of musical expression and performance in which they lived.
Renewed interest in the formal balance and restraint of 18th century classical music led in the early 20th century to the development of so-called Neoclassical style, which numbered Stravinsky and Prokofiev among its proponents, at least at certain times in their careers.
Classical period instruments
thumb|upright|Fortepiano by Paul McNulty after Walter & Sohn, c. 1805
Guitar
The Baroque guitar, with four or five sets of double strings or "courses" and elaborately decorated soundhole, was a very different instrument from the early classical guitar which more closely resembles the modern instrument with the standard six strings. Judging by the number of instructional manuals published for the instrument – over three hundred texts were published by over two hundred authors between 1760 and 1860 – the classical period marked a golden age for guitar.
Strings
In the Baroque era, there was more variety in the bowed stringed instruments used in ensembles, with instruments such as the viola d'amore and a range of fretted viols being used, ranging from small viols to large bass viols. In the Classical period, the string section of the orchestra was standardized as just four instruments:
Violin (in orchestras and chamber music, typically there are first violins and second violins, with the former playing the melody and/or a higher line and the latter playing either a countermelody, a harmony part, a part below the first violin line in pitch, or an accompaniment line)
Viola (the alto voice of the orchestral string section and string quartet; it often performs "inner voices", which are accompaniment lines which fill in the harmony of the piece)
Cello (the cello plays two roles in Classical era music; at times it is used to play the bassline of the piece, typically doubled by the double basses [Note: When cellos and double basses read the same bassline, the basses play an octave below the cellos, because the bass is a transposing instrument]; and at other times it performs melodies and solos in the lower register)
Double bass (the bass typically performs the lowest pitches in the string section in order to provide the bassline for the piece)
In the Baroque era, the double bass players were not usually given a separate part; instead, they typically played the same basso continuo bassline that the cellos and other low-pitched instruments (e.g., theorbo, serpent wind instrument, viols), albeit an octave below the cellos, because the double bass is a transposing instrument that sounds one octave lower than it is written. In the Classical era, some composers continued to write only one bass part for their symphony, labeled "bassi"; this bass part was played by cellists and double bassists. During the Classical era, some composers began to give the double basses their own part.
Woodwinds
It was commonplace for all orchestras to have at least 2 winds, usually oboes, flutes, clarinets, or sometimes English horns (see Symphony No. 22 (Haydn). Patrons also usually employed an ensemble of entirely winds, called the harmonie, which would be employed for certain events. The harmonie would sometimes join the larger string orchestra to serve as the wind section.
Piccolo (used in military bands)
Flute
Oboe
English horn
Clarinet
Basset horn (see Requiem (Mozart))
Basset clarinet
Clarinette d'amour
Bassoon
Contrabassoon (see The Creation (Haydn))
Bagpipe (see Leopold Mozart's divertimento, "Die Bauernhochzeit" or "Peasant Wedding")
Percussion
Timpani
"Turkish music":
Bass drum
Cymbals
Triangle
Tambourine
Keyboards
Clavichord
Fortepiano (the forerunner to the modern piano)
Harpsichord, the standard Baroque era basso continuo keyboard instrument, was used until the 1750s, after which time it was gradually phased out, and replaced with the fortepiano and then the piano. By the early 1800s, the harpsichord was no longer used.
Organ
Brasses
Natural horn
Natural trumpet
Sackbut (Trombone precursor)
Keyed trumpet (see Trumpet Concerto (Haydn))
Serpent (commonplace in military bands)
Post horn (see Serenade No. 9 (Mozart))
See also
List of Classical-era composers
Notes
Further reading
Downs, Philip G. (1992). Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, 4th vol of Norton Introduction to Music History. W. W. Norton. (hardcover).
Grout, Donald Jay; Palisca, Claude V. (1996). A History of Western Music, Fifth Edition. W. W. Norton. (hardcover).
Hanning, Barbara Russano; Grout, Donald Jay (1998 rev. 2006). Concise History of Western Music. W. W. Norton. (hardcover).
Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 985 pages,
Lihoreau, Tim; Fry, Stephen (2004). Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music. Boxtree.
Rosen, Charles (1972 expanded 1997). The Classical Style. New York: W. W. Norton. (expanded edition with CD, 1997)
Taruskin, Richard (2005, rev. Paperback version 2009). Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press (US). (Hardback), (Paperback)
External links
Classical Net – Classical music reference site
Category:Music history
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_period_(music)
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Character encoding
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thumb|Punched tape with the word "Wikipedia" encoded in ASCII. Presence and absence of a hole represents 1 and 0, respectively; for example, W is encoded as .
Character encoding is the process of assigning numbers to graphical characters, especially the written characters of human language, allowing them to be stored, transmitted, and transformed using computers. The numerical values that make up a character encoding are known as code points and collectively comprise a code space, a code page, or character map.
Early character encodings that originated with optical or electrical telegraphy and in early computers could only represent a subset of the characters used in written languages, sometimes restricted to upper case letters, numerals and some punctuation only. Over time, character encodings capable of representing more characters were created, such as ASCII, the ISO/IEC 8859 encodings, various computer vendor encodings, and Unicode encodings such as UTF-8 and UTF-16.
The most popular character encoding on the World Wide Web is UTF-8, which is used in 98.2% of surveyed web sites, as of May 2024. In application programs and operating system tasks, both UTF-8 and UTF-16 are popular options.
History
The history of character codes illustrates the evolving need for machine-mediated character-based symbolic information over a distance, using once-novel electrical means. The earliest codes were based upon manual and hand-written encoding and cyphering systems, such as Bacon's cipher, Braille, international maritime signal flags, and the 4-digit encoding of Chinese characters for a Chinese telegraph code (Hans Schjellerup, 1869). With the adoption of electrical and electro-mechanical techniques these earliest codes were adapted to the new capabilities and limitations of the early machines. The earliest well-known electrically transmitted character code, Morse code, introduced in the 1840s, used a system of four "symbols" (short signal, long signal, short space, long space) to generate codes of variable length. Though some commercial use of Morse code was via machinery, it was often used as a manual code, generated by hand on a telegraph key and decipherable by ear, and persists in amateur radio and aeronautical use. Most codes are of fixed per-character length or variable-length sequences of fixed-length codes (e.g. Unicode).
Common examples of character encoding systems include Morse code, the Baudot code, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) and Unicode. Unicode, a well-defined and extensible encoding system, has replaced most earlier character encodings, but the path of code development to the present is fairly well known.
The Baudot code, a five-bit encoding, was created by Émile Baudot in 1870, patented in 1874, modified by Donald Murray in 1901, and standardized by CCITT as International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2 (ITA2) in 1930. The name baudot has been erroneously applied to ITA2 and its many variants. ITA2 suffered from many shortcomings and was often improved by many equipment manufacturers, sometimes creating compatibility issues.
thumb|Hollerith 80-column punch card with EBCDIC character set
Herman Hollerith invented punch card data encoding in the late 19th century to analyze census data. Initially, each hole position represented a different data element, but later, numeric information was encoded by numbering the lower rows 0 to 9, with a punch in a column representing its row number. Later alphabetic data was encoded by allowing more than one punch per column. Electromechanical tabulating machines represented date internally by the timing of pulses relative to the motion of the cards through the machine.
When IBM went to electronic processing, starting with the IBM 603 Electronic Multiplier, it used a variety of binary encoding schemes that were tied to the punch card code. IBM used several binary-coded decimal (BCD) six-bit character encoding schemes, starting as early as 1953 in its 702 and 704 computers, and in its later 7000 Series and 1400 series, as well as in associated peripherals. Since the punched card code then in use only allowed digits, upper-case English letters and a few special characters, six bits were sufficient. These BCD encodings extended existing simple four-bit numeric encoding to include alphabetic and special characters, mapping them easily to punch-card encoding which was already in widespread use. IBM's codes were used primarily with IBM equipment; other computer vendors of the era had their own character codes, often six-bit, such as the encoding used by the , but usually had the ability to read tapes produced on IBM equipment. IBM's BCD encodings were the precursors of their Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code (usually abbreviated as EBCDIC), an eight-bit encoding scheme developed in 1963 for the IBM System/360 that featured a larger character set, including lower case letters.
In 1959 the U.S. military defined its Fieldata code, a six-or seven-bit code, introduced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. While Fieldata addressed many of the then-modern issues (e.g. letter and digit codes arranged for machine collation), it fell short of its goals and was short-lived. In 1963 the first ASCII code was released (X3.4-1963) by the ASCII committee (which contained at least one member of the Fieldata committee, W. F. Leubbert), which addressed most of the shortcomings of Fieldata, using a simpler seven-bit code. Many of the changes were subtle, such as collatable character sets within certain numeric ranges. ASCII63 was a success, widely adopted by industry, and with the follow-up issue of the 1967 ASCII code (which added lower-case letters and fixed some "control code" issues) ASCII67 was adopted fairly widely. ASCII67's American-centric nature was somewhat addressed in the European ECMA-6 standard. Eight-bit extended ASCII encodings, such as various vendor extensions and the ISO/IEC 8859 series, supported all ASCII characters as well as additional non-ASCII characters.
In trying to develop universally interchangeable character encodings, researchers in the 1980s faced the dilemma that, on the one hand, it seemed necessary to add more bits to accommodate additional characters, but on the other hand, for the users of the relatively small character set of the Latin alphabet (who still constituted the majority of computer users), those additional bits were a colossal waste of then-scarce and expensive computing resources (as they would always be zeroed out for such users). In 1985, the average personal computer user's hard disk drive could store only about 10 megabytes, and it cost approximately US$250 on the wholesale market (and much higher if purchased separately at retail), so it was very important at the time to make every bit count.
The compromise solution that was eventually found and was to break the assumption (dating back to telegraph codes) that each character should always directly correspond to a particular sequence of bits. Instead, characters would first be mapped to a universal intermediate representation in the form of abstract numbers called code points. Code points would then be represented in a variety of ways and with various default numbers of bits per character (code units) depending on context. To encode code points higher than the length of the code unit, such as above 256 for eight-bit units, the solution was to implement variable-length encodings where an escape sequence would signal that subsequent bits should be parsed as a higher code point.
Terminology
Informally, the terms "character encoding", "character map", "character set" and "code page" are often used interchangeably. Historically, the same standard would specify a repertoire of characters and how they were to be encoded into a stream of code units — usually with a single character per code unit. However, due to the emergence of more sophisticated character encodings, the distinction between these terms has become important.
A character is a minimal unit of text that has semantic value.
A character set is a collection of elements used to represent text. The repertoire may be closed, meaning that no additions are allowed without creating a new standard (as is the case with ASCII and most of the ISO-8859 series); or it may be open, allowing additions (as is the case with Unicode and to a limited extent Windows code pages). Other vendors, including Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle Corporation, also published their own sets of code pages; the most well-known code page suites are "Windows" (based on Windows-1252) and "IBM"/"DOS" (based on code page 437).
Despite no longer referring to specific page numbers in a standard, many character encodings are still referred to by their code page number; likewise, the term "code page" is often still used to refer to character encodings in general.
The term "code page" is not used in Unix or Linux, where "charmap" is preferred, usually in the larger context of locales. IBM's Character Data Representation Architecture (CDRA) designates entities with coded character set identifiers (CCSIDs), each of which is variously called a "charset", "character set", "code page", or "CHARMAP".
Characters
Exactly what constitutes a character varies between character encodings.
For example, for letters with diacritics, there are two distinct approaches that can be taken to encode them: they can be encoded either as a single unified character (known as a precomposed character), or as separate characters that combine into a single glyph. The former simplifies the text handling system, but the latter allows any letter/diacritic combination to be used in text. Ligatures pose similar problems.
Exactly how to handle glyph variants is a choice that must be made when constructing a particular character encoding. Some writing systems, such as Arabic and Hebrew, need to accommodate things like graphemes that are joined in different ways in different contexts, but represent the same semantic character.
Unicode encoding model
Unicode and its parallel standard, the ISO/IEC 10646 Universal Character Set, together constitute a unified standard for character encoding. Rather than mapping characters directly to bytes, Unicode separately defines a coded character set that maps characters to unique natural numbers (code points), how those code points are mapped to a series of fixed-size natural numbers (code units), and finally how those units are encoded as a stream of octets (bytes). The purpose of this decomposition is to establish a universal set of characters that can be encoded in a variety of ways. To describe this model precisely, Unicode uses its own set of terminology to describe its process:
An abstract character repertoire (ACR) is the full set of abstract characters that a system supports. Unicode has an open repertoire, meaning that new characters will be added to the repertoire over time.
A coded character set (CCS) is a function that maps characters to code points (each code point represents one character). For example, in a given repertoire, the capital letter "A" in the Latin alphabet might be represented by the code point 65, the character "B" by 66, and so on. Multiple coded character sets may share the same character repertoire; for example ISO/IEC 8859-1 and IBM code pages 037 and 500 all cover the same repertoire but map them to different code points.
A character encoding form (CEF) is the mapping of code points to code units to facilitate storage in a system that represents numbers as bit sequences of fixed length (i.e. practically any computer system). For example, a system that stores numeric information in 16-bit units can only directly represent code points 0 to 65,535 in each unit, but larger code points (say, 65,536 to 1.4 million) could be represented by using multiple 16-bit units. This correspondence is defined by a CEF.
A character encoding scheme (CES) is the mapping of code units to a sequence of octets to facilitate storage on an octet-based file system or transmission over an octet-based network. Simple character encoding schemes include UTF-8, UTF-16BE, UTF-32BE, UTF-16LE, and UTF-32LE; compound character encoding schemes, such as UTF-16, UTF-32 and ISO/IEC 2022, switch between several simple schemes by using a byte order mark or escape sequences; compressing schemes try to minimize the number of bytes used per code unit (such as SCSU and BOCU).
Although UTF-32BE and UTF-32LE are simpler CESes, most systems working with Unicode use either UTF-8, which is backward compatible with fixed-length ASCII and maps Unicode code points to variable-length sequences of octets, or UTF-16BE, which is backward compatible with fixed-length UCS-2BE and maps Unicode code points to variable-length sequences of 16-bit words. See comparison of Unicode encodings for a detailed discussion.
Finally, there may be a higher-level protocol which supplies additional information to select the particular variant of a Unicode character, particularly where there are regional variants that have been 'unified' in Unicode as the same character. An example is the XML attribute xml:lang.
The Unicode model uses the term "character map" for other systems which directly assign a sequence of characters to a sequence of bytes, covering all of the CCS, CEF and CES layers.
MultiByteToWideChar/WideCharToMultiByte – to convert from ANSI to Unicode & Unicode to ANSI
Common character encodings
The most used character encoding on the web is UTF-8, used in 98.2% of surveyed web sites, as of May 2024.
ISO 646
ASCII
EBCDIC
ISO 8859:
ISO 8859-1 Western Europe
ISO 8859-2 Western and Central Europe
ISO 8859-3 Western Europe and South European (Turkish, Maltese plus Esperanto)
ISO 8859-4 Western Europe and Baltic countries (Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Lapp)
ISO 8859-5 Cyrillic alphabet
ISO 8859-6 Arabic
ISO 8859-7 Greek
ISO 8859-8 Hebrew
ISO 8859-9 Western Europe with amended Turkish character set
ISO 8859-10 Western Europe with rationalised character set for Nordic languages, including complete Icelandic set
ISO 8859-11 Thai
ISO 8859-13 Baltic languages plus Polish
ISO 8859-14 Celtic languages (Irish Gaelic, Scottish, Welsh)
ISO 8859-15 Added the Euro sign and other rationalisations to ISO 8859-1
ISO 8859-16 Central, Eastern and Southern European languages (Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian and Slovenian, but also French, German, Italian and Irish Gaelic)
CP437, CP720, CP737, CP850, CP852, CP855, CP857, CP858, CP860, CP861, CP862, CP863, CP865, CP866, CP869, CP872
MS-Windows character sets:
Windows-1250 for Central European languages that use Latin script, (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Romanian and Albanian)
Windows-1251 for Cyrillic alphabets
Windows-1252 for Western languages
Windows-1253 for Greek
Windows-1254 for Turkish
Windows-1255 for Hebrew
Windows-1256 for Arabic
Windows-1257 for Baltic languages
Windows-1258 for Vietnamese
Mac OS Roman
KOI8-R, KOI8-U, KOI7
MIK
ISCII
TSCII
VISCII
JIS X 0208 is a widely deployed standard for Japanese character encoding that has several encoding forms.
Shift JIS (Microsoft Code page 932 is a dialect of Shift_JIS)
EUC-JP
ISO-2022-JP
JIS X 0213 is an extended version of JIS X 0208.
Shift_JIS-2004
EUC-JIS-2004
ISO-2022-JP-2004
Chinese Guobiao
GB 2312
GBK (Microsoft Code page 936)
GB 18030
Taiwan Big5 (a more famous variant is Microsoft Code page 950)
Hong Kong HKSCS
Korean
KS X 1001 is a Korean double-byte character encoding standard
EUC-KR
ISO-2022-KR
Unicode (and subsets thereof, such as the 16-bit 'Basic Multilingual Plane')
UTF-8
UTF-16
UTF-32
ANSEL or ISO/IEC 6937
See also
Percent-encoding
Alt code
Character encodings in HTML
:Category:Character encoding – articles related to character encoding in general
:Category:Character sets – articles detailing specific character encodings
Hexadecimal representations
Mojibake – character set mismap
Mojikyō – a system ("glyph set") that includes over 100,000 Chinese character drawings, modern and ancient, popular and obscure
Presentation layer
TRON, part of the TRON project, is an encoding system that does not use Han Unification; instead, it uses "control codes" to switch between 16-bit "planes" of characters.
Universal Character Set characters
Charset sniffing – used in some applications when character encoding metadata is not available
References
Further reading
External links
Character sets registered by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
Characters and encodings, by Jukka Korpela
Unicode Technical Report #17: Character Encoding Model
Decimal, Hexadecimal Character Codes in HTML Unicode – Encoding converter
The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!) by Joel Spolsky (Oct 10, 2003)
Category:Digital typography
Encoding
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Control character
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In computing and telecommunications, a control character or non-printing character (NPC) is a code point in a character set that does not represent a written character or symbol. They are used as in-band signaling to cause effects other than the addition of a symbol to the text. All other characters are mainly graphic characters, also known as printing characters (or printable characters), except perhaps for "space" characters. In the ASCII standard there are 33 control characters, such as code 7, , which rings a terminal bell.
History
Procedural signs in Morse code are a form of control character.
A form of control characters were introduced in the 1870 Baudot code: NUL and DEL.
The 1901 Murray code added the carriage return (CR) and line feed (LF), and other versions of the Baudot code included other control characters.
The bell character (BEL), which rang a bell to alert operators, was also an early teletype control character.
Some control characters have also been called "format effectors".
In ASCII
There were quite a few control characters defined (33 in ASCII, and the ECMA-48 standard adds 32 more). This was because early terminals had very primitive mechanical or electrical controls that made any kind of state-remembering API quite expensive to implement, thus a different code for each and every function looked like a requirement. It quickly became possible and inexpensive to interpret sequences of codes to perform a function, and device makers found a way to send hundreds of device instructions. Specifically, they used ASCII code 27<sub>10</sub> (escape), followed by a series of characters called a "control sequence" or "escape sequence". The mechanism was invented by Bob Bemer, the father of ASCII. For example, the sequence of code 27<sub>10</sub>, followed by the printable characters <nowiki>"[2;10H"</nowiki>, would cause a Digital Equipment Corporation VT100 terminal to move its cursor to the 10th cell of the 2nd line of the screen. Several standards exist for these sequences, notably ANSI X3.64, but the number of non-standard variations is large.
All entries in the ASCII table below code 32<sub>10</sub> (technically the C0 control code set) are of this kind, including CR and LF used to separate lines of text. The code 127<sub>10</sub> (DEL) is also a control character. Extended ASCII sets defined by ISO 8859 added the codes 128<sub>10</sub> through 159<sub>10</sub> as control characters. This was primarily done so that if the high bit was stripped, it would not change a printing character to a C0 control code. This second set is called the C1 set.
These 65 control codes were carried over to Unicode. Unicode added more characters that could be considered controls, but it makes a distinction between these "Formatting characters" (such as the zero-width non-joiner) and the 65 control characters.
The Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC) character set contains 65 control codes, including all of the ASCII control codes plus additional codes which are mostly used to control IBM peripherals.
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ ASCII control codes.
|-
!!! scopecol | 0x00 !! scopecol | 0x10
|-
! scope=row | 0x00
| NUL
| DLE
|-
! scope=row | 0x01
| SOH
| DC1
|-
! scope=row | 0x02
| STX
| DC2
|-
! scope=row | 0x03
| ETX
| DC3
|-
! scope=row | 0x04
| EOT
| DC4
|-
! scope=row | 0x05
| ENQ
| NAK
|-
! scope=row | 0x06
| ACK
| SYN
|-
! scope=row | 0x07
| BEL
| ETB
|-
! scope=row | 0x08
| BS
| CAN
|-
! scope=row | 0x09
| HT
| EM
|-
! scope=row | 0x0A
| LF
| SUB
|-
! scope=row | 0x0B
| VT
| ESC
|-
! scope=row | 0x0C
| FF
| FS
|-
! scope=row | 0x0D
| CR
| GS
|-
! scope=row | 0x0E
| SO
| RS
|-
! scope=row | 0x0F
| SI
| US
|-
! scope=row | 0x7F
| DEL
|}
The control characters in ASCII still in common use include:
* 0x00 (null, , , ), originally intended to be an ignored character, but now used by many programming languages including C to mark the end of a string.
* 0x07 (bell, , , ), which may cause the device to emit a warning such as a bell or beep sound or the screen flashing.
* 0x08 (backspace, , , ), may overprint the previous character.
* 0x09 (horizontal tab, , , ), moves the printing position right to the next tab stop.
* 0x0A (line feed, , , ), moves the print head down one line, or to the left edge and down. Used as the end of line marker in most UNIX systems and variants.
* 0x0B (vertical tab, , , ), vertical tabulation.
* 0x0C (form feed, , , ), to cause a printer to eject paper to the top of the next page, or a video terminal to clear the screen.
* 0x0D (carriage return, , , ), moves the printing position to the start of the line, allowing overprinting. Used as the end of line marker in Classic Mac OS, OS-9, FLEX (and variants). A pair is used by CP/M-80 and its derivatives including DOS and Windows, and by Application Layer protocols such as FTP, SMTP, and HTTP.
* 0x1A (Control-Z, , ). Acts as an end-of-file for the Windows text-mode file i/o.
* 0x1B (escape, , (GCC only), ). Introduces an escape sequence.
Control characters may be described as doing something when the user inputs them, such as code 3 (End-of-Text character, ETX, ) to interrupt the running process, or code 4 (End-of-Transmission character, EOT, ), used to end text input on Unix or to exit a Unix shell. These uses usually have little to do with their use when they are in text being output.
In Unicode
In Unicode, "Control-characters" are U+0000—U+001F (C0 controls), U+007F (delete), and U+0080—U+009F (C1 controls). Their General Category is "Cc". Formatting codes are distinct, in General Category "Cf". The Cc control characters have no Name in Unicode, but are given labels such as "<control-001A>" instead.
Display
There are a number of techniques to display non-printing characters, which may be illustrated with the bell character in ASCII encoding:
* Code point: decimal 7, hexadecimal 0x07
* An abbreviation, often three capital letters: BEL
* A special character condensing the abbreviation: Unicode U+2407 (␇), "symbol for bell"
* An ISO 2047 graphical representation: Unicode U+237E (⍾), "graphic for bell"
* Caret notation in ASCII, where code point 00xxxxx is represented as a caret followed by the capital letter at code point 10xxxxx: ^G
* An escape sequence, as in C/C++ character string codes: , , , etc.
How control characters map to keyboards
ASCII-based keyboards have a key labelled "Control", "Ctrl", or (rarely) "Cntl" which is used much like a shift key, being pressed in combination with another letter or symbol key. In one implementation, the control key generates the code 64 places below the code for the (generally) uppercase letter it is pressed in combination with (i.e., subtract 0x40 from ASCII code value of the (generally) uppercase letter). The other implementation is to take the ASCII code produced by the key and bitwise AND it with 0x1F, forcing bits 5 to 7 to zero. For example, pressing "control" and the letter "g" (which is 0110 0111 in binary), produces the code 7 (BELL, 7 in base ten, or 0000 0111 in binary). The NULL character (code 0) is represented by Ctrl-@, "@" being the code immediately before "A" in the ASCII character set. For convenience, some terminals accept Ctrl-Space as an alias for Ctrl-@. In either case, this produces one of the 32 ASCII control codes between 0 and 31. Neither approach works to produce the DEL character because of its special location in the table and its value (code 127<sub>10</sub>), Ctrl-? is sometimes used for this character.
When the control key is held down, letter keys produce the same control characters regardless of the state of the shift or caps lock keys. In other words, it does not matter whether the key would have produced an upper-case or a lower-case letter. The interpretation of the control key with the space, graphics character, and digit keys (ASCII codes 32 to 63) varies between systems. Some will produce the same character code as if the control key were not held down. Other systems translate these keys into control characters when the control key is held down. The interpretation of the control key with non-ASCII ("foreign") keys also varies between systems.
Control characters are often rendered into a printable form known as caret notation by printing a caret (^) and then the ASCII character that has a value of the control character plus 64. Control characters generated using letter keys are thus displayed with the upper-case form of the letter. For example, ^G represents code 7, which is generated by pressing the G key when the control key is held down.
Keyboards also typically have a few single keys which produce control character codes. For example, the key labelled "Backspace" typically produces code 8, "Tab" code 9, "Enter" or "Return" code 13 (though some keyboards might produce code 10 for "Enter").
Many keyboards include keys that do not correspond to any ASCII printable or control character, for example cursor control arrows and word processing functions. The associated keypresses are communicated to computer programs by one of four methods: appropriating otherwise unused control characters; using some encoding other than ASCII; using multi-character control sequences; or using an additional mechanism outside of generating characters. "Dumb" computer terminals typically use control sequences. Keyboards attached to stand-alone personal computers made in the 1980s typically use one (or both) of the first two methods. Modern computer keyboards generate scancodes that identify the specific physical keys that are pressed; computer software then determines how to handle the keys that are pressed, including any of the four methods described above.
The design purpose
The control characters were designed to fall into a few groups: printing and display control, data structuring, transmission control, and miscellaneous.
Printing and display control
Printing control characters were first used to control the physical mechanism of printers, the earliest output device. An early example of this idea was the use of Figures (FIGS) and Letters (LTRS) in Baudot code to shift between two code pages. A later, but still early, example was the out-of-band ASA carriage control characters. Later, control characters were integrated into the stream of data to be printed.
The carriage return character (CR), when sent to such a device, causes it to put the character at the edge of the paper at which writing begins (it may, or may not, also move the printing position to the next line).
The line feed character (LF/NL) causes the device to put the printing position on the next line. It may (or may not), depending on the device and its configuration, also move the printing position to the start of the next line (which would be the leftmost position for left-to-right scripts, such as the alphabets used for Western languages, and the rightmost position for right-to-left scripts such as the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets).
The vertical and horizontal tab characters (VT and HT/TAB) cause the output device to move the printing position to the next tab stop in the direction of reading.
The form feed character (FF/NP) starts a new sheet of paper, and may or may not move to the start of the first line.
The backspace character (BS) moves the printing position one character space backwards. On printers, including hard-copy terminals, this is most often used so the printer can overprint characters to make other, not normally available, characters. On video terminals and other electronic output devices, there are often software (or hardware) configuration choices that allow a destructive backspace (e.g., a BS, SP, BS sequence), which erases, or a non-destructive one, which does not.
The shift in and shift out characters (SI and SO) selected alternate character sets, fonts, underlining, or other printing modes. Escape sequences were often used to do the same thing.
With the advent of computer terminals that did not physically print on paper and so offered more flexibility regarding screen placement, erasure, and so forth, printing control codes were adapted. Form feeds, for example, usually cleared the screen, there being no new paper page to move to. More complex escape sequences were developed to take advantage of the flexibility of the new terminals, and indeed of newer printers. The concept of a control character had always been somewhat limiting, and was extremely so when used with new, much more flexible, hardware. Control sequences (sometimes implemented as escape sequences) could match the new flexibility and power and became the standard method. However, there were, and remain, a large variety of standard sequences to choose from.
Data structuring
The separators (File, Group, Record, and Unit: FS, GS, RS and US) were made to structure data, usually on a tape, in order to simulate punched cards.
End of medium (EM) warns that the tape (or other recording medium) is ending.
While many systems use CR/LF and TAB for structuring data, it is possible to encounter the separator control characters in data that needs to be structured. The separator control characters are not overloaded; there is no general use of them except to separate data into structured groupings. Their numeric values are contiguous with the space character, which can be considered a member of the group, as a word separator.
For example, the RS separator is used by (JSON Text Sequences) to encode a sequence of JSON elements. Each sequence item starts with a RS character and ends with a line feed. This allows to serialize open-ended JSON sequences. It is one of the JSON streaming protocols.
Transmission control
The transmission control characters were intended to structure a data stream, and to manage re-transmission or graceful failure, as needed, in the face of transmission errors.
The start of heading (SOH) character was to mark a non-data section of a data stream—the part of a stream containing addresses and other housekeeping data. The start of text character (STX) marked the end of the header, and the start of the textual part of a stream. The end of text character (ETX) marked the end of the data of a message. A widely used convention is to make the two characters preceding ETX a checksum or CRC for error-detection purposes. The end of transmission block character (ETB) was used to indicate the end of a block of data, where data was divided into such blocks for transmission purposes.
The escape character (ESC) was intended to "quote" the next character, if it was another control character it would print it instead of performing the control function. It is almost never used for this purpose today. Various printable characters are used as visible "escape characters", depending on context.
The substitute character (SUB) was intended to request a translation of the next character from a printable character to another value, usually by setting bit 5 to zero. This is handy because some media (such as sheets of paper produced by typewriters) can transmit only printable characters. However, on MS-DOS systems with files opened in text mode, "end of text" or "end of file" is marked by this Ctrl-Z character, instead of the Ctrl-C or Ctrl-D, which are common on other operating systems.
The cancel character (CAN) signaled that the previous element should be discarded. The negative acknowledge character (NAK) is a definite flag for, usually, noting that reception was a problem, and, often, that the current element should be sent again. The acknowledge character (ACK) is normally used as a flag to indicate no problem detected with current element.
When a transmission medium is half duplex (that is, it can transmit in only one direction at a time), there is usually a master station that can transmit at any time, and one or more slave stations that transmit when they have permission. The enquire character (ENQ) is generally used by a master station to ask a slave station to send its next message. A slave station indicates that it has completed its transmission by sending the end of transmission character (EOT).
The device control codes (DC1 to DC4) were originally generic, to be implemented as necessary by each device. However, a universal need in data transmission is to request the sender to stop transmitting when a receiver is temporarily unable to accept any more data. Digital Equipment Corporation invented a convention which used 19 (the device control 3 character (DC3), also known as control-S, or XOFF) to "S"top transmission, and 17 (the device control 1 character (DC1), a.k.a. control-Q, or XON) to start transmission. It has become so widely used that most don't realize it is not part of official ASCII. This technique, however implemented, avoids additional wires in the data cable devoted only to transmission management, which saves money. A sensible protocol for the use of such transmission flow control signals must be used, to avoid potential deadlock conditions, however.
The data link escape character (DLE) was intended to be a signal to the other end of a data link that the following character is a control character such as STX or ETX. For example a packet may be structured in the following way (DLE) <STX> <PAYLOAD> (DLE) <ETX>.
Miscellaneous codes
Code 7 (BEL) is intended to cause an audible signal in the receiving terminal.
Many of the ASCII control characters were designed for devices of the time that are not often seen today. For example, code 22, "synchronous idle" (SYN), was originally sent by synchronous modems (which have to send data constantly) when there was no actual data to send. (Modern systems typically use a start bit to announce the beginning of a transmitted word— this is a feature of asynchronous communication. Synchronous communication links were more often seen with mainframes, where they were typically run over corporate leased lines to connect a mainframe to another mainframe or perhaps a minicomputer.)
Code 0 (ASCII code name NUL) is a special case. In paper tape, it is the case when there are no holes. It is convenient to treat this as a fill character with no meaning otherwise. Since the position of a NUL character has no holes punched, it can be replaced with any other character at a later time, so it was typically used to reserve space, either for correcting errors or for inserting information that would be available at a later time or in another place. In computing, it is often used for padding in fixed length records; to mark the end of a string; and formerly to give printing devices enough time to execute a control function.
Code 127 (DEL, a.k.a. "rubout") is likewise a special case. Its 7-bit code is all-bits-on in binary, which essentially erased a character cell on a paper tape when overpunched. Paper tape was a common storage medium when ASCII was developed, with a computing history dating back to WWII code breaking equipment at Biuro Szyfrów. Paper tape became obsolete in the 1970s, so this clever aspect of ASCII rarely saw any use after that. Some systems (such as the original Apples) converted it to a backspace. But because its code is in the range occupied by other printable characters, and because it had no official assigned glyph, many computer equipment vendors used it as an additional printable character (often an all-black "box" character useful for erasing text by overprinting with ink).
Non-erasable programmable ROMs are typically implemented as arrays of fusible elements, each representing a bit, which can only be switched one way, usually from one to zero. In such PROMs, the DEL and NUL characters can be used in the same way that they were used on punched tape: one to reserve meaningless fill bytes that can be written later, and the other to convert written bytes to meaningless fill bytes. For PROMs that switch one to zero, the roles of NUL and DEL are reversed; also, DEL will only work with 7-bit characters, which are rarely used today; for 8-bit content, the character code 255, commonly defined as a nonbreaking space character, can be used instead of DEL.
Many file systems do not allow control characters in filenames, as they may have reserved functions.
See also
* , HJKL as arrow keys, used on ADM-3A terminal
* C0 and C1 control codes
* Escape sequence
* In-band signaling
* Whitespace character
Notes and references
External links
* [https://www.itscj.ipsj.or.jp/iso-ir/001.pdf ISO IR 1] C0 Set of ISO 646 (PDF)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_character
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Carbon
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Carbon (|coal}}) is a chemical element; it has symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 electrons. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes up about 0.025 percent of Earth's crust. Three isotopes occur naturally, C and C being stable, while C is a radionuclide, decaying with a half-life of 5,700 years. Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity.
Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon's abundance, its unique diversity of organic compounds, and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, enables this element to serve as a common element of all known life. It is the second most abundant element in the human body by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen.
The atoms of carbon can bond together in diverse ways, resulting in various allotropes of carbon. Well-known allotropes include graphite, diamond, amorphous carbon, and fullerenes. The physical properties of carbon vary widely with the allotropic form. For example, graphite is opaque and black, while diamond is highly transparent. Graphite is soft enough to form a streak on paper (hence its name, from the Greek verb "γράφειν" which means "to write"), while diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known. Graphite is a good electrical conductor while diamond has a low electrical conductivity. Under normal conditions, diamond, carbon nanotubes, and graphene have the highest thermal conductivities of all known materials. All carbon allotropes are solids under normal conditions, with graphite being the most thermodynamically stable form at standard temperature and pressure. They are chemically resistant and require high temperature to react even with oxygen.
The most common oxidation state of carbon in inorganic compounds is +4, while +2 is found in carbon monoxide and transition metal carbonyl complexes. The largest sources of inorganic carbon are limestones, dolomites and carbon dioxide, but significant quantities occur in organic deposits of coal, peat, oil, and methane clathrates. Carbon forms a vast number of compounds, with about two hundred million having been described and indexed; and yet that number is but a fraction of the number of theoretically possible compounds under standard conditions.CharacteristicsThe allotropes of carbon include graphite, one of the softest known substances, and diamond, the hardest naturally occurring substance. It bonds readily with other small atoms, including other carbon atoms, and is capable of forming multiple stable covalent bonds with suitable multivalent atoms. Carbon is a component element in the large majority of all chemical compounds, with about two hundred million examples having been described in the published chemical literature. Graphite is much more reactive than diamond at standard conditions, despite being more thermodynamically stable, as its delocalised pi system is much more vulnerable to attack. For example, graphite can be oxidised by hot concentrated nitric acid at standard conditions to mellitic acid, C<sub>6</sub>(CO<sub>2</sub>H)<sub>6</sub>, which preserves the hexagonal units of graphite while breaking up the larger structure.
Carbon sublimes in a carbon arc, which has a temperature of about 5800 K (5,530 °C or 9,980 °F). Thus, irrespective of its allotropic form, carbon remains solid at higher temperatures than the highest-melting-point metals such as tungsten or rhenium. Although thermodynamically prone to oxidation, carbon resists oxidation more effectively than elements such as iron and copper, which are weaker reducing agents at room temperature.
Carbon is the sixth element, with a ground-state electron configuration of 1s<sup>2</sup>2s<sup>2</sup>2p<sup>2</sup>, of which the four outer electrons are valence electrons. Its first four ionisation energies, 1086.5, 2352.6, 4620.5 and 6222.7 kJ/mol, are much higher than those of the heavier group-14 elements. The electronegativity of carbon is 2.5, significantly higher than the heavier group-14 elements (1.8–1.9), but close to most of the nearby nonmetals, as well as some of the second- and third-row transition metals. Carbon's covalent radii are normally taken as 77.2 pm (C−C), 66.7 pm (CC) and 60.3 pm (C≡C), although these may vary depending on coordination number and what the carbon is bonded to. In general, covalent radius decreases with lower coordination number and higher bond order.
Carbon-based compounds form the basis of all known life on Earth, and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle provides a small portion of the energy produced by the Sun, and most of the energy in larger stars (e.g. Sirius). Although it forms an extraordinary variety of compounds, most forms of carbon are comparatively unreactive under normal conditions. At standard temperature and pressure, it resists all but the strongest oxidizers. It does not react with sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, chlorine or any alkalis. At elevated temperatures, carbon reacts with oxygen to form carbon oxides and will rob oxygen from metal oxides to leave the elemental metal. This exothermic reaction is used in the iron and steel industry to smelt iron and to control the carbon content of steel:
: + 4 C + 2 → 3 Fe + 4 .
Carbon reacts with sulfur to form carbon disulfide, and it reacts with steam in the coal-gas reaction used in coal gasification:
:C + HO → CO + H.
Carbon combines with some metals at high temperatures to form metallic carbides, such as the iron carbide cementite in steel and tungsten carbide, widely used as an abrasive and for making hard tips for cutting tools.
The system of carbon allotropes spans a range of extremes:
{|class="wikitable"
|Graphite is one of the softest materials known.
|style"width: 50%;"|Synthetic nanocrystalline diamond is the hardest material known.
|-
|Graphite is a very good lubricant, displaying superlubricity.
|Diamond is the ultimate abrasive.
|-
|Graphite is a conductor of electricity.
|Diamond is an excellent electrical insulator, and has the highest breakdown electric field of any known material.
|-
|Some forms of graphite are used for thermal insulation (i.e. firebreaks and heat shields), but some other forms are good thermal conductors.
|Diamond is the best known naturally occurring thermal conductor.
|-
|Graphite is opaque.
|Diamond is highly transparent.
|-
|Graphite crystallizes in the hexagonal system.
|Diamond crystallizes in the cubic system.
|-
|Amorphous carbon is completely isotropic.
|Carbon nanotubes are among the most anisotropic materials known.
|}
Allotropes
Atomic carbon is a very short-lived species and, therefore, carbon is stabilized in various multi-atomic structures with diverse molecular configurations called allotropes. The three relatively well-known allotropes of carbon are amorphous carbon, graphite, and diamond. Once considered exotic, fullerenes are nowadays commonly synthesized and used in research; they include buckyballs, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanobuds and nanofibers. Several other exotic allotropes have also been discovered, such as lonsdaleite, glassy carbon, and linear acetylenic carbon (carbyne).
Graphene is a two-dimensional sheet of carbon with the atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. As of 2009, graphene appears to be the strongest material ever tested. The process of separating it from graphite will require some further technological development before it is economical for industrial processes. If successful, graphene could be used in the construction of a space elevator. It could also be used to safely store hydrogen for use in a hydrogen based engine in cars.
The amorphous form is an assortment of carbon atoms in a non-crystalline, irregular, glassy state, not held in a crystalline macrostructure. It is present as a powder, and is the main constituent of substances such as charcoal, lampblack (soot), and activated carbon. At normal pressures, carbon takes the form of graphite, in which each atom is bonded trigonally to three others in a plane composed of fused hexagonal rings, just like those in aromatic hydrocarbons. The resulting network is 2-dimensional, and the resulting flat sheets are stacked and loosely bonded through weak van der Waals forces.<!-- no evidence for upper case van der Waals; see Talk:Van der Waals#Van should be capitalized unless preceded by first name rebuttal --> This gives graphite its softness and its cleaving properties (the sheets slip easily past one another). Because of the delocalization of one of the outer electrons of each atom to form a π-cloud, graphite conducts electricity, but only in the plane of each covalently bonded sheet. This results in a lower bulk electrical conductivity for carbon than for most metals. The delocalization also accounts for the energetic stability of graphite over diamond at room temperature.
; b) graphite; c) lonsdaleite; d–f) fullerenes (C, C, C); g) amorphous carbon; h) carbon nanotube]]
At very high pressures, carbon forms the more compact allotrope, diamond, having nearly twice the density of graphite. Here, each atom is bonded tetrahedrally to four others, forming a 3-dimensional network of puckered six-membered rings of atoms. Diamond has the same cubic structure as silicon and germanium, and because of the strength of the carbon-carbon bonds, it is the hardest naturally occurring substance measured by resistance to scratching. Contrary to the popular belief that "diamonds are forever", they are thermodynamically unstable (Δ<sub>f</sub>G°(diamond, 298 K) 2.9 kJ/mol) under normal conditions (298 K, 10<sup>5</sup> Pa) and should theoretically transform into graphite. But due to a high activation energy barrier, the transition into graphite is so slow at normal temperature that it is unnoticeable. However, at very high temperatures diamond will turn into graphite, and diamonds can burn up in a house fire. The bottom left corner of the phase diagram for carbon has not been scrutinized experimentally. Although a computational study employing density functional theory methods reached the conclusion that as and , diamond becomes more stable than graphite by approximately 1.1 kJ/mol, more recent and definitive experimental and computational studies show that graphite is more stable than diamond for , without applied pressure, by 2.7 kJ/mol at T 0 K and 3.2 kJ/mol at T 298.15 K. Under some conditions, carbon crystallizes as lonsdaleite, a hexagonal crystal lattice with all atoms covalently bonded and properties similar to those of diamond. Similarly, glassy carbon contains a high proportion of closed porosity,
In 2015, a team at the North Carolina State University announced the development of another allotrope they have dubbed Q-carbon, created by a high-energy low-duration laser pulse on amorphous carbon dust. Q-carbon is reported to exhibit ferromagnetism, fluorescence, and a hardness superior to diamonds.
In the vapor phase, some of the carbon is in the form of highly reactive diatomic carbon dicarbon (). When excited, this gas glows green.
Occurrence
concentration (from the GLODAP climatology)]]
Carbon is the fourth most abundant chemical element in the observable universe by mass after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Carbon is abundant in the Sun, stars, comets, and in the atmospheres of most planets. Microscopic diamonds may also be formed by the intense pressure and high temperature at the sites of meteorite impacts.
In 2014 NASA announced a [http://www.astrochem.org/pahdb/ greatly upgraded database] for tracking polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the universe. More than 20% of the carbon in the universe may be associated with PAHs, complex compounds of carbon and hydrogen without oxygen. These compounds figure in the PAH world hypothesis where they are hypothesized to have a role in abiogenesis and formation of life. PAHs seem to have been formed "a couple of billion years" after the Big Bang, are widespread throughout the universe, and are associated with new stars and exoplanets.
It has been estimated that the solid earth as a whole contains 730 ppm of carbon, with 2000 ppm in the core and 120 ppm in the combined mantle and crust. Since the mass of the earth is , this would imply 4360 million gigatonnes of carbon. This is much more than the amount of carbon in the oceans or atmosphere (below).
In combination with oxygen in carbon dioxide, carbon is found in the Earth's atmosphere (approximately 900 gigatonnes of carbon — each ppm corresponds to 2.13 Gt) and dissolved in all water bodies (approximately 36,000 gigatonnes of carbon). Carbon in the biosphere has been estimated at 550 gigatonnes but with a large uncertainty, due mostly to a huge uncertainty in the amount of terrestrial deep subsurface bacteria. Hydrocarbons (such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas) contain carbon as well. Coal "reserves" (not "resources") amount to around 900 gigatonnes with perhaps 18,000 Gt of resources. Oil reserves are around 150 gigatonnes. Proven sources of natural gas are about (containing about 105 gigatonnes of carbon), but studies estimate another of "unconventional" deposits such as shale gas, representing about 540 gigatonnes of carbon.
Carbon is also found in methane hydrates in polar regions and under the seas. Various estimates put this carbon between 500, 2500, or 3,000 Gt.
According to one source, in the period from 1751 to 2008 about 347 gigatonnes of carbon were released as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from burning of fossil fuels. Another source puts the amount added to the atmosphere for the period since 1750 at 879 Gt, and the total going to the atmosphere, sea, and land (such as peat bogs) at almost 2,000 Gt.
Carbon is a constituent (about 12% by mass) of the very large masses of carbonate rock (limestone, dolomite, marble, and others). Coal is very rich in carbon (anthracite contains 92–98%) and is the largest commercial source of mineral carbon, accounting for 4,000 gigatonnes or 80% of fossil fuel.
As for individual carbon allotropes, graphite is found in large quantities in the United States (mostly in New York and Texas), Russia, Mexico, Greenland, and India. Natural diamonds occur in the rock kimberlite, found in ancient volcanic "necks", or "pipes". Most diamond deposits are in Africa, notably in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone. Diamond deposits have also been found in Arkansas, Canada, the Russian Arctic, Brazil, and in Northern and Western Australia. Diamonds are now also being recovered from the ocean floor off the Cape of Good Hope. Diamonds are found naturally, but about 30% of all industrial diamonds used in the U.S. are now manufactured.
Carbon-14 is formed in upper layers of the troposphere and the stratosphere at altitudes of 9–15 km by a reaction that is precipitated by cosmic rays. Thermal neutrons are produced that collide with the nuclei of nitrogen-14, forming carbon-14 and a proton. As such, of atmospheric carbon dioxide contains carbon-14.
Carbon-rich asteroids are relatively preponderant in the outer parts of the asteroid belt in the Solar System. These asteroids have not yet been directly sampled by scientists. The asteroids can be used in hypothetical space-based carbon mining, which may be possible in the future, but is currently technologically impossible.
Isotopes
Isotopes of carbon are atomic nuclei that contain six protons plus a number of neutrons (varying from 2 to 16). Carbon has two stable, naturally occurring isotopes. The isotope carbon-12 (C) forms 98.93% of the carbon on Earth, while carbon-13 (C) forms the remaining 1.07%. In 1961, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted the isotope carbon-12 as the basis for atomic weights. Identification of carbon in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments is done with the isotope C.
Carbon-14 (C) is a naturally occurring radioisotope, created in the upper atmosphere (lower stratosphere and upper troposphere) by interaction of nitrogen with cosmic rays. It is found in trace amounts on Earth of 1 part per trillion (0.0000000001%) or more, mostly confined to the atmosphere and superficial deposits, particularly of peat and other organic materials. This isotope decays by 0.158 MeV β emission. Because of its relatively short half-life of years, C is virtually absent in ancient rocks. The amount of C in the atmosphere and in living organisms is almost constant, but decreases predictably in their bodies after death. This principle is used in radiocarbon dating, invented in 1949, which has been used extensively to determine the age of carbonaceous materials with ages up to about 40,000 years.
There are 15 known isotopes of carbon and the shortest-lived of these is C which decays through proton emission and has a half-life of 3.5 s. The exotic C exhibits a nuclear halo, which means its radius is appreciably larger than would be expected if the nucleus were a sphere of constant density.
Formation in stars
Formation of the carbon atomic nucleus occurs within a giant or supergiant star through the triple-alpha process. This requires a nearly simultaneous collision of three alpha particles (helium nuclei), as the products of further nuclear fusion reactions of helium with hydrogen or another helium nucleus produce lithium-5 and beryllium-8 respectively, both of which are highly unstable and decay almost instantly back into smaller nuclei. The triple-alpha process happens in conditions of temperatures over 100 megakelvins and helium concentration that the rapid expansion and cooling of the early universe prohibited, and therefore no significant carbon was created during the Big Bang.
According to current physical cosmology theory, carbon is formed in the interiors of stars on the horizontal branch. When massive stars die as supernova, the carbon is scattered into space as dust. This dust becomes component material for the formation of the next-generation star systems with accreted planets. The Solar System is one such star system with an abundance of carbon, enabling the existence of life as we know it. It is the opinion of most scholars that all the carbon in the Solar System and the Milky Way comes from dying stars.
The CNO cycle is an additional hydrogen fusion mechanism that powers stars, wherein carbon operates as a catalyst.
Rotational transitions of various isotopic forms of carbon monoxide (for example, CO, CO, and CO) are detectable in the submillimeter wavelength range, and are used in the study of newly forming stars in molecular clouds.
Carbon cycle
.]]
Under terrestrial conditions, conversion of one element to another is very rare. Therefore, the amount of carbon on Earth is effectively constant. Thus, processes that use carbon must obtain it from somewhere and dispose of it somewhere else. The paths of carbon in the environment form the carbon cycle. For example, photosynthetic plants draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (or seawater) and build it into biomass, as in the Calvin cycle, a process of carbon fixation. Some of this biomass is eaten by animals, while some carbon is exhaled by animals as carbon dioxide. The carbon cycle is considerably more complicated than this short loop; for example, some carbon dioxide is dissolved in the oceans; if bacteria do not consume it, dead plant or animal matter may become petroleum or coal, which releases carbon when burned.
Compounds
Organic compounds
, the simplest possible organic compound.]]
(<span style="color:green;">green</span>) to form organic compounds, which can be used and further converted by both plants and animals.]]
Carbon can form very long chains of interconnecting carbon–carbon bonds, a property that is called catenation. Carbon-carbon bonds are strong and stable. Through catenation, carbon forms a countless number of compounds. A tally of unique compounds shows that more contain carbon than do not. A similar claim can be made for hydrogen because most organic compounds contain hydrogen chemically bonded to carbon or another common element like oxygen or nitrogen.
The simplest form of an organic molecule is the hydrocarbon—a large family of organic molecules that are composed of hydrogen atoms bonded to a chain of carbon atoms. A hydrocarbon backbone can be substituted by other atoms, known as heteroatoms. Common heteroatoms that appear in organic compounds include oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and the nonradioactive halogens, as well as the metals lithium and magnesium. Organic compounds containing bonds to metal are known as organometallic compounds (see below). Certain groupings of atoms, often including heteroatoms, recur in large numbers of organic compounds. These collections, known as functional groups, confer common reactivity patterns and allow for the systematic study and categorization of organic compounds. Chain length, shape and functional groups all affect the properties of organic molecules.
In most stable compounds of carbon (and nearly all stable organic compounds), carbon obeys the octet rule and is tetravalent, meaning that a carbon atom forms a total of four covalent bonds (which may include double and triple bonds). Exceptions include a small number of stabilized carbocations (three bonds, positive charge), radicals (three bonds, neutral), carbanions (three bonds, negative charge) and carbenes (two bonds, neutral), although these species are much more likely to be encountered as unstable, reactive intermediates.
Carbon occurs in all known organic life and is the basis of organic chemistry. When united with hydrogen, it forms various hydrocarbons that are important to industry as refrigerants, lubricants, solvents, as chemical feedstock for the manufacture of plastics and petrochemicals, and as fossil fuels.
When combined with oxygen and hydrogen, carbon can form many groups of important biological compounds including sugars, lignans, chitins, alcohols, fats, aromatic esters, carotenoids and terpenes. With nitrogen, it forms alkaloids, and with the addition of sulfur also it forms antibiotics, amino acids, and rubber products. With the addition of phosphorus to these other elements, it forms DNA and RNA, the chemical-code carriers of life, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the most important energy-transfer molecule in all living cells. Norman Horowitz, head of the Mariner and Viking missions to Mars (1965–1976), considered that the unique characteristics of carbon made it unlikely that any other element could replace carbon, even on another planet, to generate the biochemistry necessary for life.
Inorganic compounds
Commonly carbon-containing compounds which are associated with minerals or which do not contain bonds to the other carbon atoms, halogens, or hydrogen, are treated separately from classical organic compounds; the definition is not rigid, and the classification of some compounds can vary from author to author (see reference articles above). Among these are the simple oxides of carbon. The most prominent oxide is carbon dioxide (). This was once the principal constituent of the paleoatmosphere, but is a minor component of the Earth's atmosphere today. Dissolved in water, it forms carbonic acid (), but as most compounds with multiple single-bonded oxygens on a single carbon it is unstable. Through this intermediate, though, resonance-stabilized carbonate ions are produced. Some important minerals are carbonates, notably calcite. Carbon disulfide () is similar. Cyanide (CN), has a similar structure, but behaves much like a halide ion (pseudohalogen). For example, it can form the nitride cyanogen molecule ((CN)), similar to diatomic halides. Likewise, the heavier analog of cyanide, cyaphide (CP), is also considered inorganic, though most simple derivatives are highly unstable. Other uncommon oxides are carbon suboxide (), the unstable dicarbon monoxide (CO), carbon trioxide (CO), cyclopentanepentone (CO), cyclohexanehexone (CO), carbon prefers to form covalent bonds. A few carbides are covalent lattices, like carborundum (SiC), which resembles diamond. Nevertheless, even the most polar and salt-like of carbides are not completely ionic compounds.
Organometallic compounds
Organometallic compounds by definition contain at least one carbon-metal covalent bond. A wide range of such compounds exist; major classes include simple alkyl-metal compounds (for example, tetraethyllead), η-alkene compounds (for example, Zeise's salt), and η-allyl compounds (for example, allylpalladium chloride dimer); metallocenes containing cyclopentadienyl ligands (for example, ferrocene); and transition metal carbene complexes. Many metal carbonyls and metal cyanides exist (for example, tetracarbonylnickel and potassium ferricyanide); some workers consider metal carbonyl and cyanide complexes without other carbon ligands to be purely inorganic, and not organometallic. However, most organometallic chemists consider metal complexes with any carbon ligand, even 'inorganic carbon' (e.g., carbonyls, cyanides, and certain types of carbides and acetylides) to be organometallic in nature. Metal complexes containing organic ligands without a carbon-metal covalent bond (e.g., metal carboxylates) are termed metalorganic compounds.
While carbon is understood to strongly prefer formation of four covalent bonds, other exotic bonding schemes are also known. Carboranes are highly stable dodecahedral derivatives of the [B<sub>12</sub>H<sub>12</sub>]<sup>2-</sup> unit, with one BH replaced with a CH<sup>+</sup>. Thus, the carbon is bonded to five boron atoms and one hydrogen atom. The cation [(PhPAu)C] contains an octahedral carbon bound to six phosphine-gold fragments. This phenomenon has been attributed to the aurophilicity of the gold ligands, which provide additional stabilization of an otherwise labile species. In nature, the iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMoco) responsible for microbial nitrogen fixation likewise has an octahedral carbon center (formally a carbide, C(-IV)) bonded to six iron atoms. In 2016, it was confirmed that, in line with earlier theoretical predictions, the hexamethylbenzene dication contains a carbon atom with six bonds. More specifically, the dication could be described structurally by the formulation [MeC(η<sup>5</sup>-C<sub>5</sub>Me<sub>5</sub>)]<sup>2+</sup>, making it an "organic metallocene" in which a MeC<sup>3+</sup> fragment is bonded to a η<sup>5</sup>-C<sub>5</sub>Me<sub>5</sub><sup>−</sup> fragment through all five of the carbons of the ring.
It is important to note that in the cases above, each of the bonds to carbon contain less than two formal electron pairs. Thus, the formal electron count of these species does not exceed an octet. This makes them hypercoordinate but not hypervalent. Even in cases of alleged 10-C-5 species (that is, a carbon with five ligands and a formal electron count of ten), as reported by Akiba and co-workers, electronic structure calculations conclude that the electron population around carbon is still less than eight, as is true for other compounds featuring four-electron three-center bonding.
History and etymology
in his youth]]
The English name carbon comes from the Latin carbo for coal and charcoal, whence also comes the French charbon, meaning charcoal. In German, Dutch and Danish, the names for carbon are Kohlenstoff, koolstof, and kulstof respectively, all literally meaning coal-substance.
Carbon was discovered in prehistory and was known in the forms of soot and charcoal to the earliest human civilizations. Diamonds were known probably as early as 2500 BCE in China, while carbon in the form of charcoal was made by the same chemistry as it is today, by heating wood in a pyramid covered with clay to exclude air.
]] In 1722, René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur demonstrated that iron was transformed into steel through the absorption of some substance, now known to be carbon. In 1772, Antoine Lavoisier showed that diamonds are a form of carbon; when he burned samples of charcoal and diamond and found that neither produced any water and that both released the same amount of carbon dioxide per gram. In 1779, Carl Wilhelm Scheele showed that graphite, which had been thought of as a form of lead, was instead identical with charcoal but with a small admixture of iron, and that it gave "aerial acid" (his name for carbon dioxide) when oxidized with nitric acid. In 1786, the French scientists Claude Louis Berthollet, Gaspard Monge and C. A. Vandermonde confirmed that graphite was mostly carbon by oxidizing it in oxygen in much the same way Lavoisier had done with diamond. Some iron again was left, which the French scientists thought was necessary to the graphite structure. In their publication they proposed the name carbone (Latin carbonum) for the element in graphite which was given off as a gas upon burning graphite. Antoine Lavoisier then listed carbon as an element in his 1789 textbook. includes nanostructured forms such as buckyballs and nanotubes. Their discoverers – Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, and Richard Smalley – received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996. The resulting renewed interest in new forms led to the discovery of further exotic allotropes, including glassy carbon, and the realization that "amorphous carbon" is not strictly amorphous.
Production
Graphite
Commercially viable natural deposits of graphite occur in many parts of the world, but the most important sources economically are in China, India, Brazil, and North Korea. Graphite deposits are of metamorphic origin, found in association with quartz, mica, and feldspars in schists, gneisses, and metamorphosed sandstones and limestone as lenses or veins, sometimes of a metre or more in thickness. Deposits of graphite in Borrowdale, Cumberland, England were at first of sufficient size and purity that, until the 19th century, pencils were made by sawing blocks of natural graphite into strips before encasing the strips in wood. Today, smaller deposits of graphite are obtained by crushing the parent rock and floating the lighter graphite out on water.
There are three types of natural graphite—amorphous, flake or crystalline flake, and vein or lump. Amorphous graphite is the lowest quality and most abundant. Contrary to science, in industry "amorphous" refers to very small crystal size rather than complete lack of crystal structure. Amorphous is used for lower value graphite products and is the lowest priced graphite. Large amorphous graphite deposits are found in China, Europe, Mexico and the United States. Flake graphite is less common and of higher quality than amorphous; it occurs as separate plates that crystallized in metamorphic rock. Flake graphite can be four times the price of amorphous. Good quality flakes can be processed into expandable graphite for many uses, such as flame retardants. The foremost deposits are found in Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany and Madagascar. Vein or lump graphite is the rarest, most valuable, and highest quality type of natural graphite. It occurs in veins along intrusive contacts in solid lumps, and it is only commercially mined in Sri Lanka.
Historically diamonds were known to be found only in alluvial deposits in southern India. India led the world in diamond production from the time of their discovery in approximately the 9th century BC to the mid-18th century AD, but the commercial potential of these sources had been exhausted by the late 18th century and at that time India was eclipsed by Brazil where the first non-Indian diamonds were found in 1725.
Diamond production of primary deposits (kimberlites and lamproites) only started in the 1870s after the discovery of the diamond fields in South Africa. Production has increased over time and an accumulated total of over 4.5 billion carats have been mined since that date. Most commercially viable diamond deposits were in Russia, Botswana, Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. By 2005, Russia produced almost one-fifth of the global diamond output (mostly in Yakutia territory; for example, Mir pipe and Udachnaya pipe) but the Argyle mine in Australia became the single largest source, producing 14 million carats in 2018. New finds, the Canadian mines at Diavik and Ekati, are expected to become even more valuable owing to their production of gem quality stones.
In the United States, diamonds have been found in Arkansas, Colorado, and Montana. In 2004, a startling discovery of a microscopic diamond in the United States led to the January 2008 bulk-sampling of kimberlite pipes in a remote part of Montana.Applications
(often mixed with a clay or synthetic binder).]]
]]
single crystal]]
endmills]]
Carbon is essential to all known living systems, and without it life as we know it could not exist (see alternative biochemistry). The major economic use of carbon other than food and wood is in the form of hydrocarbons, most notably the fossil fuel methane gas and crude oil (petroleum). Crude oil is distilled in refineries by the petrochemical industry to produce gasoline, kerosene, and other products. Cellulose is a natural, carbon-containing polymer produced by plants in the form of wood, cotton, linen, and hemp. Cellulose is used primarily for maintaining structure in plants. Commercially valuable carbon polymers of animal origin include wool, cashmere, and silk. Plastics are made from synthetic carbon polymers, often with oxygen and nitrogen atoms included at regular intervals in the main polymer chain. The raw materials for many of these synthetic substances come from crude oil.
The uses of carbon and its compounds are extremely varied. It can form alloys with iron, of which the most common is carbon steel. Graphite is combined with clays to form the 'lead' used in pencils used for writing and drawing. It is also used as a lubricant and a pigment, as a moulding material in glass manufacture, in electrodes for dry batteries and in electroplating and electroforming, in brushes for electric motors, and as a neutron moderator in nuclear reactors.
Charcoal is used as a drawing material in artwork, barbecue grilling, iron smelting, and in many other applications. Wood, coal and oil are used as fuel for production of energy and heating. Gem quality diamond is used in jewelry, and industrial diamonds are used in drilling, cutting and polishing tools for machining metals and stone. Plastics are made from fossil hydrocarbons, and carbon fiber, made by pyrolysis of synthetic polyester fibers is used to reinforce plastics to form advanced, lightweight composite materials.
Carbon fiber is made by pyrolysis of extruded and stretched filaments of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and other organic substances. The crystallographic structure and mechanical properties of the fiber depend on the type of starting material, and on the subsequent processing. Carbon fibers made from PAN have structure resembling narrow filaments of graphite, but thermal processing may re-order the structure into a continuous rolled sheet. The result is fibers with higher specific tensile strength than steel.
Carbon black is used as the black pigment in printing ink, artist's oil paint, and water colours, carbon paper, automotive finishes, India ink and laser printer toner. Carbon black is also used as a filler in rubber products such as tyres and in plastic compounds. Activated charcoal is used as an absorbent and adsorbent in filter material in applications as diverse as gas masks, water purification, and kitchen extractor hoods, and in medicine to absorb toxins, poisons, or gases from the digestive system. Carbon is used in chemical reduction at high temperatures. Coke is used to reduce iron ore into iron (smelting). Case hardening of steel is achieved by heating finished steel components in carbon powder. Carbides of silicon, tungsten, boron, and titanium are among the hardest known materials, and are used as abrasives in cutting and grinding tools. Carbon compounds make up most of the materials used in clothing, such as natural and synthetic textiles and leather, and almost all of the interior surfaces in the built environment other than glass, stone, drywall, and metal.
Diamonds
The diamond industry falls into two categories: one dealing with gem-grade diamonds and the other, with industrial-grade diamonds. While a large trade in both types of diamonds exists, the two markets function dramatically differently.
Unlike precious metals such as gold or platinum, gem diamonds do not trade as a commodity. There is a substantial mark-up in the sale of diamonds, and there is not a very active market for resale of diamonds.
Industrial diamonds are valued mostly for their hardness and heat conductivity, with the gemological qualities of clarity and color being mostly irrelevant. About 80% of mined diamonds (equal to about 100 million carats or 20 tonnes annually) are unsuitable for use as gemstones and relegated for industrial use (known as bort). Synthetic diamonds, invented in the 1950s, found almost immediate industrial applications; 3 billion carats (600 tonnes) of synthetic diamond is produced annually.
The dominant industrial use of diamond is in cutting, drilling, grinding, and polishing. Most of these applications do not require large diamonds; in fact, most diamonds of gem-quality except for their small size can be used industrially. Diamonds are embedded in drill tips or saw blades, or ground into a powder for use in grinding and polishing applications. Specialized applications include use in laboratories as containment for high-pressure experiments (see diamond anvil cell), high-performance bearings, and limited use in specialized windows. With the continuing advances in the production of synthetic diamonds, new applications are becoming feasible. Garnering much excitement is the possible use of diamond as a semiconductor suitable for microchips, and because of its exceptional heat conductance property, as a heat sink in electronics.Precautions
plant in Sunray, Texas (photo by John Vachon, 1942)]]
Pure carbon has extremely low toxicity to humans and can be handled safely in the form of graphite or charcoal. It is resistant to dissolution or chemical attack, even in the acidic contents of the digestive tract. Consequently, once it enters into the body's tissues it is likely to remain there indefinitely. Carbon black was probably one of the first pigments to be used for tattooing, and Ötzi the Iceman was found to have carbon tattoos that survived during his life and for 5200 years after his death. Inhalation of coal dust or soot (carbon black) in large quantities can be dangerous, irritating lung tissues and causing the congestive lung disease, coalworker's pneumoconiosis. Diamond dust used as an abrasive can be harmful if ingested or inhaled. Microparticles of carbon are produced in diesel engine exhaust fumes, and may accumulate in the lungs. In these examples, the harm may result from contaminants (e.g., organic chemicals, heavy metals) rather than from the carbon itself.
Carbon generally has low toxicity to life on Earth; but carbon nanoparticles are deadly to Drosophila.
Carbon may burn vigorously and brightly in the presence of air at high temperatures. Large accumulations of coal, which have remained inert for hundreds of millions of years in the absence of oxygen, may spontaneously combust when exposed to air in coal mine waste tips, ship cargo holds and coal bunkers, and storage dumps.
In nuclear applications where graphite is used as a neutron moderator, accumulation of Wigner energy followed by a sudden, spontaneous release may occur. Annealing to at least 250 °C can release the energy safely, although in the Windscale fire the procedure went wrong, causing other reactor materials to combust.
The great variety of carbon compounds include such lethal poisons as tetrodotoxin, the lectin ricin from seeds of the castor oil plant Ricinus communis, cyanide (CN), and carbon monoxide; and such essentials to life as glucose and protein.
See also
* Carbon chauvinism
* Carbon detonation
* Carbon footprint
* Carbon star
* Carbon planet
* Low-carbon economy
* Timeline of carbon nanotubes
References
Bibliography
*
* External links
*
* [http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/006.htm Carbon] at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
* [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-80956/carbon-group-element Carbon on Britannica]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100618165649/http://invsee.asu.edu/nmodules/Carbonmod/everywhere.html Extensive Carbon page at asu.edu] (archived 18 June 2010)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20011109080742/http://electrochem.cwru.edu/ed/encycl/art-c01-carbon.htm Electrochemical uses of carbon] (archived 9 November 2001)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121109012854/http://www.forskning.no/Artikler/2006/juni/1149432180.36 Carbon—Super Stuff. Animation with sound and interactive 3D-models.] (archived 9 November 2012)
Category:Allotropes of carbon
Category:Chemical elements with hexagonal planar structure
Category:Chemical elements
Category:Native element minerals
Category:Polyatomic nonmetals
Category:Reactive nonmetals
Category:Reducing agents
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Computer data storage
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thumb|1 GiB of SDRAM mounted in a computer. An example of primary storage.
thumb|15 GB PATA hard disk drive (HDD) from 1999. When connected to a computer it serves as secondary storage.
thumb|160 GB SDLT tape cartridge, an example of off-line storage. When used within a robotic tape library, it is classified as tertiary storage instead.
thumb|Read/Write DVD drive with cradle for media extended
Computer data storage or digital data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations. In practice, almost all computers use a storage hierarchy,
Historically, memory has, depending on technology, been called central memory, core memory, core storage, drum, main memory, real storage, or internal memory. Meanwhile, slower persistent storage devices have been referred to as secondary storage, external memory, or auxiliary/peripheral storage.
Primary storage
Primary storage (also known as main memory, internal memory, or prime memory), often referred to simply as memory, is the only one directly accessible to the CPU. The CPU continuously reads instructions stored there and executes them as required. Any data actively operated on is also stored there in a uniform manner.
Historically, early computers used delay lines, Williams tubes, or rotating magnetic drums as primary storage. By 1954, those unreliable methods were mostly replaced by magnetic-core memory. Core memory remained dominant until the 1970s, when advances in integrated circuit technology allowed semiconductor memory to become economically competitive.
This led to modern random-access memory (RAM). It is small-sized, light, but quite expensive at the same time. The particular types of RAM used for primary storage are volatile, meaning that they lose the information when not powered. Besides storing opened programs, it serves as disk cache and write buffer to improve both reading and writing performance. Operating systems borrow RAM capacity for caching so long as it's not needed by running software. Spare memory can be utilized as RAM drive for temporary high-speed data storage.
As shown in the diagram, traditionally there are two more sub-layers of the primary storage, besides main large-capacity RAM:
Processor registers are located inside the processor. Each register typically holds a word of data (often 32 or 64 bits). CPU instructions instruct the arithmetic logic unit to perform various calculations or other operations on this data (or with the help of it). Registers are the fastest of all forms of computer data storage.
Processor cache is an intermediate stage between ultra-fast registers and much slower main memory. It was introduced solely to improve the performance of computers. Most actively used information in the main memory is just duplicated in the cache memory, which is faster, but of much lesser capacity. On the other hand, main memory is much slower, but has a much greater storage capacity than processor registers. Multi-level hierarchical cache setup is also commonly used—primary cache being smallest, fastest and located inside the processor; secondary cache being somewhat larger and slower.
Main memory is directly or indirectly connected to the central processing unit via a memory bus. It is actually two buses (not on the diagram): an address bus and a data bus. The CPU firstly sends a number through an address bus, a number called memory address, that indicates the desired location of data. Then it reads or writes the data in the memory cells using the data bus. Additionally, a memory management unit (MMU) is a small device between CPU and RAM recalculating the actual memory address, for example to provide an abstraction of virtual memory or other tasks.
As the RAM types used for primary storage are volatile (uninitialized at start up), a computer containing only such storage would not have a source to read instructions from, in order to start the computer. Hence, non-volatile primary storage containing a small startup program (BIOS) is used to bootstrap the computer, that is, to read a larger program from non-volatile secondary storage to RAM and start to execute it. A non-volatile technology used for this purpose is called ROM, for read-only memory (the terminology may be somewhat confusing as most ROM types are also capable of random access).
Many types of "ROM" are not literally read only, as updates to them are possible; however it is slow and memory must be erased in large portions before it can be re-written. Some embedded systems run programs directly from ROM (or similar), because such programs are rarely changed. Standard computers do not store non-rudimentary programs in ROM, and rather, use large capacities of secondary storage, which is non-volatile as well, and not as costly.
Recently, primary storage and secondary storage in some uses refer to what was historically called, respectively, secondary storage and tertiary storage.
The primary storage, including ROM, EEPROM, NOR flash, and RAM, are usually byte-addressable.
Secondary storage
Secondary storage (also known as external memory or auxiliary storage) differs from primary storage in that it is not directly accessible by the CPU. The computer usually uses its input/output channels to access secondary storage and transfer the desired data to primary storage. Secondary storage is non-volatile (retaining data when its power is shut off). Modern computer systems typically have two orders of magnitude more secondary storage than primary storage because secondary storage is less expensive.
In modern computers, hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs) are usually used as secondary storage. The access time per byte for HDDs or SSDs is typically measured in milliseconds (thousandths of a second), while the access time per byte for primary storage is measured in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). Thus, secondary storage is significantly slower than primary storage. Rotating optical storage devices, such as CD and DVD drives, have even longer access times. Other examples of secondary storage technologies include USB flash drives, floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punched cards, and RAM disks.
Once the disk read/write head on HDDs reaches the proper placement and the data, subsequent data on the track are very fast to access. To reduce the seek time and rotational latency, data are transferred to and from disks in large contiguous blocks. Sequential or block access on disks is orders of magnitude faster than random access, and many sophisticated paradigms have been developed to design efficient algorithms based on sequential and block access. Another way to reduce the I/O bottleneck is to use multiple disks in parallel to increase the bandwidth between primary and secondary memory.
Secondary storage is often formatted according to a file system format, which provides the abstraction necessary to organize data into files and directories, while also providing metadata describing the owner of a certain file, the access time, the access permissions, and other information.
Most computer operating systems use the concept of virtual memory, allowing the utilization of more primary storage capacity than is physically available in the system. As the primary memory fills up, the system moves the least-used chunks (pages) to a swap file or page file on secondary storage, retrieving them later when needed. If a lot of pages are moved to slower secondary storage, the system performance is degraded.
The secondary storage, including HDD, ODD and SSD, are usually block-addressable.
Tertiary storage
thumb|A large tape library, with tape cartridges placed on shelves in the front, and a robotic arm moving in the back. The visible height of the library is about 180 cm.
Tertiary storage or tertiary memory is a level below secondary storage. Typically, it involves a robotic mechanism which will mount (insert) and dismount removable mass storage media into a storage device according to the system's demands; such data are often copied to secondary storage before use. It is primarily used for archiving rarely accessed information since it is much slower than secondary storage (e.g. 5–60 seconds vs. 1–10 milliseconds). This is primarily useful for extraordinarily large data stores, accessed without human operators. Typical examples include tape libraries and optical jukeboxes.
When a computer needs to read information from the tertiary storage, it will first consult a catalog database to determine which tape or disc contains the information. Next, the computer will instruct a robotic arm to fetch the medium and place it in a drive. When the computer has finished reading the information, the robotic arm will return the medium to its place in the library.
Tertiary storage is also known as nearline storage because it is "near to online". The formal distinction between online, nearline, and offline storage is:
Online storage is immediately available for I/O.
Nearline storage is not immediately available, but can be made online quickly without human intervention.
Offline storage is not immediately available, and requires some human intervention to become online.
For example, always-on spinning hard disk drives are online storage, while spinning drives that spin down automatically, such as in massive arrays of idle disks (MAID), are nearline storage. Removable media such as tape cartridges that can be automatically loaded, as in tape libraries, are nearline storage, while tape cartridges that must be manually loaded are offline storage.
Off-line storage
Off-line storage is computer data storage on a medium or a device that is not under the control of a processing unit. The medium is recorded, usually in a secondary or tertiary storage device, and then physically removed or disconnected. It must be inserted or connected by a human operator before a computer can access it again. Unlike tertiary storage, it cannot be accessed without human interaction.
Off-line storage is used to transfer information since the detached medium can easily be physically transported. Additionally, it is useful for cases of disaster, where, for example, a fire destroys the original data, a medium in a remote location will be unaffected, enabling disaster recovery. Off-line storage increases general information security since it is physically inaccessible from a computer, and data confidentiality or integrity cannot be affected by computer-based attack techniques. Also, if the information stored for archival purposes is rarely accessed, off-line storage is less expensive than tertiary storage.
In modern personal computers, most secondary and tertiary storage media are also used for off-line storage. Optical discs and flash memory devices are the most popular, and to a much lesser extent removable hard disk drives; older examples include floppy disks and Zip disks. In enterprise uses, magnetic tape cartridges are predominant; older examples include open-reel magnetic tape and punched cards.
Characteristics of storage
thumb|250px|A 1 GiB module of laptop DDR2 RAM
Storage technologies at all levels of the storage hierarchy can be differentiated by evaluating certain core characteristics as well as measuring characteristics specific to a particular implementation. These core characteristics are volatility, mutability, accessibility, and addressability. For any particular implementation of any storage technology, the characteristics worth measuring are capacity and performance.
+ Overview Characteristic Hard disk drive Optical disc Flash memory Random-access memory Linear tape-open Technology Magnetic disk Laser beam Semiconductor Magnetic tape Volatility No No No Volatile No Random access Yes Yes Yes Yes No Latency (access time) ~15 ms (swift) ~150 ms (moderate) None (instant) None (instant) Lack of random access (very slow) Controller Internal External Internal Internal External Failure with imminent data loss Head crash — Circuitry — Error detection Diagnostic (S.M.A.R.T.) Error rate measurement Indicated by downward spikes in transfer rates (Short-term storage) Unknown Price per space Low Low High Very high Very low (but expensive drives) Price per unit Moderate Low Moderate High Moderate (but expensive drives) Main application Mid-term archival, routine backups, server, workstation storage expansion Long-term archival, hard copy distribution Portable electronics; operating system Real-time Long-term archival
Volatility
Non-volatile memory retains the stored information even if not constantly supplied with electric power. It is suitable for long-term storage of information. Volatile memory requires constant power to maintain the stored information. The fastest memory technologies are volatile ones, although that is not a universal rule. Since the primary storage is required to be very fast, it predominantly uses volatile memory.
Dynamic random-access memory is a form of volatile memory that also requires the stored information to be periodically reread and rewritten, or refreshed, otherwise it would vanish. Static random-access memory is a form of volatile memory similar to DRAM with the exception that it never needs to be refreshed as long as power is applied; it loses its content when the power supply is lost.
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can be used to give a computer a brief window of time to move information from primary volatile storage into non-volatile storage before the batteries are exhausted. Some systems, for example EMC Symmetrix, have integrated batteries that maintain volatile storage for several minutes.
Mutability
Read/write storage or mutable storage Allows information to be overwritten at any time. A computer without some amount of read/write storage for primary storage purposes would be useless for many tasks. Modern computers typically use read/write storage also for secondary storage.
Slow write, fast read storage Read/write storage which allows information to be overwritten multiple times, but with the write operation being much slower than the read operation. Examples include CD-RW and SSD.
Write once storage Write once read many (WORM) allows the information to be written only once at some point after manufacture. Examples include semiconductor programmable read-only memory and CD-R.
Read only storage Retains the information stored at the time of manufacture. Examples include mask ROM ICs and CD-ROM.
Accessibility
Random access Any location in storage can be accessed at any moment in approximately the same amount of time. Such characteristic is well suited for primary and secondary storage. Most semiconductor memories, flash memories and hard disk drives provide random access, though both semiconductor and flash memories have minimal latency when compared to hard disk drives, as no mechanical parts need to be moved.
Sequential access The accessing of pieces of information will be in a serial order, one after the other; therefore the time to access a particular piece of information depends upon which piece of information was last accessed. Such characteristic is typical of off-line storage.
Addressability
Location-addressable Each individually accessible unit of information in storage is selected with its numerical memory address. In modern computers, location-addressable storage usually limits to primary storage, accessed internally by computer programs, since location-addressability is very efficient, but burdensome for humans.
File addressable Information is divided into files of variable length, and a particular file is selected with human-readable directory and file names. The underlying device is still location-addressable, but the operating system of a computer provides the file system abstraction to make the operation more understandable. In modern computers, secondary, tertiary and off-line storage use file systems.
Content-addressable Each individually accessible unit of information is selected based on the basis of (part of) the contents stored there. Content-addressable storage can be implemented using software (computer program) or hardware (computer device), with hardware being faster but more expensive option. Hardware content addressable memory is often used in a computer's CPU cache.
Capacity
Raw capacity The total amount of stored information that a storage device or medium can hold. It is expressed as a quantity of bits or bytes (e.g. 10.4 megabytes).
Memory storage density The compactness of stored information. It is the storage capacity of a medium divided with a unit of length, area or volume (e.g. 1.2 megabytes per square inch).
Performance
Latency The time it takes to access a particular location in storage. The relevant unit of measurement is typically nanosecond for primary storage, millisecond for secondary storage, and second for tertiary storage. It may make sense to separate read latency and write latency (especially for non-volatile memory) and in case of sequential access storage, minimum, maximum and average latency.
Throughput The rate at which information can be read from or written to the storage. In computer data storage, throughput is usually expressed in terms of megabytes per second (MB/s), though bit rate may also be used. As with latency, read rate and write rate may need to be differentiated. Also accessing media sequentially, as opposed to randomly, typically yields maximum throughput.
Granularity The size of the largest "chunk" of data that can be efficiently accessed as a single unit, e.g. without introducing additional latency.
Reliability The probability of spontaneous bit value change under various conditions, or overall failure rate.
Utilities such as hdparm and sar can be used to measure IO performance in Linux.
Energy use
Storage devices that reduce fan usage automatically shut-down during inactivity, and low power hard drives can reduce energy consumption by 90 percent.
2.5-inch hard disk drives often consume less power than larger ones. Low capacity solid-state drives have no moving parts and consume less power than hard disks. Large caches, which are used to avoid hitting the memory wall, may also consume a large amount of power.
Security
Full disk encryption, volume and virtual disk encryption, andor file/folder encryption is readily available for most storage devices.
Hardware memory encryption is available in Intel Architecture, supporting Total Memory Encryption (TME) and page granular memory encryption with multiple keys (MKTME). and in SPARC M7 generation since October 2015.
Vulnerability and reliability
thumb|S.M.A.R.T. software warning suggests impending hard drive failure.
Distinct types of data storage have different points of failure and various methods of predictive failure analysis.
Vulnerabilities that can instantly lead to total loss are head crashing on mechanical hard drives and failure of electronic components on flash storage.
Error detection
thumb|Error rate measurement on a DVD+R. The minor errors are correctable and within a healthy range.
Impending failure on hard disk drives is estimable using S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic data that includes the hours of operation and the count of spin-ups, though its reliability is disputed.
Flash storage may experience downspiking transfer rates as a result of accumulating errors, which the flash memory controller attempts to correct.
The health of optical media can be determined by measuring correctable minor errors, of which high counts signify deteriorating and/or low-quality media. Too many consecutive minor errors can lead to data corruption. Not all vendors and models of optical drives support error scanning.
Storage media
, the most commonly used data storage media are semiconductor, magnetic, and optical, while paper still sees some limited usage. Some other fundamental storage technologies, such as all-flash arrays (AFAs) are proposed for development.
Semiconductor
Semiconductor memory uses semiconductor-based integrated circuit (IC) chips to store information. Data are typically stored in metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells. A semiconductor memory chip may contain millions of memory cells, consisting of tiny MOS field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and/or MOS capacitors. Both volatile and non-volatile forms of semiconductor memory exist, the former using standard MOSFETs and the latter using floating-gate MOSFETs.
In modern computers, primary storage almost exclusively consists of dynamic volatile semiconductor random-access memory (RAM), particularly dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). Since the turn of the century, a type of non-volatile floating-gate semiconductor memory known as flash memory has steadily gained share as off-line storage for home computers. Non-volatile semiconductor memory is also used for secondary storage in various advanced electronic devices and specialized computers that are designed for them.
As early as 2006, notebook and desktop computer manufacturers started using flash-based solid-state drives (SSDs) as default configuration options for the secondary storage either in addition to or instead of the more traditional HDD.
Magnetic
Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization on a magnetically coated surface to store information. Magnetic storage is non-volatile. The information is accessed using one or more read/write heads which may contain one or more recording transducers. A read/write head only covers a part of the surface so that the head or medium or both must be moved relative to another in order to access data. In modern computers, magnetic storage will take these forms:
Magnetic disk;
Floppy disk, used for off-line storage;
Hard disk drive, used for secondary storage.
Magnetic tape, used for tertiary and off-line storage;
Carousel memory (magnetic rolls).
In early computers, magnetic storage was also used as:
Primary storage in a form of magnetic memory, or core memory, core rope memory, thin-film memory and/or twistor memory;
Tertiary (e.g. NCR CRAM) or off line storage in the form of magnetic cards;
Magnetic tape was then often used for secondary storage.
Magnetic storage does not have a definite limit of rewriting cycles like flash storage and re-writeable optical media, as altering magnetic fields causes no physical wear. Rather, their life span is limited by mechanical parts.
Optical
Optical storage, the typical optical disc, stores information in deformities on the surface of a circular disc and reads this information by illuminating the surface with a laser diode and observing the reflection. Optical disc storage is non-volatile. The deformities may be permanent (read only media), formed once (write once media) or reversible (recordable or read/write media). The following forms are in common use :
CD, CD-ROM, DVD, BD-ROM: Read only storage, used for mass distribution of digital information (music, video, computer programs);
CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R, BD-R: Write once storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage;
CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE: Slow write, fast read storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage;
Ultra Density Optical or UDO is similar in capacity to BD-R or BD-RE and is slow write, fast read storage used for tertiary and off-line storage.
Magneto-optical disc storage is optical disc storage where the magnetic state on a ferromagnetic surface stores information. The information is read optically and written by combining magnetic and optical methods. Magneto-optical disc storage is non-volatile, sequential access, slow write, fast read storage used for tertiary and off-line storage.
3D optical data storage has also been proposed.
Light induced magnetization melting in magnetic photoconductors has also been proposed for high-speed low-energy consumption magneto-optical storage.
Paper
Paper data storage, typically in the form of paper tape or punched cards, has long been used to store information for automatic processing, particularly before general-purpose computers existed. Information was recorded by punching holes into the paper or cardboard medium and was read mechanically (or later optically) to determine whether a particular location on the medium was solid or contained a hole. Barcodes make it possible for objects that are sold or transported to have some computer-readable information securely attached.
Relatively small amounts of digital data (compared to other digital data storage) may be backed up on paper as a matrix barcode for very long-term storage, as the longevity of paper typically exceeds even magnetic data storage.
Other storage media or substrates
Vacuum-tube memory A Williams tube used a cathode-ray tube, and a Selectron tube used a large vacuum tube to store information. These primary storage devices were short-lived in the market, since the Williams tube was unreliable, and the Selectron tube was expensive.
Electro-acoustic memory Delay-line memory used sound waves in a substance such as mercury to store information. Delay-line memory was dynamic volatile, cycle sequential read/write storage, and was used for primary storage.
Optical tape is a medium for optical storage, generally consisting of a long and narrow strip of plastic, onto which patterns can be written and from which the patterns can be read back. It shares some technologies with cinema film stock and optical discs, but is compatible with neither. The motivation behind developing this technology was the possibility of far greater storage capacities than either magnetic tape or optical discs.
Phase-change memory uses different mechanical phases of phase-change material to store information in an X–Y addressable matrix and reads the information by observing the varying electrical resistance of the material. Phase-change memory would be non-volatile, random-access read/write storage, and might be used for primary, secondary and off-line storage. Most rewritable and many write-once optical disks already use phase-change material to store information.
Holographic data storage stores information optically inside crystals or photopolymers. Holographic storage can utilize the whole volume of the storage medium, unlike optical disc storage, which is limited to a small number of surface layers. Holographic storage would be non-volatile, sequential-access, and either write-once or read/write storage. It might be used for secondary and off-line storage. See Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD).
Molecular memory stores information in polymer that can store electric charge. Molecular memory might be especially suited for primary storage. The theoretical storage capacity of molecular memory is 10 terabits per square inch (16 Gbit/mm2).
Magnetic photoconductors store magnetic information, which can be modified by low-light illumination.
Related technologies
Redundancy
While a group of bits malfunction may be resolved by error detection and correction mechanisms (see above), storage device malfunction requires different solutions. The following solutions are commonly used and valid for most storage devices:
Device mirroring (replication) – A common solution to the problem is constantly maintaining an identical copy of device content on another device (typically of the same type). The downside is that this doubles the storage, and both devices (copies) need to be updated simultaneously with some overhead and possibly some delays. The upside is the possible concurrent reading of the same data group by two independent processes, which increases performance. When one of the replicated devices is detected to be defective, the other copy is still operational and is being utilized to generate a new copy on another device (usually available operational in a pool of stand-by devices for this purpose).
Redundant array of independent disks (RAID) – This method generalizes the device mirroring above by allowing one device in a group of devices to fail and be replaced with the content restored (Device mirroring is RAID with n2). RAID groups of n5 or n6 are common. n>2 saves storage, when compared with n2, at the cost of more processing during both regular operation (with often reduced performance) and defective device replacement.
Device mirroring and typical RAID are designed to handle a single device failure in the RAID group of devices. However, if a second failure occurs before the RAID group is completely repaired from the first failure, then data can be lost. The probability of a single failure is typically small. Thus the probability of two failures in the same RAID group in time proximity is much smaller (approximately the probability squared, i.e., multiplied by itself). If a database cannot tolerate even such a smaller probability of data loss, then the RAID group itself is replicated (mirrored). In many cases such mirroring is done geographically remotely, in a different storage array, to handle recovery from disasters (see disaster recovery above).
Network connectivity
A secondary or tertiary storage may connect to a computer utilizing computer networks. This concept does not pertain to the primary storage, which is shared between multiple processors to a lesser degree.
Direct-attached storage (DAS) is a traditional mass storage, that does not use any network. This is still a most popular approach. This retronym was coined recently, together with NAS and SAN.
Network-attached storage (NAS) is mass storage attached to a computer which another computer can access at file level over a local area network, a private wide area network, or in the case of online file storage, over the Internet. NAS is commonly associated with the NFS and CIFS/SMB protocols.
Storage area network (SAN) is a specialized network, that provides other computers with storage capacity. The crucial difference between NAS and SAN, is that NAS presents and manages file systems to client computers, while SAN provides access at block-addressing (raw) level, leaving it to attaching systems to manage data or file systems within the provided capacity. SAN is commonly associated with Fibre Channel networks.
Robotic storage
Large quantities of individual magnetic tapes, and optical or magneto-optical discs may be stored in robotic tertiary storage devices. In tape storage field they are known as tape libraries, and in optical storage field optical jukeboxes, or optical disk libraries per analogy. The smallest forms of either technology containing just one drive device are referred to as autoloaders or autochangers.
Robotic-access storage devices may have a number of slots, each holding individual media, and usually one or more picking robots that traverse the slots and load media to built-in drives. The arrangement of the slots and picking devices affects performance. Important characteristics of such storage are possible expansion options: adding slots, modules, drives, robots. Tape libraries may have from 10 to more than 100,000 slots, and provide terabytes or petabytes of near-line information. Optical jukeboxes are somewhat smaller solutions, up to 1,000 slots.
Robotic storage is used for backups, and for high-capacity archives in imaging, medical, and video industries. Hierarchical storage management is a most known archiving strategy of automatically migrating long-unused files from fast hard disk storage to libraries or jukeboxes. If the files are needed, they are retrieved back to disk.
See also
Primary storage topics
Aperture (computer memory)
Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)
Memory latency
Mass storage
Memory cell (disambiguation)
Memory management
Memory leak
Virtual memory
Memory protection
Page address register
Stable storage
Static random-access memory (SRAM)
Secondary, tertiary and off-line storage topics
Cloud storage
Hybrid cloud storage
Data deduplication
Data proliferation
Data storage tag used for capturing research data
Disk utility
File system
List of file formats
Global filesystem
Flash memory
Geoplexing
Information repository
Noise-predictive maximum-likelihood detection
Object(-based) storage
Removable media
Solid-state drive
Spindle
Virtual tape library
Wait state
Write buffer
Write protection
Cold data
Data storage conferences
Storage Networking World
Storage World Conference
Notes
References
Further reading
Memory & storage, Computer history museum
Category:Computer architecture
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Conditional
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Conditional (if then) may refer to:
Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y
Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B
Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a conditional, and proves that the antecedent leads to the consequent
Material conditional, in propositional calculus, or logical calculus in mathematics
Relevance conditional, in relevance logic
Conditional (computer programming), a statement or expression in computer programming languages
A conditional expression in computer programming languages such as ?:
Conditions in a contract
Grammar and linguistics
Conditional mood (or conditional tense), a verb form in many languages
Conditional sentence, a sentence type used to refer to hypothetical situations and their consequences
Indicative conditional, a conditional sentence expressing "if A then B" in a natural language
Counterfactual conditional, a conditional sentence indicating what would be the case if its antecedent were true
Other
"Conditional" (Laura Mvula song)
Conditional jockey, an apprentice jockey in British or Irish National Hunt racing
Conditional short-circuit current
Conditional Value-at-Risk
See also
Condition (disambiguation)
Conditional statement (disambiguation)
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Cone (disambiguation)
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A cone is a basic geometrical shape.
Cone may also refer to:
Mathematics
Cone (category theory)
Cone (formal languages)
Cone (graph theory), a graph in which one vertex is adjacent to all others
Cone (linear algebra), a subset of vector space
Mapping cone (homological algebra)
Cone (topology)
Projective cone, the union of all lines that intersect a projective subspace and an arbitrary subset of some other disjoint subspace
Astronomy
Cone Nebula (also known as NGC 2264), an H II region in the constellation of Monoceros
Ionization cone, cones of material extending out from spiral galaxies
Engineering and physical science
Antenna blind cone, the volume of space that cannot be scanned by an antenna
Cone algorithm identifies surface particles quickly and accurately for three-dimensional clusters composed of discrete particles
Cone calorimeter, a modern device used to study the fire behavior of small samples of various materials in condensed phase
Cone clutch, which serves the same purpose as a disk or plate clutch
Cone of depression occurs in an aquifer when groundwater is pumped from a well
Cone of uncertainty, used in project management to describe the evolution of the amount of best case uncertainty during a project.
Hertzian cone, the cone of force that propagates through a brittle, amorphous or cryptocrystalline solid material from a point of impact
Nose cone, used to refer to the forwardmost section of a rocket, guided missile or aircraft
Pyrometric cone, pyrometric devices that are used to gauge time and temperature during the firing of ceramic materials
Roller cone bit, a drill bit used for drilling through rock, for example when drilling for oil and gas
Skid cone, a hollow steel or plastic cone placed over the sawn end of a log
Speaker cone, the cone inside a loudspeaker that moves to generate sound
Spinning cone columns are used in a form of steam distillation to gently extract volatile chemicals from liquid foodstuffs
Biology and medicine
Cone cell, in anatomy, a type of light-sensitive cell found along with rods in the retina of the eye
Cone dystrophy, an inherited ocular disorder characterized by the loss of cone cells
Cone snail, a carnivorous mollusc of the family Conidae
Conifer cone, a seed-bearing organ on conifer plants
Growth cone, a dynamic, actin-supported extension of a developing axon seeking its synaptic target
Strobilus, a term for several categories of cone-like structures in botany
Witch-hazel cone gall aphid (Hormaphis hamamelidis), a minuscule insect, a member of the aphid superfamily
Geography
Cinder cone, a steep conical hill of volcanic fragments around and downwind from a volcanic vent
Cone (hill), a hill in the shape of a cone which may or may not be volcanic in origin
Dirt cone, a feature of a glacier or snow patch, in which dirt forms a coating insulating the ice below
Parasitic cone (or satellite cone), a geographical feature found around a volcano
Shatter cone, rare geological feature in the bedrock beneath meteorite impact craters or underground nuclear explosions
Volcanic cone, among the simplest volcanic formations in the world
Places
Cone (Phrygia), a town and bishopric of ancient Phrygia
Cone, Michigan, an unincorporated community in Michigan
Cone, Texas, an unincorporated community in Crosby County, Texas, United States
Cone Islet, a small granite island in south-eastern Australia
People
Cone (surname)
Jason McCaslin (born 1980), nicknamed Cone, bassist for the Canadian band Sum 41
Other uses
Ice cream cone, an edible container in which ice cream is served, shaped like an inverted cone open at its top
Snow cone, a dessert usually made of crushed or shaved ice, flavored with sweet, usually fruit-flavored, brightly colored syrup
Traffic cone, a brightly colored cone-shaped plastic object commonly used as a temporary traffic barrier or warning sign
USS Cone (DD-866), a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy
Cone Mills Corporation, a textile manufacturer
"The Cone", a 1895 horror science fiction short story by English writer H. G. Wells
See also
Kone (disambiguation)
Colne (disambiguation) (pronounced cone)
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Chemical equilibrium
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In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which both the reactants and products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time, so that there is no observable change in the properties of the system. This state results when the forward reaction proceeds at the same rate as the reverse reaction. The reaction rates of the forward and backward reactions are generally not zero, but they are equal. Thus, there are no net changes in the concentrations of the reactants and products. Such a state is known as dynamic equilibrium.
It is the subject of study of equilibrium chemistry.
Historical introduction
The concept of chemical equilibrium was developed in 1803, after Berthollet found that some chemical reactions are reversible. For any reaction mixture to exist at equilibrium, the rates of the forward and backward (reverse) reactions must be equal. In the following chemical equation, arrows point both ways to indicate equilibrium. A and B are reactant chemical species, S and T are product species, and α, β, σ, and τ are the stoichiometric coefficients of the respective reactants and products:
:α A + β B σ S + τ T
The equilibrium concentration position of a reaction is said to lie "far to the right" if, at equilibrium, nearly all the reactants are consumed. Conversely the equilibrium position is said to be "far to the left" if hardly any product is formed from the reactants.
Guldberg and Waage (1865), building on Berthollet's ideas, proposed the law of mass action:
:<math chem>\begin{align}
\text{forward reaction rate} &= k_{+} \ce{A}^\alpha\ce{B}^\beta \\
\text{backward reaction rate} &= k_{-} \ce{S}^\sigma\ce{T}^\tau
\end{align}</math>
where A, B, S and T are active masses and k<sub>+</sub> and k<sub>−</sub> are rate constants. Since at equilibrium forward and backward rates are equal:
:<math chem> k_+ \left\{ \ce A \right\}^\alpha \left\{\ce B \right\}^\beta = k_{-} \left\{\ce S \right\}^\sigma\left\{\ce T \right\}^\tau</math>
and the ratio of the rate constants is also a constant, now known as an equilibrium constant.
:<math chem>K_c\frac{k_+}{k_-}\frac{\{\ce S\}^\sigma \{\ce T\}^\tau } {\{\ce A\}^\alpha \{\ce B\}^\beta}</math>
By convention, the products form the numerator.
However, the law of mass action is valid only for concerted one-step reactions that proceed through a single transition state and is not valid in general because rate equations do not, in general, follow the stoichiometry of the reaction as Guldberg and Waage had proposed (see, for example, nucleophilic aliphatic substitution by S<sub>N</sub>1 or reaction of hydrogen and bromine to form hydrogen bromide). Equality of forward and backward reaction rates, however, is a necessary condition for chemical equilibrium, though it is not sufficient to explain why equilibrium occurs.
Despite the limitations of this derivation, the equilibrium constant for a reaction is indeed a constant, independent of the activities of the various species involved, though it does depend on temperature as observed by the van 't Hoff equation. Adding a catalyst will affect both the forward reaction and the reverse reaction in the same way and will not have an effect on the equilibrium constant. The catalyst will speed up both reactions thereby increasing the speed at which equilibrium is reached.
Although the macroscopic equilibrium concentrations are constant in time, reactions do occur at the molecular level. For example, in the case of acetic acid dissolved in water and forming acetate and hydronium ions,
:
a proton may hop from one molecule of acetic acid onto a water molecule and then onto an acetate anion to form another molecule of acetic acid and leaving the number of acetic acid molecules unchanged. This is an example of dynamic equilibrium. Equilibria, like the rest of thermodynamics, are statistical phenomena, averages of microscopic behavior.
'''Le Châtelier's principle' (1884) predicts the behavior of an equilibrium system when changes to its reaction conditions occur. If a dynamic equilibrium is disturbed by changing the conditions, the position of equilibrium moves to partially reverse the change. For example, adding more S (to the chemical reaction above) from the outside will cause an excess of products, and the system will try to counteract this by increasing the reverse reaction and pushing the equilibrium point backward (though the equilibrium constant will stay the same).
If mineral acid is added to the acetic acid mixture, increasing the concentration of hydronium ion, the amount of dissociation must decrease as the reaction is driven to the left in accordance with this principle. This can also be deduced from the equilibrium constant expression for the reaction:
:<math chem>K=\frac {\{\ce{CH3CO2-}\}\{\ce{H3O+}\}} \ce{\{CH3CO2H\}}</math>
If {H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup>} increases {CH<sub>3</sub>CO<sub>2</sub>H} must increase and must decrease. The H<sub>2</sub>O is left out, as it is the solvent and its concentration remains high and nearly constant.
J. W. Gibbs suggested in 1873 that equilibrium is attained when the "available energy" (now known as Gibbs free energy or Gibbs energy) of the system is at its minimum value, assuming the reaction is carried out at a constant temperature and pressure. What this means is that the derivative of the Gibbs energy with respect to reaction coordinate (a measure of the extent of reaction that has occurred, ranging from zero for all reactants to a maximum for all products) vanishes (because dG 0), signaling a stationary point. This derivative is called the reaction Gibbs energy (or energy change) and corresponds to the difference between the chemical potentials of reactants and products at the composition of the reaction mixture. The standard Gibbs energy change, together with the Gibbs energy of mixing, determine the equilibrium state.
In this article only the constant pressure case is considered. The relation between the Gibbs free energy and the equilibrium constant can be found by considering chemical potentials. Therefore, the sum of the Gibbs energies of the reactants must be the equal to the sum of the Gibbs energies of the products.
:<math> \alpha \mu_\mathrm{A} + \beta \mu_\mathrm{B} = \sigma \mu_\mathrm{S} + \tau \mu_\mathrm{T} \,</math>
where μ is in this case a partial molar Gibbs energy, a chemical potential. The chemical potential of a reagent A is a function of the activity, {A} of that reagent.
:<math> \mu_\mathrm{A} = \mu_{A}^{\ominus} + RT \ln\{\mathrm{A}\} \,</math>
(where μ is the standard chemical potential).
The definition of the Gibbs energy equation interacts with the fundamental thermodynamic relation to produce
:<math> dG Vdp-SdT+\sum_{i1}^k \mu_i dN_i </math>.
Inserting dN<sub>i</sub> = ν<sub>i</sub> dξ into the above equation gives a stoichiometric coefficient (<math> \nu_i~</math>) and a differential that denotes the reaction occurring to an infinitesimal extent (dξ). At constant pressure and temperature the above equations can be written as
:<math>\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} \sum_{i1}^k \mu_i \nu_i = \Delta_\mathrm{r}G_{T,p}</math>
which is the Gibbs free energy change for the reaction. This results in:
:<math> \Delta_\mathrm{r}G_{T,p} = \sigma \mu_\mathrm{S} + \tau \mu_\mathrm{T} - \alpha \mu_\mathrm{A} - \beta \mu_\mathrm{B} \,</math>.
By substituting the chemical potentials:
:<math> \Delta_\mathrm{r}G_{T,p} = ( \sigma \mu_\mathrm{S}^{\ominus} + \tau \mu_\mathrm{T}^{\ominus} ) - ( \alpha \mu_\mathrm{A}^{\ominus} + \beta \mu_\mathrm{B}^{\ominus} ) + ( \sigma RT \ln\{\mathrm{S}\} + \tau RT \ln\{\mathrm{T}\} ) - ( \alpha RT \ln\{\mathrm{A}\} + \beta RT \ln \{\mathrm{B}\} ) </math>,
the relationship becomes:
:<math> \Delta_\mathrm{r}G_{T,p}\sum_{i1}^k \mu_i^\ominus \nu_i + RT \ln \frac{\{\mathrm{S}\}^\sigma \{\mathrm{T}\}^\tau} {\{\mathrm{A}\}^\alpha \{\mathrm{B}\}^\beta} </math>
:<math>\sum_{i1}^k \mu_i^\ominus \nu_i \Delta_\mathrm{r}G^{\ominus}</math>:
which is the standard Gibbs energy change for the reaction that can be calculated using thermodynamical tables.
The reaction quotient is defined as:
:<math> Q_\mathrm{r} = \frac{\{\mathrm{S}\}^\sigma \{\mathrm{T}\}^\tau} {\{\mathrm{A}\}^\alpha \{\mathrm{B}\}^\beta} </math>
Therefore,
:<math>\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} \Delta_\mathrm{r}G_{T,p} \Delta_\mathrm{r}G^{\ominus} + RT \ln Q_\mathrm{r} </math>
At equilibrium:
:<math>\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} \Delta_\mathrm{r}G_{T,p} 0 </math>
leading to:
:<math> 0 = \Delta_\mathrm{r}G^{\ominus} + RT \ln K_\mathrm{eq} </math>
and
:<math> \Delta_\mathrm{r}G^{\ominus} = -RT \ln K_\mathrm{eq} </math>
Obtaining the value of the standard Gibbs energy change, allows the calculation of the equilibrium constant.
Addition of reactants or products
For a reactional system at equilibrium: Q<sub>r</sub> K<sub>eq</sub>; ξ ξ<sub>eq</sub>.
*If the activities of constituents are modified, the value of the reaction quotient changes and becomes different from the equilibrium constant: Q<sub>r</sub> ≠ K<sub>eq</sub> <math display"block">\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} \Delta_\mathrm{r}G^{\ominus} + RT \ln Q_\mathrm{r}~</math> and <math display"block">\Delta_\mathrm{r}G^{\ominus} - RT \ln K_{eq}~</math> then <math display"block">\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} RT \ln \left(\frac {Q_\mathrm{r}}{K_\mathrm{eq}}\right)~</math>
In simplifications where the change in reaction quotient is solely due to the concentration changes, Q<sub>r</sub> is referred to as the mass-action ratio, and the ratio Q<sub>r</sub>/K<sub>eq</sub> is referred to as the disequilibrium ratio.
*If activity of a reagent i increases <math display"block">Q_\mathrm{r} \frac{\prod (a_j)^{\nu_j}}{\prod(a_i)^{\nu_i}}~,</math> the reaction quotient decreases. Then <math display"block">Q_\mathrm{r} < K_\mathrm{eq}~</math> and <math display"block">\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} < 0~</math> The reaction will shift to the right (i.e. in the forward direction, and thus more products will form).
*If activity of a product j increases, then <math display"block">Q_\mathrm{r} > K_\mathrm{eq}~</math> and <math display"block">\left(\frac {dG}{d\xi}\right)_{T,p} >0~</math> The reaction will shift to the left (i.e. in the reverse direction, and thus less products will form).
Note that activities and equilibrium constants are dimensionless numbers.
Treatment of activity
The expression for the equilibrium constant can be rewritten as the product of a concentration quotient, K<sub>c</sub> and an activity coefficient quotient, Γ.
:<math>K=\frac{[\mathrm{S}] ^\sigma [\mathrm{T}]^\tau ... } {[\mathrm{A}]^\alpha [\mathrm{B}]^\beta ...}
\times \frac ^\sigma {\gamma_\mathrm{T}}^\tau ... } ^\alpha {\gamma_\mathrm{B}}^\beta ...} = K_\mathrm{c} \Gamma</math>
[A] is the concentration of reagent A, etc. It is possible in principle to obtain values of the activity coefficients, γ. For solutions, equations such as the Debye–Hückel equation or extensions such as Davies equation Specific ion interaction theory or Pitzer equations may be used. However this is not always possible. It is common practice to assume that Γ is a constant, and to use the concentration quotient in place of the thermodynamic equilibrium constant. It is also general practice to use the term equilibrium constant instead of the more accurate concentration quotient. This practice will be followed here.
For reactions in the gas phase partial pressure is used in place of concentration and fugacity coefficient in place of activity coefficient. In the real world, for example, when making ammonia in industry, fugacity coefficients must be taken into account. Fugacity, f, is the product of partial pressure and fugacity coefficient. The chemical potential of a species in the real gas phase is given by
:<math>\mu \mu^{\ominus} + RT \ln \left( \frac{f}{\mathrm{bar}} \right) \mu^{\ominus} + RT \ln \left( \frac{p}{\mathrm{bar}} \right) + RT \ln \gamma </math>
so the general expression defining an equilibrium constant is valid for both solution and gas phases.Concentration quotients
In aqueous solution, equilibrium constants are usually determined in the presence of an "inert" electrolyte such as sodium nitrate, NaNO<sub>3</sub>, or potassium perchlorate, KClO<sub>4</sub>. The ionic strength of a solution is given by
:<math> I \frac12\sum_{i1}^N c_i z_i^2 </math>
where c<sub>i</sub> and z<sub>i</sub> stand for the concentration and ionic charge of ion type i, and the sum is taken over all the N types of charged species in solution. When the concentration of dissolved salt is much higher than the analytical concentrations of the reagents, the ions originating from the dissolved salt determine the ionic strength, and the ionic strength is effectively constant. Since activity coefficients depend on ionic strength, the activity coefficients of the species are effectively independent of concentration. Thus, the assumption that Γ is constant is justified. The concentration quotient is a simple multiple of the equilibrium constant.
:<math> K_\mathrm{c} = \frac{K}{\Gamma} </math>
However, K<sub>c</sub> will vary with ionic strength. If it is measured at a series of different ionic strengths, the value can be extrapolated to zero ionic strength. because their numerical values are considered one.
Applying the general formula for an equilibrium constant to the specific case of a dilute solution of acetic acid in water one obtains
:CH<sub>3</sub>CO<sub>2</sub>H + H<sub>2</sub>O CH<sub>3</sub>CO<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup> + H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup>
:<math>K_\mathrm{c}=\frac \mathrm{[{CH_3CO_2}^-][{H_3O}^+]} \mathrm{[{CH_3CO_2H}][{H_2O}]}</math>
For all but very concentrated solutions, the water can be considered a "pure" liquid, and therefore it has an activity of one. The equilibrium constant expression is therefore usually written as
:<math>K\frac \mathrm{[{CH_3CO_2}^-][{H_3O}^+]} \mathrm{[{CH_3CO_2H}]} K_\mathrm{c}</math>.
A particular case is the self-ionization of water
:2 H<sub>2</sub>O H<sub>3</sub>O<sup>+</sup> + OH<sup>−</sup>
Because water is the solvent, and has an activity of one, the self-ionization constant of water is defined as
:<math>K_\mathrm{w} = \mathrm{[H^+][OH^-]}</math>
It is perfectly legitimate to write [H<sup>+</sup>] for the hydronium ion concentration, since the state of solvation of the proton is constant (in dilute solutions) and so does not affect the equilibrium concentrations. K<sub>w</sub> varies with variation in ionic strength and/or temperature.
The concentrations of H<sup>+</sup> and OH<sup>−</sup> are not independent quantities. Most commonly [OH<sup>−</sup>] is replaced by K<sub>w</sub>[H<sup>+</sup>]<sup>−1</sup> in equilibrium constant expressions which would otherwise include hydroxide ion.
Solids also do not appear in the equilibrium constant expression, if they are considered to be pure and thus their activities taken to be one. An example is the Boudouard reaction:
For multiple equilibrium systems, also see: theory of Response reactions.
Effect of temperature
The effect of changing temperature on an equilibrium constant is given by the van 't Hoff equation
:<math>\frac {d\ln K} {dT} = \frac{\Delta H_\mathrm{m}^\ominus} {RT^2}</math>
Thus, for exothermic reactions (ΔH is negative), K decreases with an increase in temperature, but, for endothermic reactions, (ΔH is positive) K increases with an increase temperature. An alternative formulation is
:<math>\frac {d\ln K} {d(T^{-1})} = -\frac{\Delta H_\mathrm{m}^\ominus} {R}</math>
At first sight this appears to offer a means of obtaining the standard molar enthalpy of the reaction by studying the variation of K with temperature. In practice, however, the method is unreliable because error propagation almost always gives very large errors on the values calculated in this way.
Effect of electric and magnetic fields
The effect of electric field on equilibrium has been studied by Manfred Eigen among others.Types of equilibrium N<sub>2</sub> (adsorbed)
# N<sub>2</sub> (adsorbed) 2 N (adsorbed)
# H<sub>2</sub> (g) H<sub>2</sub> (adsorbed)
# H<sub>2</sub> (adsorbed) 2 H (adsorbed)
# N (adsorbed) + 3 H(adsorbed) NH<sub>3</sub> (adsorbed)
# NH<sub>3</sub> (adsorbed) NH<sub>3</sub> (g)
</div>
}}
Equilibrium can be broadly classified as heterogeneous and homogeneous equilibrium. Homogeneous equilibrium consists of reactants and products belonging in the same phase whereas heterogeneous equilibrium comes into play for reactants and products in different phases.
* In the gas phase: rocket engines
* The industrial synthesis such as ammonia in the Haber–Bosch process (depicted right) takes place through a succession of equilibrium steps including adsorption processes
* Atmospheric chemistry
* Seawater and other natural waters: chemical oceanography
* Distribution between two phases
** log D distribution coefficient: important for pharmaceuticals where lipophilicity is a significant property of a drug
** Liquid–liquid extraction, Ion exchange, Chromatography
** Solubility product
** Uptake and release of oxygen by hemoglobin in blood
* Acid–base equilibria: acid dissociation constant, hydrolysis, buffer solutions, indicators, acid–base homeostasis
* Metal–ligand complexation: sequestering agents, chelation therapy, MRI contrast reagents, Schlenk equilibrium
* Adduct formation: host–guest chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, molecular recognition, dinitrogen tetroxide
* In certain oscillating reactions, the approach to equilibrium is not asymptotically but in the form of a damped oscillation .
# Satisfy the equation of mass balance. The equations of mass balance are simply statements that demonstrate that the total concentration of each reactant must be constant by the law of conservation of mass.
Mass-balance equations
In general, the calculations are rather complicated or complex. For instance, in the case of a dibasic acid, H<sub>2</sub>A dissolved in water the two reactants can be specified as the conjugate base, A<sup>2−</sup>, and the proton, H<sup>+</sup>. The following equations of mass-balance could apply equally well to a base such as 1,2-diaminoethane, in which case the base itself is designated as the reactant A:
:<math>T_\mathrm{A} = \mathrm{[A] + [HA] +[H_2A]} \,</math>
:<math>T_\mathrm{H} = \mathrm{[H] + [HA] + 2[H_2A] - [OH]} \,</math>
with T<sub>A</sub> the total concentration of species A. Note that it is customary to omit the ionic charges when writing and using these equations.
When the equilibrium constants are known and the total concentrations are specified there are two equations in two unknown "free concentrations" [A] and [H]. This follows from the fact that [HA] β<sub>1</sub>[A][H], [H<sub>2</sub>A] β<sub>2</sub>[A][H]<sup>2</sup> and [OH] = K<sub>w</sub>[H]<sup>−1</sup>
:<math> T_\mathrm{A} = \mathrm{[A]} + \beta_1\mathrm{[A][H]} + \beta_2\mathrm{[A][H]}^2 \,</math>
:<math> T_\mathrm{H} = \mathrm{[H]} + \beta_1\mathrm{[A][H]} + 2\beta_2\mathrm{[A][H]}^2 - K_w[\mathrm H]^{-1} \,</math>
so the concentrations of the "complexes" are calculated from the free concentrations and the equilibrium constants.
General expressions applicable to all systems with two reagents, A and B would be
:<math>T_\mathrm{A}=[\mathrm A]+\sum_i p_i \beta_i[\mathrm A]^{p_i}[\mathrm B]^{q_i}</math>
:<math>T_\mathrm{B}=[\mathrm B]+\sum_i q_i \beta_i[\mathrm A]^{p_i}[\mathrm B]^{q_i}</math>
It is easy to see how this can be extended to three or more reagents.
Polybasic acids
of the aluminium.]]
The composition of solutions containing reactants A and H is easy to calculate as a function of p[H]. When [H] is known, the free concentration [A] is calculated from the mass-balance equation in A.
The diagram alongside, shows an example of the hydrolysis of the aluminium Lewis acid Al<sup>3+</sup><sub>(aq)</sub> shows the species concentrations for a 5 × 10<sup>−6</sup> M solution of an aluminium salt as a function of pH. Each concentration is shown as a percentage of the total aluminium.
Solution and precipitation
The diagram above illustrates the point that a precipitate that is not one of the main species in the solution equilibrium may be formed. At pH just below 5.5 the main species present in a 5 μM solution of Al<sup>3+</sup> are aluminium hydroxides Al(OH)<sup>2+</sup>, and , but on raising the pH Al(OH)<sub>3</sub> precipitates from the solution. This occurs because Al(OH)<sub>3</sub> has a very large lattice energy. As the pH rises more and more Al(OH)<sub>3</sub> comes out of solution. This is an example of Le Châtelier's principle in action: Increasing the concentration of the hydroxide ion causes more aluminium hydroxide to precipitate, which removes hydroxide from the solution. When the hydroxide concentration becomes sufficiently high the soluble aluminate, , is formed.
Another common instance where precipitation occurs is when a metal cation interacts with an anionic ligand to form an electrically neutral complex. If the complex is hydrophobic, it will precipitate out of water. This occurs with the nickel ion Ni<sup>2+</sup> and dimethylglyoxime, (dmgH<sub>2</sub>): in this case the lattice energy of the solid is not particularly large, but it greatly exceeds the energy of solvation of the molecule Ni(dmgH)<sub>2</sub>.
Minimization of Gibbs energy
At equilibrium, at a specified temperature and pressure, and with no external forces, the Gibbs free energy G is at a minimum:
:<math>dG\sum_{j1}^m \mu_j\,dN_j = 0</math>
where μ<sub>j</sub> is the chemical potential of molecular species j, and N<sub>j</sub> is the amount of molecular species j. It may be expressed in terms of thermodynamic activity as:
:<math>\mu_j = \mu_j^{\ominus} + RT\ln{A_j}</math>
where <math>\mu_j^{\ominus}</math> is the chemical potential in the standard state, R is the gas constant T is the absolute temperature, and A<sub>j</sub> is the activity.
For a closed system, no particles may enter or leave, although they may combine in various ways. The total number of atoms of each element will remain constant. This means that the minimization above must be subjected to the constraints:
:<math>\sum_{j1}^m a_{ij}N_jb_i^0</math>
where a<sub>ij</sub> is the number of atoms of element i in molecule j and b is the total number of atoms of element i, which is a constant, since the system is closed. If there are a total of k types of atoms in the system, then there will be k such equations. If ions are involved, an additional row is added to the a<sub>ij</sub> matrix specifying the respective charge on each molecule which will sum to zero.
This is a standard problem in optimisation, known as constrained minimisation. The most common method of solving it is using the method of Lagrange multipliers
:<math>\sum_{j0}^m \nu_j R_j0</math>
where ν<sub>j</sub> is the stoichiometric coefficient for the j th molecule (negative for reactants, positive for products) and R<sub>j</sub> is the symbol for the j th molecule, a properly balanced equation will obey:
:<math>\sum_{j1}^m a_{ij} \nu_j0</math>
Multiplying the first equilibrium condition by ν<sub>j</sub> and using the above equation yields:
:<math>0 \sum_{j1}^m \nu_j \mu_j + \sum_{j1}^m \sum_{i1}^k \nu_j \lambda_i a_{ij} \sum_{j1}^m \nu_j \mu_j </math>
As above, defining ΔG
:<math>\Delta G\sum_{j1}^m \nu_j \mu_j \sum_{j1}^m \nu_j (\mu_j^{\ominus} + RT \ln(\{R_j\})) \Delta G^{\ominus} + RT \ln\left(\prod_{j1}^m \{R_j\}^{\nu_j}\right) = \Delta G^{\ominus} + RT \ln(K_c)</math>
where K<sub>c</sub> is the equilibrium constant, and ΔG will be zero at equilibrium.
Analogous procedures exist for the minimization of other thermodynamic potentials.<ref name"nasa"/>See also
* Acidosis
* Alkalosis
* Arterial blood gas
* Benesi–Hildebrand method
* Determination of equilibrium constants
* Equilibrium constant
* Henderson–Hasselbalch equation
* Mass-action ratio
* Michaelis–Menten kinetics
* pCO<sub>2</sub>
* pH
* pK<sub>a</sub>
* Redox equilibria
* Steady state (chemistry)
* Thermodynamic databases for pure substances
* Non-random two-liquid model (NRTL model) – Phase equilibrium calculations
* UNIQUAC model – Phase equilibrium calculations
References
Further reading
* Mainly concerned with gas-phase equilibria.
*
*External links
*
*
Category:Analytical chemistry
Category:Physical chemistry
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Combination
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In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set: an apple and a pear; an apple and an orange; or a pear and an orange. More formally, a k-combination of a set S is a subset of k distinct elements of S. So, two combinations are identical if and only if each combination has the same members. (The arrangement of the members in each set does not matter.) If the set has n elements, the number of k-combinations, denoted by C(n,k) or C^n_k, is equal to the binomial coefficient
\binom nk = \frac{n(n-1)\dotsb(n-k+1)}{k(k-1)\dotsb1},
which can be written using factorials as \textstyle\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} whenever k\leq n, and which is zero when k>n. This formula can be derived from the fact that each k-combination of a set S of n members has k! permutations so P^n_k C^n_k \times k! or C^n_k P^n_k / k!. The set of all k-combinations of a set S is often denoted by \textstyle\binom Sk.
A combination is a selection of n things taken k at a time without repetition. To refer to combinations in which repetition is allowed, the terms k-combination with repetition, k-multiset, or k-selection, are often used. If, in the above example, it were possible to have two of any one kind of fruit there would be 3 more 2-selections: one with two apples, one with two oranges, and one with two pears.
Although the set of three fruits was small enough to write a complete list of combinations, this becomes impractical as the size of the set increases. For example, a poker hand can be described as a 5-combination (k 5) of cards from a 52 card deck (n 52). The 5 cards of the hand are all distinct, and the order of cards in the hand does not matter. There are 2,598,960 such combinations, and the chance of drawing any one hand at random is 1 / 2,598,960.
Number of k-combinations
thumb|3-element subsets of a 5-element set
The number of k-combinations from a given set S of n elements is often denoted in elementary combinatorics texts by C(n,k), or by a variation such as C^n_k, {}_nC_k, {}^nC_k, C_{n,k} or even C_n^k (the last form is standard in French, Romanian, Russian, and Chinese texts). The same number however occurs in many other mathematical contexts, where it is denoted by \tbinom nk (often read as "n choose k"); notably it occurs as a coefficient in the binomial formula, hence its name binomial coefficient. One can define \tbinom nk for all natural numbers k at once by the relation
(1 + X)^n = \sum_{k\geq0}\binom{n}{k} X^k,
from which it is clear that
\binom{n}{0} \binom{n}{n} 1,
and further
\binom{n}{k} = 0
for k>n.
To see that these coefficients count k-combinations from S, one can first consider a collection of n distinct variables Xs labeled by the elements s of S, and expand the product over all elements of S:
\prod_{s\in S}(1+X_s);
it has 2n distinct terms corresponding to all the subsets of S, each subset giving the product of the corresponding variables Xs. Now setting all of the Xs equal to the unlabeled variable X, so that the product becomes , the term for each k-combination from S becomes Xk, so that the coefficient of that power in the result equals the number of such k-combinations.
Binomial coefficients can be computed explicitly in various ways. To get all of them for the expansions up to , one can use (in addition to the basic cases already given) the recursion relation
\binom{n}{k} = \binom{n - 1}{k - 1} + \binom{n - 1}{k},
for 0 \binom nk = \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)\cdots(n-k+1)}{k!}.
The numerator gives the number of k-permutations of n, i.e., of sequences of k distinct elements of S, while the denominator gives the number of such k-permutations that give the same k-combination when the order is ignored.
When k exceeds n/2, the above formula contains factors common to the numerator and the denominator, and canceling them out gives the relation
\binom nk = \binom n{n-k},
for 0 ≤ k ≤ n. This expresses a symmetry that is evident from the binomial formula, and can also be understood in terms of k-combinations by taking the complement of such a combination, which is an -combination.
Finally there is a formula which exhibits this symmetry directly, and has the merit of being easy to remember:
\binom nk = \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!},
where n! denotes the factorial of n. It is obtained from the previous formula by multiplying denominator and numerator by !, so it is certainly computationally less efficient than that formula.
The last formula can be understood directly, by considering the n! permutations of all the elements of S. Each such permutation gives a k-combination by selecting its first k elements. There are many duplicate selections: any combined permutation of the first k elements among each other, and of the final (n − k) elements among each other produces the same combination; this explains the division in the formula.
From the above formulas follow relations between adjacent numbers in Pascal's triangle in all three directions:
\binom nk =
\begin{cases}
\displaystyle \binom n{k-1} \frac {n-k+1}k &\quad \text{if } k > 0 \\
\displaystyle \binom {n-1}k \frac n{n-k} &\quad \text{if } k 0
\end{cases}.
Together with the basic cases \tbinom n01\tbinom nn, these allow successive computation of respectively all numbers of combinations from the same set (a row in Pascal's triangle), of k-combinations of sets of growing sizes, and of combinations with a complement of fixed size .
Example of counting combinations
As a specific example, one can compute the number of five-card hands possible from a standard fifty-two card deck as:
\binom{52}{5} \frac{52\times51\times50\times49\times48}{5\times4\times3\times2\times1} \frac{311{,}875{,}200}{120} =
2{,}598{,}960.
Alternatively one may use the formula in terms of factorials and cancel the factors in the numerator against parts of the factors in the denominator, after which only multiplication of the remaining factors is required:
\begin{alignat}{2}
\binom{52}{5}
&= \frac{52!}{5!47!} \\[5pt]
&= \frac{52\times51\times50\times49\times48\times\cancel{47!}}{5\times4\times3\times2\times\cancel{1}\times\cancel{47!}} \\[5pt]
&= \frac{52\times51\times50\times49\times48}{5\times4\times3\times2} \\[5pt]
&= \frac{(26\times\cancel{2})\times(17\times\cancel{3})\times(10\times\cancel{5})\times49\times(12\times\cancel{4})}{\cancel{5}\times\cancel{4}\times\cancel{3}\times\cancel{2}} \\[5pt]
&= {26\times17\times10\times49\times12} \\[5pt]
&= 2{,}598{,}960.
\end{alignat}
Another alternative computation, equivalent to the first, is based on writing
\binom{n}{k} = \frac { ( n - 0 ) }1 \times \frac { ( n - 1 ) }2 \times \frac { ( n - 2 ) }3 \times \cdots \times \frac { ( n - (k - 1) ) }k,
which gives
\binom{52}{5} \frac{52}1 \times \frac{51}2 \times \frac{50}3 \times \frac{49}4 \times \frac{48}5 2{,}598{,}960.
When evaluated in the following order, , this can be computed using only integer arithmetic. The reason is that when each division occurs, the intermediate result that is produced is itself a binomial coefficient, so no remainders ever occur.
Using the symmetric formula in terms of factorials without performing simplifications gives a rather extensive calculation:
\begin{align}
\binom{52}{5} &\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} \frac{52!}{5!(52-5)!} = \frac{52!}{5!47!} \\[6pt]
&= \tfrac{80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000}{120\times258,623,241,511,168,180,642,964,355,153,611,979,969,197,632,389,120,000,000,000} \\[6pt]
&= 2{,}598{,}960.
\end{align}
Enumerating k-combinations
One can enumerate all k-combinations of a given set S of n elements in some fixed order, which establishes a bijection from an interval of \tbinom nk integers with the set of those k-combinations. Assuming S is itself ordered, for instance S = { 1, 2, ..., n }, there are two natural possibilities for ordering its k-combinations: by comparing their smallest elements first (as in the illustrations above) or by comparing their largest elements first. The latter option has the advantage that adding a new largest element to S will not change the initial part of the enumeration, but just add the new k-combinations of the larger set after the previous ones. Repeating this process, the enumeration can be extended indefinitely with k-combinations of ever larger sets. If moreover the intervals of the integers are taken to start at 0, then the k-combination at a given place i in the enumeration can be computed easily from i, and the bijection so obtained is known as the combinatorial number system. It is also known as "rank"/"ranking" and "unranking" in computational mathematics.
There are many ways to enumerate k combinations. One way is to track k index numbers of the elements selected, starting with {0 .. k−1} (zero-based) or {1 .. k} (one-based) as the first allowed k-combination. Then, repeatedly move to the next allowed k-combination by incrementing the smallest index number for which this would not create two equal index numbers, at the same time resetting all smaller index numbers to their initial values.
Number of combinations with repetition
A k-combination with repetitions, or k-multicombination, or multisubset of size k from a set S of size n is given by a set of k not necessarily distinct elements of S, where order is not taken into account: two sequences define the same multiset if one can be obtained from the other by permuting the terms. In other words, it is a sample of k elements from a set of n elements allowing for duplicates (i.e., with replacement) but disregarding different orderings (e.g. {2,1,2} = {1,2,2}). Associate an index to each element of S and think of the elements of S as types of objects, then we can let x_i denote the number of elements of type i in a multisubset. The number of multisubsets of size k is then the number of nonnegative integer (so allowing zero) solutions of the Diophantine equation:
x_1 + x_2 + \ldots + x_n = k.
If S has n elements, the number of such k-multisubsets is denoted by
\left(\!\!\binom{n}{k}\!\!\right),
a notation that is analogous to the binomial coefficient which counts k-subsets. This expression, n multichoose k, can also be given in terms of binomial coefficients:
\left(\!\!\binom{n}{k}\!\!\right)=\binom{n+k-1}{k}.
This relationship can be easily proved using a representation known as stars and bars.
A solution of the above Diophantine equation can be represented by x_1 stars, a separator (a bar), then x_2 more stars, another separator, and so on. The total number of stars in this representation is k and the number of bars is n - 1 (since a separation into n parts needs n-1 separators). Thus, a string of k + n - 1 (or n + k - 1) symbols (stars and bars) corresponds to a solution if there are k stars in the string. Any solution can be represented by choosing k out of positions to place stars and filling the remaining positions with bars. For example, the solution x_1 3, x_2 2, x_3 0, x_4 5 of the equation x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4 10 (n 4 and k = 10) can be represented by
\bigstar \bigstar \bigstar | \bigstar \bigstar | | \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar.
The number of such strings is the number of ways to place 10 stars in 13 positions, \binom{13}{10} \binom{13}{3} 286, which is the number of 10-multisubsets of a set with 4 elements.
thumb|370px|Bijection between 3-subsets of a 7-set (left) and 3-multisets with elements from a 5-set (right).This illustrates that \binom{7}{3} = \left(\!\! \binom{5}{3}\!\!\right).
As with binomial coefficients, there are several relationships between these multichoose expressions. For example, for n \ge 1, k \ge 0,
\left(\!\!\binom{n}{k}\!\!\right)=\left(\!\!\binom{k+1}{n-1}\!\!\right).
This identity follows from interchanging the stars and bars in the above representation.
\tbinom{-1}0, but not by the right hand side \tbinom{-1}{-1}). This follows from a clever representation of such combinations with just two symbols (see Stars and bars (combinatorics)). -->
Example of counting multisubsets
For example, if you have four types of donuts (n 4) on a menu to choose from and you want three donuts (k 3), the number of ways to choose the donuts with repetition can be calculated as
\left(\!\!\binom{4}{3}\!\!\right) \binom{4+3-1}3 \binom{6}{3} \frac{6 \times 5 \times 4}{3 \times 2 \times 1} 20.
This result can be verified by listing all the 3-multisubsets of the set S {1,2,3,4}. This is displayed in the following table. The second column lists the donuts you actually chose, the third column shows the nonnegative integer solutions [x_1,x_2,x_3,x_4] of the equation x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4 3 and the last column gives the stars and bars representation of the solutions.
No. 3-multiset Eq. solution Stars and bars 1 {1,1,1} [3,0,0,0] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar 2 {1,1,2} [2,1,0,0] \bigstar 3 {1,1,3} [2,0,1,0] \bigstar \bigstar 4 {1,1,4} [2,0,0,1] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar 5 {1,2,2} [1,2,0,0] \bigstar \bigstar 6 {1,2,3} [1,1,1,0] \bigstar |\bigstar| 7 {1,2,4} [1,1,0,1] \bigstar \bigstar 8 {1,3,3} [1,0,2,0] \bigstar 9 {1,3,4} [1,0,1,1] \bigstar \bigstar 10 {1,4,4} [1,0,0,2] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar 11 {2,2,2} [0,3,0,0] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar 12 {2,2,3} [0,2,1,0] \bigstar \bigstar | \bigstar| 13 {2,2,4} [0,2,0,1] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar 14 {2,3,3} [0,1,2,0] \bigstar |\bigstar \bigstar | 15 {2,3,4} [0,1,1,1] \bigstar | \bigstar | \bigstar 16 {2,4,4} [0,1,0,2] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar 17 {3,3,3} [0,0,3,0] 18 {3,3,4} [0,0,2,1] \bigstar 19 {3,4,4} [0,0,1,2] \bigstar \bigstar 20 {4,4,4} [0,0,0,3] \bigstar \bigstar \bigstar
\binom{n + k - 1}{k} = \frac{n(n+1)\cdots(n+k-1)}{k!}.
There is an easy way to understand the above result. Label the elements of S with numbers 0, 1, ..., , and choose a k-combination from the set of numbers { 1, 2, ..., } (so that there are unchosen numbers). Now change this k-combination into a k-multicombination of S by replacing every (chosen) number x in the k-combination by the element of S labeled by the number of unchosen numbers less than x. This is always a number in the range of the labels, and it is easy to see that every k-multicombination of S is obtained for one choice of a k-combination.
A concrete example may be helpful. Suppose there are 4 types of fruits (apple, orange, pear, banana) at a grocery store, and you want to buy 12 pieces of fruit. So n 4 and k 12. Use label 0 for apples, 1 for oranges, 2 for pears, and 3 for bananas. A selection of 12 fruits can be translated into a selection of 12 distinct numbers in the range 1,...,15 by selecting as many consecutive numbers starting from 1 as there are apples in the selection, then skip a number, continue choosing as many consecutive numbers as there are oranges selected, again skip a number, then again for pears, skip one again, and finally choose the remaining numbers (as many as there are bananas selected). For instance for 2 apples, 7 oranges, 0 pears and 3 bananas, the numbers chosen will be 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15. To recover the fruits, the numbers 1, 2 (not preceded by any unchosen numbers) are replaced by apples, the numbers 4, 5, ..., 10 (preceded by one unchosen number: 3) by oranges, and the numbers 13, 14, 15 (preceded by three unchosen numbers: 3, 11, and 12) by bananas; there are no chosen numbers preceded by exactly 2 unchosen numbers, and therefore no pears in the selection. The total number of possible selections is
\binom{4+12-1}{12} \left(\!\!\!\binom{4}{12}\!\!\!\right) \binom{15}{12} \left(\!\!\!\binom{13}{3}\!\!\!\right) \binom{15}{3} \frac{13\times14\times15}{1\times2\times3} 455.
-->
Number of k-combinations for all k
The number of k-combinations for all k is the number of subsets of a set of n elements. There are several ways to see that this number is 2n. In terms of combinations, \sum_{0\leq{k}\leq{n}}\binom n k = 2^n, which is the sum of the nth row (counting from 0) of the binomial coefficients in Pascal's triangle. These combinations (subsets) are enumerated by the 1 digits of the set of base 2 numbers counting from 0 to 2n − 1, where each digit position is an item from the set of n.
Given 3 cards numbered 1 to 3, there are 8 distinct combinations (subsets), including the empty set:
| \{ \{\} ; \{1\} ; \{2\} ; \{1, 2\} ; \{3\} ; \{1, 3\} ; \{2, 3\} ; \{1, 2, 3\} \}| 2^3 8
Representing these subsets (in the same order) as base 2 numerals:
0 – 000
1 – 001
2 – 010
3 – 011
4 – 100
5 – 101
6 – 110
7 – 111
Probability: sampling a random combination
There are various algorithms to pick out a random combination from a given set or list. Rejection sampling is extremely slow for large sample sizes. One way to select a k-combination efficiently from a population of size n is to iterate across each element of the population, and at each step pick that element with a dynamically changing probability of \frac{k-\#\text{samples chosen}}{n- \#\text{samples visited}} (see Reservoir sampling). Another is to pick a random non-negative integer less than \textstyle\binom nk and convert it into a combination using the combinatorial number system.
Number of ways to put objects into bins
A combination can also be thought of as a selection of two sets of items: those that go into the chosen bin and those that go into the unchosen bin. This can be generalized to any number of bins with the constraint that every item must go to exactly one bin. The number of ways to put objects into bins is given by the multinomial coefficient
\binom{n}{k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m} = \frac{n!}{k_1!\, k_2! \cdots k_m!},
where n is the number of items, m is the number of bins, and k_i is the number of items that go into bin i.
One way to see why this equation holds is to first number the objects arbitrarily from 1 to n and put the objects with numbers 1, 2, \ldots, k_1 into the first bin in order, the objects with numbers k_1+1, k_1+2, \ldots, k_2 into the second bin in order, and so on. There are n! distinct numberings, but many of them are equivalent, because only the set of items in a bin matters, not their order in it. Every combined permutation of each bins' contents produces an equivalent way of putting items into bins. As a result, every equivalence class consists of k_1!\, k_2! \cdots k_m! distinct numberings, and the number of equivalence classes is \textstyle\frac{n!}{k_1!\, k_2! \cdots k_m!}.
The binomial coefficient is the special case where k items go into the chosen bin and the remaining n-k items go into the unchosen bin:
\binom nk \binom{n}{k, n-k} \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}.
See also
Binomial coefficient
Combinatorics
Block design
Kneser graph
List of permutation topics
Multiset
Probability
Notes
References
Erwin Kreyszig, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, INC, 1999.
External links
Topcoder tutorial on combinatorics
Many Common types of permutation and combination math problems, with detailed solutions
The Unknown Formula For combinations when choices can be repeated and order does not matter
The dice roll with a given sum problem An application of the combinations with repetition to rolling multiple dice
Category:Combinatorics
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Software
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language]]
Software consists of computer programs that instruct the execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications.
The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital computers in the mid-20th century. Early programs were written in the machine language specific to the hardware. The introduction of high-level programming languages in 1958 allowed for more human-readable instructions, making software development easier and more portable across different computer architectures. Software in a programming language is run through a compiler or interpreter to execute on the architecture's hardware. Over time, software has become complex, owing to developments in networking, operating systems, and databases.
Software can generally be categorized into two main types:
# operating systems, which manage hardware resources and provide services for applications
# application software, which performs specific tasks for users
The rise of cloud computing has introduced the new software delivery model Software as a Service (SaaS). In SaaS, applications are hosted by a provider and accessed over the Internet.
The process of developing software involves several stages. The stages include software design, programming, testing, release, and maintenance. Software quality assurance and security are critical aspects of software development, as bugs and security vulnerabilities can lead to system failures and security breaches. Additionally, legal issues such as software licenses and intellectual property rights play a significant role in the distribution of software products.
History
is an essential invention to produce modern software systems.]]
The first use of the word software to describe computer programs is credited to mathematician John Wilder Tukey in 1958.
The first programmable computers, which appeared at the end of the 1940s, were programmed in machine language. Machine language is difficult to debug and not portable across different computers. Initially, hardware resources were more expensive than human resources. As programs became complex, programmer productivity became the bottleneck. The introduction of high-level programming languages in 1958 hid the details of the hardware and expressed the underlying algorithms into the code . Early languages include Fortran, Lisp, and COBOL.
Types
interacts with application software on a typical desktop computer. The application software layer interfaces with the operating system, which in turn communicates with the hardware. The arrows indicate information flow.]]
There are two main types of software:
* Operating systems are "the layer of software that manages a computer's resources for its users and their applications". There are three main purposes that an operating system fulfills:
**Allocating resources between different applications, deciding when they will receive central processing unit (CPU) time or space in memory.
**Providing an interface that abstracts the details of accessing hardware details (like physical memory) to make things easier for programmers.
**Offering common services, such as an interface for accessing network and disk devices. This enables an application to be run on different hardware without needing to be rewritten.
* Application software runs on top of the operating system and uses the computer's resources to perform a task. There are many different types of application software because the range of tasks that can be performed with modern computers is so large. Applications account for most software and require the environment provided by an operating system, and often other applications, in order to function.
(IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS)|upright=2.4|center]]
Software can also be categorized by how it is deployed. Traditional applications are purchased with a perpetual license for a specific version of the software, downloaded, and run on hardware belonging to the purchaser. The rise of the Internet and cloud computing enabled a new model, software as a service (SaaS), in which the provider hosts the software (usually built on top of rented infrastructure or platforms) and provides the use of the software to customers, often in exchange for a subscription fee. By 2023, SaaS products—which are usually delivered via a web application—had become the primary method that companies deliver applications.Software development and maintenance
from 1988. The numbers represent the typical cost of each phase.]]
Software companies aim to deliver a high-quality product on time and under budget. A challenge is that software development effort estimation is often inaccurate. Software development begins by conceiving the project, evaluating its feasibility, analyzing the business requirements, and making a software design. Most software projects speed up their development by reusing or incorporating existing software, either in the form of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or open-source software. Software quality assurance is typically a combination of manual code review by other engineers and automated software testing. Due to time constraints, testing cannot cover all aspects of the software's intended functionality, so developers often focus on the most critical functionality. Formal methods are used in some safety-critical systems to prove the correctness of code, while user acceptance testing helps to ensure that the product meets customer expectations. There are a variety of software development methodologies, which vary from completing all steps in order to concurrent and iterative models. Software development is driven by requirements taken from prospective users, as opposed to maintenance, which is driven by events such as a change request.
Frequently, software is released in an incomplete state when the development team runs out of time or funding. Despite testing and quality assurance, virtually all software contains bugs where the system does not work as intended. Post-release software maintenance is necessary to remediate these bugs when they are found and keep the software working as the environment changes over time. New features are often added after the release. Over time, the level of maintenance becomes increasingly restricted before being cut off entirely when the product is withdrawn from the market. As software ages, it becomes known as legacy software and can remain in use for decades, even if there is no one left who knows how to fix it. Over the lifetime of the product, software maintenance is estimated to comprise 75 percent or more of the total development cost.
Completing a software project involves various forms of expertise, not just in software programmers but also testing, documentation writing, project management, graphic design, user experience, user support, marketing, and fundraising.Quality and security
Software quality is defined as meeting the stated requirements as well as customer expectations. Quality is an overarching term that can refer to a code's correct and efficient behavior, its reusability and portability, or the ease of modification. It is usually more cost-effective to build quality into the product from the beginning rather than try to add it later in the development process. Higher quality code will reduce lifetime cost to both suppliers and customers as it is more reliable and easier to maintain. Software failures in safety-critical systems can be very serious including death. By some estimates, the cost of poor quality software can be as high as 20 to 40 percent of sales. Despite developers' goal of delivering a product that works entirely as intended, virtually all software contains bugs.
The rise of the Internet also greatly increased the need for computer security as it enabled malicious actors to conduct cyberattacks remotely. If a bug creates a security risk, it is called a vulnerability. Software patches are often released to fix identified vulnerabilities, but those that remain unknown (zero days) as well as those that have not been patched are still liable for exploitation. Vulnerabilities vary in their ability to be exploited by malicious actors, and the actual risk is dependent on the nature of the vulnerability as well as the value of the surrounding system. Although some vulnerabilities can only be used for denial of service attacks that compromise a system's availability, others allow the attacker to inject and run their own code (called malware), without the user being aware of it. To thwart cyberattacks, all software in the system must be designed to withstand and recover from external attack. Despite efforts to ensure security, a significant fraction of computers are infected with malware.
Encoding and execution
Programming languages
for a computer program in C. The gray lines are comments that explain the program to humans. When compiled and run, it will give the output "Hello, world!".]]
Programming languages are the format in which software is written. Since the 1950s, thousands of different programming languages have been invented; some have been in use for decades, while others have fallen into disuse. Some definitions classify machine code—the exact instructions directly implemented by the hardware—and assembly language—a more human-readable alternative to machine code whose statements can be translated one-to-one into machine code—as programming languages. Programs written in the high-level programming languages used to create software share a few main characteristics: knowledge of machine code is not necessary to write them, they can be ported to other computer systems, and they are more concise and human-readable than machine code. They must be both human-readable and capable of being translated into unambiguous instructions for computer hardware.
Compilation, interpretation, and execution
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The invention of high-level programming languages was simultaneous with the compilers needed to translate them automatically into machine code. Most programs do not contain all the resources needed to run them and rely on external libraries. Part of the compiler's function is to link these files in such a way that the program can be executed by the hardware. Once compiled, the program can be saved as an object file and the loader (part of the operating system) can take this saved file and execute it as a process on the computer hardware. Some programming languages use an interpreter instead of a compiler. An interpreter converts the program into machine code at run time, which makes them 10 to 100 times slower than compiled programming languages.
Legal issues
Liability
Software is often released with the knowledge that it is incomplete or contains bugs. Purchasers knowingly buy it in this state, which has led to a legal regime where liability for software products is significantly curtailed compared to other products.Licenses
, a free software program]]
Since the mid-1970s, software and its source code have been protected by copyright law that vests the owner with the exclusive right to copy the code. The underlying ideas or algorithms are not protected by copyright law, but are sometimes treated as a trade secret and concealed by such methods as non-disclosure agreements. A software copyright is often owned by the person or company that financed or made the software (depending on their contracts with employees or contractors who helped to write it). Some software is in the public domain and has no restrictions on who can use it, copy or share it, or modify it; a notable example is software written by the United States Government. Free and open-source software also allow free use, sharing, and modification, perhaps with a few specified conditions. The use of some software is governed by an agreement (software license) written by the copyright holder and imposed on the user. Proprietary software is usually sold under a restrictive license that limits its use and sharing. Some free software licenses require that modified versions must be released under the same license, which prevents the software from being sold
or distributed under proprietary restrictions.Patents
Patents give an inventor an exclusive, time-limited license for a novel product or process. Ideas about what software could accomplish are not protected by law and concrete implementations are instead covered by copyright law. In some countries, a requirement for the claimed invention to have an effect on the physical world may also be part of the requirements for a software patent to be held valid. Software patents have been historically controversial. Before the 1998 case State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc., software patents were generally not recognized in the United States. In that case, the Supreme Court decided that business processes could be patented. Patent applications are complex and costly, and lawsuits involving patents can drive up the cost of products. Unlike copyrights, patents generally only apply in the jurisdiction where they were issued.
Impact
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Engineer Capers Jones writes that "computers and software are making profound changes to every aspect of human life: education, work, warfare, entertainment, medicine, law, and everything else". It has become ubiquitous in everyday life in developed countries. In many cases, software augments the functionality of existing technologies such as household appliances and elevators. Software also spawned entirely new technologies such as the Internet, video games, mobile phones, and GPS. New methods of communication, including email, forums, blogs, microblogging, wikis, and social media, were enabled by the Internet. Massive amounts of knowledge exceeding any paper-based library are now available with a quick web search. Most creative professionals have switched to software-based tools such as computer-aided design, 3D modeling, digital image editing, and computer animation. Almost every complex device is controlled by software.ReferencesSources
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Computer programming
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Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of procedures, by writing code in one or more programming languages. Programmers typically use high-level programming languages that are more easily intelligible to humans than machine code, which is directly executed by the central processing unit. Proficient programming usually requires expertise in several different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, details of programming languages and generic code libraries, specialized algorithms, and formal logic.
Auxiliary tasks accompanying and related to programming include analyzing requirements, testing, debugging (investigating and fixing problems), implementation of build systems, and management of derived artifacts, such as programs' machine code. While these are sometimes considered programming, often the term software development is used for this larger overall process – with the terms programming, implementation, and coding reserved for the writing and editing of code per se. Sometimes software development is known as software engineering, especially when it employs formal methods or follows an engineering design process.
History
, whose notes were added to the end of Luigi Menabrea's paper included the first algorithm designed for processing by Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. She is often recognized as history's first computer programmer.]]
Programmable devices have existed for centuries. As early as the 9th century, a programmable music sequencer was invented by the Persian Banu Musa brothers, who described an automated mechanical flute player in the Book of Ingenious Devices. In 1206, the Arab engineer Al-Jazari invented a programmable drum machine where a musical mechanical automaton could be made to play different rhythms and drum patterns, via pegs and cams. In 1801, the Jacquard loom could produce entirely different weaves by changing the "program" – a series of pasteboard cards with holes punched in them.
Code-breaking algorithms have also existed for centuries. In the 9th century, the Arab mathematician Al-Kindi described a cryptographic algorithm for deciphering encrypted code, in A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages. He gave the first description of cryptanalysis by frequency analysis, the earliest code-breaking algorithm.
The first computer program is generally dated to 1843 when mathematician Ada Lovelace published an algorithm to calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, intended to be carried out by Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. However, Charles Babbage himself had written a program for the AE in 1837.
s, which were kept in order and arranged in program decks.]]
In the 1880s, Herman Hollerith invented the concept of storing data in machine-readable form. Later a control panel (plug board) added to his 1906 Type I Tabulator allowed it to be programmed for different jobs, and by the late 1940s, unit record equipment such as the IBM 602 and IBM 604, were programmed by control panels in a similar way, as were the first electronic computers. However, with the concept of the stored-program computer introduced in 1949, both programs and data were stored and manipulated in the same way in computer memory.
Machine language
Machine code was the language of early programs, written in the instruction set of the particular machine, often in binary notation. Assembly languages were soon developed that let the programmer specify instructions in a text format (e.g., ADD X, TOTAL), with abbreviations for each operation code and meaningful names for specifying addresses. However, because an assembly language is little more than a different notation for a machine language, two machines with different instruction sets also have different assembly languages.
for an IBM 402 Accounting Machine. Wires connect pulse streams from the card reader to counters and other internal logic and ultimately to the printer.]]
Compiler languages
High-level languages made the process of developing a program simpler and more understandable, and less bound to the underlying hardware.
The first compiler related tool, the A-0 System, was developed in 1952 by Grace Hopper, who also coined the term 'compiler'. FORTRAN, the first widely used high-level language to have a functional implementation, came out in 1957, and many other languages were soon developed—in particular, COBOL aimed at commercial data processing, and Lisp for computer research.
These compiled languages allow the programmer to write programs in terms that are syntactically richer, and more capable of abstracting the code, making it easy to target varying machine instruction sets via compilation declarations and heuristics. Compilers harnessed the power of computers to make programming easier
*Reliability: how often the results of a program are correct. This depends on conceptual correctness of algorithms and minimization of programming mistakes, such as mistakes in resource management (e.g., buffer overflows and race conditions) and logic errors (such as division by zero or off-by-one errors).
*Robustness: how well a program anticipates problems due to errors (not bugs). This includes situations such as incorrect, inappropriate or corrupt data, unavailability of needed resources such as memory, operating system services, and network connections, user error, and unexpected power outages.
*Usability: the ergonomics of a program: the ease with which a person can use the program for its intended purpose or in some cases even unanticipated purposes. Such issues can make or break its success even regardless of other issues. This involves a wide range of textual, graphical, and sometimes hardware elements that improve the clarity, intuitiveness, cohesiveness, and completeness of a program's user interface.
*Portability: the range of computer hardware and operating system platforms on which the source code of a program can be compiled/interpreted and run. This depends on differences in the programming facilities provided by the different platforms, including hardware and operating system resources, expected behavior of the hardware and operating system, and availability of platform-specific compilers (and sometimes libraries) for the language of the source code.
*Maintainability: the ease with which a program can be modified by its present or future developers in order to make improvements or to customize, fix bugs and security holes, or adapt it to new environments. Good practices during initial development make the difference in this regard. This quality may not be directly apparent to the end user but it can significantly affect the fate of a program over the long term.
*Efficiency/performance: Measure of system resources a program consumes (processor time, memory space, slow devices such as disks, network bandwidth and to some extent even user interaction): the less, the better. This also includes careful management of resources, for example cleaning up temporary files and eliminating memory leaks. This is often discussed under the shadow of a chosen programming language. Although the language certainly affects performance, even slower languages, such as Python, can execute programs instantly from a human perspective. Speed, resource usage, and performance are important for programs that bottleneck the system, but efficient use of programmer time is also important and is related to cost: more hardware may be cheaper.
Using automated tests and fitness functions can help to maintain some of the aforementioned attributes.
Readability of source code
In computer programming, readability refers to the ease with which a human reader can comprehend the purpose, control flow, and operation of source code. It affects the aspects of quality above, including portability, usability and most importantly maintainability.
Readability is important because programmers spend the majority of their time reading, trying to understand, reusing, and modifying existing source code, rather than writing new source code. Unreadable code often leads to bugs, inefficiencies, and duplicated code. A study found that a few simple readability transformations made code shorter and drastically reduced the time to understand it.
Following a consistent programming style often helps readability. However, readability is more than just programming style. Many factors, having little or nothing to do with the ability of the computer to efficiently compile and execute the code, contribute to readability. Some of these factors include:
*Different indent styles (whitespace)
*Comments
*Decomposition
*Naming conventions for objects (such as variables, classes, functions, procedures, etc.)
The presentation aspects of this (such as indents, line breaks, color highlighting, and so on) are often handled by the source code editor, but the content aspects reflect the programmer's talent and skills.
Various visual programming languages have also been developed with the intent to resolve readability concerns by adopting non-traditional approaches to code structure and display. Integrated development environments (IDEs) aim to integrate all such help. Techniques like Code refactoring can enhance readability.
Algorithmic complexity
The academic field and the engineering practice of computer programming are concerned with discovering and implementing the most efficient algorithms for a given class of problems. For this purpose, algorithms are classified into orders using Big O notation, which expresses resource use—such as execution time or memory consumption—in terms of the size of an input. Expert programmers are familiar with a variety of well-established algorithms and their respective complexities and use this knowledge to choose algorithms that are best suited to the circumstances.
Methodologies
The first step in most formal software development processes is requirements analysis, followed by testing to determine value modeling, implementation, and failure elimination (debugging). There exist a lot of different approaches for each of those tasks. One approach popular for requirements analysis is Use Case analysis. Many programmers use forms of Agile software development where the various stages of formal software development are more integrated together into short cycles that take a few weeks rather than years. There are many approaches to the Software development process.
Popular modeling techniques include Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) and Model-Driven Architecture (MDA). The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a notation used for both the OOAD and MDA.
A similar technique used for database design is Entity-Relationship Modeling (ER Modeling).
Implementation techniques include imperative languages (object-oriented or procedural), functional languages, and logic programming languages.
Measuring language usage
It is very difficult to determine what are the most popular modern programming languages. Methods of measuring programming language popularity include: counting the number of job advertisements that mention the language, the number of books sold and courses teaching the language (this overestimates the importance of newer languages), and estimates of the number of existing lines of code written in the language (this underestimates the number of users of business languages such as COBOL).
Some languages are very popular for particular kinds of applications, while some languages are regularly used to write many different kinds of applications. For example, COBOL is still strong in corporate data centers often on large mainframe computers, Fortran in engineering applications, scripting languages in Web development, and C in embedded software. Many applications use a mix of several languages in their construction and use. New languages are generally designed around the syntax of a prior language with new functionality added, (for example C++ adds object-orientation to C, and Java adds memory management and bytecode to C++, but as a result, loses efficiency and the ability for low-level manipulation).
Debugging
Debugging is a very important task in the software development process since having defects in a program can have significant consequences for its users. Some languages are more prone to some kinds of faults because their specification does not require compilers to perform as much checking as other languages. Use of a static code analysis tool can help detect some possible problems. Normally the first step in debugging is to attempt to reproduce the problem. This can be a non-trivial task, for example as with parallel processes or some unusual software bugs. Also, specific user environment and usage history can make it difficult to reproduce the problem.
After the bug is reproduced, the input of the program may need to be simplified to make it easier to debug. For example, when a bug in a compiler can make it crash when parsing some large source file, a simplification of the test case that results in only few lines from the original source file can be sufficient to reproduce the same crash. Trial-and-error/divide-and-conquer is needed: the programmer will try to remove some parts of the original test case and check if the problem still exists. When debugging the problem in a GUI, the programmer can try to skip some user interaction from the original problem description and check if the remaining actions are sufficient for bugs to appear. Scripting and breakpointing are also part of this process.
Debugging is often done with IDEs. Standalone debuggers like GDB are also used, and these often provide less of a visual environment, usually using a command line. Some text editors such as Emacs allow GDB to be invoked through them, to provide a visual environment.
Programming languages
Different programming languages support different styles of programming (called programming paradigms). The choice of language used is subject to many considerations, such as company policy, suitability to task, availability of third-party packages, or individual preference. Ideally, the programming language best suited for the task at hand will be selected. Trade-offs from this ideal involve finding enough programmers who know the language to build a team, the availability of compilers for that language, and the efficiency with which programs written in a given language execute. Languages form an approximate spectrum from "low-level" to "high-level"; "low-level" languages are typically more machine-oriented and faster to execute, whereas "high-level" languages are more abstract and easier to use but execute less quickly. It is usually easier to code in "high-level" languages than in "low-level" ones.
Programming languages are essential for software development. They are the building blocks for all software, from the simplest applications to the most sophisticated ones.
Allen Downey, in his book How To Think Like A Computer Scientist, writes:
:The details look different in different languages, but a few basic instructions appear in just about every language:
:*Input: Gather data from the keyboard, a file, or some other device.
:*Output: Display data on the screen or send data to a file or other device.
:*Arithmetic: Perform basic arithmetical operations like addition and multiplication.
:*Conditional Execution: Check for certain conditions and execute the appropriate sequence of statements.
:*Repetition: Perform some action repeatedly, usually with some variation.
Many computer languages provide a mechanism to call functions provided by shared libraries. Provided the functions in a library follow the appropriate run-time conventions (e.g., method of passing arguments), then these functions may be written in any other language.
Learning to program
Learning to program has a long history related to professional standards and practices, academic initiatives and curriculum, and commercial books and materials for students, self-taught learners, hobbyists, and others who desire to create or customize software for personal use. Since the 1960s, learning to program has taken on the characteristics of a popular movement, with the rise of academic disciplines, inspirational leaders, collective identities, and strategies to grow the movement and make institutionalize change. Through these social ideals and educational agendas, learning to code has become important not just for scientists and engineers, but for millions of citizens who have come to believe that creating software is beneficial to society and its members.ContextIn 1957, there were approximately 15,000 computer programmers employed in the U.S., a figure that accounts for 80% of the world's active developers. In 2014, there were approximately 18.5 million professional programmers in the world, of which 11 million can be considered professional and 7.5 million student or hobbyists. Before the rise of the commercial Internet in the mid-1990s, most programmers learned about software construction through books, magazines, user groups, and informal instruction methods, with academic coursework and corporate training playing important roles for professional workers.
The first book containing specific instructions about how to program a computer may have been Maurice Wilkes, David Wheeler, and Stanley Gill's Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer (1951). The book offered a selection of common subroutines for handling basic operations on the EDSAC, one of the world's first stored-program computers.
When high-level languages arrived, they were introduced by numerous books and materials that explained language keywords, managing program flow, working with data, and other concepts. These languages included FLOW-MATIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, ALGOL, Pascal, BASIC, and C. An example of an early programming primer from these years is Marshal H. Wrubel's A Primer of Programming for Digital Computers (1959), which included step-by-step instructions for filling out coding sheets, creating punched cards, and using the keywords in IBM's early FORTRAN system. Daniel McCracken's A Guide to FORTRAN Programming (1961) presented FORTRAN to a larger audience, including students and office workers.
In 1961, Alan Perlis suggested that all university freshmen at Carnegie Technical Institute take a course in computer programming. His advice was published in the popular technical journal Computers and Automation, which became a regular source of information for professional programmers.
Programmers soon had a range of learning texts at their disposal. ''Programmer's references'' listed keywords and functions related to a language, often in alphabetical order, as well as technical information about compilers and related systems. An early example was IBM's ''Programmers' Reference Manual: the FORTRAN Automatic Coding System for the IBM 704 EDPM (1956).
Over time, the genre of programmer's guides'' emerged, which presented the features of a language in tutorial or step by step format. Many early primers started with a program known as “Hello, World”, which presented the shortest program a developer could create in a given system. Programmer's guides then went on to discuss core topics like declaring variables, data types, formulas, flow control, user-defined functions, manipulating data, and other topics.
Early and influential programmer's guides included John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz's BASIC Programming (1967), Kathleen Jensen and Niklaus Wirth's The Pascal User Manual and Report (1971), and Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie's The C Programming Language (1978). Similar books for popular audiences (but with a much lighter tone) included Bob Albrecht's My Computer Loves Me When I Speak BASIC (1972), Al Kelley and Ira Pohl's A Book on C (1984), and Dan Gookin's C for Dummies (1994).
Beyond language-specific primers, there were numerous books and academic journals that introduced professional programming practices. Many were designed for university courses in computer science, software engineering, or related disciplines. Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming (1968 and later), presented hundreds of computational algorithms and their analysis. The Elements of Programming Style (1974), by Brian W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, concerned itself with programming style, the idea that programs should be written not only to satisfy the compiler but human readers. Jon Bentley's Programming Pearls (1986) offered practical advice about the art and craft of programming in professional and academic contexts. Texts specifically designed for students included Doug Cooper and Michael Clancy's Oh Pascal! (1982), Alfred Aho's Data Structures and Algorithms (1983), and Daniel Watt's Learning with Logo (1983).
Technical publishers
As personal computers became mass-market products, thousands of trade books and magazines sought to teach professional, hobbyist, and casual users to write computer programs. A sample of these learning resources includes BASIC Computer Games, Microcomputer Edition (1978), by David Ahl; Programming the Z80 (1979), by Rodnay Zaks; ''Programmer's CP/M Handbook (1983), by Andy Johnson-Laird; C Primer Plus (1984), by Mitchell Waite and The Waite Group; The Peter Norton Programmer's Guide to the IBM PC (1985), by Peter Norton; Advanced MS-DOS (1986), by Ray Duncan; Learn BASIC Now (1989), by Michael Halvorson and David Rygymr; Programming Windows (1992 and later), by Charles Petzold; Code Complete: A Practical Handbook for Software Construction (1993), by Steve McConnell; and Tricks of the Game-Programming Gurus'' (1994), by André LaMothe.
The PC software industry spurred the creation of numerous book publishers that offered programming primers and tutorials, as well as books for advanced software developers. These publishers included Addison-Wesley, IDG, Macmillan Inc., McGraw-Hill, Microsoft Press, O'Reilly Media, Prentice Hall, Sybex, Ventana Press, Waite Group Press, Wiley, Wrox Press, and Ziff-Davis.
Computer magazines and journals also provided learning content for professional and hobbyist programmers. A partial list of these resources includes Amiga World, Byte (magazine), Communications of the ACM, Computer (magazine), Compute!, Computer Language (magazine), Computers and Electronics, ''Dr. Dobb's Journal, IEEE Software, Macworld, PC Magazine, PC/Computing, and UnixWorld.
Digital learning / online resources
Between 2000 and 2010, computer book and magazine publishers declined significantly as providers of programming instruction, as programmers moved to Internet resources to expand their access to information. This shift brought forward new digital products and mechanisms to learn programming skills. During the transition, digital books from publishers transferred information that had traditionally been delivered in print to new and expanding audiences.
Important Internet resources for learning to code included blogs, wikis, videos, online databases, subscription sites, and custom websites focused on coding skills. New commercial resources included YouTube videos, Lynda.com tutorials (later LinkedIn Learning), Khan Academy, Codecademy, GitHub, W3Schools, and numerous coding bootcamps.
Most software development systems and game engines included rich online help resources, including integrated development environments (IDEs), context-sensitive help, APIs, and other digital resources. Commercial software development kits (SDKs) also provided a collection of software development tools and documentation in one installable package.
Commercial and non-profit organizations published learning websites for developers, created blogs, and established newsfeeds and social media resources about programming. Corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, and Amazon built corporate websites providing support for programmers, including resources like the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). Contemporary movements like Hour of Code (Code.org) show how learning to program has become associated with digital learning strategies, education agendas, and corporate philanthropy.
Programmers
Computer programmers are those who write computer software. Their jobs usually involve:
*Prototyping
*Coding
*Debugging
*Documentation
*Integration
*Maintenance
*Requirements analysis
*Software architecture
*Software testing
*Specification
Although programming has been presented in the media as a somewhat mathematical subject, some research shows that good programmers have strong skills in natural human languages, and that learning to code is similar to learning a foreign language.
See also
*Code smell
*Computer networking
*Competitive programming
*Programming best practices
*Systems programming
References
Sources
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Further reading
* A.K. Hartmann, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090211113048/http://worldscibooks.com/physics/6988.html Practical Guide to Computer Simulations], Singapore: World Scientific (2009)
* A. Hunt, D. Thomas, and W. Cunningham, The Pragmatic Programmer. From Journeyman to Master, Amsterdam: Addison-Wesley Longman (1999)
* Brian W. Kernighan, The Practice of Programming, Pearson (1999)
* Weinberg, Gerald M., The Psychology of Computer Programming, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold (1971)
* Edsger W. Dijkstra, A Discipline of Programming, Prentice-Hall (1976)
* O.-J. Dahl, E.W.Dijkstra, C.A.R. Hoare, Structured Programming, Academic Press (1972)
* David Gries, The Science of Programming'', Springer-Verlag (1981)
External links
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On the Consolation of Philosophy
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On the Consolation of Philosophy (), often titled as The Consolation of Philosophy or simply the Consolation, is a philosophical work by the Roman philosopher Boethius. Written in 523 while he was imprisoned and awaiting execution by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric, it is often described as the last great Western work of the Classical Period. Boethius' Consolation heavily influenced the philosophy of late antiquity, as well as Medieval and early Renaissance Christianity.DescriptionOn the Consolation of Philosophy was written in AD 523 during a one-year imprisonment Boethius served while awaiting trial—and eventual execution—for the alleged crime of treason under the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great. Boethius was at the very heights of power in Rome, holding the prestigious office of magister officiorum, and was brought down by treachery. This experience inspired the text, which reflects on how evil can exist in a world governed by God (the problem of theodicy), and how happiness is still attainable amidst fickle fortune, while also considering the nature of happiness and God. In 1891, the academic Hugh Fraser Stewart described the work as "by far the most interesting example of prison literature the world has ever seen."
Boethius writes the book as a conversation between himself and a female personification of philosophy, referred to as "Lady Philosophy". Philosophy consoles Boethius by discussing the transitory nature of wealth, fame, and power ("no man can ever truly be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune"), and the ultimate superiority of things of the mind, which she calls the "one true good". She contends that happiness comes from within, and that virtue is all that one truly has because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.
Boethius engages with the nature of predestination and free will, the problem of evil and the "problem of desert", human nature, virtue, and justice. He speaks about the nature of free will and determinism when he asks whether God knows and sees all, or does man have free will. On human nature, Boethius says that humans are essentially good, and only when they give in to "wickedness" do they "sink to the level of being an animal." On justice, he says criminals are not to be abused, but rather treated with sympathy and respect, using the analogy of doctor and patient to illustrate the ideal relationship between prosecutor and criminal.
Outline
On the Consolation of Philosophy is laid out as follows:
* Book I: Boethius laments his imprisonment before he is visited by Philosophy, personified as a woman.
* Book II: Philosophy illustrates the capricious nature of Fate by discussing the "wheel of Fortune"; she further argues that true happiness lies in the pursuit of wisdom.
* Book III: Building on the ideas laid out in the previous book, Philosophy explains how wisdom has a divine source; she also demonstrates how many earthly goods (e.g., wealth, beauty) are fleeting at best.
* Book IV: Philosophy and Boethius discuss the nature of good and evil, with Philosophy offering several explanations concerned with evil events and why the wicked can never attain true happiness.
* Book V: Boethius asks Philosophy about the role Chance plays in the order of everything. Philosophy argues that Chance is guided by Providence. Boethius then asks Philosophy about the compatibility of an omniscient God and free will.
Interpretation
In the Consolation, Boethius answered religious questions without reference to Christianity, relying solely on natural philosophy and the Classical Greek tradition. He believed in the correspondence between faith and reason. The truths found in Christianity would be no different from the truths found in philosophy. In the words of Henry Chadwick, "If the Consolation contains nothing distinctively Christian, it is also relevant that it contains nothing specifically pagan either...[it] is a work written by a Platonist who is also a Christian."
Boethius repeats the Macrobius model of the Earth in the center of a spherical cosmos.
The philosophical message of the book fits well with the religious piety of the Middle Ages. Boethius encouraged readers not to pursue worldly goods such as money and power, but to seek internalized virtues. Evil had a purpose, to provide a lesson to help change for good; while suffering from evil was seen as virtuous. Because God ruled the universe through Love, prayer to God and the application of Love would lead to true happiness. The Middle Ages, with their vivid sense of an overruling fate, found in Boethius an interpretation of life closely akin to the spirit of Christianity. The Consolation stands, by its note of fatalism and its affinities with the Christian doctrine of humility, midway between the pagan philosophy of Seneca the Younger and the later Christian philosophy of consolation represented by Thomas à Kempis.
The book is heavily influenced by Plato and his dialogues (as was Boethius himself). and Christian ethical messages, although current scholarly research is still far from clear exactly why and how the work became so vastly popular in the Middle Ages.
Influence
with the Wheel of Fortune in a medieval manuscript of a work by Boccaccio]]
From the Carolingian epoch to the end of the Middle Ages and beyond, The Consolation of Philosophy was one of the most popular and influential philosophical works, read by statesmen, poets, historians, philosophers, and theologians. It is through Boethius that much of the thought of the Classical period was made available to the Western Medieval world. It has often been said Boethius was the "last of the Romans and the first of the Scholastics". Other English translators include George Colville (1556), Henry Rosher (H. J.) James (1897), Walter John (W. J.) Sedgefield (1899), and Richard H. Green (1962). Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy was translated into Italian by Alberto della Piagentina (1332), Anselmo Tanso (Milan, 1520), Lodovico Domenichi (Florence, 1550), Benedetto Varchi (Florence, 1551), Cosimo Bartoli (Florence, 1551) and Tommaso Tamburini (Palermo, 1657).
Found within the Consolation are themes that have echoed throughout the Western canon: the female figure of wisdom that informs Dante, the ascent through the layered universe that is shared with Milton, the reconciliation of opposing forces that find their way into Chaucer in ''The Knight's Tale'', and the Wheel of Fortune so popular throughout the Middle Ages.
Citations from it occur frequently in Dante's Divina Commedia. Of Boethius, Dante remarked: "The blessed soul who exposes the deceptive world to anyone who gives ear to him."
Boethian influence can be found nearly everywhere in Geoffrey Chaucer's poetry, e.g. in Troilus and Criseyde, ''The Knight's Tale, The Clerk's Tale, The Franklin's Tale, The Parson's Tale and The Tale of Melibee, in the character of Lady Nature in The Parliament of Fowls and some of the shorter poems, such as Truth, The Former Age and Lak of Stedfastnesse. Chaucer translated the work in his Boece.
The Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola used some of the text in his choral work Canti di prigionia (1938). The Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe quoted parts of it in his opera or music theatre work Rites of Passage (1972–73), which was commissioned for the opening of the Sydney Opera House but was not ready in time.
Tom Shippey in The Road to Middle-earth'' says how "Boethian" much of the treatment of evil is in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Shippey says that Tolkien knew well the translation of Boethius that was made by King Alfred and he quotes some "Boethian" remarks from Frodo, Treebeard, and Elrond.
Boethius and Consolatio Philosophiae are cited frequently by the main character Ignatius J. Reilly in the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Confederacy of Dunces (1980).
It is a prosimetrical text, meaning that it is written in alternating sections of prose and metered verse. In the course of the text, Boethius displays a virtuosic command of the forms of Latin poetry. It is classified as a Menippean satire, a fusion of allegorical tale, platonic dialogue, and lyrical poetry.
Edward Gibbon described the work as "a golden volume not unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully."
In the 20th century, there were close to four hundred manuscripts still surviving, a testament to its popularity.
Of the work, C. S. Lewis wrote: "To acquire a taste for it is almost to become naturalised in the Middle Ages."
In 2024, under the high patronage of the European Parliament, the Italian composer Mirco De Stefani published Cori di Boezio, for twelve male voices a cappella, on seven poems from De Consolatione Philosophiae, in the 15th centenary of the work.
Reconstruction of lost songs
Hundreds of Latin songs were recorded in neumes from the ninth century through to the thirteenth century, including settings of the poetic passages from Boethius's The Consolation of Philosophy. The music of this song repertory had long been considered irretrievably lost because the notational signs indicated only melodic outlines, relying on now-lapsed oral traditions to fill in the missing details. However, research conducted by Sam Barrett at the University of Cambridge, extended in collaboration with Medieval music ensemble Sequentia, has shown that principles of musical setting for this period can be identified, providing crucial information to enable modern realisations. Sequentia performed the world premiere of the reconstructed songs from Boethius's The Consolation of Philosophy at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in April 2016, bringing to life music not heard in over 1,000 years; a number of the songs were subsequently recorded on the CD Boethius: Songs of Consolation. Metra from 11th-Century Canterbury (Glossa, 2018). The detective story behind the recovery of these lost songs is told in a documentary film, and a website launched by the University of Cambridge in 2018 provides further details of the reconstruction process, bringing together manuscripts, reconstructions, and video resources.
See also
* Allegory in the Middle Ages
* Consolatio
* Girdle book
* Metres of Boethius
* Prosimetrum
* Stoicism
* The Wheel of Fortune
References
Sources
*
* Boethius, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0te1I5u6hFEC The Consolation of Philosophy].
** [https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A28543.0001.001 Tr. Anonymous] (London, James Flesher), 1664, Early English Books Online Collections.
** [https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A28549.0001.001 Tr. lover of truth and virtue] (Oxford, H. Hall) 1674, Early English Books Online Collections.
** [https://name.umdl.umich.edu/a28548.0001.001 Tr.] Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston, (London, J.D.) 1695, Early English Books Online Collections.
** [https://archive.org/details/bim%20eighteenth-century%20de-consolatione-philoso%20boethius-anicius-manliu%201785/page/n2/mode/1up?view=theater Tr. Philip Ridpath] (London) 1785 Internet Archive.
** [https://archive.org/details/consolationofphi00boetiala/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater Tr. Henry Rosher James], (London, Elliot Stock) 1897, Internet Archive.
** Tr. Walter John Sedgefield (Oxford), [https://archive.org/details/kingalfredsolde02alfrgoog/page/n7/mode/1up?viewtheater 1899], [https://archive.org/details/KingAlfredsfBoethius/page/n8/mode/1up?viewtheater 1900], Internet Archive.
** [https://archive.org/details/consolationofphi029292mbp/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater Tr. Wilbraham Villiers (W. V.) Cooper] (Carlton House, NY & Aldine House London) 1902, Internet Archive.
** [https://archive.org/details/theologicaltract00boetuoft/page/n2/mode/1up?view=theater Tr.] Edward Kennard Rand (R. & R. Clark, Limited) 1918, 1953, Loeb Classical Library, Internet Archive.
** Tr. Richard H. Green, (Library of the Liberal Arts), 1962.
** Tr. Victor Watts, (Penguin Classics), 2000.
** Tr. Joel C. Relihan, (Hackett Publishing), 2001.
** Tr. P. G. Walsh, (Oxford World's Classics), 2001.
* Cochrane, Charles Norris., Christianity and Classical Culture, 1940, .
* Henry Chadwick, Boethius: The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology and Philosophy, 1990,
* .
* .
* Relihan, Joel C., Ancient Menippean Satire, 1993,
* Relihan, Joel C., ''The Prisoner's Philosophy: Life and Death in Boethius's Consolation, 2007, .
* Sanderson Beck, [http://www.san.beck.org/Boethius.html The Consolation of Boethius] an analysis and commentary. 1996.
* The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, [http://www.bartleby.com/211/0605.html Volume I Ch.6.5: De Consolatione Philosophiae''], 1907–1921.
External links
*
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14328 Consolatio Philosophiae] from Project Gutenberg, HTML conversion, originally translated by H. R. James, London 1897.
* [http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/boethius/jkok/list_t.htm Consolatio Philosophiae] in the original Latin with English comments at the University of Georgetown
* [http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-performance-in-1000-years-lost-songs-from-the-middle-ages-are-brought-back-to-life-0 First Performance in 1000 years: lost songs from the Middle Ages are brought back to life]
* Medieval translations into [https://archive.org/details/kingalfredsangl01unkngoog Old English] by Alfred the Great, [https://archive.org/details/dieschriftennot01pipegoog Old High German] by Notker Labeo, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k111272g.r=boece.langFR Middle (originally Old) French] by Jean de Meun, and [https://archive.org/details/chaucerstransla00boetgoog Middle English] by Geoffrey Chaucer
*
* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3Aboethius%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts The Consolation of Philosophy], many translations and commentaries from Internet Archive
* [http://www.exclassics.com/consol/conintro.htm The Consolation of Philosophy], Translated by: W.V. Cooper : J.M. Dent and Company London 1902 The Temple Classics, edited by Israel Golancz M.A. Online reading and multiple ebook formats at Ex-classics.
Category:524
Category:6th-century books in Latin
Category:Christian apologetic works
Category:Dialogues
Category:Prose texts in Latin
Category:Medieval philosophical literature
Category:Prison writings
Category:Theodicy
Category:Visionary literature
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Consolation_of_Philosophy
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
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}}
| director = Ang Lee
| producer =
| screenplay =
| based_on =
| starring =
| music = Tan Dun
| cinematography = Peter Pau
| editing = Tim Squyres
| production_companies =
| distributor =
| released <!--WP:FILMRELEASE-->
| runtime 120 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 120:09-->
| country =
* Chow Yun-fat as Li Mu Bai (, )
* Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lien (, )
* Zhang Ziyi as Jen Yu (, )
* Chang Chen as Lo "Dark Cloud" Xiao Hou (, )
* Lang Sihung as Sir Te (, )
* Cheng Pei-pei as Jade Fox (, )
* as Governor Yu (, )
* Wang Deming as Inspector Tsai (, )
* Li Li as Tsai May (, )
* Hai Yan as Madam Yu (, )
* Gao Xi'an as Bo (, )
* as Aunt Wu (, )
* Zhang Jinting as De Lu (, )
* Du Zhenxi as Uncle Jiao (, )
* Li Kai as Gou Jun Pei (, )
* Feng Jianhua as Shining Phoenix Mountain Gou (, )
* Ma Zhongxuan as Iron Arm Mi (, )
* Li Bao-Cheng as Flying Machete Chang (, )
* Yang Yongde as Monk Jing (, )
Themes and interpretations
Title
The title "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a literal translation of the Chinese idiom "臥虎藏龍" which describes a place or situation that is full of unnoticed masters. It is from a poem of the ancient Chinese poet Yu Xin (513–581) that reads "暗石疑藏虎，盤根似臥龍", which means "behind the rock in the dark probably hides a tiger, and the coiling giant root resembles a crouching dragon". The title also has several other layers of meaning. On one level, the Chinese characters in the title connect to the narrative that the last character in Xiaohu and Jiaolong's names mean "tiger" and "dragon", respectively. On another level, the Chinese idiomatic phrase is an expression referring to the undercurrents of emotion, passion, and secret desire that lie beneath the surface of polite society and civil behavior, The storyline of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is mostly driven by the three female characters. In particular, Jen is driven by her desire to be free from the gender role imposed on her, while Shu Lien, herself oppressed by the gender role, tries to lead Jen back into the role deemed appropriate for her. and quest for vengeance: she poisons the master of Wudang, attempts to poison Jen, and succeeds in killing Mu Bai using a poisoned needle. In further play on this theme by the director, Jade Fox, as she dies, refers to the poison from a young child, "the deceit of an eight-year-old girl", referring to what she considers her own spiritual poisoning by her young apprentice Jen. Li Mu Bai himself warns that, without guidance, Jen could become a "poison dragon".
China of the imagination
The story is set during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), but it does not specify an exact time. Lee sought to present a "China of the imagination" rather than an accurate vision of Chinese history. At the same time, Lee also wanted to make a film that Western audiences would want to see. Thus, the film is shot for a balance between Eastern and Western aesthetics. There are some scenes showing uncommon artistry for the typical martial arts film such as an airborne battle among wispy bamboo plants. In the contract reached between Columbia Pictures and Ang Lee and Hsu Li-kong, they agreed to invest US$6 million in filming, but the stipulated recovery amount must be more than six times before the two parties will start to pay dividends.CastingShu Qi was Ang Lee's first choice for the role of Jen, but she turned it down.
Filming
, including the bridge pictured above, was one of many filming locations.]]
Although its Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was presented to Taiwan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was in fact an international co-production between companies in four regions: the Chinese company China Film Co-production Corporation, the American companies Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, Sony Pictures Classics, and Good Machine, the Hong Kong company Edko Films, and the Taiwanese Zoom Hunt Productions, as well as the unspecified United China Vision and Asia Union Film & Entertainment, created solely for this film.
The film was made in Beijing, with location shooting in Urumchi, Western Provinces, Taklamakan Plateau,
Shanghai and Anji of China. The first phase of shooting was in the Gobi Desert where it consistently rained. Director Ang Lee noted: "I didn't take one break in eight months, not even for half a day. I was miserable—I just didn't have the extra energy to be happy. Near the end, I could hardly breathe. I thought I was about to have a stroke." The stunt work was mostly performed by the actors themselves and Ang Lee stated in an interview that computers were used "only to remove the safety wires that held the actors" aloft. "Most of the time you can see their faces," he added. "That's really them in the trees."
Another compounding issue was the difference between accents of the four lead actors: Chow Yun-fat is from Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese natively; Michelle Yeoh is from Malaysia and grew up speaking English and Malay, so she learned the Standard Chinese lines phonetically;Soundtrack
The score was composed by Dun Tan in 1999. It was played for the movie by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai National Orchestra and the Shanghai Percussion Ensemble. It features solo passages for cello played by Yo-Yo Ma. The "last track" ("A Love Before Time") features Coco Lee, who later sang it at the Academy Awards. The composer Chen Yuanlin also collaborated in the project. The music for the entire film was produced in two weeks. Tan the next year (2000) adapted his filmscore as a cello concerto called simply "Crouching Tiger."
Release
Marketing
The film was adapted into a video game and a series of comics, and it led to the original novel being adapted into a 34-episode Taiwanese television series. The latter was released in 2004 as New Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for Northern American release.
Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on 5 June 2001 by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. It was also released on UMD on 26 June 2005. In the United Kingdom, it was watched by viewers on television in 2004, making it the year's most-watched foreign-language film on television. Restoration The film was re-released in a 4K restoration by Sony Pictures Classics in 2023.ReceptionBox officeThe film premiered in cinemas on 8 December 2000, in limited release within the United States. During its opening weekend, the film opened in 15th place, grossing $663,205 in business, showing at 16 locations. The film's revenue dropped by almost 30% in its second week of release, earning $6,080,357. For that particular weekend, the film fell to eighth place, screening in 837 theaters. Save the Last Dance remained unchanged in first place, grossing $15,366,047 in box-office revenue. The film went on to top out domestically at $128,078,872 in total ticket sales through a 31-week theatrical run. Internationally, the film took in an additional $85,446,864 in box-office business for a combined worldwide total of $213,525,736.
Critical response
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was widely acclaimed in the Western world, receiving numerous awards. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 168 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The site's critical consensus states: "The movie that catapulted Ang Lee into the ranks of upper echelon Hollywood filmmakers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon features a deft mix of amazing martial arts battles, beautiful scenery, and tasteful drama." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 94 out of 100, based on 32 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Some Chinese-speaking viewers were bothered by the accents of the leading actors. Neither Chow (a native Cantonese speaker) nor Yeoh (who was born and raised in Malaysia) spoke Mandarin Chinese as a mother tongue. All four main actors spoke Standard Chinese with vastly different accents: Chow speaks with a Cantonese accent, Yeoh with a Malaysian accent, Chang Chen with a Taiwanese accent, and Zhang Ziyi with a Beijing accent. Yeoh responded to this complaint in a 28 December 2000, interview with Cinescape. She argued: "My character lived outside of Beijing, and so I didn't have to do the Beijing accent." When the interviewer, Craig Reid, remarked: "My mother-in-law has this strange Sichuan-Mandarin accent that's hard for me to understand," Yeoh responded: "Yes, provinces all have their very own strong accents. When we first started the movie, Cheng Pei Pei was going to have her accent, and Chang Zhen was going to have his accent, and this person would have that accent. And in the end nobody could understand what they were saying. Forget about us, even the crew from Beijing thought this was all weird."
The film led to a boost in popularity of Chinese wuxia films in the western world, where they were previously little known, and led to films such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, both directed by Zhang Yimou, being marketed towards Western audiences. The film also provided the breakthrough role for Zhang Ziyi's career, who noted:
Film Journal noted that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon "pulled off the rare trifecta of critical acclaim, boffo box-office and gestalt shift", in reference to its ground-breaking success for a subtitled film in the American market.AccoladesGarnering widespread critical acclaim at the Toronto and New York film festivals, the film also became a favorite when Academy Awards nominations were announced in 2001. The film was screened out of competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. The film received ten Academy Award nominations, which was the highest ever for a non-English language film, up until it was tied by Roma (2018).
The film is ranked at number 497 on Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. and at number 66 in the magazine's 100 Best Films of World Cinema, published in 2010.
In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.
In 2016, it was voted the 35th-best film of the 21st century as picked by 177 film critics from around the world in a poll conducted by BBC.
The film was included in BBC's 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films ranked by 209 critics from 43 countries around the world. In 2019, The Guardian ranked the film 51st in its 100 best films of the 21st century list. The February 2020 issue of New York Magazine lists Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars." In 2024, Looper ranked it number 12 on its list of the "50 Best PG-13 Movies of All Time," writing "It's rare for a movie to conjure up the word "sweeping," but that's just what Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon does. Whether it's the sight of human beings flying through the sky or the absorbing human drama that drives the plot, Ang Lee's 2000 wuxia feature is a remarkable movie that makes one's jaw drop as often as it makes your heart soar."
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope"col" | Award
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Nominee
! scope="col" | Result
! scope"col" class"unsortable"|
|-
|rowspan=4| Ammy Awards
| Best Hollywood Picture
| Ang Lee
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan4| <br/><br/>
|-
| Best Male Actor in a Cinematic Production
| Chow Yun Fat
|
|-
|rowspan=2| Best Female Actor in a Cinematic Production
| Michelle Yeoh
|
|-
| Zhang Ziyi
|
|-
|rowspan=10|73rd Academy Awards
|Best Picture
|Bill Kong, Hsu Li-kong, and Ang Lee
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan10|
|-
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Best Adapted Screenplay
|Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung
|
|-
|Best Foreign Language Film
|Taiwan
|
|-
|Best Art Direction
|Art Direction and Set Decoration: Tim Yip
|
|-
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
|-
|Best Costume Design
|Tim Yip
|
|-
|Best Film Editing
|Tim Squyres
|
|-
|Best Original Score
|Tan Dun
|
|-
|Best Original Song
|Jorge Calandrelli, Tan Dun and James Schamus for "A Love Before Time"
|
|-
|2000 American Society of Cinematographers Awards
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|rowspan=14|54th British Academy Film Awards
|Best Film
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan14|
|-
|Best Film Not in the English Language
|
|
|-
|Best Actress in a Leading Role
|Michelle Yeoh
|
|-
|Best Actress in a Supporting Role
|Zhang Ziyi
|
|-
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
|-
|Best Makeup and Hair
|
|
|-
|Best Editing
|Tim Squyres
|
|-
|Best Costume Design
|Tim Yip
|
|-
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Best Music
|Tan Dun
|
|-
|Best Adapted Screenplay
|Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung
|
|-
|Best Production Design
|Tim Yip
|
|-
|Best Sound
|
|
|-
|Best Visual Effects
|
|
|-
|Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2000
|Best Foreign Film
|
|
| style"text-align:center;"|
|-
|rowspan=4|Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2000
|Most Promising Actress
|Zhang Ziyi
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan4|
|-
|Best Original Score
|Tan Dun
|
|-
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
|-
|Best Foreign Film
|
|
|-
|2000 Directors Guild of America Awards
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
| style"text-align:center;"|
|-
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Best Original Score
|Tan Dun
|
|-
|rowspan=16|20th Hong Kong Film Awards
|Best Film
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan16|
|-
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Best Screenplay
|Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung
|
|-
|Best Actor
|Chow Yun-fat
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Best Actress
|Zhang Ziyi
|
|-
|Michelle Yeoh
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actor
|Chang Chen
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actress
|Cheng Pei-pei
|
|-
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
|-
|Best Film Editing
|Tim Squyres
|
|-
|Best Art Direction
|Tim Yip
|
|-
|Best Costume Make Up Design
|Tim Yip
|
|-
|Best Action Choreography
|Yuen Wo-ping
|
|-
|Best Original Film Score
|Tan Dun
|
|-
|Best Original Film Song
|Tan Dun, Jorge Calandrelli, Yee Kar-yeung, Coco Lee
|
|-
|Best Sound Design
|Eugene Gearty
|
|-
|Hugo Award (2001)
|Best Dramatic Presentation
|
|
| style"text-align:center;"|
|-
|rowspan=3|Independent Spirit Awards 2000
|Best Picture
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan3|
|-
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actress
|Zhang Ziyi
|
|-
|rowspan=4|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2000
|Best Picture
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan4|
|-
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
|-
|Best Music Score
|Tan Dun
|
|-
|Best Production Design
|Tim Yip
|
|-
|rowspan=2|National Board of Review Awards 2000
|Best Foreign Language Film
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan2|
|-
|Top Foreign Films
|
|
|-
|2000 New York Film Critics Circle Awards
|Best Cinematography
|Peter Pau
|
| style"text-align:center;"|
|-
|rowspan=4|Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2000
|Best Picture
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan4|
|-
|Best Director
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Best Actress
|Michelle Yeoh
|
|-
|Best Supporting Actress
|Zhang Ziyi
|
|-
|2000 Toronto International Film Festival
|People's Choice Award
|Ang Lee
|
|-
|Writers Guild of America Awards 2000
|Best Adapted Screenplay
|Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung
|
| style"text-align:center;"|
|-
| rowspan=12|37th Golden Horse Awards – 2000
| Best Feature Film
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan12|
|-
| Best Director || Ang Lee ||
|-
| rowspan=2|Best Leading Actress || Michelle Yeoh ||
|-
| Zhang Ziyi ||
|-
| Best Screenplay Adaption || Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung ||
|-
| Best Cinematography || Peter Pau ||
|-
| Best Film Editing || Tim Squyres ||
|-
| Best Art Direction || Tim Yip ||
|-
| Best Original Score || Tan Dun ||
|-
| Best Sound Design || Eugene Gearty ||
|-
| Best Action Choreography || Yuen Wo-ping ||
|-
| Best Visual Effects || Leo Lo, and Rob Hodgson ||
|-
|54th Bodil Awards
|Best Non-American Film
|
|
|-
|rowspan=7|Online Film Critics Society Awards 2000
| Best Picture
|
|
| style"text-align:center;" rowspan7|
|-
| Best Foreign Language Film || ||
|-
| Best Director || Ang Lee ||
|-
| Best Supporting Actress || Zhang Ziyi ||
|-
| Best Cinematography || Peter Pau ||
|-
| Best Editing || Tim Squyres ||
|-
| Best Original Score || Tan Dun ||
|}
Sequel
In 2001, it was reported that director Ang Lee was planning to make a sequel to the film. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, was released in 2016. It was directed by Yuen Wo-ping, who was the action choreographer for the first film. It is a co-production between Pegasus Media, China Film Group Corporation, and the Weinstein Company. Unlike the original film, the sequel was filmed in English for international release and dubbed into Chinese for Chinese releases.
Sword of Destiny is based on Iron Knight, Silver Vase, the next (and last) novel in the Crane-Iron_Series. It features a mostly new cast, headed by Donnie Yen. Michelle Yeoh reprised her role from the original. Zhang Ziyi was also approached to appear in Sword of Destiny but refused, stating that she would only appear in a sequel if Ang Lee were directing it.
In the West, the sequel was for the most part not shown in theaters, instead being distributed direct-to-video by the streaming service Netflix. In popular culture The names of the pterosaur genus Kryptodrakon and the ceratopsian genus Yinlong (both meaning "hidden dragon" in Greek and Chinese respectively) allude to the film.
The character of Lo, or "Dark Cloud" the desert bandit, influenced the development of the protagonist of the Prince of Persia series of video games.
See also
* Anji County
* Clear waters and green mountains
References
Further reading
*
* – Collection of articles
*
External links
*
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*
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*
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2025-04-05T18:27:08.889902
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5314
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Charlemagne
|
with the inscription <br />(Karolus Imperator Augustus)
| succession2 = Emperor of the Carolingian Empire
| reign2 = 25 December 800 – 28 January 814
| coronation2 = 25 December 800<br />Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
| predecessor2 = <!-- Do not add Constantine VI here; a claim of spiritual inheritance not recognised in modern scholarship has no place here -->
| successor2 = Louis the Pious
| birth_date . See further Karl Ferdinand Werner, Das Geburtsdatum Karls des Großen, in Francia 1, 1973, pp. 115–157 ([http://mdzx.bib-bvb.de/francia/Blatt_bsb00016275,00115.html online] );<br />Matthias Becher: Neue Überlegungen zum Geburtsdatum Karls des Großen, in: Francia 19/1, 1992, pp. 37–60 ([http://mdzx.bib-bvb.de/francia/Blatt_bsb00016296,00047.html online] )}}
| birth_place = Francia
| death_date
| death_place = Aachen, Francia
| spouses = ; annulled 771)}}
*
* ; d. 794)}}
* ; d. 800)}}
}}
| issue =
| issue-link = #Wives,_concubines,_and_children
| issue-pipe = Among others
| house = Carolingian
| house-type = Dynasty
| father = Pepin the Short
| mother = Bertrada of Laon
| signature_type = Signum manus
| religion = Chalcedonian Christianity
| type = King
| image_size = 225
| succession1 = King of the Lombards
| reign1 = June 774 – 28 January 814
| predecessor1 = Desiderius
| successor1 = Bernard
| regent1 = Pepin of Italy (781–810)
| reg-type1 = Co-ruler
| succession = King of the Franks
| reign = 9 October 768 –<br />28 January 814
| coronation = 9 October 768<br />Noyon
| regent = Carloman I (768–771)<br />Charles (800–811)
| reg-type = Co-ruler
| predecessor = Pepin the Short
| successor = Louis the Pious
| place of burial = Aachen Cathedral
| signature = Karldergrossesignatur.svg
}}
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814. He united most of Western and Central Europe, and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. Charlemagne's reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages.
A member of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. With his brother, Carloman I, he became king of the Franks in 768 following Pepin's death and became the sole ruler three years later. Charlemagne continued his father's policy of protecting the papacy and became its chief defender, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy in 774. His reign saw a period of expansion that led to the conquests of Bavaria, Saxony, and northern Spain, as well as other campaigns that led Charlemagne to extend his rule over a large part of Europe. Charlemagne spread Christianity to his new conquests (often by force), as seen at the Massacre of Verden against the Saxons. He also sent envoys and initiated diplomatic contact with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 790s, due to their mutual interest in Iberian affairs.
In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. Although historians debate the coronation's significance, the title represented the height of his prestige and authority. Charlemagne's position as the first emperor in the West in over 300 years brought him into conflict with the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople. Through his assumption of the imperial title, he is considered the forerunner to the line of Holy Roman Emperors, which persisted into the nineteenth century. As king and emperor, Charlemagne engaged in a number of reforms in administration, law, education, military organisation, and religion, which shaped Europe for centuries. The stability of his reign began a period of cultural activity known as the Carolingian Renaissance.
Charlemagne died in 814 and was buried at Aachen Cathedral in Aachen, his imperial capital city. He was succeeded by his only surviving legitimate son, Louis the Pious. After Louis, the Frankish kingdom was divided and eventually coalesced into West and East Francia, which later became France and Germany, respectively. Charlemagne's profound influence on the Middle Ages and influence on the territory he ruled has led him to be called the "Father of Europe" by many historians. He is seen as a founding figure by multiple European states and a number of historical royal houses of Europe trace their lineage back to him. Charlemagne has been the subject of artworks, monuments and literature during and after the medieval period.
Name
Several languages were spoken in Charlemagne's world, and he was known to contemporaries as in the Old High German he spoke; as to Early Old French (or Proto-Romance) speakers; and as (or ) in Medieval Latin, the formal language of writing and diplomacy. Charles is the modern English form of these names. The name , as the emperor is normally known in English, comes from the French ('Charles the Great'). In modern German and Dutch, he is known as and respectively. The Latin epithet ('great') may have been associated with him during his lifetime, but this is not certain. The contemporary Royal Frankish Annals routinely call him ("Charles the great king"). That epithet is attested in the works of the Poeta Saxo around 900, and it had become commonly applied to him by 1000.
Charlemagne was named after his grandfather, Charles Martel. That name, and its derivatives, are unattested before their use by Charles Martel and Charlemagne. Karolus was adapted by Slavic languages as their word for "king" (, and ) through Charlemagne's influence or that of his great-grandson, Charles the Fat.Early life and rise to powerPolitical background and ancestryBy the sixth century, the western Germanic tribe of the Franks had been Christianised; this was due in considerable measure to the conversion of their king, Clovis I, to Catholicism. The Franks had established a kingdom in Gaul in the wake of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. This kingdom, Francia, grew to encompass nearly all of present-day France and Switzerland, along with parts of modern Germany and the Low Countries under the rule of the Merovingian dynasty. Francia was often divided under different Merovingian kings, due to the partible inheritance practised by the Franks. The late seventh century saw a period of war and instability following the murder of King Childeric II, which led to factional struggles among the Frankish aristocrats.
Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his 687 victory at the Battle of Tertry. Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of Austrasia: Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen. The mayors of the palace had gained influence as the Merovingian kings' power waned due to divisions of the kingdom and several succession crises. Pepin was eventually succeeded by his son Charles, later known as Charles Martel. Charles did not support a Merovingian successor upon the death of King Theuderic IV in 737, leaving the throne vacant. He made plans to divide the kingdom between his sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short, who succeeded him after his death in 741. The brothers placed the Merovingian Childeric III on the throne in 743. Pepin married Bertrada, a member of an influential Austrasian noble family, in 744. In 747, Carloman abdicated and entered a monastery in Rome. He had at least two sons; the elder, Drogo, took his place.
Birth
Charlemagne's year of birth is uncertain, although it was most likely in 748. An older tradition based on three sources, however, gives a birth year of 742. The ninth-century biographer Einhard reports Charlemagne as being 72 years old at the time of his death; the Royal Frankish Annals imprecisely gives his age at death as about 71, and his original epitaph called him a septuagenarian. Einhard said that he did not know much about Charlemagne's early life; some modern scholars believe that, not knowing the emperor's true age, he still sought to present an exact date in keeping with the Roman imperial biographies of Suetonius, which he used as a model. All three sources may have been influenced by Psalm 90: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten".
Historian Karl Ferdinand Werner challenged the acceptance of 742 as the Frankish king's birth year, citing an addition to the Annales Petaviani which records Charlemagne's birth in 747. ('and in that year, King Charles was born')."}} Lorsch Abbey commemorated Charlemagne's date of birth as 2 April from the mid-ninth century, and this date is likely to be genuine. Matthias Becher built on Werner's work and showed that 2 April in the year recorded would have actually been in 748, since the annalists recorded the start of the year from Easter rather than 1 January. Presently, most scholars accept April 748 for Charlemagne's birth. Charlemagne's place of birth is unknown. The Frankish palaces in Vaires-sur-Marne and Quierzy are among the places suggested by scholars. Pepin the Short held an assembly in Düren in 748, but it cannot be proved that it took place in April or if Bertrada was with him.
Language and education
The ("native tongue"). that Einhard refers to with regard to Charlemagne, was a Germanic language. Due to the prevalence in Francia of "rustic Roman", he was probably functionally bilingual in Germanic and Romance dialects at an early age. Charlemagne also spoke Latin and, according to Einhard, could understand and (perhaps) speak some Greek. Some 19th century historians tried to use the Oaths of Strasbourg (842) to determine Charlemagne's native language. They assumed that the text's copyist, Nithard, being a grandson of Charlemagne, would have spoken the same dialect as his grandfather, giving rise to the assumption that Charlemagne would have spoken language closely related to the one used in the oath, which is a form of Old High German ancestral to the modern Rhenish Franconian dialects. Other authors have instead taken Charlemagne's place of birth (Liege, Belgium) and the place of his education and main residence (Aachen), to postulate that Charlemagne most likely spoke a form of Moselle- or Ripuarian Franconian. In any case, all three dialects would have been closely related, mutually intelligible and, while classified as Old High German, none of the dialects involved can be considered typical of Old High German, showing varying degrees of participation in the High German consonant shift as well as certain similarities with Old Dutch, the presumed language of the previous Merovingian dynasty, mirroring the linguistic diversity still typical of the region today.
Charlemagne's father Pepin had been educated at the abbey of Saint-Denis, although the extent of Charlemagne's formal education is unknown. He almost certainly was trained in military matters as a youth in Pepin's court, which was itinerant. Charlemagne also asserted his own education in the liberal arts in encouraging their study by his children and others, although it is unknown whether his study was as a child or at court during his later life. The question of Charlemagne's literacy is debated, with little direct evidence from contemporary sources. He normally had texts read aloud to him and dictated responses and decrees, but this was not unusual even for a literate ruler at the time. Historian Johannes Fried considers it likely that Charlemagne would have been able to read, but the medievalist Paul Dutton writes that "the evidence for his ability to read is circumstantial and inferential at best" and concludes that it is likely that he never properly mastered the skill. Einhard makes no direct mention of Charlemagne reading, and recorded that he only attempted to learn to write later in life.<span class"anchor" id"Accession and joint reign with Carloman"></span>Accession and reign with CarlomanThere are only occasional references to Charlemagne in the Frankish annals during his father's lifetime. By 751 or 752, Pepin had deposed Childeric and replaced him as king. Early Carolingian-influenced sources claim that Pepin's seizure of the throne was sanctioned beforehand by Pope Stephen II, but modern historians dispute this. It is possible that papal approval came only when Stephen travelled to Francia in 754 (apparently to request Pepin's aid against the Lombards), and on this trip anointed Pepin as king; this legitimised his rule. Charlemagne was sent to greet and escort the Pope, and he and his younger brother Carloman were anointed with their father. Pepin sidelined Drogo around the same time, sending him and his brother to a monastery.
Charlemagne began issuing charters in his own name in 760. The following year, he joined his father's campaign against Aquitaine. Aquitaine, led by Dukes Hunald and Waiofar, was constantly in rebellion during Pepin's reign. Pepin fell ill on campaign there and died on 24 September 768, and Charlemagne and Carloman succeeded their father. They had separate coronations, Charlemagne at Noyon and Carloman at Soissons, on 9 October. The brothers maintained separate palaces and spheres of influence, although they were considered joint rulers of a single Frankish kingdom. The Royal Frankish Annals report that Charlemagne ruled Austrasia and Carloman ruled Burgundy, Provence, Aquitaine, and Alamannia, with no mention made of which brother received Neustria. The immediate concern of the brothers was the ongoing uprising in Aquitaine. They marched into Aquitaine together, but Carloman returned to Francia for unknown reasons and Charlemagne completed the campaign on his own. Charlemagne's capture of Duke Hunald marked the end of ten years of war that had been waged in the attempt to bring Aquitaine into line.
Carloman's refusal to participate in the war against Aquitaine led to a rift between the kings. It is uncertain why Carloman abandoned the campaign; the brothers may have disagreed about control of the territory, or Carloman was focused on securing his rule in the north of Francia. Regardless of the strife between the kings, they maintained a joint rule for practical reasons. Charlemagne and Carloman worked to obtain the support of the clergy and local elites to solidify their positions.
Pope Stephen III was elected in 768, but was briefly deposed by Antipope Constantine II before being restored to Rome. Stephen's papacy experienced continuing factional struggles, so he sought support from the Frankish kings. Both brothers sent troops to Rome, each hoping to exert his own influence. The Lombard king Desiderius also had interests in Roman affairs, and Charlemagne attempted to enlist him as an ally. Desiderius already had alliances with Bavaria and Benevento through the marriages of his daughters to their dukes, and an alliance with Charlemagne would add to his influence. Charlemagne's mother, Bertrada, went on his behalf to Lombardy in 770 and brokered a marriage alliance before returning to Francia with his new bride. Desiderius's daughter is traditionally known as Desiderata, although she may have been named Gerperga. Anxious about the prospect of a Frankish–Lombard alliance, Pope Stephen sent a letter to both Frankish kings decrying the marriage and separately sought closer ties with Carloman.
Charlemagne had already had a relationship with the Frankish noblewoman Himiltrude, and they had a son in 769 named Pepin. Paul the Deacon wrote in his 784 that Pepin was born "before legal marriage", but does not say whether Charles and Himiltrude ever married, were joined in a non-canonical marriage (), or married after Pepin was born. Pope Stephen's letter described the relationship as a legitimate marriage, but he had a vested interest in preventing Charlemagne from marrying Desiderius's daughter.
Carloman died suddenly on 4 December 771, leaving Charlemagne sole king of the Franks. He moved immediately to secure his hold on his brother's territory, forcing Carloman's widow Gerberga to flee to Desiderius's court in Lombardy with their children. Charlemagne ended his marriage to Desiderius's daughter and married Hildegard, daughter of count Gerold, a powerful magnate in Carloman's kingdom. This was a reaction to Desiderius's sheltering of Carloman's family and a move to secure Gerold's support.King of the Franks and the LombardsAnnexation of the Lombard KingdomCharlemagne's first campaigning season as sole king of the Franks was spent on the eastern frontier in his first war against the Saxons, who had been engaging in border raids on the Frankish kingdom when Charlemagne responded by destroying the pagan Irminsul at Eresburg and seizing their gold and silver. The success of the war helped secure Charlemagne's reputation among his brother's former supporters and funded further military action. The campaign was the beginning of over thirty years of nearly-continuous warfare against the Saxons by Charlemagne.
Pope Adrian I succeeded Stephen III in 772, and sought the return of papal control of cities that had been captured by Desiderius. Unsuccessful in dealing with the Lombard king directly, Adrian sent emissaries to Charlemagne to gain his support for recovering papal territory. Charlemagne, in response to this appeal and the dynastic threat of Carloman's sons in the Lombard court, gathered his forces to intervene. He first sought a diplomatic solution, offering gold to Desiderius in exchange for the return of the papal territories and his nephews. This overture was rejected, and Charlemagne's army (commanded by himself and his uncle, Bernard) crossed the Alps to besiege the Lombard capital of Pavia in late 773.
Charlemagne's second son (also named Charles) was born in 772, and Charlemagne brought the child and his wife to the camp at Pavia. Hildegard was pregnant, and gave birth to a daughter named Adelhaid. The baby was sent back to Francia, but died on the way. Charlemagne left Bernard to maintain the siege at Pavia while he took a force to capture Verona, where Desiderius's son Adalgis had taken Carloman's sons. Charlemagne captured the city; no further record exists of his nephews or of Carloman's wife, and their fate is unknown. Recent biographer, Janet Nelson compares them to the Princes in the Tower in the Wars of the Roses. Fried suggests that the boys were forced into a monastery (a common solution of dynastic issues), or "an act of murder smooth[ed] Charlemagne's ascent to power." Adalgis was not captured by Charlemagne, and fled to Constantinople.
receiving Charlemagne at Rome, 1493]]
Charlemagne left the siege in April 774 to celebrate Easter in Rome. Pope Adrian arranged a formal welcome for the Frankish king, and they swore oaths to each other over the relics of St. Peter. Adrian presented a copy of the agreement between Pepin and Stephen III outlining the papal lands and rights Pepin had agreed to protect and restore. It is unclear which lands and rights the agreement involved, which remained a point of dispute for centuries. Charlemagne placed a copy of the agreement in the chapel above St. Peter's tomb as a symbol of his commitment, and left Rome to continue the siege.
Disease struck the Lombards shortly after his return to Pavia, and they surrendered the city by June 774. Charlemagne deposed Desiderius and took the title of King of the Lombards. The takeover of one kingdom by another was "extraordinary", and the authors of The Carolingian World call it "without parallel". Charlemagne secured the support of the Lombard nobles and Italian urban elites to seize power in a mainly-peaceful annexation. Historian Rosamond McKitterick suggests that the elective nature of the Lombard monarchy eased Charlemagne's takeover, and Roger Collins attributes the easy conquest to the Lombard elite's "presupposition that rightful authority was in the hands of the one powerful enough to seize it". Charlemagne soon returned to Francia with the Lombard royal treasury and with Desiderius and his family, who would be confined to a monastery for the rest of their lives.Frontier wars in Saxony and Spain
]]
The Saxons took advantage of Charlemagne's absence in Italy to raid the Frankish borderlands, leading to a Frankish counter-raid in the autumn of 774 and a reprisal campaign the following year. Charlemagne was soon drawn back to Italy as Duke Hrodgaud of Friuli rebelled against him. He quickly crushed the rebellion, distributing Hrodgaud's lands to the Franks to consolidate his rule in Lombardy. Charlemagne wintered in Italy, consolidating his power by issuing charters and legislation and taking Lombard hostages. Amid the 775 Saxon and Friulian campaigns, his daughter Rotrude was born in Francia.
Returning north, Charlemagne waged another brief, destructive campaign against the Saxons in 776. }} This led to the submission of many Saxons, who turned over captives and lands and submitted to baptism. In 777, Charlemagne held an assembly at Paderborn with Frankish and Saxon men; many more Saxons came under his rule, but the Saxon magnate Widukind fled to Denmark to prepare for a new rebellion.
Also at the Paderborn assembly were representatives of dissident factions from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). They included the son and son-in-law of Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, the former governor of Córdoba ousted by Caliph Abd al-Rahman in 756, who sought Charlemagne's support for al-Fihri's restoration. Also present was Sulayman al-Arabi, governor of Barcelona and Girona, who wanted to become part of the Frankish kingdom and receive Charlemagne's protection rather than remain under the rule of Córdoba. Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity to strengthen the security of the kingdom's southern frontier and extend his influence, agreed to intervene. Crossing the Pyrenees, his army found little resistance until an ambush by Basque forces in 778 at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The Franks, defeated in the battle, withdrew with most of their army intact.Building the dynastyCharlemagne returned to Francia to greet his newborn twin sons, Louis and Lothair, who were born while he was in Spain; Lothair died in infancy. Again, Saxons had seized on the king's absence to raid. Charlemagne sent an army to Saxony in 779 while he held assemblies, legislated, and addressed a famine in Francia. Hildegard gave birth to another daughter, Bertha. Charlemagne returned to Saxony in 780, holding assemblies at which he received hostages from Saxon nobles and oversaw their baptism.
He and Hildegard travelled with their four younger children to Rome in the spring of 781, leaving Pepin and Charles at Worms, to make a journey first requested by Adrian in 775. Adrian baptised Carloman and renamed him Pepin, a name he shared with his half-brother. Louis and the newly renamed Pepin were then anointed and crowned. Pepin was appointed king of the Lombards, and Louis king of Aquitaine. This act was not nominal, since the young kings were sent to live in their kingdoms under the care of regents and advisers. A delegation from the Byzantine Empire, the remnant of the Roman Empire in the East, met Charlemagne during his stay in Rome; Charlemagne agreed to betroth his daughter Rotrude to Empress Irene's son, Emperor Constantine VI.
Hildegard gave birth to her eighth child, Gisela, during this trip to Italy. After the royal family's return to Francia, she had her final pregnancy and died from its complications on 30 April 783. The child, named after her, died shortly thereafter. Charlemagne commissioned epitaphs for his wife and daughter, and arranged for a Mass to be said daily at Hildegard's tomb. Charlemagne's mother Bertrada died shortly after Hildegard, on 12 July 783. Charlemagne was remarried to Fastrada, daughter of the East Frankish count Radolf, by the end of the year.Saxon resistance and reprisalIn summer 782, Widukind returned from Denmark to attack the Frankish positions in Saxony. He defeated a Frankish army, possibly due to rivalry among the Frankish counts leading it. Charlemagne came to Verden after learning of the defeat, but Widukind fled before his arrival. Charlemagne summoned the Saxon magnates to an assembly and compelled them to turn prisoners over to him, since he regarded their previous acts as treachery. The annals record that Charlemagne had 4,500 Saxon prisoners beheaded in the massacre of Verden. Fried writes, "Although this figure may be exaggerated, the basic truth of the event is not in doubt", and Alessandro Barbero calls it "perhaps the greatest stain on his reputation." Charlemagne issued the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, probably in the immediate aftermath of (or as a precursor of) the massacre. With a harsh set of laws which included the death penalty for pagan practices, the Capitulatio "constituted a program for the forced conversion of the Saxons" and was "aimed ... at suppressing Saxon identity".
Charlemagne's focus for the next several years would be on his attempt to complete the subjugation of the Saxons. Concentrating first in Westphalia in 783, he pushed into Thuringia in 784 as his son Charles the Younger continued operations in the west. At each stage of the campaigns, the Frankish armies seized wealth and carried Saxon captives into slavery. Unusually, Charlemagne campaigned through the winter instead of resting his army. By 785, he had suppressed the Saxon resistance and completely commanded Westphalia. That summer, he met Widukind and persuaded him to end his resistance. Widukind agreed to be baptised with Charlemagne as his godfather, ending this phase of the Saxon Wars.Benevento, Bavaria, and Pepin's revoltCharlemagne travelled to Italy in 786, arriving by Christmas. Aiming to extend his influence further into southern Italy, he marched into the Duchy of Benevento. Duke Arechis fled to a fortified position at Salerno before offering Charlemagne his fealty. Charlemagne accepted his submission and hostages, who included Arechis's son Grimoald. In Italy, Charlemagne also met with envoys from Constantinople. Empress Irene had called the 787 Second Council of Nicaea, but did not inform Charlemagne or invite any Frankish bishops. Charlemagne, probably in reaction to the perceived slight of the exclusion, broke the betrothal of his daughter Rotrude and Constantine VI.
'' from Benevento, with Grimoald's effigy and Charlemagne's name (DOMS CAR RX, the Lord King Charles)]]
After Charlemagne left Italy, Arechis sent envoys to Irene to offer an alliance; he suggested that she send a Byzantine army with Adalgis, the exiled son of Desiderus, to remove the Franks from power in Lombardy. Before his plans could be finalised, Aldechis and his elder son Romuald died of illness within weeks of each other. Charlemagne sent Grimoald back to Benevento to serve as duke and return it to Frankish suzerainty. The Byzantine army invaded, but were repulsed by the Frankish and Lombard forces.
As affairs were being settled in Italy, Charlemagne turned his attention to Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by Duke Tassilo, Charlemagne's first cousin, who had been installed by Pepin the Short in 748. Tassilo's sons were also grandsons of Desiderius, and a potential threat to Charlemagne's rule in Lombardy. The neighbouring rulers had a growing rivalry throughout their reigns, but had sworn oaths of peace to each other in 781. In 784, Rotpert (Charlemagne's viceroy in Italy) accused Tassilo of conspiring with Widukind in Saxony and unsuccessfully attacked the Bavarian city of Bolzano. Charlemagne gathered his forces to prepare for an invasion of Bavaria in 787. Dividing the army, the Franks launched a three-pronged attack. Quickly realizing his poor position, Tassilo agreed to surrender and recognise Charlemagne as his overlord. The following year, Tassilo was accused of plotting with the Avars to attack Charlemagne. He was deposed and sent to a monastery, and Charlemagne absorbed Bavaria into his kingdom. Charlemagne spent the next few years based in Regensburg, largely focused on consolidating his rule of Bavaria and warring against the Avars. Successful campaigns against them were launched from Bavaria and Italy in 788, and Charlemagne led campaigns in 791 and 792.
Charlemagne gave Charles the Younger rule of Maine in Neustria in 789, leaving Pepin the Hunchback his only son without lands. His relationship with Himiltrude was now apparently seen as illegitimate at his court, and Pepin was sidelined from the succession. In 792, as his father and brothers were gathered in Regensburg, Pepin conspired with Bavarian nobles to assassinate them and install himself as king. The plot was discovered and revealed to Charlemagne before it could proceed; Pepin was sent to a monastery, and many of his co-conspirators were executed.
The early 790s saw a marked focus on ecclesiastical affairs by Charlemagne. He summoned a council in Regensburg in 792 to address the theological controversy over the adoptionism doctrine in the Spanish church and formulate a response to the Second Council of Nicea. The council condemned adoptionism as heresy and led to the production of the Libri Carolini, a detailed argument against Nicea's canons. In 794, Charlemagne called another council in Frankfurt. The council confirmed Regensburg's positions on adoptionism and Nicea, recognised the deposition of Tassilo, set grain prices, reformed Frankish coinage, forbade abbesses from blessing men, and endorsed prayer in vernacular languages. Soon after the council, Fastrada fell ill and died; Charlemagne married the Alamannian noblewoman Luitgard shortly afterwards.Continued wars with the Saxons and AvarsCharlemagne gathered an army after the council of Frankfurt as Saxon resistance continued, beginning a series of annual campaigns which lasted through 799. The campaigns of the 790s were even more destructive than those of earlier decades, with the annal writers frequently noting Charlemagne "burning", "ravaging", "devastating", and "laying waste" the Saxon lands. Charlemagne forcibly removed a large number of Saxons to Francia, installing Frankish elites and soldiers in their place. His extended wars in Saxony led to his establishing his court in Aachen, which had easy access to the frontier. He built a large palace there, including a chapel which is now part of the Aachen Cathedral. Einhard joined the court at that time. Pepin of Italy (Carloman) engaged in further wars against the Avars in the south, which led to the collapse of their kingdom and the eastward expansion of Frankish rule.
Charlemagne also worked to expand his influence through diplomatic means during the 790s wars, focusing on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. Charles the Younger proposed a marriage pact with the daughter of King Offa of Mercia, but Offa insisted that Charlemagne's daughter Bertha also be given as a bride for his son. Charlemagne refused the arrangement, and the marriage did not take place. Charlemagne and Offa entered into a formal peace in 796, protecting trade and securing the rights of English pilgrims to pass through Francia on their way to Rome. Charlemagne was also the host and protector of several deposed English rulers who were later restored: Eadbehrt of Kent, Ecgberht, King of Wessex, and Eardwulf of Northumbria. Nelson writes that Charlemagne treated the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms "like satellite states," establishing direct relations with English bishops. Charlemagne also forged an alliance with Alfonso II of Asturias, although Einhard calls Alfonso his "dependent". Following his sack of Lisbon in 798, Alfonso sent Charlemagne trophies of his victory, including armour, mules and prisoners.
Reign as emperor
Coronation
After Leo III became pope in 795, he faced political opposition. His enemies accused him of a number of crimes and physically attacked him in April 799, attempting to remove his eyes and tongue. Leo escaped and fled north to seek Charlemagne's help. Charlemagne continued his campaign against the Saxons before breaking off to meet Leo at Paderborn in September. Hearing evidence from the pope and his enemies, he sent Leo back to Rome with royal legates who were instructed to reinstate the pope and conduct a further investigation. In August of the following year, Charlemagne made plans to go to Rome after an extensive tour of his lands in Neustria. Charlemagne met Leo in November near Mentana at the twelfth milestone outside Rome, the traditional location where Roman emperors began their formal entry into the city. Charlemagne presided over an assembly to hear the charges, but believed that no one could sit in judgement of the pope. Leo swore an oath on 23 December, declaring his innocence of all charges. At mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Day 800, Leo proclaimed Charlemagne "emperor of the Romans" (Imperator Romanorum) and crowned him. In German, the title was rendered as kaiser, after Caesar. In Greek, it was rendered as autokrator and used alongside the traditional title of basileus. For a discussion of Charlemagne's title and Constantinople's reaction, see .}} Charlemagne was the first reigning emperor in the west since the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476. His son, Charles the Younger, was anointed king by Leo at the same time.
Historians differ about the intentions of the imperial coronation, the extent to which Charlemagne was aware of it or participated in its planning, and the significance of the events for those present and for Charlemagne's reign. Contemporary Frankish and papal sources differ in their emphasis on, and representation of, events. Einhard writes that Charlemagne would not have entered the church if he knew about the pope's plan; modern historians have regarded his report as truthful or rejected it as a literary device demonstrating Charlemagne's humility. Collins says that the actions surrounding the coronation indicate that it was planned by Charlemagne as early as his meeting with Leo in 799, and Fried writes that Charlemagne planned to adopt the title of emperor by 798 "at the latest." During the years before the coronation, Charlemagne's courtier Alcuin referred to his realm as an Imperium Christianum ("Christian Empire") in which "just as the inhabitants of the Roman Empire had been united by a common Roman citizenship", the new empire would be united by a common Christian faith. This is the view of Henri Pirenne, who says that "Charles was the Emperor of the ecclesia as the Pope conceived it, of the Roman Church, regarded as the universal Church".
The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire remained a significant contemporary power in European politics for Leo and Charlemagne, especially in Italy. The Byzantines continued to hold a substantial portion of Italy, with their borders not far south of Rome. Empress Irene had seized the throne from her son Constantine VI in 797, deposing and blinding him. Irene, the first Byzantine empress, faced opposition in Constantinople because of her gender and her means of accession. One of the earliest narrative sources for the coronation, the Annals of Lorsch, presented a female ruler in Constantinople as a vacancy in the imperial title which justified Leo's coronation of Charlemagne. Pirenne disagrees, saying that the coronation "was not in any sense explained by the fact that at this moment a woman was reigning in Constantinople." Leo's main motivations may have been the desire to increase his standing after his political difficulties, placing himself as a power broker and securing Charlemagne as a powerful ally and protector. The Byzantine Empire's lack of ability to influence events in Italy and support the papacy were also important to Leo's position. According to the Royal Frankish Annals, Leo prostrated himself before Charlemagne after crowning him (an act of submission standard in Roman coronation rituals from the time of Diocletian). This account presents Leo not as Charlemagne's superior, but as the agent of the Roman people who acclaimed Charlemagne as emperor.
Historian Henry Mayr-Harting claims that the assumption of the imperial title by Charlemagne was an effort to incorporate the Saxons into the Frankish realm, since they did not have a native tradition of kingship. However, Costambeys et al. note in The Carolingian World that "since Saxony had not been in the Roman empire it is hard to see on what basis an emperor would have been any more welcomed." These authors write that the decision to take the title of emperor was aimed at furthering Charlemagne's influence in Italy, as an appeal to traditional authority recognised by Italian elites within and (especially) outside his control.
Collins also writes that becoming emperor gave Charlemagne "the right to try to impose his rule over the whole of [Italy]", considering this a motivation for the coronation. He notes the "element of political and military risk" inherent in the affair due to the opposition of the Byzantine Empire and potential opposition from the Frankish elite, as the imperial title could draw him further into Mediterranean politics. Collins sees several of Charlemagne's actions as attempts to ensure that his new title had a distinctly-Frankish context.
Charlemagne's coronation led to a centuries-long ideological conflict between his successors and Constantinople known as the problem of two emperors,, "two-emperors problem"}} which could be seen as a rejection or usurpation of the Byzantine emperors' claim to be the universal, preeminent rulers of Christendom. Historian James Muldoon writes that Charlemagne may have had a more limited view of his role, seeing the title as representing dominion over lands he already ruled. However, the title of emperor gave Charlemagne enhanced prestige and ideological authority. He immediately incorporated his new title into documents he issued, adopting the formula "Charles, most serene augustus, crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing the Roman empire, and who is by the mercy of God king of the Franks and the Lombards"}} instead of the earlier form "Charles, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Lombards and patrician of the Romans."}} Leo acclaimed Charlemagne as "emperor of the Romans" during the coronation, but Charlemagne never used this title. The avoidance of the specific claim of being a "Roman emperor", as opposed to the more-neutral "emperor governing the Roman empire", may have been to improve relations with the Byzantines. This formulation (with the continuation of his earlier royal titles) may also represent a view of his role as emperor as being the ruler of the people of the city of Rome, as he was of the Franks and the Lombards.
Governing the empire
in Aachen Cathedral]]
Charlemagne left Italy in the summer of 801 after adjudicating several ecclesiastical disputes in Rome and experiencing an earthquake in Spoleto. He never returned to the city. Continuing trends and a ruling style established in the 790s, Charlemagne's reign from 801 onward is a "distinct phase" characterised by more sedentary rule from Aachen. Although conflict continued until the end of his reign, the relative peace of the imperial period allowed for attention on internal governance. The Franks continued to wage war, though these wars were defending and securing the empire's frontiers, and Charlemagne rarely led armies personally. A significant expansion of the Spanish March was achieved with a series of campaigns by Louis against the Emirate of Cordoba, culminating in the 801 capture of Barcelona.
The 802 Capitulare missorum generale was an expansive piece of legislation, with provisions governing the conduct of royal officials and requiring that all free men take an oath of loyalty to Charlemagne. The capitulary reformed the institution of the , officials who would now be assigned in pairs (a cleric and a lay aristocrat) to administer justice and oversee governance in defined territories. The emperor also ordered the revision of the Lombard and Frankish legal codes.
In addition to the , Charlemagne also ruled parts of the empire with his sons as sub-kings. Although Pepin and Louis had some authority as kings in Italy and Aquitaine, Charlemagne had the ultimate authority and directly intervened. Charles, their elder brother, had been given lands in Neustria in 789 or 790 and made a king in 800.
The 806 charter (Division of the Realm) set the terms of Charlemagne's succession. Charles, as his eldest son in good favour, was given the largest share of the inheritance: rule of Francia, Saxony, Nordgau, and parts of Alemannia. The two younger sons were confirmed in their kingdoms and gained additional territories; most of Bavaria and Alemmannia was given to Pepin, and Provence, Septimania, and parts of Burgundy were given to Louis. Charlemagne did not address the inheritance of the imperial title. The also provided that if any of the brothers predeceased Charlemagne, their sons would inherit their share; peace was urged among his descendants.
Conflict and diplomacy with the east
After his coronation, Charlemagne sought recognition of his imperial title from Constantinople. Several delegations were exchanged between Charlemagne and Irene in 802 and 803. According to the contemporary Byzantine chronicler Thophanes, Charlemagne made an offer of marriage to Irene which she was close to accepting. Irene was deposed and replaced by Nikephoros I, who was unwilling to recognise Charlemagne as emperor. The two empires conflicted over control of the Adriatic Sea (especially Istria and Veneto) several times during Nikephoros' reign. Charlemagne sent envoys to Constantinople in 810 to make peace, giving up his claims to Veneto. Nikephoros died in battle before the envoys could leave Constantinople but his son-in-law and successor Michael I confirmed the peace, sending his own envoys to Aachen to recognise Charlemagne as emperor. Charlemagne soon issued the first Frankish coins bearing his imperial title, although papal coins minted in Rome had used the title as early as 800.
He sent envoys and initiated diplomatic contact with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid during the 790s, due to their mutual interest in Spanish affairs. As an early sign of friendship, Charlemagne requested an elephant as a gift from Harun. Harun later provided an elephant named Abul-Abbas, which arrived at Aachen in 802. Harun also sought to undermine Charlemagne's relations with the Byzantines, with whom he was at war. As part of his outreach, Harun gave Charlemagne nominal rule of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and other gifts. According to Einhard, Charlemagne "zealously strove to make friendships with kings beyond the seas" in order "that he might get some help and relief to the Christians living under their rule." A surviving administrative document, the Basel roll, shows the work done by his agents in Palestine in furtherance of this goal.. }}
Harun's death lead to a succession crisis and, under his successors, churches and synagogues were destroyed in the caliphate. Unable to intervene directly, Charlemagne sent specially-minted coins and arms to the eastern Christians to defend and restore their churches and monasteries. The coins with their inscriptions were also an important tool of imperial propaganda. Johannes Fried writes that deteriorating relations with Baghdad after Harun's death may have been the impetus for renewed negotiations with Constantinople which led to Charlemagne's peace with Michael in 811.
As emperor, Charlemagne became involved in a religious dispute between Eastern and Western Christians over the recitation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the fundamental statement of orthodox Christian belief. The original text of the creed, adopted at the Council of Constantinople, professed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. A tradition developed in Western Europe that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father "and the Son", inserting the Latin term into the creed. The difference did not cause significant conflict until 807, when Frankish monks in Bethlehem were denounced as heretics by a Greek monk for using the form. The Frankish monks appealed the dispute to Rome, where Pope Leo affirmed the text of the creed omitting the phrase and passed the report on to Charlemagne. Charlemagne summoned a council at Aachen in 809 which defended the use of , and sent the decision to Rome. Leo said that the Franks could maintain their tradition, but asserted that the canonical creed did not include . He commissioned two silver shields with the creed in Latin and Greek (omitting the ), which he hung in St. Peter's Basilica. Another product of the 809 Aachen council was the Handbook of 809, an illustrated calendrical and astronomical compendium.
Wars with the Danes
Scandinavia had been brought into contact with the Frankish world through Charlemagne's wars with the Saxons. Raids on Charlemagne's lands by the Danes began around 800. Charlemagne engaged in his final campaign in Saxony in 804, seizing Saxon territory east of the Elbe, removing its Saxon population, and giving the land to his Obotrite allies. The Danish king Gudfred, uneasy at the extension of Frankish power, offered to meet with Charlemagne to arrange peace and (possibly) hand over Saxons who had fled to him; the talks were unsuccessful.
The northern frontier was quiet until 808, when Gudfred and some allied Slavic tribes led an incursion into the Obotrite lands and extracted tribute from over half the territory. Charles the Younger led an army across the Elbe in response, but only attacked some of Gudfred's Slavic allies. Gudfred again attempted diplomatic overtures in 809, but no peace was apparently made. Danish pirates raided Frisia in 810, although it is uncertain if they were connected to Gudfred. Charlemagne sent an army to secure Frisia while he led a force against Gudfred, who had reportedly challenged the emperor to face him in battle. The battle never took place, since Gudfred was murdered by two of his own men before Charlemagne's arrival. Gudfred's nephew and successor Hemming immediately sued for peace, and a commission led by Charlemagne's cousin Wala reached a settlement with the Danes in 811. The Danes did not pose a threat for the remainder of Charlemagne's reign, but the effects of this war and their earlier expansion in Saxony helped set the stage for the intense Viking raids across Europe later in the ninth century.Final years and death
. Illustrating a quadriga (a four-horse chariot), it was manufactured in Constantinople.]]
The Carolingian dynasty experienced a number of losses in 810 and 811, when Charlemagne's sister Gisela, his daughter Rotrude, and his sons Pepin the Hunchback, Pepin of Italy, and Charles the Younger died. The deaths of Charles and Pepin of Italy left Charlemagne's earlier plans for succession in disarray. He declared Pepin of Italy's son Bernard ruler of Italy and made his own only surviving son, Louis, heir to the rest of the empire. Charlemagne also made a new will detailing the disposal of his property at his death, with bequests to the church, his children, and his grandchildren. Einhard (possibly relying on tropes from Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars) says that Charlemagne viewed the deaths of his family members, his fall from a horse, astronomical phenomena, and the collapse of part of the palace in his last years as signs of his impending death. Charlemagne continued to govern with energy during his final year, ordering bishops to assemble in five ecclesiastical councils. These culminated in a large assembly at Aachen, where Charlemagne crowned Louis as his co-emperor and Bernard as king in a ceremony on 11 September 813.
Charlemagne became ill in the autumn of 813 and spent his last months praying, fasting, and studying the gospels. He developed pleurisy, and was bedridden for seven days before dying on the morning of 28 January 814. Thegan, a biographer of Louis, records the emperor's last words as "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit" (quoting from ). Charlemagne's body was prepared and buried in the chapel at Aachen by his daughters and palace officials that day. Louis arrived at Aachen thirty days after his father's death, making a formal and taking charge of the palace and the empire. Charlemagne's remains were exhumed by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1165, and reinterred in a new casket by Frederick II in 1215.
Legacy
Political legacy
The stability and peace of Charlemagne's reign did not long outlive him. Louis' reign was marked by strife, including a number of rebellions by his sons. After Louis' death, the empire was divided among his sons into West, East, and Middle Francia by the Treaty of Verdun. Middle Francia was divided several more times over the course of subsequent generations. Carolingians would rulewith some interruptionsin East Francia (later the Kingdom of Germany) until 911, and in West Francia (which would become France) until 987. After 887, the imperial title was held sporadically by a series of non-dynastic Italian rulers before it lapsed in 924. The East Frankish king Otto the Great conquered Italy, and was crowned emperor in 962. By this time, the eastern and western parts of Charlemagne's former empire had already developed distinct languages and cultures. Otto founded (or re-established) the Holy Roman Empire, which would last until its dissolution in 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars.
According to historian Jennifer Davis, Charlemagne "invented medieval rulership" and his influence can be seen at least into the nineteenth century. Charlemagne is often known as "the father of Europe" because of the influence of his reign and the legacy he left across the large area of the continent. The political structures he established remained in place through his Carolingian successors, and continued to exert influence into the eleventh century.
Charlemagne was an ancestor of several European ruling houses, including the Capetian dynasty, }} the Ottonian dynasty, }} the House of Luxembourg, }} and the House of Ivrea. The House of Ivrea later came to rule Spain and intermarried with the Habsburgs and the royal families of Portugal.}} The Ottonians and Capetians, direct successors of the Carolingans, drew on the legacy of Charlemagne to bolster their legitimacy and prestige; the Ottonians and their successors held their German coronations in Aachen through the Middle Ages. The marriage of Philip II of France to Isabella of Hainault (a direct descendant of Charlemagne) was seen as a sign of increased legitimacy for their son, Louis VIII, and the French kings' association with Charlemagne's legacy was stressed until the monarchy's end. German and French rulers, such as Frederick Barbarossa and Napoleon, cited the influence of Charlemagne and associated themselves with him. Both German and French monarchs considered themselves as successors of Charlemagne, enumerating him as "Charles I" in their regnal lists.
The city of Aachen has, since 1949, awarded an international prize (the Karlspreis der Stadt Aachen) in honour of Charlemagne. It is awarded annually to those who promote European unity. Recipients of the prize include Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi (founder of the pan-European movement), Alcide De Gasperi, and Winston Churchill.Carolingian RenaissanceContacts with the wider Mediterranean world through Spain and Italy, the influx of foreign scholars at court, and the relative stability and length of Charlemagne's reign led to a cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Although the beginnings of this revival can be seen under his predecessors, Charles Martel and Pepin, Charlemagne took an active and direct role in shaping intellectual life which led to the revival's zenith. Charlemagne promoted learning as a matter of policy and direct patronage, with the aim of creating a more effective clergy. The Admonitio generalis and Epistola de litteris colendis outlined his policies and aims for education.
Intellectual life at court was dominated by Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Visigothic and Italian scholars, including Dungal of Bobbio, Alcuin of York, Theodulf of Orléans, and Peter of Pisa; Franks such as Einhard and Angelbert also made substantial contributions. Aside from the intellectual activity at the palace, Charlemagne promoted ecclesiastical schools and publicly funded schools for the children of the elite and future clergy. Students learned basic Latin literacy and grammar, arithmetic, and other subjects of the medieval liberal arts. From their education, it was expected that even rural priests could provide their parishioners with basic instruction in religious matters and (possibly) the literacy required for worship. Latin was standardised and its use brought into territories well beyond the former Roman Empire, forming a second language community of speakers and writers and sustaining Latin creativity in the Middle Ages.
Carolingian authors produced extensive works, including legal treatises, histories, poetry, and religious texts. Scriptoria in monasteries and cathedrals focused on copying new and old works, producing an estimated 90,000 manuscripts during the ninth century. The Carolingian minuscule script was developed and popularised in medieval copying, influencing Renaissance and modern typefaces. Scholar John J. Contreni considers the educational and learning revival under Charlemagne and his successors "one of the most durable and resilient elements of the Carolingian legacy".Memory and historiographyCharlemagne was a frequent subject of, and inspiration for, medieval writers after his death. Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, according to Johannes Fired, "can be said to have revived the defunct literary genre of the secular biography." Einhard drew on classical sources, such as Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, the orations of Cicero, and Tacitus' Agricola to frame his work's structure and style. The Carolingian period also saw a revival of the mirrors for princes genre. The author of the Latin poem Visio Karoli Magni, written , uses facts (apparently from Einhard) and his own observations on the decline of Charlemagne's family after their civil wars later in the ninth century as the bases of a visionary tale about Charles meeting a prophetic spectre in a dream. Notker's Gesta Karoli Magni, written for Charlemagne's great-grandson Charles the Fat, presents moral anecdotes (exempla) to highlight the emperor's qualities as a ruler.
depicted as Charlemagne (Castello della Manta, 1420s)]]
Charlemagne, as a figure of myth and emulation, grew over the centuries; Matthias Becher writes that over 1,000 legends are recorded about him, far outstripping subsequent emperors and kings. Later medieval writers depicted Charlemagne as a crusader and Christian warrior. Charlemagne is the main figure of the medieval literary cycle known as the Matter of France. Works in this cycle, which originated during the Crusades, centre on characterisations of the emperor as a leader of Christian knights in wars against Muslims. The cycle includes (epic poems) such as the Song of Roland and chronicles such as the Historia Caroli Magni, also known as the (Pseudo-)Turpin Chronicle. Charlemagne was depicted as one of the Nine Worthies, a fixture in medieval literature and art as an exemplar of a Christian king. Despite his central role in these legends, author Thomas Bulfinch noted that "romancers represent him as often weak and passionate, the victim of treacherous counsellors, and at the mercy of turbulent barons, on whose prowess he depends for the maintenance of his throne."
Attention to Charlemagne became more scholarly in the early modern period as Eindhard's Vita and other sources began to be published. Political philosophers debated his legacy; Montesquieu viewed him as the first constitutional monarch and protector of freemen, but Voltaire saw him as a despotic ruler and representative of the medieval period as a Dark Age. As early as the sixteenth century, debate between German and French writers began about Charlemagne's "nationality". These contrasting portraits—a French Charlemagne versus a German Karl der Große—became especially pronounced during the nineteenth century with Napoleon's use of Charlemagne's legacy and the rise of German nationalism. German historiography and popular perception focused on the Massacre of Verden, emphasised with Charlemagne as the "butcher" of the Germanic Saxons or downplayed as an unfortunate part of the legacy of a great German ruler. Propaganda in Nazi Germany initially portrayed Charlemagne as an enemy of Germany, a French ruler who worked to take away the freedom and native religion of the German people. This quickly shifted as Adolf Hitler endorsed a portrait of Charlemagne as a great unifier of disparate German tribes into a common nation, allowing Hitler to co-opt Charlemagne's legacy as an ideological model for his expansionist policies.
Historiography after World War II focused on Charlemagne as "the father of Europe" rather than a nationalistic figure, a view first advanced during the nineteenth century by German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schlegel. This view has led to Charlemagne's adoption as a political symbol of European integration. Modern historians increasingly place Charlemagne in the context of the wider Mediterranean world, following the work of Henri Pirenne.
Religious influence and veneration
, built by Charlemagne at the Aachen palace]]
Charlemagne gave much attention to religious and ecclesiastical affairs, holding 23 synods during his reign. His synods were called to address specific issues at particular times, but generally dealt with church administration and organisation, education of the clergy, and the proper forms of liturgy and worship. Charlemagne used the Christian faith as a unifying factor in the realm and, in turn, worked to impose unity on the church. He implemented an edited version of the Dionysio-Hadriana book of canon law acquired from Pope Adrian, required use of the Rule of St. Benedict in monasteries throughout the empire, and promoted a standardised liturgy adapted from the rites of the Roman Church to conform with Frankish practices. Carolingian policies promoting unity did not eliminate the diverse practices throughout the empire, but created a shared ecclesiastical identity—according to Rosamond McKitterick, "unison, not unity."
The condition of all his subjects as a "Christian people" was an important concern. Charlemagne's policies encouraged preaching to the laity, particularly in vernacular languages they would understand. He believed it essential to be able to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, and made efforts to ensure that the clergy taught them and other basics of Christian morality.
ThomasF.X.Noble writes that the efforts of Charlemagne and his successors to standardise Christian doctrine and practices and harmonise Frankish practices were essential steps in the development of Christianity in Europe, and the Roman Catholic or Latin Church "as a historical phenomenon, not as a theological or ecclesiological one, is a Carolingian construction." He says that the medieval European concept of Christendom as an overarching community of Western Christians, rather than a collection of local traditions, is the result of Carolingian policies and ideology. Charlemagne's doctrinal policies promoting the use of and opposing the Second Council of Nicea were key steps in the growing divide between Western and Eastern Christianity.
Emperor Otto III attempted to have Charlemagne canonised in 1000. In 1165, Frederick Barbarossa persuaded Antipope Paschal III to elevate Charlemagne to sainthood. Since Paschal's acts were not considered valid, Charlemagne was not recognised as a saint by the Holy See. Despite this lack of official recognition, his cult was observed in Aachen, Reims, Frankfurt, Zurich and Regensburg, and he has been venerated in France since the reign of Charles V.
Charlemagne also drew attention from figures of the Protestant Reformation, with Martin Luther criticising his apparent subjugation to the papacy by accepting his coronation from Leo. John Calvin and other Protestant thinkers viewed him as a forerunner of the Reformation, however, noting the Libri Carolini condemnation of the worship of images and relics and conflicts by Charlemagne and his successors with the temporal power of the popes.
Wives, concubines, and children
Wives and their children
* Himiltrude Stephen wrote this in the context of attempting to dissuade either king from entering into a marriage alliance with Desiderius. By 784, at Charlemagne's court, Paul the Deacon wrote that their son Pepin was born "before legal marriage", but whether he means Charles and Himiltrude were never married, were joined in a non-canonical marriage or , or if they married after Pepin was born is unclear. Roger Collins, Johannes Fried, and Janet Nelson all portray Himiltrude as a wife of Charlemagne in some capacity. Fried also dates the beginning of their relationship to 763 or even earlier.}} (768–770)
** Pepin the Hunchback (/770–811)
* Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius, king of the Lombards (m. 770–771)
* Hildegard (m. 771–783) daughter of Gerold of Anglachgau
** Charles the Younger (–811), Duke of Maine
** Adalhaid (773/4–774), born while her parents were on campaign in Italy. She was sent back to Francia, but died before reaching Lyons
** Rotrude (or Hruodrud) (–810)
** Carloman (777–810, Baptised "Pepin" 15 April 781), King of Italy
** Louis (778–840), King of Aquitaine since 781, crowned co-emperor in 813, senior Emperor from 814
** Lothair (778–779/780), twin of Louis, he died in infancy
** Bertha (779/780–826)
** Gisela (b. 782)
** Hildegard (782–783)
* Fastrada (m. 783–794)
** Theodrada (b. 785), Abbess of Argenteuil
** Hiltrude (b. 787, d. after 808)
* Luitgard (m. 794–800)
Concubines and their children
* Gersuinda
** Adaltrude
* Madelgard
** Ruothild (d. 852), Abbess of Faremoutiers
* Regina
** Drogo (801–855), Bishop of Metz
** Hugh (–844), archchancellor of the Empire
* Adallind
** Theodoric (b. 807)
* Unknown partners
** Hruodhaid (b. 784)
** Richbod (805–844), Abbot of Saint-Riquier
** Bernard (fl. 843), Abbot of Moutiers-Saint-Jean Abbey
]]
Charlemagne had at least twenty children with his wives and other partners. After the death of his wife Luitgard in 800, he did not remarry, but had children with unmarried partners. He was determined that all his children, including his daughters, should receive an education in the liberal arts. His children were taught in accordance with their aristocratic status, which included training in riding and weaponry for his sons, and embroidery, spinning and weaving for his daughters.
Rosamond McKitterick writes that Charlemagne exercised "a remarkable degree of patriarchal control ... over his progeny," noting that only a handful of his children and grandchildren were raised outside his court. Pepin of Italy and Louis reigned as kings from childhood and lived at their courts. Careers in the church were arranged for his illegitimate sons. His daughters were resident at court or at Chelles Abbey (where Charlemagne's sister was abbess), and those at court may have fulfilled the duties of queen after 800.
Louis and Pepin of Italy married and had children during their father's lifetime, and Charlemagne brought Pepin's daughters into his household after Pepin's death. Rotrude had been betrothed to Emperor Constantine VI, but the betrothal was ended. None of Charlemagne's daughters married, although several had children with unmarried partners. Bertha had two sons, Nithard and Hartnid, with Charlemagne's courtier Angilbert; Rotrude had a son named Louis, possibly with Count Rorgon; and Hiltrude had a son named Richbod, possibly with a count named Richwin. The issued by Charlemagne in 806 provided that his legitimate daughters be allowed to marry or become nuns after his death. Theodrada entered a convent, but the decisions of his other daughters are unknown.
Appearance and iconography
Einhard gives a first-hand description of Charlemagne's appearance later in life:
Charlemagne's tomb was opened in 1861 by scientists who reconstructed his skeleton and measured it at in length, roughly equivalent to Einhard's seven feet. A 2010 estimate of his height from an X-ray and CT scan of his tibia was ; this puts him in the 99th percentile of height for his period, given that average male height of his time was . The width of the bone suggested that he was slim.
Charlemagne wore his hair short, abandoning the Merovingian tradition of long-haired monarchs. He had a moustache (possibly imitating the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great), in contrast with the bearded Merovingian kings; future Carolingian monarchs would adopt this style. Paul Dutton notes the ubiquitous crown in portraits of Charlemagne and other Carolingian rulers, replacing the earlier Merovingian long hair. A ninth-century statuette depicts Charlemagne or his grandson, Charles the Bald Paul Dutton says that it was "long thought to depict Charlemagne and now attributed by most to Charles the Bald," and Johannes Fried presents both as possibilities but considers it "highly contentious."}} and shows the subject as moustachioed with short hair; this also appears on contemporary coinage.
By the twelfth century, Charlemagne was described as bearded rather than moustachioed in literary sources such as the Song of Roland, the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, and other works in Latin, French, and German. The Pseudo-Turpin uniquely says that his hair was brown. Later art and iconography of Charlemagne followed suit, generally depicting him in a later medieval style as bearded with longer hair.NotesReferencesCitations Works cited
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Further reading
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* [http://www.charlemagneseurope.ac.uk The Making of Charlemagne's Europe] (freely available database of prosopographical and socio-economic data from legal documents dating to Charlemagne's reign, produced by King's College London)
* [https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/sbook1h.asp Internet Medieval Sourcebook], a collection of primary sources of Charlemagne's reign edited by Paul Halsall of Fordham University
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160419073559/https://aethelraed.ddns.net/charlemagne/intro.html An interactive map of Charlemagne's travels]
Category:740s births
Category:814 deaths
Category:8th-century dukes of Bavaria
Category:8th-century Frankish kings
Category:8th-century Lombard monarchs
Category:9th-century dukes of Bavaria
Category:9th-century Holy Roman Emperors
Category:9th-century kings of Italy
Category:Carolingian dynasty
Category:Characters in The Song of Roland
Category:Frankish Christian royal saints
Category:Deaths from respiratory disease
Category:Founding monarchs
Category:Frankish warriors
Category:French bibliophiles
Category:French Christians
Category:German bibliophiles
Category:German Christians
Category:Matter of France
Category:Medieval history of the Low Countries
Category:People of ancient Roman descent
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Character encodings in HTML
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While Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) has been in use since 1991, HTML 4.0 from December 1997 was the first standardized version where international characters were given reasonably complete treatment. When an HTML document includes special characters outside the range of seven-bit ASCII, two goals are worth considering: the information's integrity, and universal browser display.
Specifying the document's character encoding
There are two general ways to specify which character encoding is used in the document.
First, the web server can include the character encoding or "<code>charset</code>" in the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) <code>Content-Type</code> header, which would typically look like this:
<syntaxhighlight lang="http">
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
</syntaxhighlight>
This method gives the HTTP server a convenient way to alter document's encoding according to content negotiation; certain HTTP server software can do it, for example Apache with the module <code>mod_charset_lite</code>.
Second, a declaration can be included within the document itself.
For HTML it is possible to include this information inside the <code>head</code> element near the top of the document:
<!-- Please don't add a closing "/": that is unnecessary here. -->
<syntaxhighlight lang="html">
<meta charset="utf-8">
</syntaxhighlight>
XHTML documents have a third option: to express the character encoding via XML declaration, as follows:
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<?xml version"1.0" encoding"utf-8"?>
</syntaxhighlight>
With this second approach, because the character encoding cannot be known until the declaration is parsed, there is a problem knowing which character encoding is used in the document up to and including the declaration itself. If the character encoding is an ASCII extension then the content up to and including the declaration itself should be pure ASCII and this will work correctly. For character encodings that are not ASCII extensions (i.e. not a superset of ASCII), such as UTF-16BE and UTF-16LE, a processor of HTML, such as a web browser, should be able to parse the declaration in some cases through the use of heuristics.
Encoding detection algorithm
As of HTML5 the recommended charset is UTF-8. and other tentative detection mechanisms.
Characters outside of the printable ASCII range (32 to 126) usually appear incorrectly. This presents few problems for English-speaking users, but other languages regularly—in some cases, always—require characters outside that range. In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) language environments where there are several different multi-byte encodings in use, auto-detection is also often employed. Finally, browsers usually permit the user to override incorrect charset label manually as well.
It is increasingly common for multilingual websites and websites in non-Western languages to use UTF-8, which allows use of the same encoding for all languages. UTF-16 or UTF-32, which can be used for all languages as well, are less widely used because they can be harder to handle in programming languages that assume a byte-oriented ASCII superset encoding, and they are less efficient for text with a high frequency of ASCII characters, which is usually the case for HTML documents.
Successful viewing of a page is not necessarily an indication that its encoding is specified correctly. If the page's creator and reader are both assuming some platform-specific character encoding, and the server does not send any identifying information, then the reader will nonetheless see the page as the creator intended, but other readers on different platforms or with different native languages will not see the page as intended.
Permitted encodings
The WHATWG Encoding Standard, referenced by recent HTML standards (the current WHATWG HTML Living Standard, as well as the formerly competing W3C HTML 5.0 and 5.1) specifies a list of encodings which browsers must support. The HTML standards forbid support of other encodings. The Encoding Standard further stipulates that new formats, new protocols (even when existing formats are used) and authors of new documents are required to use UTF-8 exclusively. Otherwise, follows the mappings from the 2005 standard.}}
* Big5
* Shift JIS
* ISO-2022-JP
* EUC-KR
* UTF-16BE
* UTF-16LE
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The following additional encodings are listed in the Encoding Standard, and support for them is therefore also required:
* ISO-8859-10
* ISO-8859-13
* ISO-8859-14
* ISO-8859-15
* ISO-8859-16
* KOI8-R
* KOI8-U / KOI8-RU) excludes four-byte codes, and favours the one-byte 0x80 representation for U+20AC.}}
* EUC-JP
}}
The following encodings are listed as explicit examples of forbidden encodings: Although the same security concern applies to ISO-2022-JP and UTF-16, which also allow sequences of ASCII bytes to be interpreted differently, this approach was not seen as feasible for them since they are comparatively more frequently used in deployed content. The following encodings receive this treatment:
Character references
In addition to native character encodings, characters can also be encoded as character references, which can be numeric character references (decimal or hexadecimal) or character entity references. Character entity references are also sometimes referred to as named entities, or HTML entities for HTML. HTML's usage of character references derives from SGML.
HTML character references
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A numeric character reference in HTML refers to a character by its Universal Character Set/Unicode code point, and uses the format
:<code>&#nnnn;</code>
or
:<code>&#xhhhh;</code>
where nnnn is the code point in decimal form, and hhhh is the code point in hexadecimal form. The x must be lowercase in XML documents. The nnnn or hhhh may be any number of digits and may include leading zeros. The hhhh may mix uppercase and lowercase, though uppercase is the usual style.
Not all web browsers or email clients used by receivers of HTML documents, or text editors used by authors of HTML documents, will be able to render all HTML characters. Most modern software is able to display most or all of the characters for the user's language, and will draw a box or other clear indicator for characters they cannot render.
For codes from 0 to 127, the original 7-bit ASCII standard set, most of these characters can be used without a character reference. Codes from 160 to 255 can all be created using character entity names. Only a few higher-numbered codes can be created using entity names, but all can be created by decimal number character reference.
Character entity references can also have the format <code>&name;</code> where name is a case-sensitive alphanumeric string. For example, "λ" can also be encoded as <code>λ</code> in an HTML document. The character entity references <code><</code>, <code>></code>, <code>"</code> and <code>&</code> are predefined in HTML and SGML, because <code><</code>, <code>></code>, <code>"</code> and <code>&</code> are already used to delimit markup. This notably did not include XML's <code>'</code> (') entity prior to HTML5. For a list of all named HTML character entity references along with the versions in which they were introduced, see List of XML and HTML character entity references.
Unnecessary use of HTML character references may significantly reduce HTML readability. If the character encoding for a web page is chosen appropriately, then HTML character references are usually only required for markup delimiting characters as mentioned above, and for a few special characters (or none at all if a native Unicode encoding like UTF-8 is used). Incorrect HTML entity escaping may also open up security vulnerabilities for injection attacks such as cross-site scripting. If HTML attributes are left unquoted, certain characters, most importantly whitespace, such as space and tab, must be escaped using entities. Other languages related to HTML have their own methods of escaping characters.
XML character references
Unlike traditional HTML with its large range of character entity references, in XML there are only five predefined character entity references. These are used to escape characters that are markup sensitive in certain contexts:
{| class="wikitable"
| <code>&</code> ||align="center"| & || ampersand || U+0026
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| <code><</code> ||align="center"| < || less-than sign || U+003C
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| <code>></code> ||align="center"| > || greater-than sign || U+003E
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| <code>"</code> ||align="center"| " || quotation mark || U+0022
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| <code>'</code> ||align="center"| ' || apostrophe || U+0027
|}
All other character entity references have to be defined before they can be used. For example, use of <code>é</code> (which gives é, Latin lower-case E with acute accent, U+00E9 in Unicode) in an XML document will generate an error unless the entity has already been defined. XML also requires that the <code>x</code> in hexadecimal numeric references be in lowercase: for example <code>ਛ</code> rather than <code>ਛ</code>. XHTML, which is an XML application, supports the HTML entity set, along with XML's predefined entities.
See also
* Charset sniffing – used by many browsers when character encoding metadata is not available
* Unicode and HTML
* Language code
* List of XML and HTML character entity references
References
External links
* [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/sgml/entities.html Character entity references in HTML4]
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/guide-web-character-encoding/ The Definitive Guide to Web Character Encoding]
* [http://code.google.com/p/browsersec/wiki/Part1#HTML_entity_encoding HTML Entity Encoding chapter of Browser Security Handbook – more information about current browsers and their entity handling]
* [http://www.owasp.org/index.php/XSS_(Cross_Site_Scripting)_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet The Open Web Application Security Project's wiki article on cross-site scripting (XSS)]
Category:HTML
Category:World Wide Web Consortium standards
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Carbon nanotube
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image of a single-walled carbon nanotube]]
A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with a diameter in the nanometre range (nanoscale). They are one of the allotropes of carbon. Two broad classes of carbon nanotubes are recognized:
* Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have diameters around 0.5–2.0 nanometres, about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. They can be idealised as cutouts from a two-dimensional graphene sheet rolled up to form a hollow cylinder.
* Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) consist of nested single-wall carbon nanotubes in a nested, tube-in-tube structure. Double- and triple-walled carbon nanotubes are special cases of MWCNT.
Carbon nanotubes can exhibit remarkable properties, such as exceptional tensile strength and thermal conductivity because of their nanostructure and strength of the bonds between carbon atoms. Some SWCNT structures exhibit high electrical conductivity while others are semiconductors. In addition, carbon nanotubes can be chemically modified. These properties are expected to be valuable in many areas of technology, such as electronics, optics, composite materials (replacing or complementing carbon fibres), nanotechnology (including nanomedicine), and other applications of materials science.
The predicted properties for SWCNTs were tantalising, but a path to synthesising them was lacking until 1993, when Iijima and Ichihashi at NEC, and Bethune and others at IBM independently discovered that co-vaporising carbon and transition metals such as iron and cobalt could specifically catalyse SWCNT formation. These discoveries triggered research that succeeded in greatly increasing the efficiency of the catalytic production technique, and led to an explosion of work to characterise and find applications for SWCNTs.
History
The true identity of the discoverers of carbon nanotubes is a subject of some controversy. A 2006 editorial written by Marc Monthioux and Vladimir Kuznetsov in the journal Carbon described the origin of the carbon nanotube. A large percentage of academic and popular literature attributes the discovery of hollow, nanometre-size tubes composed of graphitic carbon to Sumio Iijima of NEC in 1991. His paper initiated a flurry of excitement and could be credited with inspiring the many scientists now studying applications of carbon nanotubes. Though Iijima has been given much of the credit for discovering carbon nanotubes, it turns out that the timeline of carbon nanotubes goes back much further than 1991. Endo, in his early review of vapor-phase-grown carbon fibers (VPCF), also reminded us that he had observed a hollow tube, linearly extended with parallel carbon layer faces near the fiber core. This appears to be the observation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes at the center of the fiber. In 1979, John Abrahamson presented evidence of carbon nanotubes at the 14th Biennial Conference of Carbon at Pennsylvania State University. The conference paper described carbon nanotubes as carbon fibers that were produced on carbon anodes during arc discharge. A characterization of these fibers was given, as well as hypotheses for their growth in a nitrogen atmosphere at low pressures.
In 1981, a group of Soviet scientists published the results of chemical and structural characterization of carbon nanoparticles produced by a thermocatalytic disproportionation of carbon monoxide. Using TEM images and XRD patterns, the authors suggested that their "carbon multi-layer tubular crystals" were formed by rolling graphene layers into cylinders. They speculated that via this rolling, many different arrangements of graphene hexagonal nets are possible. They suggested two such possible arrangements: a circular arrangement (armchair nanotube); and a spiral, helical arrangement (chiral tube).
In 1987, Howard G. Tennent of Hyperion Catalysis was issued a U.S. patent for the production of "cylindrical discrete carbon fibrils" with a "constant diameter between about 3.5 and about 70 nanometers..., length 10<sup>2</sup> times the diameter, and an outer region of multiple essentially continuous layers of ordered carbon atoms and a distinct inner core...."
Helping to create the initial excitement associated with carbon nanotubes were Iijima's 1991 discovery of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the insoluble material of arc-burned graphite rods; thus played a role in the discoveries of both multi- and single-wall nanotubes, extending the run of serendipitous discoveries relating to fullerenes. The discovery of nanotubes remains a contentious issue. Many believe that Iijima's report in 1991 is of particular importance because it brought carbon nanotubes into the awareness of the scientific community as a whole. Structure of SWCNTs
Basic details
The structure of an ideal (infinitely long) single-walled carbon nanotube is that of a regular hexagonal lattice drawn on an infinite cylindrical surface, whose vertices are the positions of the carbon atoms. Since the length of the carbon-carbon bonds is fairly fixed, there are constraints on the diameter of the cylinder and the arrangement of the atoms on it.
In the study of nanotubes, one defines a zigzag path on a graphene-like lattice as a path that turns 60 degrees, alternating left and right, after stepping through each bond. It is also conventional to define an armchair path as one that makes two left turns of 60 degrees followed by two right turns every four steps. On some carbon nanotubes, there is a closed zigzag path that goes around the tube. One says that the tube is of the zigzag type or configuration, or simply is a zigzag nanotube. If the tube is instead encircled by a closed armchair path, it is said to be of the armchair type, or an armchair nanotube. An infinite nanotube that is of one type consists entirely of closed paths of that type, connected to each other.
The zigzag and armchair configurations are not the only structures that a single-walled nanotube can have. To describe the structure of a general infinitely long tube, one should imagine it being sliced open by a cut parallel to its axis, that goes through some atom A, and then unrolled flat on the plane, so that its atoms and bonds coincide with those of an imaginary graphene sheet—more precisely, with an infinitely long strip of that sheet. The two halves of the atom A will end up on opposite edges of the strip, over two atoms A1 and A2 of the graphene. The line from A1 to A2 will correspond to the circumference of the cylinder that went through the atom A, and will be perpendicular to the edges of the strip. In the graphene lattice, the atoms can be split into two classes, depending on the directions of their three bonds. Half the atoms have their three bonds directed the same way, and half have their three bonds rotated 180 degrees relative to the first half. The atoms A1 and A2, which correspond to the same atom A on the cylinder, must be in the same class. It follows that the circumference of the tube and the angle of the strip are not arbitrary, because they are constrained to the lengths and directions of the lines that connect pairs of graphene atoms in the same class.
Let u and v be two linearly independent vectors that connect the graphene atom A1 to two of its nearest atoms with the same bond directions. That is, if one numbers consecutive carbons around a graphene cell with C1 to C6, then u can be the vector from C1 to C3, and v be the vector from C1 to C5. Then, for any other atom A2 with same class as A1, the vector from A1 to A2 can be written as a linear combination n u + m v, where n and m are integers. And, conversely, each pair of integers (n,m) defines a possible position for A2.
The thinnest freestanding single-walled carbon nanotube is about 0.43 nm in diameter. Researchers suggested that it can be either (5,1) or (4,2) SWCNT, but the exact type of the carbon nanotube remains questionable. (3,3), (4,3), and (5,1) carbon nanotubes (all about 0.4 nm in diameter) were unambiguously identified using aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy inside double-walled CNTs. Length The observation of the longest carbon nanotubes grown so far, around 0.5 metre (550 mm) long, was reported in 2013. Other small molecule carbon nanotubes have been synthesized since.
Density
The highest density of CNTs was achieved in 2013, grown on a conductive titanium-coated copper surface that was coated with co-catalysts cobalt and molybdenum at lower than typical temperatures of 450 °C. The tubes averaged a height of 380 nm and a mass density of 1.6 g cm<sup>−3</sup>. The material showed ohmic conductivity (lowest resistance ~22 kΩ).
Variants
There is no consensus on some terms describing carbon nanotubes in the scientific literature: both "-wall" and "-walled" are being used in combination with "single", "double", "triple", or "multi", and the letter C is often omitted in the abbreviation, for example, multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT). The International Standards Organization typically uses "single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)" or "multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)" in its documents.
Multi-walled
Multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs) consist of multiple rolled layers (concentric tubes) of graphene. There are two models that can be used to describe the structures of multi-walled nanotubes. In the Russian Doll model, sheets of graphite are arranged in concentric cylinders, e.g., a (0,8) single-walled nanotube (SWNT) within a larger (0,17) single-walled nanotube. In the Parchment model, a single sheet of graphite is rolled in around itself, resembling a scroll of parchment or a rolled newspaper. The interlayer distance in multi-walled nanotubes is close to the distance between graphene layers in graphite, approximately 3.4 Å. The Russian Doll structure is observed more commonly. Its individual shells can be described as SWNTs, which can be metallic or semiconducting.
Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) form a special class of nanotubes because their morphology and properties are similar to those of SWNTs but they are more resistant to attacks by chemicals. This is especially important when it is necessary to graft chemical functions to the surface of the nanotubes (functionalization) to add properties to the CNT. Covalent functionalization of SWNTs will break some CC double bonds, leaving "holes" in the structure on the nanotube and thus modifying both its mechanical and electrical properties. In the case of DWNTs, only the outer wall is modified. DWNT synthesis on the gram-scale by the CCVD technique was first proposed in 2003 from the selective reduction of oxide solutions in methane and hydrogen.
The telescopic motion ability of inner shells, allowing them to act as low-friction, low-wear nanobearings and nanosprings, may make them a desirable material in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) . The retraction force that occurs to telescopic motion is caused by the Lennard-Jones interaction between shells, and its value is about 1.5 nN.
Junctions and crosslinking
Junctions between two or more nanotubes have been widely discussed theoretically. Such junctions are quite frequently observed in samples prepared by arc discharge as well as by chemical vapor deposition. The electronic properties of such junctions were first considered theoretically by Lambin et al., who pointed out that a connection between a metallic tube and a semiconducting one would represent a nanoscale heterojunction. Such a junction could therefore form a component of a nanotube-based electronic circuit. The adjacent image shows a junction between two multiwalled nanotubes.
Junctions between nanotubes and graphene have been considered theoretically and studied experimentally. Nanotube-graphene junctions form the basis of pillared graphene, in which parallel graphene sheets are separated by short nanotubes. Pillared graphene represents a class of three-dimensional carbon nanotube architectures.
Recently, several studies have highlighted the prospect of using carbon nanotubes as building blocks to fabricate three-dimensional macroscopic (>100 nm in all three dimensions) all-carbon devices. Lalwani et al. have reported a novel radical-initiated thermal crosslinking method to fabricate macroscopic, free-standing, porous, all-carbon scaffolds using single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes as building blocks. These scaffolds possess macro-, micro-, and nano-structured pores, and the porosity can be tailored for specific applications. These 3D all-carbon scaffolds/architectures may be used for the fabrication of the next generation of energy storage, supercapacitors, field emission transistors, high-performance catalysis, photovoltaics, and biomedical devices, implants, and sensors.
Other morphologies
structure]]
Carbon nanobuds are a newly created material combining two previously discovered allotropes of carbon: carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. In this new material, fullerene-like "buds" are covalently bonded to the outer sidewalls of the underlying carbon nanotube. This hybrid material has useful properties of both fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. In particular, they have been found to be exceptionally good field emitters. In composite materials, the attached fullerene molecules may function as molecular anchors preventing slipping of the nanotubes, thus improving the composite's mechanical properties.
A carbon peapod is a novel hybrid carbon material which traps fullerene inside a carbon nanotube. It can possess interesting magnetic properties with heating and irradiation. It can also be applied as an oscillator during theoretical investigations and predictions.
In theory, a nanotorus is a carbon nanotube bent into a torus (doughnut shape). Nanotori are predicted to have many unique properties, such as magnetic moments 1000 times larger than that previously expected for certain specific radii. Properties such as magnetic moment, thermal stability, etc. vary widely depending on the radius of the torus and the radius of the tube.
Graphenated carbon nanotubes are a relatively new hybrid that combines graphitic foliates grown along the sidewalls of multiwalled or bamboo-style CNTs. The foliate density can vary as a function of deposition conditions (e.g., temperature and time) with their structure ranging from a few layers of graphene (< 10) to thicker, more graphite-like. The fundamental advantage of an integrated graphene-CNT structure is the high surface area three-dimensional framework of the CNTs coupled with the high edge density of graphene. Depositing a high density of graphene foliates along the length of aligned CNTs can significantly increase the total charge capacity per unit of nominal area as compared to other carbon nanostructures.
Cup-stacked carbon nanotubes (CSCNTs) differ from other quasi-1D carbon structures, which normally behave as quasi-metallic conductors of electrons. CSCNTs exhibit semiconducting behavior because of the stacking microstructure of graphene layers.
Properties
Many properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes depend significantly on the (n,m) type, and this dependence is non-monotonic (see Kataura plot). In particular, the band gap can vary from zero to about 2 eV and the electrical conductivity can show metallic or semiconducting behavior.
Mechanical
image of carbon nanotube bundles]]
Carbon nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest materials yet discovered in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus. This strength results from the covalent sp<sup>2</sup> bonds formed between the individual carbon atoms. In 2000, a multiwalled carbon nanotube was tested to have a tensile strength of . (For illustration, this translates into the ability to endure tension of a weight equivalent to on a cable with cross-section of ). Further studies, such as one conducted in 2008, revealed that individual CNT shells have strengths of up to ≈, which is in agreement with quantum/atomistic models. Because carbon nanotubes have a low density for a solid of 1.3 to 1.4 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, its specific strength of up to 48,000 kN·m/kg is the best of known materials, compared to high-carbon steel's 154 kN·m/kg.
Although the strength of individual CNT shells is extremely high, weak shear interactions between adjacent shells and tubes lead to significant reduction in the effective strength of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and carbon nanotube bundles down to only a few GPa. This limitation has been recently addressed by applying high-energy electron irradiation, which crosslinks inner shells and tubes, and effectively increases the strength of these materials to ≈60 GPa for multiwalled carbon nanotubes
On the other hand, there is evidence that in the radial direction they are rather soft. The first transmission electron microscope observation of radial elasticity suggested that even van der Waals forces can deform two adjacent nanotubes. Later, nanoindentations with an atomic force microscope were performed by several groups to quantitatively measure the radial elasticity of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and tapping/contact mode atomic force microscopy was also performed on single-walled carbon nanotubes. Their high Young's modulus in the linear direction, of on the order of several GPa (and even up to an experimentally-measured 1.8 TPa, for nanotubes near 2.4 μm in length), further suggests they may be soft in the radial direction.
Electrical
Unlike graphene, which is a two-dimensional semimetal, carbon nanotubes are either metallic
Thus, all armchair (n m) nanotubes are metallic, and nanotubes (6,4), (9,1), etc. are semiconducting.
Carbon nanotubes are not semimetallic because the degenerate point (the point where the π [bonding] band meets the π* [anti-bonding] band, at which the energy goes to zero) is slightly shifted away from the K point in the Brillouin zone because of the curvature of the tube surface, causing hybridization between the σ* and π* anti-bonding bands, modifying the band dispersion.
The rule regarding metallic versus semiconductor behavior has exceptions because curvature effects in small-diameter tubes can strongly influence electrical properties. Thus, a (5,0) SWCNT that should be semiconducting in fact is metallic according to the calculations. Likewise, zigzag and chiral SWCNTs with small diameters that should be metallic have a finite gap (armchair nanotubes remain metallic). where for copper interconnects, current densities are limited by electromigration. Carbon nanotubes are thus being explored as interconnects and conductivity-enhancing components in composite materials, and many groups are attempting to commercialize highly conducting electrical wire assembled from individual carbon nanotubes. There are significant challenges to be overcome however, such as undesired current saturation under voltage, and the much more resistive nanotube-to-nanotube junctions and impurities, all of which lower the electrical conductivity of the macroscopic nanotube wires by orders of magnitude, as compared to the conductivity of the individual nanotubes.
Because of its nanoscale cross-section, electrons propagate only along the tube's axis. As a result, carbon nanotubes are frequently referred to as one-dimensional conductors. The maximum electrical conductance of a single-walled carbon nanotube is 2G<sub>0</sub>, where G<sub>0</sub> 2e<sup>2</sup>/h is the conductance of a single ballistic quantum channel.
Because of the role of the π-electron system in determining the electronic properties of graphene, doping in carbon nanotubes differs from that of bulk crystalline semiconductors from the same group of the periodic table (e.g., silicon). Graphitic substitution of carbon atoms in the nanotube wall by boron or nitrogen dopants leads to p-type and n-type behavior, respectively, as would be expected in silicon. However, some non-substitutional (intercalated or adsorbed) dopants introduced into a carbon nanotube, such as alkali metals and electron-rich metallocenes, result in n-type conduction because they donate electrons to the π-electron system of the nanotube. By contrast, π-electron acceptors such as FeCl<sub>3</sub> or electron-deficient metallocenes function as p-type dopants because they draw π-electrons away from the top of the valence band.
Intrinsic superconductivity has been reported, although other experiments found no evidence of this, leaving the claim a subject of debate.
In 2021, Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, published department findings on the use of carbon nanotubes to create an electric current. By immersing the structures in an organic solvent, the liquid drew electrons out of the carbon particles. Strano was quoted as saying, "This allows you to do electrochemistry, but with no wires," and represents a significant breakthrough in the technology. Future applications include powering micro- or nanoscale robots, as well as driving alcohol oxidation reactions, which are important in the chemicals industry.
Electromechanical
Semiconducting carbon nanotubes have shown piezoresistive property when applying mechanical force. The structural deformation causes a change in the band gap which effects the conductance. This property has the potential to be used in strain sensors. Optical
Carbon nanotubes have useful absorption, photoluminescence (fluorescence), and Raman spectroscopy properties. Spectroscopic methods offer the possibility of quick and non-destructive characterization of relatively large amounts of carbon nanotubes. There is a strong demand for such characterization from the industrial point of view: numerous parameters of nanotube synthesis can be changed, intentionally or unintentionally, to alter the nanotube quality, such as the non-tubular carbon content, structure (chirality) of the produced nanotubes, and structural defects. These features then determine nearly all other significant optical, mechanical, and electrical properties.
Carbon nanotube optical properties have been explored for use in applications such as for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photo-detectors based on a single nanotube have been produced in the lab. Their unique feature is not the efficiency, which is yet relatively low, but the narrow selectivity in the wavelength of emission and detection of light and the possibility of its fine-tuning through the nanotube structure. In addition, bolometer and optoelectronic memory devices have been realised on ensembles of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Nanotube fluorescence has been investigated for the purposes of imaging and sensing in biomedical applications.
Thermal
All nanotubes are expected to be very good thermal conductors along the tube, compare this to copper, a metal well known for its good thermal conductivity, which transmits 385 W·m<sup>−1</sup>·K<sup>−1</sup>. An individual SWNT has a room-temperature thermal conductivity lateral to its axis (in the radial direction) of about 1.52 W·m<sup>−1</sup>·K<sup>−1</sup>, which is about as thermally conductive as soil. Macroscopic assemblies of nanotubes such as films or fibres have reached up to 1500 W·m<sup>−1</sup>·K<sup>−1</sup> so far. Networks composed of nanotubes demonstrate different values of thermal conductivity, from the level of thermal insulation with the thermal conductivity of 0.1 W·m<sup>−1</sup>·K<sup>−1</sup> to such high values. That is dependent on the amount of contribution to the thermal resistance of the system caused by the presence of impurities, misalignments and other factors. The temperature stability of carbon nanotubes is estimated to be up to 2800 °C in vacuum and about 750 °C in air.
Crystallographic defects strongly affect the tube's thermal properties. Such defects lead to phonon scattering, which in turn increases the relaxation rate of the phonons. This reduces the mean free path and reduces the thermal conductivity of nanotube structures. Phonon transport simulations indicate that substitutional defects such as nitrogen or boron will primarily lead to the scattering of high-frequency optical phonons. However, larger-scale defects such as Stone–Wales defects cause phonon scattering over a wide range of frequencies, leading to a greater reduction in thermal conductivity. Antibacterial Recently, carbon-nanotubes have been shown to have antibacterial properties. They disrupt normal bacterial function by causing physical/mechanical damage, facilitating oxidative stress or lipid extraction, inhibiting bacterial metabolism, and isolating functional sites via wrapping with CNM-containing nanomaterials. Synthesis
Techniques have been developed to produce nanotubes in sizeable quantities, including arc discharge, laser ablation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and high-pressure carbon monoxide disproportionation (HiPCO). Among these arc discharge, laser ablation are batch by batch process, Chemical Vapor Deposition can be used both for batch by batch or continuous processes, and HiPCO is gas phase continuous process. Most of these processes take place in a vacuum or with process gases. The CVD growth method is popular, as it yields high quantity and has a degree of control over diameter, length and morphology. Using particulate catalysts, large quantities of nanotubes can be synthesized by these methods, and industrialisation is well on its way, with several CNT and CNT fibers factory around the world. One problem of CVD processes is the high variability in the nanotube's characteristics The HiPCO process advances in catalysis and continuous growth are making CNTs more commercially viable. The HiPCO process helps in producing high purity single-walled carbon nanotubes in higher quantity. The HiPCO reactor operates at high temperature 900–1100 °C and high pressure ~30–50 bar. It uses carbon monoxide as the carbon source and iron pentacarbonyl or nickel tetracarbonyl as a catalyst. These catalysts provide a nucleation site for the nanotubes to grow, These impurities need to be removed to make use of the carbon nanotubes in applications.
Purification
As-synthesized carbon nanotubes typically contain impurities and most importantly different chiralities of carbon nanotubes. Therefore, multiple methods have been developed to purify them including polymer-assisted, density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU), chromatography and aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE). These methods have been reviewed in multiple articles.
Certain polymers selectively disperse or wrap CNTs of a particular chirality, metallic character or diameter. For example, poly(phenylenevinylenes) disperses CNTs of specific diameters (0.75–0.84 nm) and polyfluorenes are highly selective for semiconducting CNTs. It involves mainly two steps, sonicate the mixture (CNTs and polymers in solvent), centrifuge and the supernatant are desired CNTs.
Density gradient ultracentrifugation is a method based on the density difference of CNTs, so that different components are layered in centrifuge tubes under centrifugal force. Chromatography-based methods include size exclusion (SEC), ion-exchange (IEX) and gel chromatography. For SEC, CNTs are separated due to the difference in size using a stationary phase with different pore size. As for IEX, the separation is achieved based on their differential adsorption and desorption onto chemically functionalized resins packed in an IEX column, so understanding the interaction between CNTs mixtures and resins is important. The first IEX is reported to separate DNA-SWCNTs. Gel chromatography is based on the partition of CNTs between stationary and mobile phase, it's found semiconducting CNTs are more strongly attracted by gel than metallic CNTs. While it shows potential, the current application is limited to the separation of semiconducting (n,m) species.
ATPE uses two water-soluble polymers such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dextran. When mixed, two immiscible aqueous phases form spontaneously, and each of the two phases shows a different affinity to CNTs. Partition depends on the solvation energy difference between two similar phases of microscale volumes. By changing the separation system or temperatures, and adding strong oxidants, reductants, or salts, the partition of CNTs species into the two phases can be adjusted.
Despite the progress that has been made to separate and purify CNTs, many challenges remain, such as the growth of chirality-controlled CNTs, so that no further purification is needed, or large-scale purification.
Advantages of monochiral CNTs
Monochiral CNTs have the advantage that they do contain less or no impurities, well-defined non-congested optical spectra. This allows to create for example CNT-based biosensors with higher sensitivity and selectivity. enhanced sensitivity
Functionalization
Carbon nanotubes can be functionalized to attain desired properties that can be used in a wide variety of applications. The two main methods of carbon nanotube functionalization are covalent and non-covalent modifications. Because of their apparent hydrophobic nature, carbon nanotubes tend to agglomerate hindering their dispersion in solvents or viscous polymer melts. The resulting nanotube bundles or aggregates reduce the mechanical performance of the final composite. The surface of the carbon nanotubes can be modified to reduce the hydrophobicity and improve interfacial adhesion to a bulk polymer through chemical attachment.
Chemical routes such as covalent functionalization have been studied extensively, which involves the oxidation of CNTs via strong acids (e.g. sulfuric acid, nitric acid, or a mixture of both) in order to set the carboxylic groups onto the surface of the CNTs as the final product or for further modification by esterification or amination. Free radical grafting is a promising technique among covalent functionalization methods, in which alkyl or aryl peroxides, substituted anilines, and diazonium salts are used as the starting agents.
Functionalization can improve CNTs characteristically weak dispersibility in many solvents, such as water - a consequence of their strong intermolecular p–p interactions. This can enhance the processing and manipulation of insoluble CNTs, rendering them useful for synthesizing innovative CNT nanofluids with impressive properties that are tunable for a wide range of applications.
Free radical grafting of macromolecules (as the functional group) onto the surface of CNTs can improve the solubility of CNTs compared to common acid treatments which involve the attachment of small molecules such as hydroxyl onto the surface of CNTs. The solubility of CNTs can be improved significantly by free-radical grafting because the large functional molecules facilitate the dispersion of CNTs in a variety of solvents even at a low degree of functionalization. Recently an innovative environmentally friendly approach has been developed for the covalent functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using clove buds. This approach is innovative and green because it does not use toxic and hazardous acids which are typically used in common carbon nanomaterial functionalization procedures. The MWCNTs are functionalized in one pot using a free radical grafting reaction. The clove-functionalized MWCNTs are then dispersed in water producing a highly stable multi-walled carbon nanotube aqueous suspension (nanofluids).
The surface of carbon nanotubes can be chemically modified by coating spinel nanoparticles by hydrothermal synthesis and can be used for water oxidation purposes.
In addition, the surface of carbon nanotubes can be fluorinated or halofluorinated by heating while in contact with a fluoroorganic substance, thereby forming partially fluorinated carbons (so-called Fluocar materials) with grafted (halo)fluoroalkyl functionality. Modeling Carbon nanotubes are modelled in a similar manner as traditional composites in which a reinforcement phase is surrounded by a matrix phase. Ideal models such as cylindrical, hexagonal and square models are common. The size of the micromechanics model is highly function of the studied mechanical properties. The concept of representative volume element (RVE) is used to determine the appropriate size and configuration of the computer model to replicate the actual behavior of the CNT-reinforced nanocomposite. Depending on the material property of interest (thermal, electrical, modulus, creep), one RVE might predict the property better than the alternatives. While the implementation of the ideal model is computationally efficient, they do not represent microstructural features observed in scanning electron microscopy of actual nanocomposites. To incorporate realistic modeling, computer models are also generated to incorporate variability such as waviness, orientation and agglomeration of multiwall or single-wall carbon nanotubes.
Metrology
There are many metrology standards and reference materials available for carbon nanotubes.
For single-wall carbon nanotubes, ISO/TS 10868 describes a measurement method for the diameter, purity, and fraction of metallic nanotubes through optical absorption spectroscopy, while ISO/TS 10797 and ISO/TS 10798 establish methods to characterize the morphology and elemental composition of single-wall carbon nanotubes, using transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy respectively, coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry analysis.
NIST SRM 2483 is a soot of single-wall carbon nanotubes used as a reference material for elemental analysis, and was characterized using thermogravimetric analysis, prompt gamma activation analysis, induced neutron activation analysis, inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, resonant Raman scattering, UV-visible-near infrared fluorescence spectroscopy and absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The Canadian National Research Council also offers a certified reference material SWCNT-1 for elemental analysis using neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. NIST RM 8281 is a mixture of three lengths of single-wall carbon nanotube.
For multiwall carbon nanotubes, ISO/TR 10929 identifies the basic properties and the content of impurities, while ISO/TS 11888 describes morphology using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, viscometry, and light scattering analysis. ISO/TS 10798 is also valid for multiwall carbon nanotubes. and pathological alterations in the lungs. The biological interactions of nanotubes are not well understood, and the field is open to continued toxicological studies. It is often difficult to separate confounding factors, and since carbon is relatively biologically inert, some of the toxicity attributed to carbon nanotubes may be instead due to residual metal catalyst contamination. In previous studies, only Mitsui-7 was reliably demonstrated to be carcinogenic, although for unclear/unknown reasons. Unlike many common mineral fibers (such as asbestos), most SWCNTs and MWCNTs do not fit the size and aspect-ratio criteria to be classified as respirable fibers. In 2013, given that the long-term health effects have not yet been measured, NIOSH published a Current Intelligence Bulletin detailing the potential hazards and recommended exposure limit for carbon nanotubes and fibers. The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has determined non-regulatory recommended exposure limits (RELs) of 1 μg/m<sup>3</sup> for carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers as background-corrected elemental carbon as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) respirable mass concentration. Although CNT caused pulmonary inflammation and toxicity in mice, exposure to aerosols generated from sanding of composites containing polymer-coated MWCNTs, representative of the actual end-product, did not exert such toxicity.
As of October 2016, single-wall carbon nanotubes have been registered through the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations, based on evaluation of the potentially hazardous properties of SWCNT. Based on this registration, SWCNT commercialization is allowed in the EU up to 100 metric tons. Currently, the type of SWCNT registered through REACH is limited to the specific type of single-wall carbon nanotubes manufactured by OCSiAl, which submitted the application.
Applications
Carbon nanotubes are currently used in multiple industrial and consumer applications. These include battery components, polymer composites, to improve the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the bulk product, and as a highly absorptive black paint. Many other applications are under development, including field effect transistors for electronics, high-strength fabrics, biosensors for biomedical and agricultural applications, and many others.
Biomedical Applications
Because of their relatively large surface area, CNTs are capable of interacting with a wide variety of therapeutic and diagnostic agents (drugs, genes, vaccines, antibodies, biosensors, etc.). This can be utilized to assist in drug delivery directly into cells. In addition, CNTs have recently been used as reinforcements in implants and scaffolds due to their suitable reaction area, high elastic modulus, and load transfer capability.
CNTs have been shown to increase the effectiveness of bioactive coatings for the attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of osteoblasts, and has been used as a bone substitution material.
CNTs may be used as reinforcing materials for chitosan-containing coatings used on implants and medical scaffolds. Biosensing SWCNTs have nanoscale dimensions that fit to the size of biological species. Due to this size compatibility and their large surface-to-volume ratio, they are sensitive to changes in their chemical environment. Through covalent and non-covalent surface functionalization, SWCNTs can be precisely tailored for selective molecular interactions with a target analyte. The SWCNT represents the transduction unit that converts the interaction into a signal change (optical or electrical). Due to continuous progress in the development of detection strategies, there are numerous examples of the use of SWCNTs as highly sensitive nanosensors (even down to the single molecule level) for a variety of important biomolecules. Examples include the detection of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, neurotransmitters, other small molecules, lipids, proteins, sugars, DNA/RNA, enzymes as well as bacteria.
The signal change manifests itself in an increase or decrease in the current (electrical) For sensitive measurement of electronic changes, field-effect transistors (FET) are often used in which the flow of charges within the SWCNTs is measured. The FET structures allow easy on-chip integration and can be parallelized to detect multiple target analytes simultaneously.) or electrical excitation (electroluminescence). The emission in the NIR enables detection in the biological transparency window, where optical sensor applications benefit from reduced scattering and autofluorescence of biological samples and consequently a high signal-to-noise ratio. Compared to optical sensors in the UV or visible range, the penetration depth in biological tissue is also increased. In addition to the advantage of a contactless readout SWCNTs have excellent photostability, which enables long-term sensor applications. Furthermore, the nanoscale size of SWCNTs allows dense coating of surfaces which enables chemical imaging, e.g. of cellular release processes with high spatial and temporal resolution. or by hyperspectral detection based on monochiral SWCNT sensors that emit at different emission wavelengths. For fluorescence applications, however, optical filters to distinguish between excitation and emission and a NIR-sensitive detector must be used. Standard silicon detectors can also be used if monochiral SWCNTs (extractable by special purification processes) emitting closer to the visible range (800 – 900 nm) are used. In order to avoid susceptibility of optical sensors to fluctuating ambient light, internal references such as SWCNTs that are modified to be non-responsive or stable NIR emitters can be used. An alternative is to measure fluorescence lifetimes instead of fluorescence intensities. Overall, SWCNTs therefore have great potential as building blocks for various biosensors.
To render SWCNTs suitable for biosensing, their surface needs to be modified to ensure colloidal stability and provide a handle for biological recognition. Therefore, biosensing and surface modifications (functionalization) are closely related.
Potential future applications include biomedical and environmental applications such as monitoring plant health in agriculture, standoff process control in bioreactors, research/diagnostics of neuronal communication and numerous diseases such as coagulation disorders, diabetes, cancer, microbial and viral infections, testing the efficacy of pharmaceuticals or infection monitoring using smart implants. In industry, SWCNTs are already used as sensors in the detection of gases and odors in the form of an electronic nose or in enzyme screening. Other current applications
* Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. have been in partnership with Zyvex Performance Materials, using CNT technology in a number of their bicycle components – including flat and riser handlebars, cranks, forks, seatposts, stems and aero bars.
* Amroy Europe Oy manufactures Hybtonite carbon nano-epoxy resins where carbon nanotubes have been chemically activated to bond to epoxy, resulting in a composite material that is 20% to 30% stronger than other composite materials. It has been used for wind turbines, marine paints and a variety of sports gear such as skis, ice hockey sticks, baseball bats, hunting arrows, and surfboards.
* Surrey NanoSystems synthesizes carbon nanotubes to create vantablack ultra-absorptive black paint.
* "Gecko tape" (also called "nano tape") is often commercially sold as double-sided adhesive tape. It can be used to hang lightweight items such as pictures and decorative items on smooth walls without punching holes in the wall. The carbon nanotube arrays comprising the synthetic setae leave no residue after removal and can stay sticky in extreme temperatures.
* Tips for atomic force microscope probes. Applications under development
Applications of nanotubes in development in academia and industry include:
* Medical devices: Using single wall carbon nanotubes in medical devices results in no skin contamination, high flexibility, and softness, which are crucial for healthcare applications.
* Wearable electronics and 5G/6G communication: Electrodes with single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) exhibit excellent electrochemical properties and flexibility.
* Bitumen and asphalt: The world's first test section of road pavement with single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) showed a 67% increase in resistance to cracks and ruts, increasing the lifespan of the materials.
* Nanocomposites for aviation, automotive, and renewable energy markets: Modifying resin with just 0.02% single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) increases electrical conductivity by 276% without compromising the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced polymers, also improving flexural properties and delaying thermal degradation.
* Additive manufacturing: single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are mixed with a suitable printing medium or used as a filler material in the printing process, creating complex structures with enhanced mechanical and electrical properties.
* Utilizing carbon nanotubes as the channel material of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors.
* Using carbon nanotubes as a scaffold for diverse microfabrication techniques.
* Energy dissipation in self-organized nanostructures under the influence of an electric field.
* Using carbon nanotubes for environmental monitoring due to their active surface area and their ability to absorb gases.
* Jack Andraka used carbon nanotubes in his pancreatic cancer test. His method of testing won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Gordon E. Moore Award in the spring of 2012.
* The Boeing Company has patented the use of carbon nanotubes for structural health monitoring of composites used in aircraft structures. This technology is hoped to greatly reduce the risk of an in-flight failure caused by structural degradation of aircraft.
* Zyvex Technologies has also built a 54' maritime vessel, the Piranha Unmanned Surface Vessel, as a technology demonstrator for what is possible using CNT technology. CNTs help improve the structural performance of the vessel, resulting in a lightweight 8,000 lb boat that can carry a payload of 15,000 lb over a range of 2,500 miles.
* IMEC is using carbon nanotubes for pellicles in semiconductor lithography.
* In tissue engineering, carbon nanotubes have been used as scaffolding for bone growth.
Carbon nanotubes can serve as additives to various structural materials. For instance, nanotubes form a tiny portion of the material(s) in some (primarily carbon fiber) baseball bats, golf clubs, car parts, or damascus steel.
IBM expected carbon nanotube transistors to be used on Integrated Circuits by 2020.
SWCNTs have found use in long lasting, faster charged lithium ion batteries; polyamide car parts for e-painting; automotive primers for cost benefits and better aesthetics of topcoats; ESD floors; electrically conductive lining coatings for tanks and pipes; rubber parts with improved heat and oil aging stability; conductive gelcoats for ATEX requirements and tooling conductive gelcoats for increased safety and efficiency; and heating fiber coatings for infrastructure elements. Potential/Future applications
The strength and flexibility of carbon nanotubes makes them of potential use in controlling other nanoscale structures, which suggests they will have an important role in nanotechnology engineering. The highest tensile strength of an individual multi-walled carbon nanotube has been tested to be 63 GPa. Recently, several studies have highlighted the prospect of using carbon nanotubes as building blocks to fabricate three-dimensional macroscopic (>1mm in all three dimensions) all-carbon devices. Lalwani et al. have reported a novel radical initiated thermal crosslinking method to fabricated macroscopic, free-standing, porous, all-carbon scaffolds using single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes as building blocks. photovoltaics, and biomedical devices and implants.
CNTs are potential candidates for future via and wire material in nano-scale VLSI circuits. Eliminating electromigration reliability concerns that plague today's Cu interconnects, isolated (single and multi-wall) CNTs can carry current densities in excess of 1000 MA/cm<sup>2</sup> without electromigration damage.
Single-walled nanotubes are likely candidates for miniaturizing electronics. The most basic building block of these systems is an electric wire, and SWNTs with diameters of an order of a nanometre can be excellent conductors. One useful application of SWNTs is in the development of the first intermolecular field-effect transistors (FET). The first intermolecular logic gate using SWCNT FETs was made in 2001. A logic gate requires both a p-FET and an n-FET. Because SWNTs are p-FETs when exposed to oxygen and n-FETs otherwise, it is possible to expose half of an SWNT to oxygen and protect the other half from it. The resulting SWNT acts as a not logic gate with both p- and n-type FETs in the same molecule.
Large quantities of pure CNTs can be made into a freestanding sheet or film by surface-engineered tape-casting (SETC) fabrication technique which is a scalable method to fabricate flexible and foldable sheets with superior properties. Another reported form factor is CNT fiber (a.k.a. filament) by wet spinning. The fiber is either directly spun from the synthesis pot or spun from pre-made dissolved CNTs. Individual fibers can be turned into a yarn. Apart from its strength and flexibility, the main advantage is making an electrically conducting yarn. The electronic properties of individual CNT fibers (i.e. bundle of individual CNT) are governed by the two-dimensional structure of CNTs. The fibers were measured to have a resistivity only one order of magnitude higher than metallic conductors at . By further optimizing the CNTs and CNT fibers, CNT fibers with improved electrical properties could be developed.
CNT-based yarns are suitable for applications in energy and electrochemical water treatment when coated with an ion-exchange membrane. Also, CNT-based yarns could replace copper as a winding material. Pyrhönen et al. (2015) have built a motor using CNT winding.
See also
* Buckypaper
* Carbide-derived carbon
* Carbon nanocone
* Carbon nanofibers
* Carbon nanoscrolls
* Carbon nanotube computer
* Carbon nanotubes in photovoltaics
* Colossal carbon tube
* Diamond nanothread
* Filamentous carbon
* Molecular modelling
* Nanoflower
* Nano-I-beam
* Ninithi (nanotube modelling software)
* Optical properties of carbon nanotubes
* Organic semiconductor
References
This article incorporates public domain text from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) as quoted.
External links
* [https://www.wecanfigurethisout.org/VL/Nanocarbon.htm Nanocarbon: From Graphene to Buckyballs]. Interactive 3D models of cyclohexane, benzene, graphene, graphite, chiral & non-chiral nanotubes, and C60 Buckyballs – WeCanFigureThisOut.org.
* [http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/223 C<sub>60</sub> and Carbon Nanotubes a short video explaining how nanotubes can be made from modified graphite sheets and the three different types of nanotubes that are formed]
* [http://nanohub.org/resources/2762 Learning module for Bandstructure of Carbon Nanotubes and Nanoribbons]
* [http://stacks.iop.org/1367-2630/5/i1/aE04 Selection of free-download articles on carbon nanotubes]
* [https://demonstrations.wolfram.com/ElectronicBandStructureOfASingleWalledCarbonNanotubeByTheZon/ WOLFRAM Demonstrations Project: Electronic Band Structure of a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube by the Zone-Folding Method]
* [http://www.demonstrations.wolfram.com/ElectronicStructureOfASingleWalledCarbonNanotubeInTightBindi/ WOLFRAM Demonstrations Project: Electronic Structure of a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube in Tight-Binding Wannier Representation]
Category:Allotropes of carbon
Category:Transparent electrodes
Category:Refractory materials
Category:Space elevator
Category:Discovery and invention controversies
Category:Nanomaterials
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| image_flag = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| image_coat = Coat of arms of the Czech Republic.svg
| coa_size = 80
| symbol_type =
| national_motto <br />"Truth prevails"
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| image_map2 | capital Prague
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** 9.3% Catholicism
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| leader_title1 = President
| leader_name1 = Petr Pavel
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The Czech Republic, ; .}} also known as Czechia, ; .}} and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Czech Republic has a hilly landscape that covers an area of with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.
The Duchy of Bohemia was founded in the late 9th century under Great Moravia. It was formally recognized as an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1002 and became a kingdom in 1198. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, all of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy. Nearly a hundred years later, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Crown lands became part of the Austrian Empire.
In the 19th century, the Czech lands became more industrialized; further, in 1918, most of the country became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic following the collapse of Austria-Hungary after World War I. Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a parliamentary democracy during the entirety of the interwar period. After the Munich Agreement in 1938, Nazi Germany systematically took control over the Czech lands. Czechoslovakia was restored in 1945 and three years later became an Eastern Bloc communist state following a coup d'état in 1948. Attempts to liberalize the government and economy were suppressed by a Soviet-led invasion of the country during the Prague Spring in 1968. In November 1989, the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in the country and restored democracy. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Czech Republic is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced, high-income social market economy. It is a welfare state with a European social model, universal health care and free-tuition university education. It ranks 32nd in the Human Development Index. The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
Etymology<!--linked-->
The traditional English name "Bohemia" derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means "home of the Boii" (a Gallic tribe). The current English name ultimately comes from the Czech word . The name comes from the Slavic tribe () and, according to legend, their leader Čech, who brought them to Bohemia, to settle on Říp Mountain. The etymology of the word is uncertain, but according to the most common derivation can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root , meaning "member of the people; kinsman", thus making it cognate to the Czech word (a person).
The country has been traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia () in the west, Moravia () in the east, and Czech Silesia (; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the northeast. Known as the lands of the Bohemian Crown since the 14th century, a number of other names for the country have been used, including Czech/Bohemian lands, Bohemian Crown, Czechia, and the lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus. When the country regained its independence after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, the new name of Czechoslovakia was coined to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak nations within one country.
After Czechoslovakia dissolved on the last day of 1992, was adopted as the Czech short name for the new state and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic recommended Czechia for the English-language equivalent. This form was not widely adopted at the time, leading to the long name Czech Republic being used in English in nearly all circumstances. The Czech government directed use of Czechia as the official English short name in 2016. The short name has been listed by the United Nations and is used by other organizations such as the European Union, NATO, the CIA, Google Maps, and the European Broadcasting Union. In 2022, the American AP Stylebook stated in its entry on the country that "both [Czechia and the Czech Republic] are acceptable. The shorter name Czechia is preferred by the Czech government. If using Czechia, clarify in the story that the country is more widely known in English as the Czech Republic." History Prehistory
Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area, dating back to the Paleolithic era.
In the classical era, as a result of the 3rd century BC Celtic migrations, Bohemia became associated with the Boii. The Boii founded an oppidum near the site of modern Prague. Later in the 1st century, the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi settled there.
Slavs from the Black Sea–Carpathian region settled in the area (their migration was pushed by an invasion of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe into their area: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars).
During the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting against nearby settled Avars, became the ruler of the first documented Slavic state in Central Europe, Samo's Empire. The principality of Great Moravia, controlled by Moymir dynasty, arose in the 8th century. It reached its zenith in the 9th (during the reign of Svatopluk I of Moravia), holding off the influence of the Franks. Great Moravia was Christianized, with a role being played by the Byzantine mission of Cyril and Methodius. They codified the Old Church Slavonic language, the first literary and liturgical language of the Slavs, and the Glagolitic script. Bohemia
within the Holy Roman Empire (1600). The Czech lands were part of the Empire in 1002–1806, and Prague was the imperial seat in 1346–1437 and 1583–1611.]]
The Duchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century when it was unified by the Přemyslid dynasty. Bohemia was from 1002 until 1806 an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1212, Přemysl Ottokar I extracted the Golden Bull of Sicily from the emperor, confirming Ottokar and his descendants' royal status; the Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a Kingdom. German immigrants settled in the Bohemian periphery in the 13th century. The Mongols in the invasion of Europe carried their raids into Moravia but were defensively defeated at Olomouc.
After a series of dynastic wars, the House of Luxembourg gained the Bohemian throne.
Efforts for a reform of the church in Bohemia started already in the late 14th century. Jan Hus' followers seceded from some practices of the Roman Church and in the Hussite Wars (1419–1434) defeated five crusades organized against them by Sigismund. During the next two centuries, 90% of the population in Bohemia and Moravia were considered Hussites. The pacifist thinker Petr Chelčický inspired the movement of the Moravian Brethren (by the middle of the 15th century) that completely separated from the Roman Catholic Church.
and crusaders during the Hussite Wars; Jena Codex, 15th century]]
On 21 December 1421, Jan Žižka, a successful military commander and mercenary, led his group of forces in the Battle of Kutná Hora, resulting in a victory for the Hussites. He is honoured to this day as a national hero.
After 1526, Bohemia came increasingly under Habsburg control as the Habsburgs became first the elected and then in 1627 the hereditary rulers of Bohemia. Between 1583 and 1611 Prague was the official seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II and his court.
The Defenestration of Prague and subsequent revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618 marked the start of the Thirty Years' War. In 1620, the rebellion in Bohemia was crushed at the Battle of White Mountain and the ties between Bohemia and the Habsburgs' hereditary lands in Austria were strengthened. The leaders of the Bohemian Revolt were executed in 1621. The nobility and the middle class Protestants had to either convert to Catholicism or leave the country.
The following era of 1620 to the late 18th century became known as the "Dark Age". During the Thirty Years' War, the population of the Czech lands declined by a third through the expulsion of Czech Protestants as well as due to the war, disease and famine. The Habsburgs prohibited all Christian confessions other than Catholicism. The flowering of Baroque culture shows the ambiguity of this historical period.
Ottoman Turks and Tatars invaded Moravia in 1663. In 1679–1680 the Czech lands faced the Great Plague of Vienna and an uprising of serfs.
marked the beginning of the Bohemian Revolt against the Habsburgs and therefore the first phase of the Thirty Years' War.]]
There were peasant uprisings influenced by famine. Serfdom was abolished between 1781 and 1848. Several battles of the Napoleonic Wars took place on the current territory of the Czech Republic.
The end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 led to degradation of the political status of Bohemia which lost its position of an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire as well as its own political representation in the Imperial Diet. Bohemian lands became part of the Austrian Empire. During the 18th and 19th century the Czech National Revival began its rise, with the purpose to revive Czech language, culture, and national identity. The Revolution of 1848 in Prague, striving for liberal reforms and autonomy of the Bohemian Crown within the Austrian Empire, was suppressed.
It seemed that some concessions would be made also to Bohemia, but in the end, the Emperor Franz Joseph I affected a compromise with Hungary only. The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the never realized coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Bohemia led to a disappointment of some Czech politicians. Czechoslovakia comprised 27% of the population of the former Austria-Hungary and nearly 80% of the industry. This new country incorporated the Bohemian Crown.
The First Czechoslovak Republic comprised only 27% of the population of the former Austria-Hungary, but nearly 80% of the industry, which enabled it to compete with Western industrial states. In 1929 compared to 1913, the gross domestic product increased by 52% and industrial production by 41%. In 1938 Czechoslovakia held 10th place in the world industrial production. Czechoslovakia was the only country in Central and Eastern Europe to remain a liberal democracy throughout the entire
interwar period. Although the First Czechoslovak Republic was a unitary state, it provided certain rights to its minorities, the largest being Germans (23.6% in 1921), Hungarians (5.6%) and Ukrainians (3.5%).
]]
Western Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany, which placed most of the region into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and the president and prime minister were subordinated to Nazi Germany's Reichsprotektor. One Nazi concentration camp was located within the Czech territory at Terezín, north of Prague. The vast majority of the Protectorate's Jews were murdered in Nazi-run concentration camps. The Nazi called for the extermination, expulsion, Germanization or enslavement of most or all Czechs for the purpose of providing more living space for the German people. There was Czechoslovak resistance to Nazi occupation as well as reprisals against the Czechoslovaks for their anti-Nazi resistance. The German occupation ended on 9 May 1945, with the arrival of the Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising. Most of Czechoslovakia's German-speakers were forcibly expelled from the country, first as a result of local acts of violence and then under the aegis of an "organized transfer" confirmed by the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain at the Potsdam Conference.
In the 1946 elections, the Communist Party gained 38% of the votes and became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament, formed a coalition with other parties, and consolidated power. A coup d'état came in 1948 and a single-party government was formed. For the next 41 years, the Czechoslovak Communist state conformed to Eastern Bloc economic and political features. The Prague Spring political liberalization was stopped by the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Analysts believe that the invasion caused the communist movement to fracture, ultimately leading to the Revolutions of 1989.
Czech Republic
, one of the most important figures in Czech history during the 20th century—leader of the Velvet Revolution, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic]]
In November 1989, Czechoslovakia again became a liberal democracy through the Velvet Revolution. However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened (Hyphen War) and on 31 December 1992, the country peacefully split into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatizations, with the intention of creating a market economy, as they have been trying to do since 1990, when Czechs and Slovaks still shared the common state. This process was largely successful; in 2006 the Czech Republic was recognized by the World Bank as a "developed country", and in 2009 the Human Development Index ranked it as a nation of "Very High Human Development".
From 1991, the Czech Republic, originally as part of Czechoslovakia and since 1993 in its own right, has been a member of the Visegrád Group and from 1995, the OECD. The Czech Republic joined NATO on 12 March 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 21 December 2007 the Czech Republic joined the Schengen Area.
Until 2017, either the centre-left Czech Social Democratic Party or the centre-right Civic Democratic Party led the governments of the Czech Republic. In October 2017, the populist movement ANO 2011, led by the country's second-richest man, Andrej Babiš, won the elections with three times more votes than its closest rival, the Civic Democrats. In December 2017, Czech president Miloš Zeman appointed Andrej Babiš as the new prime minister.
In the 2021 elections, ANO 2011 was narrowly defeated and Petr Fiala became the new prime minister. He formed a government coalition of the alliance SPOLU (Civic Democratic Party, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09) and the alliance of Pirates and Mayors. In January 2023, retired general Petr Pavel won the presidential election, becoming new Czech president to succeed Miloš Zeman. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country took in half a million Ukrainian refugees, the largest number per capita in the world. Geography
The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48° and 51° N and longitudes 12° and 19° E.
Bohemia, to the west, consists of a basin drained by the Elbe () and the Vltava rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains, such as the Krkonoše range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, Sněžka at , is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder River ().
Water from the Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea, and Black Sea. The Czech Republic also leases the Moldauhafen, a lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles, to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported down river could be transferred to seagoing ships. The territory reverts to Germany in 2028.
Phytogeographically, the Czech Republic belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region, within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of the Czech Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Western European broadleaf forests, Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, and Carpathian montane conifer forests.
There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park (Biosphere Reserve), and the others are Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Podyjí National Park, and Bohemian Switzerland.
The three historical lands of the Czech Republic (formerly some countries of the Bohemian Crown) correspond with the river basins of the Elbe and the Vltava basin for Bohemia, the Morava one for Moravia, and the Oder river basin for Czech Silesia (in terms of the Czech territory).
Climate
types of the Czech Republic using the 0 °C isotherm:
]]
thumb|Köppen climate classification types of the Czech Republic using the −3 °C isotherm:
]]
The Czech Republic has a temperate climate, situated in the transition zone between the oceanic and continental climate types, with warm summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. The temperature difference between summer and winter is due to the landlocked geographical position.
Temperatures vary depending on the elevation. In general, at higher altitudes, the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases. The wettest area in the Czech Republic is found around Bílý Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague. Another factor is the distribution of the mountains.
At the highest peak of Sněžka (), the average temperature is , whereas in the lowlands of the South Moravian Region, the average temperature is as high as . The country's capital, Prague, has a similar average temperature, although this is influenced by urban factors.
The coldest month is usually January, followed by February and December. During these months, there is snow in the mountains and sometimes in the cities and lowlands. During March, April, and May, the temperature usually increases, especially during April, when the temperature and weather tends to vary during the day. Spring is also characterized by higher water levels in the rivers, due to melting snow with occasional flooding.
The warmest month of the year is July, followed by August and June. On average, summer temperatures are about higher than during winter. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms.
Autumn generally begins in September, which is still warm and dry. During October, temperatures usually fall below or and deciduous trees begin to shed their leaves. By the end of November, temperatures usually range around the freezing point.
The coldest temperature ever measured was in Litvínovice near České Budějovice in 1929, at and the hottest measured, was at in Dobřichovice in 2012.
Most rain falls during the summer. Sporadic rainfall is throughout the year (in Prague, the average number of days per month experiencing at least of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November) but concentrated rainfall (days with more than per day) are more frequent in the months of May to August (average around two such days per month). Severe thunderstorms, producing damaging straight-line winds, hail, and occasional tornadoes occur, especially during the summer period.
Biodiversity and conservation
As of 2020, the Czech Republic ranks as the 21st most environmentally conscious country in the world in Environmental Performance Index. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1.71/10, ranking it 160th globally out of 172 countries. The Czech Republic has four National Parks (Šumava National Park, Krkonoše National Park, České Švýcarsko National Park, Podyjí National Park) and 25 Protected Landscape Areas. The fauna of the Czech Republic includes a wide variety of animal species. Some species (especially endangered ones) are bred in reserves. Among the rare animals are, for example, eagles, ospreys, bustards, and storks. Government and politics
President<br /><small>Petr Pavel</small>
| image2 = Petr Fiala po jmenování předsedou vlády (cropped).jpg
| width2 = 124
| alt2 = Petr Fiala
| caption2 = Prime Minister<br /><small>Petr Fiala</small>
}}
, lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic]]
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy. The Parliament (Parlament České republiky) is bicameral, with the Chamber of Deputies (, 200 members) and the Senate (, 81 members). The members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected for a four-year term by proportional representation, with a 5% election threshold. There are 14 voting districts, identical to the country's administrative regions. The Chamber of Deputies, the successor to the Czech National Council, has the powers and responsibilities of the now defunct federal parliament of the former Czechoslovakia. The members of the Senate are elected in single-seat constituencies by two-round runoff voting for a six-year term, with one-third elected every even year in the autumn. This arrangement is modeled on the U.S. Senate, but each constituency is roughly the same size and the voting system used is a two-round runoff.
The president is a formal head of state with limited and specific powers, who appoints the prime minister, as well the other members of the cabinet on a proposal by the prime minister. From 1993 until 2012, the President of the Czech Republic was selected by a joint session of the parliament for a five-year term, with no more than two consecutive terms (Václav Havel and Václav Klaus were both elected twice). Since 2013, the president has been elected directly. Some commentators have argued that, with the introduction of direct election of the President, the Czech Republic has moved away from the parliamentary system and towards a semi-presidential one. The Government's exercise of executive power derives from the Constitution. The members of the government are the Prime Minister, Deputy prime ministers and other ministers. The Government is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies. The Prime Minister is the head of government and wields powers such as the right to set the agenda for most foreign and domestic policy and choose government ministers.
|President
|Petr Pavel
|Independent
|9 March 2023
|-
|President of the Senate
|Miloš Vystrčil
|ODS
|19 February 2020
|-
|President of the Chamber of Deputies
|Markéta Pekarová Adamová
|TOP 09
|10 November 2021
|-
|Prime Minister
|Petr Fiala
|ODS
|28 November 2021
|}
Law
in Brno]]
The Czech Republic is a unitary state, with a civil law system based on the continental type, rooted in Germanic legal culture. The basis of the legal system is the Constitution of the Czech Republic adopted in 1993.
Foreign relations
)]]
The Czech Republic has ranked as one of the safest or most peaceful countries for the past few decades. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, OECD, Council of Europe and is an observer to the Organization of American States. The embassies of most countries with diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic are located in Prague, while consulates are located across the country.
The Czech passport is restricted by visas. According to the 2018 Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, Czech citizens have visa-free access to 173 countries, which ranks them 7th along with Malta and New Zealand. The World Tourism Organization ranks the Czech passport 24th. The US Visa Waiver Program applies to Czech nationals.
in Prague]]
The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs have primary roles in setting foreign policy, although the President also has influence and represents the country abroad. Membership in the European Union and NATO is central to the Czech Republic's foreign policy. The Office for Foreign Relations and Information (ÚZSI) serves as the foreign intelligence agency responsible for espionage and foreign policy briefings, as well as protection of Czech Republic's embassies abroad.
The Czech Republic has ties with Slovakia, Poland and Hungary as a member of the Visegrád Group, as well as with Germany, Israel, the United States and the European Union and its members. After 2020, relations with Asian democratic states, such as Taiwan, are being strengthened. Conversely, the Czech Republic has long had bad relations with Russia; from 2021, the Czech Republic appears on Russia's official list of enemy countries. The Czech Republic also has problematic relations with China.
Czech officials have supported dissenters in Belarus, Moldova, Myanmar and Cuba.
Famous Czech diplomats of the past included Jaroslav Lev of Rožmitál, Humprecht Jan Czernin, Count Philip Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau, Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, Prince Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, Ottokar Czernin, Edvard Beneš, Jan Masaryk, Jiří Hájek, Jiří Dienstbier, Michael Žantovský, Petr Kolář, Alexandr Vondra, Prince Karel Schwarzenberg and Petr Pavel.
Military
in Prague]]
The Czech armed forces consist of the Czech Land Forces, the Czech Air Force and of specialized support units. The armed forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence. The President of the Czech Republic is Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In 2004 the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The country has been a member of NATO since 12 March 1999. Defence spending is approximately 1.28% of the GDP (2021). The armed forces are charged with protecting the Czech Republic and its allies, promoting global security interests, and contributing to NATO.
Currently, as a member of NATO, the Czech military are participating in the Resolute Support and KFOR operations and have soldiers in Afghanistan, Mali, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Egypt, Israel and Somalia. The Czech Air Force also served in the Baltic states and Iceland. The main equipment of the Czech military includes JAS 39 Gripen multi-role fighters, Aero L-159 Alca combat aircraft, AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters, armored vehicles (Pandur II, BVP-2) and tanks (T-72M4CZ and Leopard 2A4). Human rights
Human rights in the Czech Republic are guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and international treaties on human rights. Nevertheless, there were cases of human rights violations such as discrimination against Roma children, for which the European Commission asked the Czech Republic to provide an explanation, or the illegal sterilization of Roma women, for which the government apologized.
People of the same sex can enter into a "registered partnership" in the Czech Republic. Conducting same-sex marriage is not legal under current Czech law.
Administrative divisions
Since 2000, the Czech Republic has been divided into thirteen regions (Czech: kraje, singular kraj) and the capital city of Prague. Every region has its own elected regional assembly and a regional governor. In Prague, the assembly and presidential powers are executed by the city council and the mayor.
The older seventy-six districts (okresy, singular okres) including three "statutory cities" (without Prague, which had special status) lost most of their importance in 1999 in an administrative reform; they remain as territorial divisions and seats of various branches of state administration.
The smallest administrative units are obce (municipalities). As of 2021, the Czech Republic is divided into 6,254 municipalities. Cities and towns are also municipalities. The capital city of Prague is a region and municipality at the same time.
Economy
and the Schengen Area (dark and light blue on the map above), but uses its own currency, the Czech koruna.]]
The Czech Republic has a developed, high-income export-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing and innovation, that maintains a welfare state and the European social model. The Czech Republic participates in the European Single Market as a member of the European Union and is therefore a part of the economy of the European Union, but uses its own currency, the Czech koruna, instead of the euro. It has a per capita GDP rate that is 91% of the EU average and is a member of the OECD. Monetary policy is conducted by the Czech National Bank, whose independence is guaranteed by the Constitution. The Czech Republic ranks 12th in the UN inequality-adjusted human development and 24th in World Bank Human Capital Index. It was described by The Guardian as "one of Europe's most flourishing economies".
, the country's GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is $51,329 and $29,856 at nominal value. According to Allianz A.G., in 2018 the country was an MWC (mean wealth country), ranking 26th in net financial assets. The country experienced a 4.5% GDP growth in 2017. The 2016 unemployment rate was the lowest in the EU at 2.4%, and the 2016 poverty rate was the second lowest of OECD members. 30th in the 2024 Global Innovation Index, 29th in the Global Competitiveness Report, and 25th in the Global Enabling Trade Report. The Czech Republic has a diverse economy that ranks 7th in the 2016 Economic Complexity Index. The industrial sector accounts for 37.5% of the economy, while services account for 60% and agriculture for 2.5%. The largest trading partner for both export and import is Germany and the EU in general. Dividends worth CZK 270 billion were paid to the foreign owners of Czech companies in 2017, which has become a political issue. The country has been a member of the Schengen Area since 1 May 2004, having abolished border controls, completely opening its borders with all of its neighbors on 21 December 2007.
Industry
RS iV]]
the largest companies by revenue in the Czech Republic were: automobile manufacturer Škoda Auto, utility company ČEZ Group, conglomerate Agrofert, energy trading company EPH, oil processing company Unipetrol, electronics manufacturer Foxconn CZ and steel producer Moravia Steel. Other Czech transportation companies include: Škoda Transportation (tramways, trolleybuses, metro), Tatra (heavy trucks, the second oldest car maker in the world), Avia (medium trucks), Karosa and SOR Libchavy (buses), Aero Vodochody (military aircraft), Let Kunovice (civil aircraft), Zetor (tractors), Jawa Moto (motorcycles) and Čezeta (electric scooters).
Škoda Transportation is the fourth largest tram producer in the world; nearly one third of all trams in the world come from Czech factories. The Czech Republic is also the world's largest vinyl records manufacturer, with GZ Media producing about 6 million pieces annually in Loděnice. Česká zbrojovka is among the ten largest firearms producers in the world and five who produce automatic weapons.
In the food industry, Czech companies include Agrofert, Kofola and Hamé.
Energy
]]
Production of Czech electricity exceeds consumption by about 10 TWh per year, the excess being exported. Nuclear power presently provides about 30 percent of the total power needs, its share is projected to increase to 40 percent. In 2005, 65.4 percent of electricity was produced by steam and combustion power plants (mostly coal); 30 percent by nuclear plants; and 4.6 percent came from renewable sources, including hydropower. The largest Czech power resource is Temelín Nuclear Power Station, with another nuclear power plant in Dukovany.
The Czech Republic is reducing its dependence on highly polluting low-grade brown coal as a source of energy. Natural gas is purchased from Norwegian companies and as liquefied gas LNG from the Netherlands and Belgium. In the past, three-quarters of gas supplies came from Russia, but after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government gradually stopped these supplies. Gas consumption (approx. 100 TWh in 2003–2005) is almost double electricity consumption. South Moravia has small oil and gas deposits.
Transportation infrastructure
]]
the road network in the Czech Republic is long, out of which are motorways. The speed limit is within towns, outside of towns and on motorways.
The Czech Republic has one of the densest rail networks in the world. the country has of lines. Of that number, is electrified, are single-line tracks and are double and multiple-line tracks. The length of tracks is , out of which is electrified.
České dráhy (the Czech Railways) is the main railway operator in the country, with about 180 million passengers carried yearly. Maximum speed is limited to .
Václav Havel Airport in Prague is the main international airport in the country. In 2019, it handled 17.8 million passengers. In total, the Czech Republic has 91 airports, six of which provide international air services. The public international airports are in Brno, Karlovy Vary, Mnichovo Hradiště, Mošnov (near Ostrava), Pardubice and Prague. The non-public international airports capable of handling airliners are in Kunovice and Vodochody.
Russia (via pipelines through Ukraine) and, to a lesser extent, Norway (via pipelines through Germany) supply the Czech Republic with liquid and natural gas.
Communications and IT
]]
The Czech Republic ranks in the top 10 countries worldwide with the fastest average internet speed. By the beginning of 2008, there were over 800 mostly local WISPs, with about 350,000 subscribers in 2007. Plans based on either GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or CDMA2000 are being offered by all three mobile phone operators (T-Mobile, O2, Vodafone) and internet provider U:fon. Government-owned Český Telecom slowed down broadband penetration. At the beginning of 2004, local-loop unbundling began and alternative operators started to offer ADSL and also SDSL. This and later privatization of Český Telecom helped drive down prices.
On 1 July 2006, Český Telecom was acquired by globalized company (Spain-owned) Telefónica group and adopted the new name Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. , VDSL and ADSL2+ are offered in variants, with download speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbit/s. Cable internet is gaining more popularity with its higher download speeds ranging from 50 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s.
Two computer security companies, Avast and AVG, were founded in the Czech Republic. In 2016, Avast led by Pavel Baudiš bought rival AVG for US$1.3 billion, together at the time, these companies had a user base of about 400 million people and 40% of the consumer market outside of China. Avast is the leading provider of antivirus software, with a 20.5% market share. Tourism
]]
Prague is the fifth most visited city in Europe after London, Paris, Istanbul and Rome. In 2001, the total earnings from tourism reached 118 billion CZK, making up 5.5% of the country's GNP and 9% of its overall export earnings. The industry employs more than 110,000 people – over 1% of the population.
Guidebooks and tourists reporting overcharging by taxi drivers and pickpocketing problems talk mainly about Prague, though the situation has improved recently. Since 2005, Prague's mayor, Pavel Bém, has worked to improve this reputation by cracking down on petty crime The Czech Republic's crime rate is described by the United States State department as "low".
The Czech Republic boasts 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 3 of them being transnational. , further 13 sites are on the tentative list.
]]
Architectural heritage is an object of interest to visitors – it includes castles and châteaux from different historical epochs, namely Karlštejn Castle, Český Krumlov and the Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape. There are 12 cathedrals and 15 churches elevated to the rank of basilica by the Pope, as well as many monasteries.
Away from the towns, areas such as Bohemian Paradise, Bohemian Forest and the Giant Mountains attract visitors seeking outdoor pursuits.
The country is also known for its various museums, puppetry and marionette exhibitions that take part within larger puppet festivals, and beer festivals. Aquapalace Prague in Čestlice is the largest water park in the country. Science
<!-- -->
, Nobel Prize winner]]
The Czech lands have a long and well-documented history of scientific innovation. Today, the Czech Republic has a highly sophisticated, developed, high-performing, innovation-oriented scientific community supported by the government, industry, and leading universities. Czech scientists are embedded members of the global scientific community. They contribute annually to multiple international academic journals and collaborate with their colleagues across boundaries and fields. The Czech Republic was ranked 24th in the Global Innovation Index in 2020 and 2021, up from 26th in 2019.
Historically, the Czech lands, especially Prague, have been the seat of scientific discovery going back to early modern times, including Tycho Brahe, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Johannes Kepler. In 1784 the scientific community was first formally organized under the charter of the Royal Czech Society of Sciences. Currently, this organization is known as the Czech Academy of Sciences. Similarly, the Czech lands have a well-established history of scientists, including Nobel laureates biochemists Gerty and Carl Ferdinand Cori, chemists Jaroslav Heyrovský (inventor of polarography, electroanalytical chemistry and recipient of the Nobel Prize) and Otto Wichterle (chemists responsible for the invention of the modern contact lens and silon-synthetic fiber), physicists Ernst Mach (physicist and critic of Newton's theories of space and time, foreshadowing Einstein's theory of relativity) and Peter Grünberg, physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně and chemist Antonín Holý (scientist and chemist, in 2009 was involved in creation of the most effective drug in the treatment of AIDS), Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was born in Příbor, Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics, was born in Hynčice and spent most of his life in Brno, logician and mathematician Kurt Gödel was born in Brno.
]]
Other famous Czech scientists include: Stanislav Brebera (inventor of the plastic explosive Semtex), Václav Prokop Diviš (inventor of the first grounded lightning rod), Jakub Husník (improved the process of photolithography), Jan Janský (serologist and neurologist, discovered the ABO blood groups), Karel Klíč (painter and photographer, inventor of the photogravure), František Křižík (electrical engineer, inventor of the arc lamp), Jan Marek Marci (mathematician, physicist and imperial physician, one of the founders of spectroscopy), Vladimír Remek (the first person outside of the Soviet Union and the United States to go into space), Jakub Kryštof Rad (inventor of sugar cubes), Josef Ressel (inventor of the screw propeller and modern compass).
Historically, most scientific research was recorded in Latin, but from the 18th century onwards increasingly in German and Czech, archived in libraries supported and managed by religious groups and other denominations as evidenced by historical locations of international renown and heritage such as the Strahov Monastery and the Clementinum in Prague. Increasingly, Czech scientists publish their work and that of their history in English.
The current important scientific institution is the already mentioned Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the CEITEC Institute in Brno or the HiLASE and Eli Beamlines centers with the most powerful laser in the world in Dolní Břežany. Prague is the seat of the administrative center of the GSA Agency operating the European navigation system Galileo and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme.
Demographics
The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2020 was estimated at 1.71 children per woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1. The Czech Republic's population has an average age of 43.3 years. The life expectancy in 2021 was estimated to be 79.5 years (76.55 years male, 82.61 years female). About 77,000 people immigrate to the Czech Republic annually. Vietnamese immigrants began settling in the country during the Communist period, when they were invited as guest workers by the Czechoslovak government. In 2009, there were about 70,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic. Most decide to stay in the country permanently.
According to results of the 2021 census, the majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are Czechs (57.3%), followed by Moravians (3.4%), Slovaks (0.9%), Ukrainians (0.7%), Viets (0.3%), Poles (0.3%), Russians (0.2%), Silesians (0.1%) and Germans (0.1%). Another 4.0% declared combination of two nationalities (3.6% combination of Czech and other nationality). As the 'nationality' was an optional item, a number of people left this field blank (31.6%). The Polish minority resides mainly in the Trans-Olza region.
There were 658,564 foreigners residing in the country in 2021, according to the Czech Statistical Office, with the largest groups being Ukrainian (22%), Slovak (22%), Vietnamese (12%), Russian (7%) and German (4%). Most of the foreign population lives in Prague (37.3%) and Central Bohemia Region (13.2%).
The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, 118,000 according to the 1930 census, was nearly annihilated by the Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. There were approximately 3,900 Jews in the Czech Republic in 2021. The former Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, is of Jewish faith.
Nationality of residents, who answered the question in the Census 2021:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Nationality
!Share
|-
|Czech
|83.76%
|-
|Moravian
|4.99%
|-
|Czech and Moravian
|2.50%
|-
|Slovak
|1.33%
|-
|Ukrainian
|1.08%
|-
|Czech and Slovak
|0.82%
|-
|Vietnamese
|0.44%
|-
|Polish
|0.37%
|-
|Russian
|0.35%
|-
|Other
|4.36%
|}
Largest cities
Religion
}}
About 75% to 79% of residents of the Czech Republic do not declare having any religion or faith in surveys, and the proportion of convinced atheists (30%) is the third highest in the world behind those of China (47%) and Japan (31%). The Czech people have been historically characterized as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion". The religious identity of the country has changed drastically since the first half of the 20th century, when more than 90% of Czechs were Christians.
(left), patron saint of the Czech lands]]
Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries introduced Christianity. After the Bohemian Reformation, most Czechs became followers of Jan Hus, Petr Chelčický and other regional Protestant Reformers. Taborites and Utraquists were Hussite groups. Towards the end of the Hussite Wars, the Utraquists changed sides and allied with the Roman Catholic Church. Following the joint Utraquist—Roman Catholic victory, Utraquism was accepted as a distinct form of Christianity to be practiced in Bohemia by the Roman Catholic Church while all remaining Hussite groups were prohibited. After the Reformation, some Bohemians went with the teachings of Martin Luther, especially Sudeten Germans. In the wake of the Reformation, Utraquist Hussites took a renewed increasingly anti-Catholic stance, while some of the defeated Hussite factions were revived. After the Habsburgs regained control of Bohemia, the whole population was forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism—even the Utraquist Hussites. Going forward, Czechs have become more wary and pessimistic of religion as such. A history of resistance to the Roman Catholic Church followed. It suffered a schism with the neo-Hussite Czechoslovak Hussite Church in 1920, lost the bulk of its adherents during the Communist era and continues to lose in the modern, ongoing secularization. Protestantism never recovered after the Counter-Reformation was introduced by the Austrian Habsburgs in 1620. Prior to the Holocaust, the Czech Republic had a sizable Jewish community of around 100,000. There are many historically important and culturally relevant Synagogues in the Czech Republic such as Europe's oldest active Synagogue, The Old New Synagogue and the second largest Synagogue in Europe, the Great Synagogue (Plzeň). The Holocaust decimated Czech Jewry and the Jewish population as of 2021 is 3,900.
According to the 2011 census, 34% of the population stated they had no religion, 10.3% were Roman Catholic, 0.8% were Protestant (0.5% Czech Brethren and 0.4% Hussite), and 9% followed other forms of religion both denominational or not (of which 863 people answered they are Pagan). 45% of the population did not answer the question about religion. The Muslim population is estimated to be 20,000 representing 0.2% of the population.
The proportion of religious believers varies significantly across the country, from 55% in Zlín Region to 16% in Ústí nad Labem Region.
Education and health care
, founded in 1348]]
Education in the Czech Republic is compulsory for nine years and citizens have access to a free-tuition university education, while the average number of years of education is 13.1. Additionally, the Czech Republic has a "relatively equal" educational system in comparison with other countries in Europe. The UN Education Index ranks the Czech Republic 10th (positioned behind Denmark and ahead of South Korea).
Health care in the Czech Republic is similar in quality to that of other developed nations. The Czech universal health care system is based on a compulsory insurance model, with fee-for-service care funded by mandatory employment-related insurance plans. According to the 2016 Euro health consumer index, a comparison of healthcare in Europe, the Czech healthcare is 13th, ranked behind Sweden and two positions ahead of the United Kingdom.
Culture
Art
Venus of Dolní Věstonice is an important example of prehistoric art unearthed in the Czech Republic. Theodoric of Prague was a painter in the Gothic era who decorated the castle Karlštejn. In the Baroque era, there were painters Wenceslaus Hollar, Jan Kupecký, Karel Škréta, Anton Raphael Mengs and Petr Brandl and sculptors Matthias Braun and Ferdinand Brokoff.
In the first half of the 19th century, Josef Mánes joined the romantic movement. In the second half the so-called "National Theatre generation" rose to prominence: sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek and painters Mikoláš Aleš, Václav Brožík, Vojtěch Hynais and Julius Mařák. At the end of the century came Art Nouveau, with Alfons Mucha becoming its main representative. He is known for his Art Nouveau posters and a cycle of 20 large canvases named the Slav Epic, which depicts the history of Czechs and other Slavs. , it can be seen in the Veletržní Palace of the National Gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic. Max Švabinský was another Art Nouveau painter.
The 20th century brought an avant-garde revolution, represented in the Czech lands mainly by expressionists and cubists: Josef Čapek, Emil Filla, Bohumil Kubišta or Jan Zrzavý. Surrealism emerged particularly through the work of Toyen, Josef Šíma and Karel Teige. In the world, however, the most well-known Czech avant-garde artist might be František Kupka, a pioneer of abstract painting. Illustrators and cartoonists to gain fame in the first half of the 20th century include Josef Lada, Zdeněk Burian or Emil Orlík. Art photography became a new field represented by František Drtikol, Josef Sudek, later Jan Saudek and Josef Koudelka.
The Czech Republic is also known for its individually made, mouth-blown, and decorated Bohemian glass.
Architecture
]]
The earliest preserved stone buildings in Bohemia and Moravia date back to the time of the Christianization in the 9th and 10th centuries. Since the Middle Ages, the Czech lands have been using the same architectural styles as most of Western and Central Europe. The oldest still standing churches were built in the Romanesque style. During the 13th century, it was replaced by the Gothic style. In the 14th century, Emperor Charles IV invited architects from France and Germany, Matthias of Arras and Peter Parler, to his court in Prague. During the Middle Ages, some fortified castles were built by the king and aristocracy, as well as some monasteries.
The Renaissance style penetrated the Bohemian Crown in the late 15th century when the older Gothic style started to be mixed with Renaissance elements. An example of pure Renaissance architecture in Bohemia is the Queen Anne's Summer Palace, which was situated in the garden of Prague Castle. Evidence of the general reception of the Renaissance in Bohemia, involving an influx of Italian architects, can be found in spacious chateaus with arcade courtyards and geometrically arranged gardens. Emphasis was placed on comfort, and buildings that were built for entertainment purposes also appeared.
In the 17th century, the Baroque style spread throughout the Crown of Bohemia.
In the 18th century, Bohemia produced an architectural peculiarity – the Baroque Gothic style, a synthesis of the Gothic and Baroque styles. His works include The Trial and The Castle.
In the second half of the 13th century, the royal court in Prague became one of the centers of German Minnesang and courtly literature. The Czech German-language literature can be seen in the first half of the 20th century.
Bible translations played a role in the development of Czech literature. The oldest Czech translation of the Psalms originated in the late 13th century and the first complete Czech translation of the Bible was finished around 1360. The first complete printed Czech Bible was published in 1488. The first complete Czech Bible translation from the original languages was published between 1579 and 1593. The Codex Gigas from the 12th century is the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.
, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature]]
Czech-language literature can be divided into several periods: the Middle Ages; the Hussite period; the Renaissance humanism; the Baroque period; the Enlightenment and Czech reawakening in the first half of the 19th century, modern literature in the second half of the 19th century; the avant-garde of the interwar period; the years under Communism; and the Czech Republic.
The antiwar comedy novel The Good Soldier Švejk is the most translated Czech book in history.
The international literary award the Franz Kafka Prize is awarded in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic has the densest network of libraries in Europe.
Czech literature and culture played a role on at least two occasions when Czechs lived under oppression and political activity was suppressed. On both of these occasions, in the early 19th century and then again in the 1960s, the Czechs used their cultural and literary effort to strive for political freedom, establishing a confident, politically aware nation.
Music
]]
The musical tradition of the Czech lands arose from the first church hymns, whose first evidence is suggested at the break of the 10th and 11th centuries. Some pieces of Czech music include two chorales, which in their time performed the function of anthems: "Lord, Have Mercy on Us" and the hymn "Saint Wenceslaus" or "Saint Wenceslaus Chorale". The authorship of the anthem "Lord, Have Mercy on Us" is ascribed by some historians to Saint Adalbert of Prague (sv.Vojtěch), bishop of Prague, living between 956 and 997.
The wealth of musical culture lies in the classical music tradition during all historical periods, especially in the Baroque, Classicism, Romantic, modern classical music and in the traditional folk music of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Since the early era of artificial music, Czech musicians and composers have been influenced the folk music of the region and dance.
Czech music can be considered to have been "beneficial" in both the European and worldwide context, several times co-determined or even determined a newly arriving era in musical art, above all of Classical era, as well as by original attitudes in Baroque, Romantic and modern classical music. Some Czech musical works are The Bartered Bride, New World Symphony, Sinfonietta and Jenůfa.
A music festival in the country is Prague Spring International Music Festival of classical music, a permanent showcase for performing artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles of the world.
Theatre
The roots of Czech theatre can be found in the Middle Ages, especially in the cultural life of the Gothic period. In the 19th century, the theatre played a role in the national awakening movement and later, in the 20th century, it became a part of modern European theatre art. The original Czech cultural phenomenon came into being at the end of the 1950s. This project called Laterna magika, resulting in productions that combined theater, dance, and film in a poetic manner, considered the first multimedia art project in an international context.
One drama is Karel Čapek's play R.U.R., which introduced the word "robot".
The country has a tradition of puppet theater. In 2016, Czech and Slovak Puppetry was included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.
Film
, animator and film director]]
The tradition of Czech cinematography started in the second half of the 1890s. Peaks of the production in the era of silent movies include the historical drama The Builder of the Temple and the social and erotic drama Erotikon directed by Gustav Machatý. The early Czech sound film era was productive, above all in mainstream genres, with the comedies of Martin Frič or Karel Lamač. There were dramatic movies sought internationally.
Hermína Týrlová was a prominent Czech animator, screenwriter, and film director. She was often called the mother of Czech animation. Over the course of her career, she produced over 60 animated children's short films using puppets and the technique of stop motion animation.
Before the German occupation, in 1933, filmmaker and animator established the first Czech animation studio "IRE Film" with her husband Karel Dodal.
After the period of Nazi occupation and early communist official dramaturgy of socialist realism in movies at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s with fewer exceptions such as Krakatit or Men without wings (awarded by in 1946), an era of the Czech film began with animated films, performed in anglophone countries under the name "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" from 1958, which combined acted drama with animation, and Jiří Trnka, the founder of the modern puppet film. This began a tradition of animated films (Mole etc.).
]]
In the 1960s, the hallmark of Czechoslovak New Wave's films were improvised dialogues, black and absurd humor and the occupation of non-actors. Directors are trying to preserve natural atmosphere without refinement and artificial arrangement of scenes. A personality of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s with original manuscript and psychological impact is František Vláčil. Another international author is Jan Švankmajer, a filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for animations and features.
The Barrandov Studios in Prague are the largest film studios with film locations in the country. Filmmakers have come to Prague to shoot scenery no longer found in Berlin, Paris and Vienna. The city of Karlovy Vary was used as a location for the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale.
The Czech Lion is the highest Czech award for film achievement. Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the film festivals that have been given competitive status by the FIAPF. Other film festivals held in the country include Febiofest, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, One World Film Festival, Zlín Film Festival and Fresh Film Festival.
Media
]]
Czech journalists and media enjoy a degree of freedom. There are restrictions against writing in support of Nazism, racism or violating Czech law. The Czech press was ranked as the 40th most free press in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders in 2021. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has its headquarters in Prague.
Czech Television is the country's national public television broadcaster. It operates a number of channels, including ČT1, ČT2, and the 24-hour news channel ČT24, as well as the news website [https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/ ct24.cz]. As of 2020, it is the most watched broadcaster, followed by the private TV Nova and Prima TV. However, TV Nova features the most watched main news program and prime time program. Other public media services include the Czech Radio and the Czech News Agency.
The best-selling daily national newspapers in 2020/21 are Blesk (average 703,000 daily readers), Mladá fronta DNES (average 461,000 daily readers), Právo (average 182,000 daily readers), Lidové noviny (average 163,000 daily readers) and Hospodářské noviny (average 162,000 daily readers).
Most Czechs (87%) read their news online, with Seznam.cz, iDNES.cz, Novinky.cz, iPrima.cz and Seznam Zprávy.cz being the most visited as of 2021. Cuisine
, the first pilsner type of pale lager beer, brewed since 1842]]
Czech cuisine is marked by an emphasis on meat dishes with pork, beef, and chicken. Goose, duck, rabbit, and venison are served. Fish is less common, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp, which is served at Christmas. One popular Czech menu item is smažený vepřový řízek (fried breaded pork filet), served with boiled potatoes.
There is a variety of local sausages, wurst, pâtés, and smoked and cured meats. Czech desserts include a variety of whipped cream, chocolate, and fruit pastries and tarts, crêpes, creme desserts and cheese, poppy-seed-filled and other types of traditional cakes such as buchty, koláče and štrúdl.
Czech beer has a history extending more than a millennium; the earliest known brewery existed in 993. Today, the Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world. The pilsner style beer (pils) originated in Plzeň, where the world's first blond lager Pilsner Urquell is still produced. It has served as the inspiration for more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today. The city of České Budějovice has similarly lent its name to its beer, known as Budweiser Budvar.
The South Moravian region has been producing wine since the Middle Ages; about 94% of vineyards in the Czech Republic are Moravian. Aside from beer, slivovitz and wine, the Czech Republic also produces two liquors, Fernet Stock and Becherovka. Kofola is a non-alcoholic domestic cola soft drink which competes with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Sport
has the second-most points in NHL history, after Wayne Gretzky.]]
The most watched and most attended sport in the Czech Republic are football and ice hockey. The most watched sporting events are the Ice hockey at the Olympic Games and the Ice Hockey World Championships. The most popular sports in the Czech Republic according to the size of the membership base of sports clubs are: football, tennis, ice hockey, volleyball, floorball, golf, ball hockey, athletics, basketball and skiing.
The country has won 15 gold medals in the Summer Olympics and nine in the Winter Games. (See Olympic history.) The Czech ice hockey team won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and has won (along with the Czechoslovakian team) thirteen gold medals at the World Championships, including three straight from 1999 to 2001.
The Škoda Motorsport is engaged in competition racing since 1901 and has gained a number of titles with various vehicles around the world. MTX automobile company was formerly engaged in the manufacture of racing and formula cars since 1969.
Hiking is a popular sport. The word for 'tourist' in Czech, turista, also means 'trekker' or 'hiker'. For hikers, thanks to the more than 120-year-old tradition, there is the Czech Hiking Markers System of trail blazing, that has been adopted by countries worldwide. There is a network of around 40,000 km of marked short- and long-distance trails crossing the whole country and all the Czech mountains. See also
* List of Czech Republic-related topics
* Outline of the Czech Republic
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
*
* Bryant, Chad (2021). [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674048652 Prague: Belonging and the Modern City]. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. .
* Hochman, Jiří (1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=dx4LnRC8hSQC Historical Ddictionary of the Czech State]. Lanham, Md. and London: The Scarecrow Press. .
External links
* [https://www.vlada.cz/en/ Governmental website]
* [https://www.hrad.cz/en Presidential website]
* [https://www.senat.cz/index-eng.php Senate]
* [https://portal.gov.cz/ Portal of the Public Administration]
* [https://www.visitczechia.com/en-US #VisitCzechia] – official tourist portal of the Czech Republic
*
*
}}
Category:Central Europe
Category:Countries in Europe
Category:Landlocked countries
Category:Member states of NATO
Category:Member states of the European Union
Category:Member states of the United Nations
Category:Member states of the Three Seas Initiative
Category:Republics
Category:Member states of the Council of Europe
Category:OECD members
Category:States and territories established in 1993
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
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2025-04-05T18:27:09.448449
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Czechoslovakia
|
Czechia|Slovakia}}
}}
RCS}}
| | | , | , }}}}
| image_flag = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| common_name = Czechoslovakia
| life_span = 1918–1939<br />(1939–1945 Government-in-exile)<br />1945–1992
| p1 = Austria-Hungary
| image_p1 =
| s1 = Czech Republic
| flag_s1 = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| s2 = Slovakia
| flag_s2 = Flag of Slovakia.svg
| image_coat = Coat of arms of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic.svg
| image_map = Czechoslovakia location map.svg
| image_map_caption = Czechoslovakia during the interwar period and the Cold War
| national_motto = Pravda víťazí' <br />(CzechSlovak, 1918–1990)<br />'Die Wahrheit siegt' (German)<br />'Az Igazság győzedelmeskedik' (Hungarian)<br />'Veritas vincit' (Latin, 1990–1992)<br />'Truth prevails'}}
| anthem '' (Czech / Hungarian) <br>and <br />
| capital = Prague
| largest_city = capital
| coordinates
| official_languages = Czechoslovak, after 1948 CzechSlovak
| recognised_languages =
| demonym = Czechoslovak
| government_type = <hr>
(1918–1938, 1945–1948)
|Federal authoritarian parliamentary republic (rump state)(1938–1939)
|Government-in-exile(1939–1945)
|Unitary Marxist-Leninist single-party socialist republic(1948–1969)
|Federal Marxist-Leninist single-party socialist republic(1969–1989)
|Federal parliamentary republic(1989–1992)
}}
| title_leader = President
| leader1 = Tomáš G. Masaryk
| year_leader1 = 1918–1935
| leader2 = Edvard Beneš
| year_leader2 = 1945–1948}}
| leader3 = Emil Hácha
| year_leader3 = 1938–1939
| leader4 = Klement Gottwald
| year_leader4 = 1948–1953
| leader5 = Antonín Zápotocký
| year_leader5 = 1953–1957
| leader6 = Antonín Novotný
| year_leader6 = 1957–1968
| leader7 = Ludvík Svoboda
| year_leader7 = 1968–1975
| leader8 = Gustáv Husák
| year_leader8 = 1976–1989
| leader9 = Václav Havel
| year_leader9 = 1989–1992
| title_representative = KSČ General Secretary / First Secretary
| representative1 = Klement Gottwald
| year_representative1 = 1948–1953
| representative2 = Antonín Novotný
| year_representative2 = 1953–1968
| representative3 = Alexander Dubček
| year_representative3 = 1968–1969
| representative4 = Gustáv Husák
| year_representative4 = 1969–1987
| representative5 = Miloš Jakeš
| year_representative5 = 1987–1989
| title_deputy = Prime Minister
| deputy1 = Karel Kramář
| year_deputy1 = 1918–1919 (first)
| deputy2 = Jan Stráský
| year_deputy2 = 1992 (last)
| legislature = Revolutionary National Assembly (1918–1920)<br />National Assembly (1920–1939)<br />Interim National Assembly (1945–1946)<br />Constituent National Assembly (1946–1948)<br />National Assembly (1948–1969)<br />Federal Assembly (1969–1992)
| era | event_start Proclamation
| date_start = 28 October
| year_start = 1918
| event1 = Munich Agreement
| date_event1 = 30 September 1938
| event2 = Partition
| date_event2 = 14 March 1939
| event3 = Re-establishment
| date_event3 = 10 May 1945
| event4 = Coup d'état
| date_event4 = 25 February 1948
| event5 = Soviet occupation
| date_event5 = 21 August 1968
| event6 = Velvet Revolution
| date_event6 = 17 – 28 November 1989
| event_end = Dissolution
| date_end = 1 January
| year_end = 1993
| cctld = .cs
| calling_code = +42
| HDI = 0.897
| HDI_ref
| HDI_year = 1990 formula
| iso3166code = CS
| currency = Czechoslovak koruna
| drives_on = left (Pre 1939) right (Post 1939)
| footnotes = Calling code +42 was withdrawn in the winter of 1997. The number range was divided between the :Czech Republic (+420) and :Slovak Republic (+421).
| footnotes2 = Current ISO 3166-3 code is "CSHH".
| today =
}}
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech and , Česko-Slovensko) was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany, while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland (the territories of southern Slovakia with a predominantly Hungarian population to Hungary and Zaolzie with a predominantly Polish population to Poland). Between 1939 and 1945, the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary, while the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed in the remainder of the Czech Lands. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies.
After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, with the exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union). The Communist Party seized power in a coup in 1948. From 1948 to 1989, Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with a planned economy. Its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949 and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of 1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968, the Prague Spring, ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia. In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe, Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution, which began on 17 November 1989 and ended 11 days later on 28 November when all of the top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Characteristics
;Form of state
*1918–1937: A democratic republic championed by Tomáš Masaryk.
*1938–1939: After the annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia was redeemed by Hungary, and the Trans-Olza region was annexed by Poland.
*1939–1945: The remainder of the state was dismembered and became split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic, while the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and their Allies; after the German invasion of Soviet Union, it was also recognized by the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations.
*1946–1948: The country was governed by a coalition government with communist ministers, including the prime minister and the minister of interior. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union.
*1948–1989: The country became a Marxist-Leninist state under Soviet domination with a command economy. In 1960, the country officially became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a satellite state of the Soviet Union.
*1989–1990: Czechoslovakia formally became a federal republic comprising the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. In late 1989, the communist rule came to an end during the Velvet Revolution followed by the re-establishment of a democratic parliamentary republic.
*1990–1992: Shortly after the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (Slovakia) until the peaceful dissolution on 31 December 1992.
*Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992
*Germany (both predecessors, West Germany and East Germany, were neighbors between 1949 and 1990)
*Hungary
*Poland
*Romania 1918–1938
*Soviet Union 1945–1991
*Ukraine 1991–1992 (Soviet Union member until 1991)
;Topography
The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin.
;Climate
The weather was characterized by mild to cold winters and mild to warm summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, the Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The country was situated in the transition zone between the oceanic and continental climate types.Names
*1918–1938: Czechoslovak Republic (abbreviated ČSR), or Czechoslovakia, before the formalization of the name in 1920, also known as Czecho-Slovakia or the Czecho-Slovak state
*1938–1939: Czecho-Slovak Republic, or Czecho-Slovakia
*1945–1960: Czechoslovak Republic (ČSR), or Czechoslovakia
*1960–1990: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR), or Czechoslovakia
*1990: Czechoslovak Federative Republic (ČSFR)
*1990–1992: Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (ČSFR), or Czechoslovakia
History
Origins
, founder and first president]]
(1918)]]
rally in Prague on Wenceslas Square, 28 October 1918]]
The area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it collapsed at the end of World War I. The new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his close ally Edvard Beneš (1884–1948).
The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, when philologists and educators, influenced by Romanticism, promoted the Czech language and pride in the Czech people. Nationalism became a mass movement in the second half of the 19th century. Taking advantage of the limited opportunities for participation in political life under Austrian rule, Czech leaders such as historian František Palacký (1798–1876) founded various patriotic self-help organizations which provided a chance for many of their compatriots to participate in communal life before independence. Palacký supported Austro-Slavism and worked for a reorganized federal Austrian Empire, which would protect the Slavic speaking peoples of Central Europe against Russian and German threats.
An advocate of democratic reform and Czech autonomy within Austria-Hungary, Masaryk was elected twice to the Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament), from 1891 to 1893 for the Young Czech Party, and from 1907 to 1914 for the Czech Realist Party, which he had founded in 1889 with Karel Kramář and Josef Kaizl.
During World War I a number of Czechs and Slovaks, the Czechoslovak Legions, fought with the Allies in France and Italy, while large numbers deserted to Russia in exchange for its support for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the Austrian Empire. With the outbreak of World War I, Masaryk began working for Czech independence in a union with Slovakia. With Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Masaryk visited several Western countries and won support from influential publicists. The Czechoslovak National Council was the main organization that advanced the claims for a Czechoslovak state.First Czechoslovak Republic
and Milan Štefánik—both key figures in early Czechoslovakia]]
Formation
The Bohemian Kingdom ceased to exist in 1918 when it was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was founded in October 1918, as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I and as part of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It consisted of the present-day territories of Bohemia, Moravia, parts of Silesia making up present-day Czech Republic, Slovakia, and a region of present-day Ukraine called Carpathian Ruthenia. Its territory included some of the most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary.
Ethnicity
The new country was a multi-ethnic state, with Czechs and Slovaks as constituent peoples. The population consisted of Czechs (51%), Slovaks (16%), Germans (22%), Hungarians (5%) and Rusyns (4%). Many of the Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles and some Slovaks, felt oppressed because the political elite did not generally allow political autonomy for minority ethnic groups. This policy led to unrest among the non-Czech population, particularly in German-speaking Sudetenland, which initially had proclaimed itself part of the Republic of German-Austria in accordance with the self-determination principle.
The state proclaimed the official ideology that there were no separate Czech and Slovak nations, but only one nation of Czechoslovaks (see Czechoslovakism), to the disagreement of Slovaks and other ethnic groups. Once a unified Czechoslovakia was restored after World War II (after the country had been divided during the war), the conflict between the Czechs and the Slovaks surfaced again. The governments of Czechoslovakia and other Central European nations deported ethnic Germans, reducing the presence of minorities in the nation. Most of the Jews had been killed during the war by the Nazis.
{|cellspacing"0" cellpadding"0" style="width:25em;text-align:right;"
|-
! colspan"3" style"text-align:center;"|
----
Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1921
----
|-
|style="width:50%;text-align:left;"| Czechs and Slovaks
|style="width:25%;"| 8,759,701
|style="width:25%;"| 64.37%
|-
|align="left"| Germans || 3,123,305 || 22.95%
|-
|align="left"| Hungarians || 744,621 || 5.47%
|-
|align="left"| Ruthenians || 461,449 || 3.39%
|-
|align="left"| Jews|| 180,534 || 1.33%
|-
|align="left"| Poles || 75,852 || 0.56%
|-
|align="left"| Others || 23,139 || 0.17%
|-
|align="left"| Foreigners || 238,784 || 1.75%
|-
!align"left"| Total population !!align"right"| 13,607,385
|-
|colspan"3" style"text-align:center;"|
----
|}
{|cellspacing"0" cellpadding"0" style="width:25em;text-align:right;"
|-
! colspan"3" style"text-align:center;"|
----
Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1930
----
|-
|style="width:50%;text-align:left;"| Czechs and Slovaks
|style="width:25%;"| 10,066,000
|style="width:25%;"| 68.35%
|-
|align="left"| Germans || 3,229,000 || 21.93%
|-
|align="left"| Ruthenians || 745,000 || 5.06%
|-
|align="left"| Hungarians || 653,000 || 4.43%
|-
|align="left"| Jews|| 354,000 || 2.40%
|-
|align="left"| Poles || 76,000 || 0.52%
|-
|align="left"| Romanians || 14,000 || 0.10%
|-
|align="left"| Foreigners || 239,000 || 1.62%
|-
!align"left"| Total population !!align"right"| 14,726,158
|-
|colspan"3" style"text-align:center;"|
----
|}
<small>*Jews identified themselves as Germans or Hungarians (and Jews only by religion not ethnicity), the sum is, therefore, more than 100%.</small>
Interwar period
During the period between the two world wars Czechoslovakia was a democratic state. The population was generally literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The influence of these conditions was augmented by the political values of Czechoslovakia's leaders and the policies they adopted. Under Tomas Masaryk, Czech and Slovak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to defuse discontent.
Foreign minister Beneš became the prime architect of the Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance (the "Little Entente", 1921–38) directed against Hungarian attempts to reclaim lost areas. Beneš worked closely with France. Far more dangerous was the German element, which after 1933 became allied with the Nazis in Germany.
Czech-Slovak relations came to be a central issue in Czechoslovak politics during the 1930s. The increasing feeling of inferiority among the Slovaks, who were hostile to the more numerous Czechs, weakened the country in the late 1930s. Slovakia became autonomous in the fall of 1938, and by mid-1939, Slovakia had become independent, with the First Slovak Republic set up as a satellite state of Nazi Germany and the far-right Slovak People's Party in power .
After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in central and eastern Europe.Munich Agreement, and Two-Step German Occupation
]]
was fatally injured in 1942]]
(1938–1939)]]
In September 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded control of the Sudetenland. On 29 September 1938, Britain and France ceded control in the Appeasement at the Munich Conference; France ignored the military alliance it had with Czechoslovakia. During October 1938, Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland border region, effectively crippling Czechoslovak defences.
The First Vienna Award assigned a strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary. Poland occupied Zaolzie, an area whose population was majority Polish, in October 1938.
On 14 March 1939, the remainder ("rump") of Czechoslovakia was dismembered by the proclamation of the Slovak State, the next day the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary, while the following day the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed.
The eventual goal of the German state under Nazi leadership was to eradicate Czech nationality through assimilation, deportation, and extermination of the Czech intelligentsia; the intellectual elites and middle class made up a considerable number of the 200,000 people who passed through concentration camps and the 250,000 who died during German occupation. Under , it was assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for Germanization. The Czech intellectual elites were to be removed not only from Czech territories but from Europe completely. The authors of believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in Siberia they were considered a threat to German rule. Just like Jews, Poles, Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be untermenschen by the Nazi state. In 1940, in a secret Nazi plan for the Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it was declared that those considered to be of racially Mongoloid origin and the Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized.
The deportation of Jews to concentration camps was organized under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich, and the fortress town of Terezín was made into a ghetto way station for Jewish families. On 4 June 1942 Heydrich died after being wounded by an assassin in Operation Anthropoid. Heydrich's successor, Colonel General Kurt Daluege, ordered mass arrests and executions and the destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. In 1943 the German war effort was accelerated. Under the authority of Karl Hermann Frank, German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, some 350,000 Czech laborers were dispatched to the Reich. Within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quiescently up until the final months preceding the end of the war, while thousands were involved in the resistance movement.
For the Czechs of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, German occupation was a period of brutal oppression. Czech losses resulting from political persecution and deaths in concentration camps totaled between 36,000 and 55,000. The Jewish populations of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) were virtually annihilated. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; more than 70,000 were killed; 8,000 survived at Terezín. Several thousand Jews managed to live in freedom or in hiding throughout the occupation.
Despite the estimated 136,000 deaths at the hands of the Nazi regime, the population in the Reichsprotektorate saw a net increase during the war years of approximately 250,000 in line with an increased birth rate.
On 6 May 1945, the third US Army of General Patton entered Plzeň from the south west. On 9 May 1945, Soviet Red Army troops entered Prague.
Third and Fourth Republics
in 1960–1989]]
After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia was reestablished, with the exception of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, which was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Beneš decrees were promulgated concerning ethnic Germans (see Potsdam Agreement) and ethnic Hungarians. Under the decrees, citizenship was abrogated for people of German and Hungarian ethnic origin who had accepted German or Hungarian citizenship during the occupations. In 1948, this provision was cancelled for the Hungarians, but only partially for the Germans. The government then confiscated the property of the Germans and expelled about 90% of the ethnic German population, over 2 million people. Those who remained were collectively accused of supporting the Nazis after the Munich Agreement, as 97.32% of Sudeten Germans had voted for the NSDAP in the December 1938 elections. Almost every decree explicitly stated that the sanctions did not apply to antifascists. Some 250,000 Germans, many married to Czechs, some antifascists, and also those required for the post-war reconstruction of the country, remained in Czechoslovakia. The Beneš Decrees still cause controversy among nationalist groups in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Hungary.
Following the expulsion of the ethnic German population from Czechoslovakia, parts of the former Sudetenland, especially around Krnov and the surrounding villages of the Jeseníky mountain region (Nízký Jeseník and Hrubý Jeseník) in northeastern Czechoslovakia, were settled in 1949 by Communist refugees from Northern Greece who had left their homeland as a result of the Greek Civil War. These Greeks made up a large proportion of the town and region's population until the late 1980s/early 1990s. Although defined as "Greeks", the Greek Communist community of Krnov and the Jeseníky region actually consisted of an ethnically diverse population, including Greek Macedonians, Macedonians, Vlachs, Pontic Greeks and Turkish speaking Urums or Caucasus Greeks.
in 1960]]
Carpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus) was occupied by (and in June 1945 formally ceded to) the Soviet Union. In the 1946 parliamentary election, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was the winner in the Czech lands, and the Democratic Party won in Slovakia. In February 1948 the Communists seized power. Although they would maintain the fiction of political pluralism through the existence of the National Front, except for a short period in the late 1960s (the Prague Spring) the country had no liberal democracy. Since citizens lacked significant electoral methods of registering protest against government policies, periodically there were street protests that became violent. For example, there were riots in the town of Plzeň in 1953, reflecting economic discontent. Police and army units put down the rebellion, and hundreds were injured but no one was killed. While its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbors in Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia grew increasingly economically weak relative to Western Europe.
The currency reform of 1953 caused dissatisfaction among Czechoslovak laborers. To equalize the wage rate, Czechoslovaks had to turn in their old money for new at a decreased value. The banks also confiscated savings and bank deposits to control the amount of money in circulation.
In 1968, when the reformer Alexander Dubček was appointed to the key post of First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, there was a brief period of liberalization known as the Prague Spring. In response, after failing to persuade the Czechoslovak leaders to change course, five other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded. Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night of 20–21 August 1968. Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev viewed this intervention as vital for the preservation of the Soviet, socialist system and vowed to intervene in any state that sought to replace Marxism-Leninism with capitalism.
In the week after the invasion, there was a spontaneous campaign of civil resistance against the occupation. This resistance involved a wide range of acts of non-cooperation and defiance: this was followed by a period in which the Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership, having been forced in Moscow to make concessions to the Soviet Union, gradually put the brakes on their earlier liberal policies.
Meanwhile, one plank of the reform program had been carried out: in 1968–69, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic. The theory was that under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state would be largely eliminated. A number of ministries, such as education, now became two formally equal bodies in the two formally equal republics. However, the centralized political control by the Czechoslovak Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalization.
The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented among others by Václav Havel. The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, manifested in limitations on work activities, which went as far as a ban on professional employment, the refusal of higher education for the dissidents' children, police harassment and prison.
During the 1980s, Czechoslovakia became one of the most tightly controlled Communist regimes in the Warsaw Pact in resistance to the mitigation of controls notified by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.
After 1989
signing ceremony in February 1991]]
In 1989, the Velvet Revolution restored democracy.
International relations
Between 1948 and 1949, Czechoslovakia formed a relationship with Israel through their military support during the War of 1948. Israel bought approximately 144 million USD worth of weapons and ammunition.
Administrative divisions
*1918–1923: Different systems in former Austrian territory (Bohemia, Moravia, a small part of Silesia) compared to former Hungarian territory (Slovakia and Ruthenia): three lands (země) (also called district units (kraje)): Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, plus 21 counties (župy) in today's Slovakia and three counties in today's Ruthenia; both lands and counties were divided into districts (okresy).
*1923–1927: As above, except that the Slovak and Ruthenian counties were replaced by six (grand) counties ((veľ)župy) in Slovakia and one (grand) county in Ruthenia, and the numbers and boundaries of the okresy were changed in those two territories.
*1928–1938: Four lands (Czech: země, Slovak: krajiny): Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia, divided into districts (okresy).
*Late 1938 – March 1939: As above, but Slovakia and Ruthenia gained the status of "autonomous lands". Slovakia was called Slovenský štát, with its own currency and government.
*1945–1948: As in 1928–1938, except that Ruthenia became part of the Soviet Union.
*1949–1960: 19 regions (kraje) divided into 270 okresy.
*1960–1992: 10 kraje, Prague, and (from 1970) Bratislava (capital of Slovakia); these were divided into 109–114 okresy; the kraje were abolished temporarily in Slovakia in 1969–1970 and for many purposes from 1991 in Czechoslovakia; in addition, the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic were established in 1969 (without the word Socialist from 1990).
Population and ethnic groups
Economy
Before World War II, the economy was about the fourth in all industrial countries in Europe. The state was based on strong economy, manufacturing cars (Škoda, Tatra), trams, aircraft (Aero, Avia), ships, ship engines (Škoda), cannons, shoes (Baťa), turbines, guns (Zbrojovka Brno). It was the industrial workshop for the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Slovak lands relied more heavily on agriculture than the Czech lands.
After World War II, the economy was centrally planned, with command links controlled by the communist party, similarly to the Soviet Union. The large metallurgical industry was dependent on imports of iron and non-ferrous ores.
*Industry: Extractive industry and manufacturing dominated the sector, including machinery, chemicals, food processing, metallurgy, and textiles. The sector was wasteful in its use of energy, materials, and labor and was slow to upgrade technology, but the country was a major supplier of high-quality machinery, instruments, electronics, aircraft, airplane engines and arms to other socialist countries.
*Agriculture: Agriculture was a minor sector, but collectivized farms of large acreage and relatively efficient mode of production enabled the country to be relatively self-sufficient in the food supply. The country depended on imports of grains (mainly for livestock feed) in years of adverse weather. Meat production was constrained by a shortage of feed, but the country still recorded high per capita consumption of meat.
*Foreign Trade: Exports were estimated at US$17.8 billion in 1985. Exports were machinery (55%), fuel and materials (14%), and manufactured consumer goods (16%). Imports stood at an estimated US$17.9 billion in 1985, including fuel and materials (41%), machinery (33%), and agricultural and forestry products (12%). In 1986, about 80% of foreign trade was with other socialist countries.
*Exchange rate: Official, or commercial, the rate was crowns (Kčs) 5.4 per US$1 in 1987. Tourist, or non-commercial, the rate was Kčs 10.5 per US$1. Neither rate reflected purchasing power. The exchange rate on the black market was around Kčs 30 per US$1, which became the official rate once the currency became convertible in the early 1990s.
*Fiscal year: Calendar year.
*Fiscal policy: The state was the exclusive owner of means of production in most cases. Revenue from state enterprises was the primary source of revenues followed by turnover tax. The government spent heavily on social programs, subsidies, and investment. The budget was usually balanced or left a small surplus.
Resource base
After World War II, the country was short of energy, relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from the Soviet Union, domestic brown coal, and nuclear and hydroelectric energy. Energy constraints were a major factor in the 1980s.
Transport and communications
Slightly after the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, there was a lack of essential infrastructure in many areas – paved roads, railways, bridges, etc. Massive improvement in the following years enabled Czechoslovakia to develop its industry. Prague's civil airport in Ruzyně became one of the most modern terminals in the world when it was finished in 1937. Tomáš Baťa, a Czech entrepreneur and visionary, outlined his ideas in the publication "Budujme stát pro 40 milionů lidí", where he described the future motorway system. Construction of the first motorways in Czechoslovakia begun in 1939, nevertheless, they were stopped after German occupation during World War II.
Society
Education
Education was free at all levels and compulsory from ages 6 to 15. The vast majority of the population was literate. There was a highly developed system of apprenticeship training and vocational schools supplemented general secondary schools and institutions of higher education.
Religion
In 1991, 46% of the population were Roman Catholics, 5.3% were Evangelical Lutheran, 30% were Atheist, and other religions made up 17% of the country, but there were huge differences in religious practices between the two constituent republics; see Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Health, social welfare and housing
After World War II, free health care was available to all citizens. National health planning emphasized preventive medicine; factory and local health care centres supplemented hospitals and other inpatient institutions. There was a substantial improvement in rural health care during the 1960s and 1970s.
Mass media
During the era between the World Wars, Czechoslovak democracy and liberalism facilitated conditions for free publication. The most significant daily newspapers in these times were Lidové noviny, Národní listy, Český deník and Československá Republika.
During Communist rule, the mass media in Czechoslovakia were controlled by the Communist Party. Private ownership of any publication or agency of the mass media was generally forbidden, although churches and other organizations published small periodicals and newspapers. Even with this information monopoly in the hands of organizations under KSČ control, all publications were reviewed by the government's Office for Press and Information.
Sports
The Czechoslovakia national football team was a consistent performer on the international scene, with eight appearances in the FIFA World Cup Finals, finishing in second place in 1934 and 1962. The team also won the European Football Championship in 1976, came in third in 1980, and won the Olympic gold in 1980.
Well-known football players such as Jan Koller, Pavel Nedvěd, Antonín Panenka, Milan Baroš, Tomáš Rosický, Vladimír Šmicer, Petr Čech, Ladislav Petráš, Marián Masný, Ján Pivarník, Ján Mucha, Róbert Vittek, Peter Pekarík, and Marek Hamšík were all born in Czechoslovakia.
The International Olympic Committee code for Czechoslovakia is TCH, which is still used in historical listings of results.
The Czechoslovak national ice hockey team won many medals from the world championships and Olympic Games. Peter Šťastný, Jaromír Jágr, Dominik Hašek, Peter Bondra, Petr Klíma, Marián Gáborík, Marián Hossa, Miroslav Šatan and Pavol Demitra all come from Czechoslovakia.
Emil Zátopek, winner of four Olympic gold medals in athletics, is considered one of the top athletes in Czechoslovak history.
Věra Čáslavská was an Olympic gold medallist in gymnastics, winning seven gold medals and four silver medals. She represented Czechoslovakia in three consecutive Olympics.
Several accomplished professional tennis players including Jaroslav Drobný, Ivan Lendl, Jan Kodeš, Miloslav Mečíř, Hana Mandlíková, Martina Hingis, Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotná, Petra Kvitová, Daniela Hantuchová, Barbora Krejčíková, Markéta Vondroušová and Karolína Muchová were born in Czechoslovakia (or what became the Czech Republic in 1993).
Culture
*Czech RepublicSlovakia
*List of CzechsList of Slovaks
*MDŽ (International Women's Day)
*Jazz in dissident Czechoslovakia
Postage stamps
*Postage stamps and postal history of Czechoslovakia
*[http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-22619653/stock-photo-slovakia-mail-postage-stamps.html Czechoslovakia stamp reused by Slovak Republic after 18 January 1939 by overprinting country and value]
See also
*Effects on the environment in Czechoslovakia from Soviet influence during the Cold War
*Former countries in Europe after 1815
*List of former sovereign states
Notes
References
Sources
*Further reading
*Heimann, Mary. Czechoslovakia: The State That Failed (2009). <!--negative tone stressing purported maltreatment of minorities-->
*Hermann, A. H. A History of the Czechs (1975).
*Kalvoda, Josef. The Genesis of Czechoslovakia (1986).
*Leff, Carol Skalnick. National Conflict in Czechoslovakia: The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918–87 (1988).
*Mantey, Victor. A History of the Czechoslovak Republic (1973).
*Myant, Martin. The Czechoslovak Economy, 1948–88 (1989).
*Naimark, Norman, and Leonid Gibianskii, eds. The Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe, 1944–1949 (1997)
*Orzoff, Andrea. Battle for the Castle: The Myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe 1914–1948 (Oxford University Press, 2009); [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=37344 online review] online
*Paul, David. Czechoslovakia: Profile of a Socialist Republic at the Crossroads of Europe (1990).
*Renner, Hans. A History of Czechoslovakia since 1945 (1989).
*Seton-Watson, R. W. A History of the Czechs and Slovaks (1943).
*Stone, Norman, and E. Strouhal, eds.Czechoslovakia: Crossroads and Crises, 1918–88 (1989).
*Wheaton, Bernard; Zdenek Kavav. "The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia, 1988–1991" (1992).
*Williams, Kieran, "Civil Resistance in Czechoslovakia: From Soviet Invasion to "Velvet Revolution", 1968–89",<br />in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.), Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present (Oxford University Press, 2009).
*Windsor, Philip, and Adam Roberts, Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance (1969).
*Wolchik, Sharon L. Czechoslovakia: Politics, Society, and Economics (1990).
External links
*[https://www.questia.com/library/history/european-history/eastern-europe/czechoslovakian-history.jsp Online books and articles]
*[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cstoc.html U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies, "Czechoslovakia"]
*English/Czech: [http://www.vyznamenani.net/main.htm Orders and Medals of Czechoslovakia including Order of the White Lion]
*[https://www.britannica.com/place/Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia by Encyclopædia Britannica]
* Katrin Boeckh: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/crumbling_of_empires_and_emerging_states_czechoslovakia_and_yugoslavia_as_multinational_countries/ Crumbling of Empires and Emerging States: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia as (Multi)national Countries], in: [https://web.archive.org/web/20191230080030/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].
Maps with Hungarian-language rubrics
*[http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/163.gif Border changes after the creation of Czechoslovakia]
*[http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/166.gif Interwar Czechoslovakia]
*[http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/200.gif Czechoslovakia after Munich Agreement]
Category:Eastern Bloc
Category:Former republics
Category:Geography of Europe
Category:History of Central Europe
Category:1918 establishments in Czechoslovakia
Category:1939 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia
Category:1945 establishments in Czechoslovakia
Category:1992 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia
Category:States and territories established in 1918
Category:States and territories disestablished in 1939
Category:States and territories established in 1945
Category:States and territories disestablished in 1992
Category:1918 establishments in Europe
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Computer science
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Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to applied disciplines (including the design and implementation of hardware and software).
Algorithms and data structures are central to computer science.
<!-- Removing this for now -- it's a "contrasting" reference which views automata theory as central.
I think this nuance is unnecessary in the lead and the views are not really in conflict.
-->
The theory of computation concerns abstract models of computation and general classes of problems that can be solved using them. The fields of cryptography and computer security involve studying the means for secure communication and preventing security vulnerabilities. Computer graphics and computational geometry address the generation of images. Programming language theory considers different ways to describe computational processes, and database theory concerns the management of repositories of data. Human–computer interaction investigates the interfaces through which humans and computers interact, and software engineering focuses on the design and principles behind developing software. Areas such as operating systems, networks and embedded systems investigate the principles and design behind complex systems. Computer architecture describes the construction of computer components and computer-operated equipment. Artificial intelligence and machine learning aim to synthesize goal-orientated processes such as problem-solving, decision-making, environmental adaptation, planning and learning found in humans and animals. Within artificial intelligence, computer vision aims to understand and process image and video data, while natural language processing aims to understand and process textual and linguistic data.
The fundamental concern of computer science is determining what can and cannot be automated. The Turing Award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science.
History
(1646–1716) developed logic in a binary number system and has been called the "founder of computer science".]]
is sometimes referred to as the "father of computing". ]]
published the first algorithm intended for processing on a computer. ]]
The earliest foundations of what would become computer science predate the invention of the modern digital computer. Machines for calculating fixed numerical tasks such as the abacus have existed since antiquity, aiding in computations such as multiplication and division. Algorithms for performing computations have existed since antiquity, even before the development of sophisticated computing equipment.
Wilhelm Schickard designed and constructed the first working mechanical calculator in 1623. In 1673, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated a digital mechanical calculator, called the Stepped Reckoner. Leibniz may be considered the first computer scientist and information theorist, because of various reasons, including the fact that he documented the binary number system. In 1820, Thomas de Colmar launched the mechanical calculator industry when he invented his simplified arithmometer, the first calculating machine strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. Charles Babbage started the design of the first automatic mechanical calculator, his Difference Engine, in 1822, which eventually gave him the idea of the first programmable mechanical calculator, his Analytical Engine. He started developing this machine in 1834, and "in less than two years, he had sketched out many of the salient features of the modern computer". "A crucial step was the adoption of a punched card system derived from the Jacquard loom" In 1843, during the translation of a French article on the Analytical Engine, Ada Lovelace wrote, in one of the many notes she included, an algorithm to compute the Bernoulli numbers, which is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer. Around 1885, Herman Hollerith invented the tabulator, which used punched cards to process statistical information; eventually his company became part of IBM. Following Babbage, although unaware of his earlier work, Percy Ludgate in 1909 published the 2nd of the only two designs for mechanical analytical engines in history. In 1914, the Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo published his Essays on Automatics, and designed, inspired by Babbage, a theoretical electromechanical calculating machine which was to be controlled by a read-only program. The paper also introduced the idea of floating-point arithmetic. In 1920, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the arithmometer, Torres presented in Paris the Electromechanical Arithmometer, a prototype that demonstrated the feasibility of an electromechanical analytical engine, on which commands could be typed and the results printed automatically. In 1937, one hundred years after Babbage's impossible dream, Howard Aiken convinced IBM, which was making all kinds of punched card equipment and was also in the calculator business to develop his giant programmable calculator, the ASCC/Harvard Mark I, based on Babbage's Analytical Engine, which itself used cards and a central computing unit. When the machine was finished, some hailed it as "Babbage's dream come true".
During the 1940s, with the development of new and more powerful computing machines such as the Atanasoff–Berry computer and ENIAC, the term computer came to refer to the machines rather than their human predecessors. As it became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations, the field of computer science broadened to study computation in general. In 1945, IBM founded the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University in New York City. The renovated fraternity house on Manhattan's West Side was IBM's first laboratory devoted to pure science. The lab is the forerunner of IBM's Research Division, which today operates research facilities around the world. Ultimately, the close relationship between IBM and Columbia University was instrumental in the emergence of a new scientific discipline, with Columbia offering one of the first academic-credit courses in computer science in 1946. Computer science began to be established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s. The world's first computer science degree program, the Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science, began at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1953. The first computer science department in the United States was formed at Purdue University in 1962. Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own rights.Etymology and scope
Although first proposed in 1956, the term "computer science" appears in a 1959 article in Communications of the ACM,
in which Louis Fein argues for the creation of a Graduate School in Computer Sciences analogous to the creation of Harvard Business School in 1921. Louis justifies the name by arguing that, like management science, the subject is applied and interdisciplinary in nature, while having the characteristics typical of an academic discipline. Despite its name, a significant amount of computer science does not involve the study of computers themselves. Because of this, several alternative names have been proposed. Certain departments of major universities prefer the term computing science, to emphasize precisely that difference. Danish scientist Peter Naur suggested the term datalogy, to reflect the fact that the scientific discipline revolves around data and data treatment, while not necessarily involving computers. The first scientific institution to use the term was the Department of Datalogy at the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1969, with Peter Naur being the first professor in datalogy. The term is used mainly in the Scandinavian countries. An alternative term, also proposed by Naur, is data science; this is now used for a multi-disciplinary field of data analysis, including statistics and databases.
In the early days of computing, a number of terms for the practitioners of the field of computing were suggested (albeit facetiously) in the Communications of the ACM—turingineer, turologist, flow-charts-man, applied meta-mathematician, and applied epistemologist. Three months later in the same journal, comptologist was suggested, followed next year by hypologist. The term computics has also been suggested. In Europe, terms derived from contracted translations of the expression "automatic information" (e.g. "" in Italian) or "information and mathematics" are often used, e.g. (French), (German), (Italian, Dutch), (Spanish, Portuguese), (Slavic languages and Hungarian) or (, which means informatics) in Greek. Similar words have also been adopted in the UK (as in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh). "In the U.S., however, informatics is linked with applied computing, or computing in the context of another domain."
A folkloric quotation, often attributed to—but almost certainly not first formulated by—Edsger Dijkstra, states that "computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." The design and deployment of computers and computer systems is generally considered the province of disciplines other than computer science. For example, the study of computer hardware is usually considered part of computer engineering, while the study of commercial computer systems and their deployment is often called information technology or information systems. However, there has been exchange of ideas between the various computer-related disciplines. Computer science research also often intersects other disciplines, such as cognitive science, linguistics, mathematics, physics, biology, Earth science, statistics, philosophy, and logic.
Computer science is considered by some to have a much closer relationship with mathematics than many scientific disciplines, with some observers saying that computing is a mathematical science. David Parnas, taking a cue from the relationship between other engineering and science disciplines, has claimed that the principal focus of computer science is studying the properties of computation in general, while the principal focus of software engineering is the design of specific computations to achieve practical goals, making the two separate but complementary disciplines.
The academic, political, and funding aspects of computer science tend to depend on whether a department is formed with a mathematical emphasis or with an engineering emphasis. Computer science departments with a mathematics emphasis and with a numerical orientation consider alignment with computational science. Both types of departments tend to make efforts to bridge the field educationally if not across all research.
Philosophy
Epistemology of computer science
Despite the word science'' in its name, there is debate over whether or not computer science is a discipline of science, mathematics, or engineering. Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon argued in 1975,
As a discipline, computer science spans a range of topics from theoretical studies of algorithms and the limits of computation to the practical issues of implementing computing systems in hardware and software.
CSAB, formerly called Computing Sciences Accreditation Board—which is made up of representatives of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE CS)—identifies four areas that it considers crucial to the discipline of computer science: theory of computation, algorithms and data structures, programming methodology and languages, and computer elements and architecture. In addition to these four areas, CSAB also identifies fields such as software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer networking and communication, database systems, parallel computation, distributed computation, human–computer interaction, computer graphics, operating systems, and numerical and symbolic computation as being important areas of computer science. is an open problem in the theory of computation.
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Information and coding theory
Information theory, closely related to probability and statistics, is related to the quantification of information. This was developed by Claude Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and communicating data.
Coding theory is the study of the properties of codes (systems for converting information from one form to another) and their fitness for a specific application. Codes are used for data compression, cryptography, error detection and correction, and more recently also for network coding. Codes are studied for the purpose of designing efficient and reliable data transmission methods.
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Data structures and algorithms
Data structures and algorithms are the studies of commonly used computational methods and their computational efficiency.
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Programming language theory and formal methods
Programming language theory is a branch of computer science that deals with the design, implementation, analysis, characterization, and classification of programming languages and their individual features. It falls within the discipline of computer science, both depending on and affecting mathematics, software engineering, and linguistics. It is an active research area, with numerous dedicated academic journals.
Formal methods are a particular kind of mathematically based technique for the specification, development and verification of software and hardware systems. The use of formal methods for software and hardware design is motivated by the expectation that, as in other engineering disciplines, performing appropriate mathematical analysis can contribute to the reliability and robustness of a design. They form an important theoretical underpinning for software engineering, especially where safety or security is involved. Formal methods are a useful adjunct to software testing since they help avoid errors and can also give a framework for testing. For industrial use, tool support is required. However, the high cost of using formal methods means that they are usually only used in the development of high-integrity and life-critical systems, where safety or security is of utmost importance. Formal methods are best described as the application of a fairly broad variety of theoretical computer science fundamentals, in particular logic calculi, formal languages, automata theory, and program semantics, but also type systems and algebraic data types to problems in software and hardware specification and verification.
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Applied computer science
Computer graphics and visualization
Computer graphics is the study of digital visual contents and involves the synthesis and manipulation of image data. The study is connected to many other fields in computer science, including computer vision, image processing, and computational geometry, and is heavily applied in the fields of special effects and video games.
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| Mixed reality
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Image and sound processing
Information can take the form of images, sound, video or other multimedia. Bits of information can be streamed via signals. Its processing is the central notion of informatics, the European view on computing, which studies information processing algorithms independently of the type of information carrier – whether it is electrical, mechanical or biological. This field plays important role in information theory, telecommunications, information engineering and has applications in medical image computing and speech synthesis, among others. What is the lower bound on the complexity of fast Fourier transform algorithms? is one of the unsolved problems in theoretical computer science.
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Computational science, finance and engineering
Scientific computing (or computational science) is the field of study concerned with constructing mathematical models and quantitative analysis techniques and using computers to analyze and solve scientific problems. A major usage of scientific computing is simulation of various processes, including computational fluid dynamics, physical, electrical, and electronic systems and circuits, as well as societies and social situations (notably war games) along with their habitats, among many others. Modern computers enable optimization of such designs as complete aircraft. Notable in electrical and electronic circuit design are SPICE, as well as software for physical realization of new (or modified) designs. The latter includes essential design software for integrated circuits.
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Human–computer interaction
Human–computer interaction (HCI) is the field of study and research concerned with the design and use of computer systems, mainly based on the analysis of the interaction between humans and computer interfaces. HCI has several subfields that focus on the relationship between emotions, social behavior and brain activity with computers.
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Software engineering
Software engineering is the study of designing, implementing, and modifying the software in order to ensure it is of high quality, affordable, maintainable, and fast to build. It is a systematic approach to software design, involving the application of engineering practices to software. Software engineering deals with the organizing and analyzing of software—it does not just deal with the creation or manufacture of new software, but its internal arrangement and maintenance. For example software testing, systems engineering, technical debt and software development processes.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) aims to or is required to synthesize goal-orientated processes such as problem-solving, decision-making, environmental adaptation, learning, and communication found in humans and animals. From its origins in cybernetics and in the Dartmouth Conference (1956), artificial intelligence research has been necessarily cross-disciplinary, drawing on areas of expertise such as applied mathematics, symbolic logic, semiotics, electrical engineering, philosophy of mind, neurophysiology, and social intelligence. AI is associated in the popular mind with robotic development, but the main field of practical application has been as an embedded component in areas of software development, which require computational understanding. The starting point in the late 1940s was Alan Turing's question "Can computers think?", and the question remains effectively unanswered, although the Turing test is still used to assess computer output on the scale of human intelligence. But the automation of evaluative and predictive tasks has been increasingly successful as a substitute for human monitoring and intervention in domains of computer application involving complex real-world data.
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Computer systems
Computer architecture and microarchitecture
Computer architecture, or digital computer organization, is the conceptual design and fundamental operational structure of a computer system. It focuses largely on the way by which the central processing unit performs internally and accesses addresses in memory. Computer engineers study computational logic and design of computer hardware, from individual processor components, microcontrollers, personal computers to supercomputers and embedded systems. The term "architecture" in computer literature can be traced to the work of Lyle R. Johnson and Frederick P. Brooks Jr., members of the Machine Organization department in IBM's main research center in 1959.
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Concurrent, parallel and distributed computing
Concurrency is a property of systems in which several computations are executing simultaneously, and potentially interacting with each other. A number of mathematical models have been developed for general concurrent computation including Petri nets, process calculi and the parallel random access machine model. When multiple computers are connected in a network while using concurrency, this is known as a distributed system. Computers within that distributed system have their own private memory, and information can be exchanged to achieve common goals.
Computer networks
This branch of computer science aims to manage networks between computers worldwide.
Computer security and cryptography
Computer security is a branch of computer technology with the objective of protecting information from unauthorized access, disruption, or modification while maintaining the accessibility and usability of the system for its intended users.
Historical cryptography is the art of writing and deciphering secret messages. Modern cryptography is the scientific study of problems relating to distributed computations that can be attacked. Technologies studied in modern cryptography include symmetric and asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, cryptographic hash functions, key-agreement protocols, blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs, and garbled circuits.
Databases and data mining
A database is intended to organize, store, and retrieve large amounts of data easily. Digital databases are managed using database management systems to store, create, maintain, and search data, through database models and query languages. Data mining is a process of discovering patterns in large data sets.
Discoveries
The philosopher of computing Bill Rapaport noted three Great Insights of Computer Science:
* Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's, George Boole's, Alan Turing's, Claude Shannon's, and Samuel Morse's insight: there are only two objects that a computer has to deal with in order to represent "anything".
:: All the information about any computable problem can be represented using only 0 and 1 (or any other bistable pair that can flip-flop between two easily distinguishable states, such as "on/off", "magnetized/de-magnetized", "high-voltage/low-voltage", etc.).
* Alan Turing's insight: there are only five actions that a computer has to perform in order to do "anything".
:: Every algorithm can be expressed in a language for a computer consisting of only five basic instructions:
::* move left one location;
::* move right one location;
::* read symbol at current location;
::* print 0 at current location;
::* print 1 at current location.
* Corrado Böhm and Giuseppe Jacopini's insight: there are only three ways of combining these actions (into more complex ones) that are needed in order for a computer to do "anything".
:: Only three rules are needed to combine any set of basic instructions into more complex ones:
::*sequence: first do this, then do that;
::* selection: IF such-and-such is the case, THEN do this, ELSE do that;
::* repetition: WHILE such-and-such is the case, DO this.
:: The three rules of Boehm's and Jacopini's insight can be further simplified with the use of goto (which means it is more elementary than structured programming).
Programming paradigms
Programming languages can be used to accomplish different tasks in different ways. Common programming paradigms include:
* Functional programming, a style of building the structure and elements of computer programs that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data. It is a declarative programming paradigm, which means programming is done with expressions or declarations instead of statements.
* Imperative programming, a programming paradigm that uses statements that change a program's state. In much the same way that the imperative mood in natural languages expresses commands, an imperative program consists of commands for the computer to perform. Imperative programming focuses on describing how a program operates.
* Object-oriented programming, a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which may contain data, in the form of fields, often known as attributes; and code, in the form of procedures, often known as methods. A feature of objects is that an object's procedures can access and often modify the data fields of the object with which they are associated. Thus object-oriented computer programs are made out of objects that interact with one another.
* Service-oriented programming, a programming paradigm that uses "services" as the unit of computer work, to design and implement integrated business applications and mission critical software programs.
Many languages offer support for multiple paradigms, making the distinction more a matter of style than of technical capabilities.
Research
Conferences are important events for computer science research. During these conferences, researchers from the public and private sectors present their recent work and meet. Unlike in most other academic fields, in computer science, the prestige of conference papers is greater than that of journal publications. One proposed explanation for this is the quick development of this relatively new field requires rapid review and distribution of results, a task better handled by conferences than by journals.See also
<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
* Computer science education
* Glossary of computer science
* List of computer scientists
* List of computer science awards
* List of pioneers in computer science
* Outline of computer science
Notes
References
Further reading
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* Peter J. Denning. [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id1053309&coll&dlACM&CFID15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 Is computer science science?], Communications of the ACM, April 2005.
* Peter J. Denning, [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id971303&dlACM&coll&CFID15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 Great principles in computing curricula], Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2004.
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* Research evaluation for computer science, Informatics Europe [http://www.eqanie.eu/media/Como%20Conference/Tanca-Research_Assessment_A_new_Initiative_by_Informatics_Europe.pdf report] . Shorter journal version: Bertrand Meyer, Christine Choppy, Jan van Leeuwen and Jorgen Staunstrup, Research evaluation for computer science, in Communications of the ACM, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 31–34, April 2009.
Curriculum and classification
* Association for Computing Machinery. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080828002940/http://www.acm.org/class/1998/overview.html 1998 ACM Computing Classification System]. 1998.
* Joint Task Force of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Association for Information Systems (AIS) and IEEE Computer Society (IEEE CS). [https://web.archive.org/web/20141021153204/http://www.acm.org/education/curric_vols/CC2005-March06Final.pdf Computing Curricula 2005: The Overview Report]. September 30, 2005.
* Norman Gibbs, Allen Tucker. "A model curriculum for a liberal arts degree in computer science". Communications of the ACM, Volume 29 Issue 3, March 1986.
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External links
* [http://dblp.uni-trier.de/ DBLP Computer Science Bibliography]
* [http://www.acm.org/ Association for Computing Machinery]
* [https://www.ieee.org/ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]
Category:Formal sciences
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Catalan
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Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
Catalan language, a Romance language
Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
13178 Catalan, asteroid #13178, named "Catalan"
Catalán (crater), a lunar crater named for Miguel Ángel Catalán
Çatalan, İvrindi, a village in Balıkesir province, Turkey
Çatalan, Karaisalı, a village in Adana Province, Turkey
Catalan Bay, Gibraltar
Catalan Sea, more commonly known as the Balearic Sea
Catalan Mediterranean System, the Catalan Mountains
Facilities and structures
Çatalan Bridge, Adana, Turkey
Çatalan Dam, Adana, Turkey
Catalan Batteries, Gibraltar
People
Catalan, Lord of Monaco (1415–1457), Lord of Monaco from 1454 until 1457
Alfredo Catalán (born 1968), Venezuelan politician
Alex Catalán (born 1968), Spanish filmmaker
Arnaut Catalan (1219–1253), troubador
Diego Catalán (1928–2008), Spanish philologist
Emilio Arenales Catalán (1922–1969) Guatemalan politician
Eugène Charles Catalan (1814–1894), French and Belgian mathematician
Miguel A. Catalán (1894–1957), Spanish spectroscopist
Moses Chayyim Catalan (died 1661), Italian rabbi
Sergio Catalán (born 1991) Chilean soccer player
Mathematics
Mathematical concepts named after mathematician Eugène Catalan:
Catalan numbers, a sequence of natural numbers that occur in various counting problems
Catalan solids, a family of polyhedra
Catalan's constant, a number that occurs in estimates in combinatorics
Catalan's conjecture
Wine
Catalan (grape), another name for the wine grape Mourvèdre
Catalan wine, an alternative name used in France for wine made from the Carignan grape
Carignan, a wine grape that is also known as Catalan
Sports and games
Catalan Opening, in chess
Catalan Open, golf tournament
Catalans Dragons, a rugby league team often known simply as Catalan
XIII Catalan, a rugby league team from Perpignan, France
Other uses
Battle of Catalán (1817) in Uruguay
Catalan Sheepdog
Catalan Company, medieval mercenary company
Catalan vault, architectural design element
The Catalans, a 1953 novel by Patrick O'Brian
See also
Catalonia (disambiguation)
Catalunya (disambiguation)
Anti-Catalanism
Category:Language and nationality disambiguation pages
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Creationism
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Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation, and is often pseudoscientific. In its broadest sense, creationism includes various religious views, which differ in their acceptance or rejection of modern scientific concepts such as evolution that describe the origin and development of natural phenomena.
The term creationism most often refers to belief in special creation: the claim that the universe and lifeforms were created as they exist today by divine action, and that the only true explanations are those which are compatible with a Christian fundamentalist literal interpretation of the creation myth found in the Bible's Genesis creation narrative. Since the 1970s, the most common form of this has been Young Earth creationism which posits special creation of the universe and lifeforms within the last 10,000 years on the basis of flood geology, and promotes pseudoscientific creation science. From the 18th century onward, Old Earth creationism accepted geological time harmonized with Genesis through gap or day-age theory, while supporting anti-evolution. Modern old-Earth creationists support progressive creationism and continue to reject evolutionary explanations. Following political controversy, creation science was reformulated as intelligent design and neo-creationism.
Mainline Protestants and the Catholic Church reconcile modern science with their faith in Creation through forms of theistic evolution which hold that God purposefully created through the laws of nature, and accept evolution. Some groups call their belief evolutionary creationism. Less prominently, there are also members of the Islamic and Hindu faiths who are creationists. Use of the term "creationist" in this context dates back to Charles Darwin's unpublished 1842 sketch draft for what became On the Origin of Species, and he used the term later in letters to colleagues. In 1873, Asa Gray published an article in The Nation saying a "special creationist" who held that species "were supernaturally originated just as they are, by the very terms of his doctrine places them out of the reach of scientific explanation."Biblical basis
The basis for many creationists' beliefs is a literal or quasi-literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. The Genesis creation narratives (Genesis 1–2) describe how God brings the Universe into being in a series of creative acts over six days and places the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden. This story is the basis of creationist cosmology and biology. The Genesis flood narrative (Genesis 6–9) tells how God destroys the world and all life through a great flood, saving representatives of each form of life by means of Noah's Ark. This forms the basis of creationist geology, better known as flood geology.
Recent decades have seen attempts to de-link creationism from the Bible and recast it as science; these include creation science and intelligent design.
Types
To counter the common misunderstanding that the creation–evolution controversy was a simple dichotomy of views, with "creationists" set against "evolutionists", Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education produced a diagram and description of a continuum of religious views as a spectrum ranging from extreme literal biblical creationism to materialist evolution, grouped under main headings. This was used in public presentations, then published in 1999 in Reports of the NCSE. Other versions of a taxonomy of creationists were produced, and comparisons made between the different groupings. In 2009 Scott produced a revised continuum taking account of these issues, emphasizing that intelligent design creationism overlaps other types, and each type is a grouping of various beliefs and positions. The revised diagram is labelled to shows a spectrum relating to positions on the age of the Earth, and the part played by special creation as against evolution. This was published in the book Evolution Vs. Creationism: An Introduction, and the NCSE website rewritten on the basis of the book version.
Some gap creationists expand the basic version of creationism by proposing a "primordial creation" of biological life within the "gap" of time. This is thought to be "the world that then was" mentioned in 2 Peter 3:3–6. Discoveries of fossils and archaeological ruins older than 10,000 years are generally ascribed to this "world that then was," which may also be associated with Lucifer's rebellion.
Day-age creationism
Day-age creationism, a type of old Earth creationism, is a metaphorical interpretation of the creation accounts in Genesis. It holds that the six days referred to in the Genesis account of creation are not ordinary 24-hour days, but are much longer periods (from thousands to billions of years). The Genesis account is then reconciled with the age of the Earth. Proponents of the day-age theory can be found among both theistic evolutionists, who accept the scientific consensus on evolution, and progressive creationists, who reject it. The theories are said to be built on the understanding that the Hebrew word yom is also used to refer to a time period, with a beginning and an end and not necessarily that of a 24-hour day.
The day-age theory attempts to reconcile the Genesis creation narrative and modern science by asserting that the creation "days" were not ordinary 24-hour days, but actually lasted for long periods of time (as day-age implies, the "days" each lasted an age). According to this view, the sequence and duration of the creation "days" may be paralleled to the scientific consensus for the age of the earth and the universe.
Progressive creationism
Progressive creationism is the religious belief that God created new forms of life gradually over a period of hundreds of millions of years. As a form of old Earth creationism, it accepts mainstream geological and cosmological estimates for the age of the Earth, some tenets of biology such as microevolution as well as archaeology to make its case. In this view creation occurred in rapid bursts in which all "kinds" of plants and animals appear in stages lasting millions of years. The bursts are followed by periods of stasis or equilibrium to accommodate new arrivals. These bursts represent instances of God creating new types of organisms by divine intervention. As viewed from the archaeological record, progressive creationism holds that "species do not gradually appear by the steady transformation of its ancestors; [but] appear all at once and "fully formed."
The view rejects macroevolution, claiming it is biologically untenable and not supported by the fossil record, as well as rejects the concept of common descent from a last universal common ancestor. Thus the evidence for macroevolution is claimed to be false, but microevolution is accepted as a genetic parameter designed by the Creator into the fabric of genetics to allow for environmental adaptations and survival. Generally, it is viewed by proponents as a middle ground between literal creationism and evolution. Organizations such as Reasons To Believe, founded by Hugh Ross, promote this version of creationism.
Progressive creationism can be held in conjunction with hermeneutic approaches to the Genesis creation narrative such as the day-age creationism or framework/metaphoric/poetic views.
Philosophic and scientific creationism
Creation science
Creation science, or initially scientific creationism, is a pseudoscience that emerged in the 1960s with proponents aiming to have young Earth creationist beliefs taught in school science classes as a counter to teaching of evolution. Common features of creation science argument include: creationist cosmologies which accommodate a universe on the order of thousands of years old, criticism of radiometric dating through a technical argument about radiohalos, explanations for the fossil record as a record of the Genesis flood narrative (see flood geology), and explanations for the present diversity as a result of pre-designed genetic variability and partially due to the rapid degradation of the perfect genomes God placed in "created kinds" or "baramins" due to mutations.Neo-creationism
Neo-creationism is a pseudoscientific movement which aims to restate creationism in terms more likely to be well received by the public, by policy makers, by educators and by the scientific community. It aims to re-frame the debate over the origins of life in non-religious terms and without appeals to scripture. This comes in response to the 1987 ruling by the United States Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard that creationism is an inherently religious concept and that advocating it as correct or accurate in public-school curricula violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
One of the principal claims of neo-creationism propounds that ostensibly objective orthodox science, with a foundation in naturalism, is actually a dogmatically atheistic religion. Its proponents argue that the scientific method excludes certain explanations of phenomena, particularly where they point towards supernatural elements, thus effectively excluding religious insight from contributing to understanding the universe. This leads to an open and often hostile opposition to what neo-creationists term "Darwinism", which they generally mean to refer to evolution, but which they may extend to include such concepts as abiogenesis, stellar evolution and the Big Bang theory.
Unlike their philosophical forebears, neo-creationists largely do not believe in many of the traditional cornerstones of creationism such as a young Earth, or in a dogmatically literal interpretation of the Bible.
Intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is the pseudoscientific view that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." All of its leading proponents are associated with the Discovery Institute, a think tank whose wedge strategy aims to replace the scientific method with "a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions" which accepts supernatural explanations. It is widely accepted in the scientific and academic communities that intelligent design is a form of creationism, and is sometimes referred to as "intelligent design creationism."
ID originated as a re-branding of creation science in an attempt to avoid a series of court decisions ruling out the teaching of creationism in American public schools, and the Discovery Institute has run a series of campaigns to change school curricula. In Australia, where curricula are under the control of state governments rather than local school boards, there was a public outcry when the notion of ID being taught in science classes was raised by the Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson; the minister quickly conceded that the correct forum for ID, if it were to be taught, is in religious or philosophy classes.
In the US, teaching of intelligent design in public schools has been decisively ruled by a federal district court to be in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Kitzmiller v. Dover, the court found that intelligent design is not science and "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents," and hence cannot be taught as an alternative to evolution in public school science classrooms under the jurisdiction of that court. This sets a persuasive precedent, based on previous US Supreme Court decisions in Edwards v. Aguillard and Epperson v. Arkansas (1968), and by the application of the Lemon test, that creates a legal hurdle to teaching intelligent design in public school districts in other federal court jurisdictions.Geocentrism
In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, or the Ptolemaic system), is a description of the cosmos where Earth is at the orbital center of all celestial bodies. This model served as the predominant cosmological system in many ancient civilizations such as ancient Greece. As such, they assumed that the Sun, Moon, stars, and naked eye planets circled Earth, including the noteworthy systems of Aristotle (see Aristotelian physics) and Ptolemy.
Articles arguing that geocentrism was the biblical perspective appeared in some early creation science newsletters associated with the Creation Research Society pointing to some passages in the Bible, which, when taken literally, indicate that the daily apparent motions of the Sun and the Moon are due to their actual motions around the Earth rather than due to the rotation of the Earth about its axis. For example, where the Sun and Moon are said to stop in the sky, and where the world is described as immobile. Contemporary advocates for such religious beliefs include Robert Sungenis, co-author of the self-published Galileo Was Wrong: The Church Was Right (2006). These people subscribe to the view that a plain reading of the Bible contains an accurate account of the manner in which the universe was created and requires a geocentric worldview.
Most contemporary creationist organizations reject such perspectives.
Omphalos hypothesis
The Omphalos hypothesis is one attempt to reconcile the scientific evidence that the universe is billions of years old with a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative, which implies that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. It is based on the religious belief that the universe was created by a divine being, within the past six to ten thousand years (in keeping with flood geology), and that the presence of objective, verifiable evidence that the universe is older than approximately ten millennia is due to the creator introducing false evidence that makes the universe appear significantly older.
The idea was named after the title of an 1857 book, Omphalos by Philip Henry Gosse, in which Gosse argued that in order for the world to be functional God must have created the Earth with mountains and canyons, trees with growth rings, Adam and Eve with fully grown hair, fingernails, and navels (ὀμφαλός omphalos is Greek for "navel"), and all living creatures with fully formed evolutionary features, etc..., and that, therefore, no empirical evidence about the age of the Earth or universe can be taken as reliable.
Various supporters of Young Earth creationism have given different explanations for their belief that the universe is filled with false evidence of the universe's age, including a belief that some things needed to be created at a certain age for the ecosystems to function, or their belief that the creator was deliberately planting deceptive evidence. The idea has seen some revival in the 20th century by some modern creationists, who have extended the argument to address the "starlight problem". The idea has been criticised as Last Thursdayism, and on the grounds that it requires a deliberately deceptive creator.
Theistic evolution
Theistic evolution, or evolutionary creation, is a belief that "the personal God of the Bible created the universe and life through evolutionary processes." According to the American Scientific Affiliation:
also called evolutionary creationproposes that God's method of creation was to cleverly design a universe in which everything would naturally evolve. Usually the "evolution" in "theistic evolution" means Total Evolutionastronomical evolution (to form galaxies, solar systems,...) and geological evolution (to form the earth's geology) plus chemical evolution (to form the first life) and biological evolution (for the development of life)but it can refer only to biological evolution.}}
Through the 19th century the term creationism most commonly referred to direct creation of individual souls, in contrast to traducianism. Following the publication of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, there was interest in ideas of Creation by divine law. In particular, the liberal theologian Baden Powell argued that this illustrated the Creator's power better than the idea of miraculous creation, which he thought ridiculous. When On the Origin of Species was published, the cleric Charles Kingsley wrote of evolution as "just as noble a conception of Deity." Darwin's view at the time was of God creating life through the laws of nature, and the book makes several references to "creation," though he later regretted using the term rather than calling it an unknown process. In America, Asa Gray argued that evolution is the secondary effect, or modus operandi, of the first cause, design, and published a pamphlet defending the book in theistic terms, Natural Selection not inconsistent with Natural Theology. Theistic evolution, also called, evolutionary creation, became a popular compromise, and St. George Jackson Mivart was among those accepting evolution but attacking Darwin's naturalistic mechanism. Eventually it was realised that supernatural intervention could not be a scientific explanation, and naturalistic mechanisms such as neo-Lamarckism were favoured as being more compatible with purpose than natural selection.
Some theists took the general view that, instead of faith being in opposition to biological evolution, some or all classical religious teachings about Christian God and creation are compatible with some or all of modern scientific theory, including specifically evolution; it is also known as "evolutionary creation." In Evolution versus Creationism, Eugenie Scott and Niles Eldredge state that it is in fact a type of evolution.
It generally views evolution as a tool used by God, who is both the first cause and immanent sustainer/upholder of the universe; it is therefore well accepted by people of strong theistic (as opposed to deistic) convictions. Theistic evolution can synthesize with the day-age creationist interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative; however most adherents consider that the first chapters of the Book of Genesis should not be interpreted as a "literal" description, but rather as a literary framework or allegory.
From a theistic viewpoint, the underlying laws of nature were designed by God for a purpose, and are so self-sufficient that the complexity of the entire physical universe evolved from fundamental particles in processes such as stellar evolution, life forms developed in biological evolution, and in the same way the origin of life by natural causes has resulted from these laws.
In one form or another, theistic evolution is the view of creation taught at the majority of mainline Protestant seminaries. For Roman Catholics, human evolution is not a matter of religious teaching, and must stand or fall on its own scientific merits. Evolution and the Roman Catholic Church are not in conflict. The Catechism of the Catholic Church comments positively on the theory of evolution, which is neither precluded nor required by the sources of faith, stating that scientific studies "have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man." Roman Catholic schools teach evolution without controversy on the basis that scientific knowledge does not extend beyond the physical, and scientific truth and religious truth cannot be in conflict. Theistic evolution can be described as "creationism" in holding that divine intervention brought about the origin of life or that divine laws govern formation of species, though many creationists (in the strict sense) would deny that the position is creationism at all. In the creation–evolution controversy, its proponents generally take the "evolutionist" side. This sentiment was expressed by Fr. George Coyne, (the Vatican's chief astronomer between 1978 and 2006):<blockquote>...in America, creationism has come to mean some fundamentalistic, literal, scientific interpretation of Genesis. Judaic-Christian faith is radically creationist, but in a totally different sense. It is rooted in a belief that everything depends upon God, or better, all is a gift from God.</blockquote>
While supporting the methodological naturalism inherent in modern science, the proponents of theistic evolution reject the implication taken by some atheists that this gives credence to ontological materialism. In fact, many modern philosophers of science, including atheists, refer to the long-standing convention in the scientific method that observable events in nature should be explained by natural causes, with the distinction that it does not assume the actual existence or non-existence of the supernatural. <!---Among other things, it means that science does not deal with the question of the existence of a Creator, and argues neither for nor against it.
"while on the other hand many scientists support such faiths which allow a voice to their spiritual side." Don't know how to include this, it anyway should talk about scientific positions (and not faiths) and spiritual side--->
Religious views
There are also non-Christian forms of creationism, notably Islamic creationism and Hindu creationism.
Bahá'í Faith
In the creation myth taught by Bahá'u'lláh, the Bahá'í Faith founder, the universe has "neither beginning nor ending," and that the component elements of the material world have always existed and will always exist. With regard to evolution and the origin of human beings, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave extensive comments on the subject when he addressed western audiences in the beginning of the 20th century. Transcripts of these comments can be found in Some Answered Questions, Paris Talks and The Promulgation of Universal Peace. 'Abdu'l-Bahá described the human species as having evolved from a primitive form to modern man, but that the capacity to form human intelligence was always in existence.
Buddhism
Buddhism denies a creator deity and posits that mundane deities such as Mahabrahma are sometimes misperceived to be a creator. While Buddhism includes belief in divine beings called devas, it holds that they are mortal, limited in their power, and that none of them are creators of the universe. In the Saṃyutta Nikāya, the Buddha also states that the cycle of rebirths stretches back hundreds of thousands of eons, without discernible beginning.
Major Buddhist Indian philosophers such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Dharmakirti and Buddhaghosa, consistently critiqued Creator God views put forth by Hindu thinkers.
Most contemporary Christian leaders and scholars from mainstream churches, such as Anglicans and Lutherans, consider that there is no conflict between the spiritual meaning of creation and the science of evolution. According to the former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, "for most of the history of Christianity, and I think this is fair enough, most of the history of the Christianity there's been an awareness that a belief that everything depends on the creative act of God, is quite compatible with a degree of uncertainty or latitude about how precisely that unfolds in creative time."
Leaders of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches have made statements in favor of evolutionary theory, as have scholars such as the physicist John Polkinghorne, who argues that evolution is one of the principles through which God created living beings. Earlier supporters of evolutionary theory include Frederick Temple, Asa Gray and Charles Kingsley who were enthusiastic supporters of Darwin's theories upon their publication, and the French Jesuit priest and geologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin saw evolution as confirmation of his Christian beliefs, despite condemnation from Church authorities for his more speculative theories. Another example is that of Liberal theology, not providing any creation models, but instead focusing on the symbolism in beliefs of the time of authoring Genesis and the cultural environment.
Many Christians and Jews had been considering the idea of the creation history as an allegory (instead of historical) long before the development of Darwin's theory of evolution. For example, Philo, whose works were taken up by early Church writers, wrote that it would be a mistake to think that creation happened in six days, or in any set amount of time. Augustine of the late fourth century who was also a former neoplatonist argued that everything in the universe was created by God at the same moment in time (and not in six days as a literal reading of the Book of Genesis would seem to require); It appears that both Philo and Augustine felt uncomfortable with the idea of a seven-day creation because it detracted from the notion of God's omnipotence. In 1950, Pope Pius XII stated limited support for the idea in his encyclical . In 1996, Pope John Paul II stated that "new knowledge has led to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis," but, referring to previous papal writings, he concluded that "if the human body takes its origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is immediately created by God."
In the US, Evangelical Christians have continued to believe in a literal Genesis. , members of evangelical Protestant (70%), Mormon (76%) and Jehovah's Witnesses (90%) denominations were the most likely to reject the evolutionary interpretation of the origins of life.
Jehovah's Witnesses assert that scientific evidence about the age of the universe is compatible with the Bible, but that the 'days' after Genesis 1:1 were each thousands of years in length. They view this belief as an alternative to Creationism rather than a variation of Creationism.
The historic Christian literal interpretation of creation requires the harmonization of the two creation stories, Genesis 1:1–2:3 and Genesis 2:4–25, for there to be a consistent interpretation. They sometimes seek to ensure that their belief is taught in science classes, mainly in American schools. Opponents reject the claim that the literalistic biblical view meets the criteria required to be considered scientific. Many religious groups teach that God created the Cosmos. From the days of the early Christian Church Fathers there were allegorical interpretations of the Book of Genesis as well as literal aspects.
Christian Science, a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, interprets the Book of Genesis figuratively rather than literally. It holds that the material world is an illusion, and consequently not created by God: the only real creation is the spiritual realm, of which the material world is a distorted version. Christian Scientists regard the story of the creation in the Book of Genesis as having symbolic rather than literal meaning. According to Christian Science, both creationism and evolution are false from an absolute or "spiritual" point of view, as they both proceed from a (false) belief in the reality of a material universe. However, Christian Scientists do not oppose the teaching of evolution in schools, nor do they demand that alternative accounts be taught: they believe that both material science and literalist theology are concerned with the illusory, mortal and material, rather than the real, immortal and spiritual. With regard to material theories of creation, Eddy showed a preference for Darwin's theory of evolution over others.Hinduism
Hindu creationists claim that species of plants and animals are material forms adopted by pure consciousness which live an endless cycle of births and rebirths. Ronald Numbers says that: "Hindu Creationists have insisted on the antiquity of humans, who they believe appeared fully formed as long, perhaps, as trillions of years ago." Hindu creationism is a form of old Earth creationism, according to Hindu creationists the universe may even be older than billions of years. These views are based on the Vedas, the creation myths of which depict an extreme antiquity of the universe and history of the Earth.
In Hindu cosmology, time cyclically repeats general events of creation and destruction, with many "first man", each known as Manu, the progenitor of mankind. Each Manu successively reigns over a 306.72 million year period known as a , each ending with the destruction of mankind followed by a (period of non-activity) before the next . 120.53million years have elapsed in the current (current mankind) according to calculations on Hindu units of time. The universe is cyclically created at the start and destroyed at the end of a (day of Brahma), lasting for 4.32billion years, which is followed by a (period of dissolution) of equal length. 1.97billion years have elapsed in the current (current universe). The universal elements or building blocks (unmanifest matter) exists for a period known as a , lasting for 311.04trillion years, which is followed by a (period of great dissolution) of equal length. 155.52trillion years have elapsed in the current .
Islam
The creation myths in the Quran are more vague and allow for a wider range of interpretations similar to those in other Abrahamic religions. Khalid Anees, president of the Islamic Society of Britain, states that Muslims do not agree that one species can develop from another.
Ottoman-Lebanese Sunni scholar Hussein al-Jisr, declared that there is no contradiction between evolution and the Islamic scriptures. He stated that "there is no evidence in the Quran to suggest whether all species, each of which exists by the grace of God, were created all at once or gradually", and referred to the aforementioned story of creation in Sūrat al-Anbiyā. In Kemalist Turkey, important scholars strove to accommodate the theory of evolution in Islamic scripture during the first decades of the Turkish Republic; their approach to the theory defended Islamic belief in the face of scientific theories of their times.
The Saudi Arabian government, on the other hand, began funding and promoting denial of evolution in the 1970s in accordance to its Salafi-Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. This stance garnered criticism from the governments and academics of mainline Muslim countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Iran,Judaism
For Orthodox Jews who seek to reconcile discrepancies between science and the creation myths in the Bible, the notion that science and the Bible should even be reconciled through traditional scientific means is questioned. To these groups, science is as true as the Torah and if there seems to be a problem, epistemological limits are to blame for apparently irreconcilable points. They point to discrepancies between what is expected and what actually is to demonstrate that things are not always as they appear. They note that even the root word for 'world' in the Hebrew language, , means 'hidden' (). Just as they know from the Torah that God created man and trees and the light on its way from the stars in their observed state, so too can they know that the world was created in its over the six days of Creation that reflects progression to its currently-observed state, with the understanding that physical ways to verify this may eventually be identified. This knowledge has been advanced by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, former philosophy professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Kabbalistic sources from well before the scientifically apparent age of the universe was first determined are also in close concord with modern scientific estimates of the age of the universe, according to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, and based on Sefer Temunah, an early kabbalistic work attributed to the first-century Tanna Nehunya ben HaKanah. Many kabbalists accepted the teachings of the Sefer HaTemunah, including the medieval Jewish scholar Nahmanides, his close student Isaac ben Samuel of Acre, and David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra. Other parallels are derived, among other sources, from Nahmanides, who expounds that there was a Neanderthal-like species with which Adam mated (he did this long before Neanderthals had even been discovered scientifically). Reform Judaism does not take the Torah as a literal text, but rather as a symbolic or open-ended work.
Some contemporary writers such as Rabbi Gedalyah Nadel have sought to reconcile the discrepancy between the account in the Torah, and scientific findings by arguing that each day referred to in the Bible was not 24 hours, but billions of years long. Others claim that the Earth was created a few thousand years ago, but was deliberately made to look as if it was five billion years old, e.g. by being created with ready made fossils. The best known exponent of this approach being Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.]]
Most vocal literalist creationists are from the US, and strict creationist views are much less common in other developed countries. According to a study published in Science, a survey of the US, Turkey, Japan and Europe showed that public acceptance of evolution is most prevalent in Iceland, Denmark and Sweden at 80% of the population.AustraliaA 2009 Nielsen poll showed that 23% of Australians believe "the biblical account of human origins," 42% believe in a "wholly scientific" explanation for the origins of life, while 32% believe in an evolutionary process "guided by God".
A 2013 survey conducted by Auspoll and the Australian Academy of Science found that 80% of Australians believe in evolution (70% believe it is currently occurring, 10% believe in evolution but do not think it is currently occurring), 12% were not sure and 9% stated they do not believe in evolution.BrazilA 2011 Ipsos survey found that 47% of responders in Brazil identified themselves as "creationists and believe that human beings were in fact created by a spiritual force such as the God they believe in and do not believe that the origin of man came from evolving from other species such as apes".
In 2004, IBOPE conducted a poll in Brazil that asked questions about creationism and the teaching of creationism in schools. When asked if creationism should be taught in schools, 89% of people said that creationism should be taught in schools. When asked if the teaching of creationism should replace the teaching of evolution in schools, 75% of people said that the teaching of creationism should replace the teaching of evolution in schools.Canada
in Big Valley, Alberta, Canada]]
A 2012 survey, by Angus Reid Public Opinion revealed that 61 percent of Canadians believe in evolution. The poll asked "Where did human beings come fromdid we start as singular cells millions of year ago and evolve into our present form, or did God create us in his image 10,000 years ago?"
In 2019, a Research Co. poll asked people in Canada if creationism "should be part of the school curriculum in their province". 38% of Canadians said that creationism should be part of the school curriculum, 39% of Canadians said that it should not be part of the school curriculum, and 23% of Canadians were undecided.
In 2023, a Research Co. poll found that 21% of Canadians "believe God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years". The poll also found that "More than two-in-five Canadians (43%) think creationism should be part of the school curriculum in their province."Europe
In Europe, literalist creationism is more widely rejected, though regular opinion polls are not available. Most people accept that evolution is the most widely accepted scientific theory as taught in most schools. In countries with a Roman Catholic majority, papal acceptance of evolutionary creationism as worthy of study has essentially ended debate on the matter for many people.
In the UK, a 2006 poll on the "origin and development of life", asked participants to choose between three different perspectives on the origin of life: 22% chose creationism, 17% opted for intelligent design, 48% selected evolutionary theory, and the rest did not know. A subsequent 2010 YouGov poll on the correct explanation for the origin of humans found that 9% opted for creationism, 12% intelligent design, 65% evolutionary theory and 13% didn't know. The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, views the idea of teaching creationism in schools as a mistake. In 2009, an Ipsos Mori survey in the United Kingdom found that 54% of Britons agreed with the view: "Evolutionary theories should be taught in science lessons in schools together with other possible perspectives, such as intelligent design and creationism."
In Italy, Education Minister Letizia Moratti wanted to retire evolution from the secondary school level; after one week of massive protests, she reversed her opinion.
There continues to be scattered and possibly mounting efforts on the part of religious groups throughout Europe to introduce creationism into public education. In response, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has released a draft report titled The dangers of creationism in education on June 8, 2007, reinforced by a further proposal of banning it in schools dated October 4, 2007.
Serbia suspended the teaching of evolution for one week in September 2004, under education minister Ljiljana Čolić, only allowing schools to reintroduce evolution into the curriculum if they also taught creationism. "After a deluge of protest from scientists, teachers and opposition parties" says the BBC report, Čolić's deputy made the statement, "I have come here to confirm Charles Darwin is still alive" and announced that the decision was reversed. Čolić resigned after the government said that she had caused "problems that had started to reflect on the work of the entire government."
Poland saw a major controversy over creationism in 2006, when the Deputy Education Minister, Mirosław Orzechowski, denounced evolution as "one of many lies" taught in Polish schools. His superior, Minister of Education Roman Giertych, has stated that the theory of evolution would continue to be taught in Polish schools, "as long as most scientists in our country say that it is the right theory." Giertych's father, Member of the European Parliament Maciej Giertych, has opposed the teaching of evolution and has claimed that dinosaurs and humans co-existed.
A June 2015 – July 2016 Pew poll of Eastern European countries, found that 56% of people from Armenia say that humans and other living things have "Existed in present state since the beginning of time". Armenia is followed by 52% from Bosnia, 42% from Moldova, 37% from Lithuania, 34% from Georgia and Ukraine, 33% from Croatia and Romania, 31% from Bulgaria, 29% from Greece and Serbia, 26% from Russia, 25% from Latvia, 23% from Belarus and Poland, 21% from Estonia and Hungary, and 16% from the Czech Republic.South AfricaA 2011 Ipsos survey found that 56% of responders in South Africa identified themselves as "creationists and believe that human beings were in fact created by a spiritual force such as the God they believe in and do not believe that the origin of man came from evolving from other species such as apes".United States
theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky, United States]]
in Glendive, Montana, United States]]
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A 2017 poll by Pew Research found that 62% of Americans believe humans have evolved over time and 34% of Americans believe humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. A 2019 Gallup creationism survey found that 40% of adults in the United States inclined to the view that "God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years" when asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings.
According to a 2014 Gallup poll, about 42% of Americans believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so." In 1987, Newsweek reported: "By one count there are some 700 scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) who give credence to creation-science, the general theory that complex life forms did not evolve but appeared 'abruptly.'"
A 2000 poll for People for the American Way found 70% of the US public felt that evolution was compatible with a belief in God.
According to a study published in Science, between 1985 and 2005 the number of adult North Americans who accept evolution declined from 45% to 40%, the number of adults who reject evolution declined from 48% to 39% and the number of people who were unsure increased from 7% to 21%. Besides the US the study also compared data from 32 European countries, Turkey, and Japan. The only country where acceptance of evolution was lower than in the US was Turkey (25%). 21% believe in 'the theory of evolution as outlined by Darwin and other scientists' (up from 15% in 1999), and 27% answered that both are true (up from 26% in 1999). In February 2014, Nye defended evolution in the classroom in a debate with creationist Ken Ham on the topic of whether creation is a viable model of origins in today's modern, scientific era.
Education controversies
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In the US, creationism has become centered in the political controversy over creation and evolution in public education, and whether teaching creationism in science classes conflicts with the separation of church and state. Currently, the controversy comes in the form of whether advocates of the intelligent design movement who wish to "Teach the Controversy" in science classes have conflated science with religion.CriticismChristian criticismMost Christians disagree with the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution in schools. Several religious organizations, among them the Catholic Church, hold that their faith does not conflict with the scientific consensus regarding evolution. The Clergy Letter Project, which has collected more than 13,000 signatures, is an "endeavor designed to demonstrate that religion and science can be compatible."
In his 2002 article "Intelligent Design as a Theological Problem", George Murphy argues against the view that life on Earth, in all its forms, is direct evidence of God's act of creation (Murphy quotes Phillip E. Johnson's claim that he is speaking "of a God who acted openly and left his fingerprints on all the evidence."). Murphy argues that this view of God is incompatible with the Christian understanding of God as "the one revealed in the cross and resurrection of Christ." The basis of this theology is Isaiah 45:15, "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour."
Murphy observes that the execution of a Jewish carpenter by Roman authorities is in and of itself an ordinary event and did not require divine action. On the contrary, for the crucifixion to occur, God had to limit or "empty" himself. It was for this reason that Paul the Apostle wrote, in Philippians 2:5-8:
<blockquote>Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.</blockquote>
Murphy concludes that,<blockquote>Just as the Son of God limited himself by taking human form and dying on a cross, God limits divine action in the world to be in accord with rational laws which God has chosen. This enables us to understand the world on its own terms, but it also means that natural processes hide God from scientific observation.</blockquote>For Murphy, a theology of the cross requires that Christians accept a methodological naturalism, meaning that one cannot invoke God to explain natural phenomena, while recognizing that such acceptance does not require one to accept a metaphysical naturalism, which proposes that nature is all that there is.
The Jesuit priest George Coyne has stated that it is "unfortunate that, especially here in America, creationism has come to mean...some literal interpretation of Genesis." He argues that "...Judaic-Christian faith is radically creationist, but in a totally different sense. It is rooted in belief that everything depends on God, or better, all is a gift from God."Teaching of creationismOther Christians have expressed qualms about teaching creationism. In March 2006, then Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the leader of the world's Anglicans, stated his discomfort about teaching creationism, saying that creationism was "a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories." He also said: "My worry is creationism can end up reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it." The views of the Episcopal Churcha major American-based branch of the Anglican Communionon teaching creationism resemble those of Williams. as is the Association for Science Teacher Education, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the American Anthropological Association, the American Geosciences Institute, the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and numerous other professional teaching and scientific societies.
In April 2010, the American Academy of Religion issued Guidelines for Teaching About Religion in K‐12 Public Schools in the United States, which included guidance that creation science or intelligent design should not be taught in science classes, as "Creation science and intelligent design represent worldviews that fall outside of the realm of science that is defined as (and limited to) a method of inquiry based on gathering observable and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning." However, they, as well as other "worldviews that focus on speculation regarding the origins of life represent another important and relevant form of human inquiry that is appropriately studied in literature or social sciences courses. Such study, however, must include a diversity of worldviews representing a variety of religious and philosophical perspectives and must avoid privileging one view as more legitimate than others."
Randy Moore and Sehoya Cotner, from the biology program at the University of Minnesota, reflect on the relevance of teaching creationism in the article "The Creationist Down the Hall: Does It Matter When Teachers Teach Creationism?", in which they write: "Despite decades of science education reform, numerous legal decisions declaring the teaching of creationism in public-school science classes to be unconstitutional, overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, and the many denunciations of creationism as nonscientific by professional scientific societies, creationism remains popular throughout the United States."
Scientific criticism
Science is a system of knowledge based on observation, empirical evidence, and the development of theories that yield testable explanations and predictions of natural phenomena. By contrast, creationism is often based on literal interpretations of the narratives of particular religious texts. Creationist beliefs involve purported forces that lie outside of nature, such as supernatural intervention, and often do not allow predictions at all. Therefore, these can neither be confirmed nor disproved by scientists. However, many creationist beliefs can be framed as testable predictions about phenomena such as the age of the Earth, its geological history and the origins, distributions and relationships of living organisms found on it. Early science incorporated elements of these beliefs, but as science developed these beliefs were gradually falsified and were replaced with understandings based on accumulated and reproducible evidence that often allows the accurate prediction of future results.
Some scientists, such as Stephen Jay Gould, consider science and religion to be two compatible and complementary fields, with authorities in distinct areas of human experience, so-called non-overlapping magisteria. This view is also held by many theologians, who believe that ultimate origins and meaning are addressed by religion, but favor verifiable scientific explanations of natural phenomena over those of creationist beliefs. Other scientists, such as Richard Dawkins, reject the non-overlapping magisteria and argue that, in disproving literal interpretations of creationists, the scientific method also undermines religious texts as a source of truth. Irrespective of this diversity in viewpoints, since creationist beliefs are not supported by empirical evidence, the scientific consensus is that any attempt to teach creationism as science should be rejected.Organizations{| style"width:100%;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|width=47%|
;Creationism (in general)
* American Scientific Affiliation
* Christians in Science
;Young Earth creationism
* Answers in Genesis, a group promoting young Earth creationism
* Creation Ministries International, an organisation promoting biblical creation
* Creation Research Society
* Institute for Creation Research
* The Way of the Master
;Old Earth creationism
* Old Earth Ministries (OEM), formerly Answers In Creation (AIC), led by Greg Neyman
* Reasons to Believe, led by Hugh Ross
|width=6%|
|width=47%|
;Intelligent design
* Access Research Network
* Centre for Intelligent Design
* Center for Science and Culture, a subsidiary of the Discovery Institute
;Evolutionary creationism
* BioLogos Foundation
|}
See also
* Biblical inerrancy
* Biogenesis
* Dangers of creationism in education
* Evolution of complexity
* Flying Spaghetti Monster
* History of creationism
* Religious cosmology
Notes
References
Citations
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External links
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<!-- overviews of creationism, i.e. all these links are similar because they describe the variety of viewpoints that have been described as creationist. -->
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creationism/ "Creationism"] at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Michael Ruse
* [http://www.howstuffworks.com/creationism.htm "How Creationism Works"] at HowStuffWorks by Julia Layton
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160106153325/http://www.allviewpoints.org/RESOURCES/EVOLUTION/timeline.htm "TIMELINE: Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design"]Focuses on major historical and recent events in the scientific and political debate
* by Warren D. Allmon, Director of the Museum of the Earth
* [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wic.html "What is creationism?"] at talk.origins by Mark Isaak
* [http://ncse.com/creationism/general/creationevolution-continuum "The Creation/Evolution Continuum"] by Eugenie Scott
* [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/15-answers-to-creationist/ "15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense"] by John Rennie, editor in chief of Scientific American magazine
* "[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-evolution-and-the-science-of-human-origins/ Race, Evolution and the Science of Human Origins]" by Allison Hopper, Scientific American (July 5, 2021).
* [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Human Timeline (Interactive)]Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016)
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History of Chad
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
Chad (; ), officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
Prehistory
find in 2002.]]
The territory now known as Chad possesses some of the richest archaeological sites in Africa. A hominid skull was found by Michel Brunet, that is more than 7 million years old, the oldest discovered anywhere in the world; it has been given the name Sahelanthropus tchadensis. In 1996 Brunet unearthed a hominid jaw, which he named Australopithecus bahrelghazali'', unofficially dubbed Abel. It was dated using beryllium-based radiometric dating as living 3.6 million years ago.
During the 7th millennium BC, the northern half of Chad was part of a broad expanse of land, stretching from the Indus River in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, in which ecological conditions favored early human settlement. Rock art of the "Round Head" style, found in the Ennedi region, has been dated to before the 7th millennium BC and, because of the tools with which the rocks were carved and the scenes they depict, may represent the oldest evidence in the Sahara of Neolithic industries. Many of the pottery-making and Neolithic activities in Ennedi date back further than any of those of the Nile Valley to the east.
Most states began as kingdoms, in which the king was considered divine and endowed with temporal and spiritual powers. All states were militaristic (or they did not survive long), but none was able to expand far into southern Chad, where forests and the tsetse fly complicated the use of cavalry. Control over the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region formed the economic basis of these kingdoms. Although many states rose and fell, the most important and durable of the empires were Kanem–Bornu, Baguirmi, and Ouaddai, according to most written sources (mainly court chronicles and writings of Arab traders and travelers).
By the end of the 14th century, internal struggles and external attacks had torn Kanem apart. Finally, around 1396 the Bulala invaders forced Mai Umar Idrismi to abandon Njimi and move the Kanembu people to Bornu on the western edge of Lake Chad. Over time, the intermarriage of the Kanembu and Bornu peoples created a new people and language, the Kanuri, and founded a new capital, Ngazargamu.
The Wadai Sultanate (Ouaddai Kingdom), west of Kanem–Bornu, was established in the early 16th century by Tunjur rulers. In the 1630s, Abd al Karim invaded and established an Islamic sultanate. Among its most impactful rulers for the next three centuries were Muhammad Sabun, who controlled a new trade route to the north and established a currency during the early 19th century, and Muhammad Sharif, whose military campaigns in the mid 19th century fended off an assimilation attempt from Darfur, conquered Baguirmi, and successfully resisted French colonization. However, Ouaddai lost its independence to France after a war from 1909 to 1912.
Two fundamental themes dominated Chad's colonial experience with the French: an absence of policies designed to unify the territory and an exceptionally slow pace of modernization. In the French scale of priorities, the colony of Chad ranked near the bottom, and the French came to perceive Chad primarily as a source of raw cotton and untrained labour to be used in the more productive colonies to the south. As it was full of resources of gold and aluminum so many countries tried it to colonise but French was successful
Decolonization (1940–1960)
During World War II, Chad was the first French colony to rejoin the Allies (August 26, 1940), after the defeat of France by Germany. Under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor, a military column, commanded by Colonel Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, and including two battalions of Sara troops, moved north from N'Djamena (then Fort Lamy) to engage Axis forces in Libya, where, in partnership with the British Army's Long Range Desert Group, they captured Kufra. On January 21, 1942, N'Djamena was bombed by a German aircraft.
After the war ended, local parties started to develop in Chad. The first to be born was the radical Chadian Progressive Party (PPT) in February 1947, initially headed by Panamanian born Gabriel Lisette, but from 1959 headed by François Tombalbaye. The more conservative Chadian Democratic Union (UDT) was founded in November 1947 and represented French commercial interests and a bloc of traditional leaders composed primarily of Muslim and Ouaddaïan nobility. The confrontation between the PPT and UDT was more than simply ideological; it represented different regional identities, with the PPT representing the Christian and animist south and the UDT the Islamic north. In April 1952, the Bébalem massacre was carried out by the French authorities against farmers who protested the announced victory of the UDT in the local elections.
The PPT won the May 1957 pre-independence elections thanks to a greatly expanded franchise, and Lisette led the government of the Territorial Assembly until he lost a confidence vote on February 11, 1959. After a referendum on territorial autonomy on September 28, 1958, French Equatorial Africa was dissolved, and its four constituent states – Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), the Central African Republic, and Chad became autonomous members of the French Community from November 28, 1958. Following Lisette's fall in February 1959 the opposition leaders Gontchome Sahoulba and Ahmed Koulamallah could not form a stable government, so the PPT was again asked to form an administration – which it did under the leadership of François Tombalbaye on March 26, 1959. On July 12, 1960, France agreed to Chad becoming fully independent. On August 11, 1960, Chad became an independent country and François Tombalbaye became its first president.Tombalbaye era (1960–1975)
One of the most prominent aspects of Tombalbaye's rule to prove itself was his authoritarianism and distrust of democracy. Already in January 1962 he banned all political parties except his own PPT, and started immediately concentrating all power in his own hands. His treatment of opponents, real or imagined, was extremely harsh, filling the prisons with thousands of political prisoners.
Furthermore, he pursued constant discrimination against the central and northern regions of Chad, where the southern Chadian administrators came to be perceived as arrogant and incompetent. This resentment at last exploded in a tax revolt on September 2, 1965, in the Guéra Prefecture, causing 500 deaths. The year after saw the birth in Sudan of the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT), created to militarily oust Tombalbaye and the Southern dominance. It was the start of a bloody civil war.
Tombalbaye resorted to calling in French troops; while moderately successful, they were not fully able to quell the insurgency. Proving more fortunate was his choice to break with the French and seek friendly ties with Libyan Brotherly Leader Gaddafi, taking away the rebels' principal source of supplies.
But while he had reported some success against the rebels, Tombalbaye started behaving more and more irrationally and brutally, continuously eroding his consensus among the southern elites, which dominated all key positions in the army, the civil service and the ruling party. As a consequence on April 13, 1975, several units of N'Djamena's gendarmerie killed Tombalbaye during a coup.
Military rule (1975–1978)
The coup d'état that terminated Tombalbaye's government received an enthusiastic response in N'Djamena. The southerner General Félix Malloum emerged early as the chairman of the new junta.
The new military leaders were unable to retain for long the popularity that they had gained through their overthrow of Tombalbaye. Malloum proved himself unable to cope with the FROLINAT and at the end decided his only chance was in coopting some of the rebels: in 1978 he allied himself with the insurgent leader Hissène Habré, who entered the government as prime minister.
Civil war (1979–1982)
Internal dissent within the government led Prime Minister Habré to send his forces against Malloum's national army in the capital in February 1979. Malloum was ousted from the presidency, but the resulting civil war among the 11 emergent factions was so widespread that it rendered the central government largely irrelevant. At that point, other African governments decided to intervene.
A series of four international conferences held first under Nigerian and then Organization of African Unity (OAU) sponsorship attempted to bring the Chadian factions together. At the fourth conference, held in Lagos, Nigeria, in August 1979, the Lagos Accord was signed. This accord established a transitional government pending national elections. In November 1979, the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) was created with a mandate to govern for 18 months. Goukouni Oueddei, a northerner, was named president; Colonel Kamougué, a southerner, Vice President; and Habré, Minister of Defense. This coalition proved fragile; in January 1980, fighting broke out again between Goukouni's and Habré's forces. With assistance from Libya, Goukouni regained control of the capital and other urban centers by year's end. However, Goukouni's January 1981 statement that Chad and Libya had agreed to work for the realization of complete unity between the two countries generated intense international pressure and Goukouni's subsequent call for the complete withdrawal of external forces. The United States foreign intelligence agency, CIA under the Reagan Administration took active part in supporting Hissène Habré. Human Rights Watch has reported "the United States helped Habré take power in the first clandestine operation launched by Ronald Reagan's CIA chief, William J. Casey, when he took over the agency in 1981..."Habré era (1982–1990)
Libya's partial withdrawal to the Aozou Strip in northern Chad cleared the way for Habré's forces to enter N’Djamena in June. Covert, or not so covert CIA activities in Chad supported Habré seizing power, and counter Libyan influence and other socialist leaning elements throughout the 1980's. French troops and an OAU peacekeeping force of 3,500 Nigerian, Senegalese, and Zairian troops, partially funded by the United States were present, appearing to play a neutral role during the conflict between Chad and Libya.
(dark green), claimed and occupied by Libya between 1976 and 1987, and territories held by Libyan-backed GUNT-forces (light green)]]
Habré continued to face armed opposition on various fronts, and was brutal in his repression of suspected opponents, massacring and torturing many during his rule. In the summer of 1983, GUNT forces launched an offensive against government positions in northern and eastern Chad with heavy Libyan support. In response to Libya's direct intervention, French and Zairian forces intervened to defend Habré, pushing Libyan and rebel forces north of the 16th parallel. In September 1984, the French and the Libyan governments announced an agreement for the mutual withdrawal of their forces from Chad. By the end of the year, all French and Zairian troops were withdrawn. Libya did not honor the withdrawal accord, and its forces continued to occupy the northern third of Chad.
Rebel commando groups (Codos) in southern Chad were broken up by government massacres in 1984. In 1985 Habré briefly reconciled with some of his opponents, including the Democratic Front of Chad (FDT) and the Coordinating Action Committee of the Democratic Revolutionary Council. Goukouni also began to rally toward Habré, and with his support Habré successfully expelled Libyan forces from most of Chadian territory. A cease-fire between Chad and Libya held from 1987 to 1988, and negotiations over the next several years led to the 1994 International Court of Justice decision granting Chad sovereignty over the Aouzou strip, effectively ending Libyan occupation. United States of America continued to support the Habré regime throughout its existence, militarily and economically.Idriss Déby era (1990–2021)Rise to power
Rivalry between Hadjerai, Zaghawa and Gorane groups within the government grew in the late 1980s. In April 1989, Idriss Déby, one of Habré's leading generals and a Zaghawa, defected and fled to Darfur in Sudan, from which he mounted a Zaghawa-supported series of attacks on Habré (a Gorane). In December 1990, with Libyan assistance and no opposition from French troops stationed in Chad, Déby's forces successfully marched on N’Djamena. After 3 months of provisional government, Déby's Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) approved a national charter on February 28, 1991, with Déby as president.
During the next two years, Déby faced at least two coup attempts. Government forces clashed violently with rebel forces, including the Movement for Democracy and Development, MDD, National Revival Committee for Peace and Democracy (CSNPD), Chadian National Front (FNT) and the Western Armed Forces (FAO), near Lake Chad and in southern regions of the country. Earlier French demands for the country to hold a National Conference resulted in the gathering of 750 delegates representing political parties (which were legalized in 1992), the government, trade unions and the army to discuss the creation of a pluralist democratic regime.
However, unrest continued, sparked in part by large-scale killings of civilians in southern Chad. The CSNPD, led by Kette Moise and other southern groups entered into a peace agreement with government forces in 1994, which later broke down. Two new groups, the Armed Forces for a Federal Republic (FARF) led by former Kette ally Laokein Barde and the Democratic Front for Renewal (FDR), and a reformulated MDD clashed with government forces from 1994 to 1995.
Multiparty elections
Talks with political opponents in early 1996 did not go well, but Déby announced his intent to hold presidential elections in June. Déby won the country's first multi-party presidential elections with support in the second round from opposition leader Kebzabo, defeating General Kamougue (leader of the 1975 coup against Tombalbaye). Déby's MPS party won 63 of 125 seats in the January 1997 legislative elections. International observers noted numerous serious irregularities in presidential and legislative election proceedings.
By mid-1997 the government signed peace deals with FARF and the MDD leadership and succeeded in cutting off the groups from their rear bases in the Central African Republic and Cameroon. Agreements also were struck with rebels from the National Front of Chad (FNT) and Movement for Social Justice and Democracy in October 1997. However, peace was short-lived, as FARF rebels clashed with government soldiers, finally surrendering to government forces in May 1998. Barde was killed in the fighting, as were hundreds of other southerners, most civilians.
Since October 1998 Chadian Movement for Justice and Democracy (MDJT) rebels, led by Youssuf Togoimi until his death in September 2002, have skirmished with government troops in the Tibesti region, resulting in hundreds of civilian, government, and rebel casualties, but little ground won or lost. No active armed opposition has emerged in other parts of Chad, although Kette Moise, following senior postings at the Ministry of Interior, mounted a smallscale local operation near Moundou which was quickly and violently suppressed by government forces in late 2000.
Déby, in the mid-1990s, gradually restored basic functions of government and entered into agreements with the World Bank and IMF to carry out substantial economic reforms. Oil exploitation in the southern Doba region began in June 2000, with World Bank Board approval to finance a small portion of a project, the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development Project, aimed at transport of Chadian crude through a 1000-km buried pipeline through Cameroon to the Gulf of Guinea. The project established unique mechanisms for World Bank, private sector, government, and civil society collaboration to guarantee that future oil revenues benefit local populations and result in poverty alleviation. Success of the project depended on multiple monitoring efforts to ensure that all parties keep their commitments. These "unique" mechanisms for monitoring and revenue management have faced intense criticism from the beginning. Debt relief was accorded to Chad in May 2001.
Déby won a flawed 63% first-round victory in May 2001 presidential elections after legislative elections were postponed until spring 2002. Having accused the government of fraud, six opposition leaders were arrested (twice) and one opposition party activist was killed following the announcement of election results. However, despite claims of government corruption, favoritism of Zaghawas, and abuses by the security forces, opposition party and labor union calls for general strikes and more active demonstrations against the government have been unsuccessful. Despite movement toward democratic reform, power remains in the hands of a northern ethnic oligarchy.
In 2003 Chad began receiving refugees from the Darfur region of western Sudan. More than 200,000 refugees fled the fighting between two rebel groups and government-supported militias known as Janjaweed. A number of border incidents led to the Chadian–Sudanese War.
Oil producing and military improvement
Chad became an oil producer in 2003. To avoid resource curse and corruption, elaborate plans sponsored by World Bank were made. This plan ensured transparency in payments, as well as that 80% of money from oil exports would be spent on five priority development sectors, two most important of these being: education and healthcare. However money started getting diverted towards the military even before the civil war broke out. In 2006 when the civil war escalated, Chad abandoned previous economic plans sponsored by World Bank and added "national security" as priority development sector, money from this sector was used to improve the military. During the civil war, more than 600 million dollars were used to buy fighter jets, attack helicopters, and armored personnel carriers.
Chad earned between 10 and 11 billion dollars from oil production, and estimated 4 billion dollars were invested in the army.
War in the east
The war started on December 23, 2005, when the government of Chad declared a state of war with Sudan and called for the citizens of Chad to mobilize themselves against the "common enemy," which the Chadian government sees as the Rally for Democracy and Liberty (RDL) militants, Chadian rebels, backed by the Sudanese government, and Sudanese militiamen. Militants have attacked villages and towns in eastern Chad, stealing cattle, murdering citizens, and burning houses. Over 200,000 refugees from the Darfur region of northwestern Sudan currently claim asylum in eastern Chad. Chadian president Idriss Déby accuses Sudanese President Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir of trying to "destabilize our country, to drive our people into misery, to create disorder and export the war from Darfur to Chad."
An attack on the Chadian town of Adre near the Sudanese border led to the deaths of either one hundred rebels, as every news source other than CNN has reported, or three hundred rebels. The Sudanese government was blamed for the attack, which was the second in the region in three days, but Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim denies any Sudanese involvement, "We are not for any escalation with Chad. We technically deny involvement in Chadian internal affairs." This attack was the final straw that led to the declaration of war by Chad and the alleged deployment of the Chadian airforce into Sudanese airspace, which the Chadian government denies.
An attack on N'Djamena was defeated on April 13, 2006, in the Battle of N'Djamena. The President on national radio stated that the situation was under control, but residents, diplomats and journalists reportedly heard shots of weapons fire.
On November 25, 2006, rebels captured the eastern town of Abeche, capital of the Ouaddaï Region and center for humanitarian aid to the Darfur region in Sudan. On the same day, a separate rebel group Rally of Democratic Forces had captured Biltine. On November 26, 2006, the Chadian government claimed to have recaptured both towns, although rebels still claimed control of Biltine. Government buildings and humanitarian aid offices in Abeche were said to have been looted. The Chadian government denied a warning issued by the French Embassy in N'Djamena that a group of rebels was making its way through the Batha Prefecture in central Chad. Chad insists that both rebel groups are supported by the Sudanese government.
International orphanage scandal
Nearly 100 children at the center of an international scandal that left them stranded at an orphanage in remote eastern Chad returned home after nearly five months March 14, 2008. The 97 children were taken from their homes in October 2007 by a then-obscure French charity, Zoé's Ark, which claimed they were orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.
Rebel attack on Ndjamena
On Friday, February 1, 2008, rebels, an opposition alliance of leaders Mahamat Nouri, a former defense minister, and Timane Erdimi, a nephew of Idriss Déby who was his chief of staff, attacked the Chadian capital of Ndjamena – even surrounding the Presidential Palace. But Idris Deby with government troops fought back. French forces flew in ammunition for Chadian government troops but took no active part in the fighting. UN has said that up to 20,000 people left the region, taking refuge in nearby Cameroon and Nigeria. Hundreds of people were killed, mostly civilians. The rebels accuse Deby of corruption and embezzling millions in oil revenue. While many Chadians may share that assessment, the uprising appears to be a power struggle within the elite that has long controlled Chad. The French government believes that the opposition has regrouped east of the capital. Déby has blamed Sudan for the current unrest in Chad.
Regional interventionism
During the Déby era Chad intervened in conflicts in Mali, Central African Republic, Niger and Nigeria.
In 2013, Chad sent 2000 men from its military to help France in Operation Serval during the Mali War. Later in the same year Chad sent 850 troops to Central African Republic to help peacekeeping operation MISCA, those troops withdrew in April 2014 after allegations of human rights violations.
In January 2019, after 47 years, Chad restored diplomatic relations with Israel. It was announced during a visit to N’Djamena by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mahamat Déby era (2021–present)
In April 2021 Chad's army announced that President Idriss Déby had died of his injuries following clashes with rebels in the north of the country. Idriss Deby ruled the country for more than 30 years since 1990. It was also announced that a military council led by Déby's son, Mahamat Idriss Déby a 37-year-old four star general, will govern for the next 18 months. On May 23, 2024, Mahamat Idriss Déby was sworn in as President of Chad. He had won the disputed May 6 election outright, with 61 per cent of the vote.
See also
*2010 Sahel famine
*History of Africa
*List of heads of government of Chad
*List of heads of state of Chad
*List of human evolution fossils
*Politics of Chad
*Neolithic Subpluvial
*
References
Further reading
*Gibbons, Ann. The First Human : The Race to Discover our Earliest Ancestor. Anchor Books (2007).
External links
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/tdtoc.html The Library of Congress – A Country Study: Chad]
*
Chad
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Geography of Chad
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
Chad is one of the 47 landlocked countries in the world and is located in North Central Africa, measuring , nearly twice the size of France and slightly more than three times the size of California. Most of its ethnically and linguistically diverse population lives in the south, with densities ranging from 54 persons per square kilometer in the Logone River basin to 0.1 persons in the northern B.E.T. (Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti) desert region, which itself is larger than France. The capital city of N'Djaména, situated at the confluence of the Chari and Logone Rivers, is cosmopolitan in nature, with a current population in excess of 700,000 people.
Chad has four climatic zones. The northernmost Saharan zone averages less than of rainfall annually. The sparse human population is largely nomadic, with some livestock, mostly small ruminants and camels. The central Sahelian zone receives between rainfall and has vegetation ranging from grass/shrub steppe to thorny, open savanna. The southern zone, often referred to as the Sudan zone, receives between , with woodland savanna and deciduous forests for vegetation. Rainfall in the Guinea zone, located in Chad's southwestern tip, ranges between . In Chad forest cover is around 3% of the total land area, equivalent to 4,313,000 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 6,730,000 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 4,293,000 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 19,800 hectares (ha). For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership.
The country's topography is generally flat, and is one of the most important wetlands on the continent. Home to 120 species of fish and at least that many species of birds, the lake has shrunk dramatically in the last four decades due to increased water usage from an expanding population and low rainfall. Bordered by Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon, Lake Chad currently covers only 1,350 square kilometers, down from 25,000 square kilometers in 1963. The Chari and Logone Rivers, both of which originate in the Central African Republic and flow northward, provide most of the surface water entering Lake Chad. Chad is also next to Niger.Geographical placementLocated in north-central Africa, Chad stretches for about 1,800 kilometers from its northernmost point to its southern boundary. Except in the far northwest and south, where its borders converge, Chad's average width is about 800 kilometers.
|source 2 NOAA (sun and humidity), Annales de Géographie
}}
Sahelian region
The semiarid sahelian zone, or Sahel, forms a belt about wide that runs from Lac and Chari-Baguirmi prefectures eastward through Guéra, Ouaddaï, and northern Salamat prefectures to the Sudanese frontier.
|source 2 NOAA (sun, humidity, temperatures), Meteo Climat (record highs and lows)
|dateSeptember 2011}}Sudanian regionThe humid sudanian zone includes the Sahel, the southern prefectures of Mayo-Kebbi, Tandjilé, Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental, Moyen-Chari, and southern Salamat.
|source 2 NOAA (sun, humidity and precipitation)
|date=November 2011
}}
2010 drought
On 22 June, the temperature reached in Faya, breaking a record set in 1961 at the same location. Similar temperature rises were also reported in Niger, which began to enter a famine situation.
On 26 July the heat reached near-record levels over Chad and Niger.
Area
Area:
<br>total:
1.284 million km<sup>2</sup>
<br>land:
1,259,200 km<sup>2</sup>
<br>water:
24,800 km<sup>2</sup>
Area — comparative:
:*Canada: slightly less than twice the size of Alberta
:*US: slightly more than three times the size of California
:*Australia: slightly smaller than the Northern Territory
Boundaries
Land boundaries:
<br>total:
6,406 km
<br>border countries:
Cameroon 1,116 km, Central African Republic 1,556 km, Libya 1,050 km, Niger 1,196 km, Nigeria 85 km, Sudan 1,403 km
Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)
Elevation extremes:
<br>lowest point:
Bodélé Depression 160 m
<br>highest point:
Emi Koussi 3,415 m
Land use and resources
Natural resources:
petroleum, uranium, natron, kaolin, fish (Chari River, Logone River), gold, limestone, sand and gravel, salt
Land use:
<br>arable land:
3.89%
<br>permanent crops:
0.03%
<br>other:
96.08% (2012)
Irrigated land:
302.7 km<sup>2</sup> (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
43 km<sup>3</sup> (2011)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
<br>total:
0.88 km<sup>3</sup>/yr (12%/12%/76%)
<br>per capita:
84.81 m<sup>3</sup>/yr (2005)
Environmental issues
Natural hazards:
hot, dry, dusty, Harmattan winds occur in north; periodic droughts; locust plagues
Environment - current issues:
inadequate supplies of potable water; improper waste disposal in rural areas contributes to soil and water pollution; desertification
See also
*2010 Sahel famine
Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Chad, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
*Northernmost point - an unnamed location on the border with Libya, Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region
*Easternmost point - the northern section of the Chad-Sudan border, Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region *
*Southernmost point - unnamed location on the border with Central African Republic at a confluence in the Lébé river, Logone Oriental region
*Westernmost point - unnamed location west of the town of Kanirom and immediately north of Lake Chad, Lac Region
*Note: technically Chad does not have an easternmost point, the easternmost section of the border being formed by the 24° of longitude
References
Sources
*
External links
* – [https://web.archive.org/web/20100327063503/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/print_2011.html titleField Listing: Geographic Coordinates]. Geo-links for Geography of Chad.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060921132958/http://www.izf.net/izf/Documentation/Cartes/Pays/supercartes/tchad.htm Detailed map of Chad from www.izf.net]
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Chad
|
2025-04-05T18:27:09.708529
|
5331
|
Demographics of Chad
|
, year 2022; Number of inhabitants in millions.]]
The people of Chad speak more than 100 languages and divide themselves into many ethnic groups. However, language and ethnicity are not the same. Moreover, neither element can be tied to a particular physical type.
Although the possession of a common language shows that its speakers have lived together and have a common history, peoples also change languages. This is particularly so in Chad, where the openness of the terrain, marginal rainfall, frequent drought and famine, and low population densities have encouraged physical and linguistic mobility. Slave raids among non-Muslim peoples, internal slave trade, and exports of captives northward from the ninth to the twentieth centuries also have resulted in language changes.
Anthropologists view ethnicity as being more than genetics. Like language, ethnicity implies a shared heritage, partly economic, where people of the same ethnic group may share a livelihood, and partly social, taking the form of shared ways of doing things and organizing relations among individuals and groups. Ethnicity also involves a cultural component made up of shared values and a common worldview. Like language, ethnicity is not immutable. Shared ways of doing things change over time and alter a group's perception of its own identity.
Not only do the social aspects of ethnic identity change but the biological composition (or gene pool) also may change over time. Although most ethnic groups emphasize intermarriage, people are often proscribed from seeking partners among close relatives—a prohibition that promotes biological variation. In all groups, the departure of some individuals or groups and the integration of others also changes the biological component.
The Chadian government has avoided official recognition of ethnicity. With the exception of a few surveys conducted shortly after independence, little data were available on this important aspect of Chadian society. Nonetheless, ethnic identity was a significant component of life in Chad.
The peoples of Chad carry significant ancestry from Eastern, Central, Western, and Northern Africa.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: right;"
|-
!rowspan=2|Year
!rowspan=2|Total population
!colspan=3|Population percentage in age bracket
|-
!aged 0–14
!aged 15–64
!aged 65+
|-
| 1950
|2 429 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1955
|2 671 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1960
|2 954 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1965
|3 289 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1970
|3 656 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1975
|4 114 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1980
|4 554 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1985
|5 151 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1990
|6 011 000
|
|
|
|-
| 1995
|6 998 000
|
|
|
|-
| 2000
|8 222 000
|
|
|
|-
| 2005
|9 786 000
|
|
|
|-
| 2010
|11 227 000
|
|
|
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 5 452 483
| align="right" | 5 587 390
| align="right" | 11 039 873
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 1 129 693
| align="right" | 1 100 985
| align="right" | 2 230 678
| align="right" | 20.21
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 1 012 471
| align="right" | 987 297
| align="right" | 1 999 768
| align="right" | 18.11
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 700 015
| align="right" | 650 633
| align="right" | 1 350 648
| align="right" | 12.23
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 502 894
| align="right" | 557 494
| align="right" | 1 060 388
| align="right" | 9.61
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 382 122
| align="right" | 482 768
| align="right" | 864 890
| align="right" | 7.83
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 320 063
| align="right" | 433 622
| align="right" | 753 685
| align="right" | 6.83
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 277 322
| align="right" | 335 402
| align="right" | 612 724
| align="right" | 5.55
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 241 971
| align="right" | 260 515
| align="right" | 502 485
| align="right" | 4.55
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 215 887
| align="right" | 214 181
| align="right" | 430 068
| align="right" | 3.90
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 163 952
| align="right" | 139 357
| align="right" | 303 308
| align="right" | 2.75
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 147 725
| align="right" | 133 019
| align="right" | 280 744
| align="right" | 2.54
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 84 938
| align="right" | 62 817
| align="right" | 147 755
| align="right" | 1.34
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 92 696
| align="right" | 85 024
| align="right" | 177 720
| align="right" | 1.61
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 48 054
| align="right" | 37 398
| align="right" | 85 452
| align="right" | 0.77
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 56 059
| align="right" | 49 289
| align="right" | 105 348
| align="right" | 0.95
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 24 148
| align="right" | 17 371
| align="right" | 41 518
| align="right" | 0.38
|-
| align="right" | 80–84
| align="right" | 24 947
| align="right" | 21 486
| align="right" | 46 433
| align="right" | 0.42
|-
| align="right" | 85–89
| align="right" | 9 086
| align="right" | 5 833
| align="right" | 14 919
| align="right" | 0.14
|-
| align="right" | 90–94
| align="right" | 6 852
| align="right" | 5 465
| align="right" | 12 317
| align="right" | 0.11
|-
| align="right" | 95–99
| align="right" | 5 113
| align="right" | 3 609
| align="right" | 8 722
| align="right" | 0.08
|-
| align="right" | 100+
| align="right" | 1 323
| align="right" | 1 200
| align="right" | 2 523
| align="right" | 0.02
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 2 842 179
| align="right" | 2 738 915
| align="right" | 5 581 094
| align="right" | 50.55
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 2 429 569
| align="right" | 2 704 199
| align="right" | 5 133 768
| align="right" | 46.50
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 175 582
| align="right" | 141 651
| align="right" | 317 233
| align="right" | 2.87
|-
| align="right" | Unknown
| align="right" | 5 153
| align="right" | 2 625
| align="right" | 7 778
| align="right" | 0.07
|-
|}
Vital statistics
Registration of vital events is in Chad not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align:right"
|-
!
! style="width:80pt;" |Population
! style="width:80pt;" |Live births per year
! style="width:80pt;" |Deaths per year
! style="width:80pt;" |Natural change per year
! style"width:80pt;" |CBR
! style"width:80pt;" |CDR
! style"width:80pt;" |NC
! style"width:80pt;" |TFR
! style"width:80pt;" |IMR
! style="width:80pt;" |Life expectancy (years)
|-
|1950
|
| 117,000
| 70,000
| 47,000
|46.7
|27.8
|18.9
|style="color:red" |6.06
|197.6
|36.21
|-
|1951
|
| 119,000
| 72,000
| 47,000
|46.5
|28.1
|18.4
|6.07
|196.5
|36.34
|-
|1952
|
| 121,000
| 73,000
| 48,000
|46.4
|28.1
|18.3
|6.09
|194.4
|36.50
|-
|1953
|
| 123,000
| 74,000
| 49,000
|46.4
|27.9
|18.5
|6.11
|192.3
|36.84
|-
|1954
|
| 125,000
| 75,000
| 50,000
|46.3
|27.7
|18.5
|6.13
|190.3
|37.03
|-
|1955
|
| 127,000
| 76,000
| 51,000
|46.2
|27.6
|18.6
|6.15
|188.3
|37.21
|-
|1956
|
| 130,000
| 77,000
| 53,000
|46.1
|27.3
|18.8
|6.17
|186.3
|37.45
|-
|1957
|
| 132,000
| 78,000
| 54,000
|46.0
|27.1
|18.9
|6.19
|184.3
|37.66
|-
|1958
|
| 134,000
| 78,000
| 56,000
|45.9
|26.8
|19.1
|6.21
|182.3
|37.94
|-
|1959
|
| 136,000
| 79,000
| 57,000
|45.9
|26.5
|19.3
|6.23
|180.3
|38.19
|-
|1960
|
| 139,000
| 80,000
| 59,000
|45.7
|26.3
|19.4
|6.25
|178.4
|38.37
|-
|1961
|
| 141,000
| 80,000
| 61,000
|45.7
|26.0
|19.6
|6.27
|176.5
|38.63
|-
|1962
|
| 144,000
| 81,000
| 62,000
|45.6
|25.8
|19.8
|6.29
|174.6
|38.84
|-
|1963
|
| 146,000
| 82,000
| 64,000
|45.5
|25.6
|19.9
|6.30
|172.8
|39.07
|-
|1964
|
| 149,000
| 83,000
| 66,000
|45.4
|25.3
|20.2
|6.32
|171.0
|39.33
|-
|1965
|
| 152,000
| 85,000
| 67,000
|45.4
|25.4
|20.0
|6.34
|169.7
|39.12
|-
|1966
|
| 155,000
| 86,000
| 69,000
|45.4
|25.3
|20.2
|6.36
|166.8
|39.15
|-
|1967
|
| 158,000
| 87,000
| 71,000
|45.6
|25.0
|20.6
|6.39
|164.2
|39.48
|-
|1968
|
| 162,000
| 87,000
| 75,000
|45.8
|24.6
|21.2
|6.43
|161.3
|39.90
|-
|1969
|
| 166,000
| 88,000
| 79,000
|46.2
|24.3
|21.9
|6.48
|158.3
|40.27
|-
|1970
|
| 172,000
| 88,000
| 83,000
|46.7
|24.1
|22.6
|6.53
|155.2
|40.60
|-
|1971
|
| 177,000
| 92,000
| 85,000
|47.2
|24.4
|22.7
|6.58
|153.5
|40.19
|-
|1972
|
| 188,000
| 90,000
| 97,000
|49.0
|23.6
|25.4
|6.85
|149.1
|41.40
|-
|1973
|
| 192,000
| 92,000
| 100,000
|49.0
|23.5
|25.5
|6.87
|148.7
|41.78
|-
|1974
|
| 196,000
| 94,000
| 102,000
|48.8
|23.5
|25.4
|6.86
|147.8
|41.79
|-
|1975
|
| 200,000
| 96,000
| 104,000
|48.7
|23.4
|25.4
|6.88
|147.0
|41.87
|-
|1976
|
| 203,000
| 97,000
| 107,000
|48.6
|23.1
|25.5
|6.89
|145.5
|42.04
|-
|1977
|
| 206,000
| 98,000
| 109,000
|48.4
|22.9
|25.5
|6.90
|144.6
|42.26
|-
|1978
|
| 209,000
| 98,000
| 111,000
|48.2
|22.7
|25.5
|6.89
|143.6
|42.50
|-
|1979
|
| 212,000
| 99,000
| 113,000
|48.1
|22.4
|25.7
|6.91
|142.6
|42.81
|-
|1980
|
| 218,000
| 100,000
| 118,000
|48.2
|22.1
|26.1
|6.91
|141.4
|43.06
|-
|1981
|
| 205,000
| 97,000
| 108,000
|46.3
|21.9
|24.5
|6.94
|141.0
|43.31
|-
|1982
|
| 212,000
| 97,000
| 115,000
|46.9
|21.4
|25.5
|6.96
|139.5
|43.73
|-
|1983
|
| 242,000
| 102,000
| 140,000
|49.8
|21.1
|28.8
|6.98
|138.0
|44.18
|-
|1984
|
| 252,000
| 105,000
| 147,000
|50.4
|21.0
|29.4
|7.02
|136.2
|44.52
|-
|1985
|
| 245,000
| 103,000
| 142,000
|49.3
|20.7
|28.5
|7.04
|135.0
|45.05
|-
|1986
|
| 252,000
| 104,000
| 148,000
|49.4
|20.4
|28.9
|7.07
|132.1
|45.21
|-
|1987
|
| 268,000
| 116,000
| 153,000
|50.7
|21.8
|28.8
|7.11
|130.4
|42.80
|-
|1988
|
| 283,000
| 110,000
| 173,000
|51.7
|20.2
|31.5
|7.15
|128.9
|45.79
|-
|1989
|
| 295,000
| 114,000
| 182,000
|52.1
|20.1
|32.0
|7.19
|127.0
|45.88
|-
|1990
|
| 307,000
| 121,000
| 185,000
|52.4
|20.7
|31.6
|7.22
|125.3
|44.69
|-
|1991
|
| 312,000
| 120,000
| 192,000
|52.1
|20.0
|32.0
|7.26
|124.2
|45.94
|-
|1992
|
| 336,000
| 125,000
| 211,000
|53.3
|19.9
|33.4
|7.30
|122.5
|46.10
|-
|1993
|
| 349,000
| 129,000
| 221,000
|style="color:blue"|53.5
|19.7
|33.8
|style="color:blue"|7.34
|120.9
|46.32
|-
|1994
|
| 343,000
| 129,000
| 214,000
|52.1
|19.5
|32.5
|7.31
|119.6
|46.45
|-
|1995
|
| 355,000
| 131,000
| 224,000
|52.1
|19.2
|32.9
|7.29
|118.2
|46.71
|-
|1996
|
| 381,000
| 136,000
| 245,000
|53.0
|18.9
|style="color:blue"|34.0
|7.29
|117.0
|47.01
|-
|1997
|
| 390,000
| 139,000
| 251,000
|52.4
|18.7
|33.7
|7.27
|115.6
|47.22
|-
|1998
|
| 403,000
| 143,000
| 260,000
|52.2
|18.5
|33.7
|7.27
|114.0
|47.22
|-
|1999
|
| 413,000
| 146,000
| 267,000
|51.7
|18.3
|33.4
|7.26
|112.4
|47.37
|-
|2000
|
| 424,000
| 149,000
| 275,000
|51.3
|18.1
|33.2
|7.25
|110.7
|47.44
|-
|2001
|
| 436,000
| 151,000
| 285,000
|51.1
|17.7
|33.4
|7.23
|108.8
|47.85
|-
|2002
|
| 444,000
| 154,000
| 290,000
|50.3
|17.4
|32.9
|7.20
|106.8
|47.95
|-
|2003
|
| 457,000
| 157,000
| 300,000
|49.9
|17.1
|32.8
|7.18
|105.1
|48.21
|-
|2004
|
| 481,000
| 162,000
| 318,000
|50.3
|17.0
|33.3
|7.16
|103.4
|48.23
|-
|2005
|
| 503,000
| 168,000
| 335,000
|50.3
|16.8
|33.5
|7.13
|101.5
|48.31
|-
|2006
|
| 517,000
| 173,000
| 344,000
|49.9
|16.7
|33.2
|7.12
|99.7
|48.29
|-
|2007
|
| 533,000
| 175,000
| 359,000
|49.7
|16.3
|33.4
|7.09
|97.5
|48.75
|-
|2008
|
| 546,000
| 177,000
| 368,000
|49.2
|16.0
|33.2
|7.06
|95.4
|49.02
|-
|2009
|
| 562,000
| 181,000
| 381,000
|48.9
|15.8
|33.2
|7.02
|93.2
|49.20
|-
|2010
|
| 580,000
| 183,000
| 397,000
|48.8
|15.4
|33.3
|6.99
|91.1
|49.58
|-
|2011
|
| 595,000
| 185,000
| 410,000
|48.4
|15.1
|33.3
|6.95
|88.9
|50.01
|-
|2012
|
| 612,000
| 187,000
| 426,000
|48.0
|14.6
|33.4
|6.91
|86.6
|50.54
|-
|2013
|
| 626,000
| 190,000
| 437,000
|47.5
|14.4
|33.1
|6.84
|84.5
|50.78
|-
|2014
|
| 643,000
| 192,000
| 451,000
|47.0
|14.0
|33.0
|6.78
|82.6
|51.20
|-
|2015
|
| 657,000
| 194,000
| 463,000
|46.4
|13.7
|32.7
|6.71
|80.6
|51.59
|-
|2016
|
| 663,000
| 194,000
| 469,000
|45.5
|13.3
|32.2
|6.62
|78.5
|52.08
|-
|2017
|
| 676,000
| 197,000
| 479,000
|44.8
|13.0
|31.8
|6.54
|76.3
|52.31
|-
|2018
|
| 691,000
| 197,000
| 494,000
|44.4
|12.7
|31.7
|6.46
|74.2
|52.83
|-
|2019
|
| 714,000
| 200,000
| 514,000
|44.2
|12.4
|31.9
|6.41
|72.2
|53.26
|-
|2020
| 16,936
| 754,000
| 212,000
| 541,000
|43.8
|12.3
|31.4
|6.35
|70.1
|53.1
|-
|2021
| 17,514
| 772,000
| 217,000
| 555,000
|43.3
|12.2
|31.1
|6.26
|68.1
|53.1
|-
|2022
| 18,143
| 800,000
| 212,000
| 588,000
|43.4
|11.5
|31.9
|6.22
|66.1
|54.5
|-
|2023
| 18,768
| 819,000
| 213,000
| 606,000
|42.4
|11.0
|31.4
|6.12
|64.2
|55.1
|-
| colspan"10" style"font-size:smaller; text-align:left" |
|}
Source: UN DESA, World Population Prospects, 2022
Demographic and Health Surveys
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=2| Year
! colspan=2| Total
! colspan=2| Urban
! colspan=2| Rural
|-
! CBR !! TFR
! CBR !! TFR
! CBR !! TFR
|-
| 1996–97
| style="text-align:right;"| 47,8
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,6 (6,3)
| style="text-align:right;"| 44,4
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,1 (5,7)
| style="text-align:right;"| 48,8
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,8 (6,5)
|-
| 2004
| style="text-align:right;"| 44,6
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,3 (6,1)
| style="text-align:right;"| 41,8
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,7 (5,5)
| style="text-align:right;"| 45,3
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,5 (6,2)
|-
| 2014–15
| style="text-align:right;"| 40,5
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,4 (6,1)
| style="text-align:right;"| 36,0
| style="text-align:right;"| 5,4 (5,1)
| style="text-align:right;"| 41,8
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,8 (6,5)
|-
|}
Fertility data as of 2014-2015 (DHS Program):
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:100pt;"| Region
! style="width:100pt;"| Total fertility rate
! style="width:100pt;"| Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant
! style="width:100pt;"| Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49
|-
|Batha|| 7.3 || 12.2 || 8.3
|-
|Borkou, Tibesti|| 5.3 || 9.6 || 6.4
|-
|Chari Baguirmi|| 6.6 || 16.1 || 7.7
|-
|Guéra|| 6.7 || 14.6 || 8.4
|-
|Hadjer-Lamis|| 6.8 || 14.5 || 8.4
|-
|Kanem|| 6.0 || 14.8 || 7.1
|-
|Lac|| 5.4 || 14.7 || 7.9
|-
|Logone Occidental|| 6.4 || 12.7 || 7.6
|-
|Logone Oriental|| 7.6 || 12.7 || 8.3
|-
|Mandoul|| 6.5 || 12.7 || 7.7
|-
|Mayo Kebbi Est|| 6.7 || 15.0 || 7.3
|-
|Mayo Kebbi Ouest|| 7.5 || 13.8 || 7.9
|-
|Moyen Chari|| 5.5 || 12.6 || 6.8
|-
|Ouaddaï|| 6.1 || 13.1 || 7.1
|-
|Salamat|| 6.5 || 19.7 || 8.0
|-
|Tandjilé|| 7.1 || 13.1 || 8.0
|-
|Wadi Fira|| 5.9 || 12.2 || 6.5
|-
|N’Djaména|| 5.2 || 9.4 || 6.5
|-
|Barh El Gazal|| 5.6 || 14.5 || 7.1
|-
|Ennedi Est, Ennedi Ouest|| 5.0 || 13.4 || 6.3
|-
|Sila|| 6.7 || 19.6 || 7.7
|}
Ethnic groups
The peoples of Chad carry significant ancestry from Eastern, Central, Western, and Northern Africa.
:200 distinct groups
*In the north and center: Arabs, Tubu (Daza, Teda), Zaghawa, Kanembu, Wadai, Baguirmi, Hadjarai, Fulani, Kotoko, Hausa, Bulala, and Maba, most of whom are Muslim
*In the south: Sara (Ngambaye, Mbaye, Goulaye), Mundang, Mussei, Massa, most of whom are Christian or animist
Languages
:Arabic (official), French (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 languages and dialects
Religion
The separation of religion from social structure in Chad represents a false dichotomy, for they are perceived as two sides of the same coin. Three religious traditions coexist in Chad: traditional African religions, Islam, and Christianity. None is monolithic. The first tradition includes a variety of ancestor and/or place-oriented religions whose expression is highly specific. Islam, although characterized by an orthodox set of beliefs and observances, also is expressed in diverse ways. Christianity arrived in Chad much more recently with the arrival of Europeans. Its followers are divided into Roman Catholics and Protestants (including several denominations); as with Chadian Islam, Chadian Christianity retains aspects of pre-Christian religious belief.
The number of followers of each tradition in Chad is unknown. Estimates made in 1962 suggested that 35 percent of Chadians practiced classical African religions, 55 percent were Muslims, and 10 percent were Christians. In the 1970s and 1980s, this distribution undoubtedly changed. Observers report that Islam has spread among the Hadjarai peoples and other non-Muslim populations of the Saharan and sahelian zones. However, the proportion of Muslims may have fallen, because the birthrate among the followers of traditional religions and Christians in southern Chad is thought to be higher than that among Muslims. In addition, the upheavals since the mid-1970s have resulted in the departure of some missionaries; whether or not Chadian Christians have been numerous enough and sufficiently organized to attract more converts since that time is unknown.
Notes
References
*
Attribution:
Category:Society of Chad
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Chad
|
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|
Politics of Chad
|
The politics of Chad take place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Chad is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Chad is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
In May 2013, security forces in Chad foiled a coup against the President Idriss Deby that had been in preparation for several months. In April 2021, President Déby was injured by the rebel group Front Pour l'Alternance et La Concorde au Tchad (FACT). He succumbed to his injuries on April 20, 2021. His presidency was taken by his family member Mahamat Déby in April 2021. This resulted in both the National Assembly and Chadian Government being dissolved and replaced with a Transitional Military Council.
The National Transitional Council will oversee the transition to democracy. On 23 May 2024, Mahamat Idriss Déby was sworn in as President of Chad. He had won the disputed 6 May election outright, with 61 per cent of the vote.
Executive branch
|President
|Mahamat Déby
|Patriotic Salvation Movement
|20 April 2021
|}
thumb|left|Former President Idriss Deby in 2014
Chad's executive branch is headed by the President and dominates the Chadian political system. Following the military overthrow of Hissène Habré in December 1990, Idriss Déby won the presidential elections in 1996 and 2001. The constitutional basis for the government is the 1996 constitution, under which the president was limited to two terms of office until Déby had that provision repealed in 2005. The president has the power to appoint the Council of State (or cabinet), and exercises considerable influence over appointments of judges, generals, provincial officials and heads of Chad's parastatal firms. In cases of grave and immediate threat, the president, in consultation with the National Assembly President and Council of State, may declare a state of emergency. Most of the key advisors for former president Déby were members of the Zaghawa clan, although some southern and opposition personalities were represented in his government.
Legislative branch
According to the 1996 constitution, the National Assembly deputies are elected by universal suffrage for 4-year terms. The Assembly holds regular sessions twice a year, starting in March and October, and can hold special sessions as necessary and called by the prime minister. Deputies elect a president of the National Assembly every 2 years. Assembly deputies or members of the executive branch may introduce legislation; once passed by the Assembly, the president must take action to either sign or reject the law within 15 days. The National Assembly must approve the prime minister's plan of government and may force the prime minister to resign through a majority vote of no-confidence. However, if the National Assembly rejects the executive branch's program twice in one year, the president may disband the Assembly and call for new legislative elections. In practice, the president exercises considerable influence over the National Assembly through the MPS party structure.
Judicial branch
Despite the constitution's guarantee of judicial independence from the executive branch, the president names most key judicial officials. The Supreme Court is made up of a chief justice, named by the president, and 15 councilors chosen by the president and National Assembly; appointments are for life. The Constitutional Council, with nine judges elected to 9-year terms, has the power to review all legislation, treaties and international agreements prior to their adoption. The constitution recognizes customary and traditional law in locales where it is recognized and to the extent it does not interfere with public order or constitutional guarantees of equality for all citizens.
Political parties and elections
Presidential elections
Parliamentary elections
International organization participation
ACCT,
ACP,
AfDB,
AU,
BDEAC,
CEMAC,
FAO,
FZ,
G-77,
IBRD,
ICAO,
ICCt,
ICFTU,
ICRM,
IDA,
IDB,
IFAD,
IFC,
IFRCS,
ILO,
IMF,
Interpol,
IOC,
ITU,
MIGA,
NAM,
OIC,
ONUB,
OPCW,
UN,
UNCTAD,
UNESCO,
UNIDO,
UNOCI,
UPU,
WCL,
WHO,
WIPO,
WMO,
WToO,
WTrO
2021 government shakeup
On 20 April 2021, following the death of longtime Chad President Idriss Déby, the Military of Chad released a statement confirming that both the Government of Chad and the nation's National Assembly had been dissolved and that a Transitional Military Council led by Déby's son Mahamat would lead the nation for at least 18 months. Among the 40-member transitional government were nine women including Lydie Beassemda, Fatime Goukouni Weddeye and Isabelle Housna Kassire.
Following protests on 14 May 2022, the authorities in Chad detained several members of civil society organizations. The protests were organized in N’Djamena, and other cities across the country by Chadian civil society organizations, united under the coalition Wakit Tamma.
See also
Kamougue Assoum
References
External Links
Constitution 2023
pt:Chade#Política
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Chad
|
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|
Economy of Chad
|
}}
$11.051 billion (nominal, 2018 est.)
* $30.507 billion (PPP, 2018 est.)}}
|per capita = $885 (nominal, 2018 est.) (189th)
* 0.251 IHDI (2021)}}
|edbr 182nd (below average, 2020)
|labor = 7.300 million (2018)
|occupations = agriculture: 80% (subsistence farming, herding, and fishing); industry and services: 20% (2006 est.)
|unemployment |industries oil, cotton textiles, meatpacking, brewing, natron (sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes, construction materials
|exports = $1.695 billion (2018 est.)
|export-goods = oil, cattle, cotton, gum arabic
|export-partners = 58.5%
* 13.3%
* 11.3%
* 4.1%
*(2015)}}
|imports = $2.262 billion (2018 est.)
|import-goods = machinery and transportation equipment, industrial goods, foodstuffs, textiles
|import-partners = 16.5%
* 14.2%
* 11%
* 6.4%
* 6%
* 5.7%
* 4.8%
*(2015)}}
|FDI = $567 million (2019 est.)
|gross external debt = $3.569 billion (2019 est.)
|debt |revenue $2.501 billion (2011 est.)
|expenses = $3.482 billion (2011 est.)
|aid $238.3 million (recipient) note – $125 million committed by Taiwan (1997); $30 million committed by African Development Bank; ODA $150 million ()
|credit |reserves $147.7 million (2019 est.)
|cianame = chad
|spelling =
}}
The economy of Chad suffers from the landlocked country's geographic remoteness, drought, lack of infrastructure, and political turmoil. About 80% of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, including livestock herding. Of Africa's Francophone countries, Chad benefited least from the 50% devaluation of their currencies in January 1994. Financial aid from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and other sources is directed mainly at improving agriculture, especially livestock production. Because of a lack of financing, the development of oil fields near Doba, originally due to finish in 2000, was delayed until 2003. It was finally developed and is now operated by ExxonMobil. Regarding gross domestic product, Chad ranks 147th globally with $11.051 billion as of 2018.
Agriculture
Chad produced in 2023:
* 878 thousand tons of sorghum;
* 782 thousand tons of groundnuts;
* 634 thousand tons of millet;
* 552 thousand tons of cereal;
* 469 thousand tonnes of yam (8th largest producer in the world);
* 454 thousand tons of sugarcane;
* 354 thousand tons of maize;
* 288 thousand tons of cassava;
* 224 thousand tons of rice;
* 218 thousand tons of sweet potato;
* 210 thousand tons of sesame seed;
* 150 thousand tons of beans;
* 165 thousand 480-lb bales of cotton;
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.
Macro-economic trend
The following table shows the leading economic indicators from 1980 to 2024.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;"
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! Year
! GDP
(in bn. US$ PPP)
! GDP per capita
(in US$ PPP)
!GDP
(in bn. US$ nominal)
! GDP Growth<br />(real)
!Government debt<br />(Percentage of GDP)
|-
|1980
|2.3
|498
|1.0
| -6.0%
|n/a
|-
|1985
|3.6
|704
|1.3
|7.9%
|n/a
|-
|1990
|5.2
|872
|2.5
|3.2%
|n/a
|-
|1995
|6.8
|970
|2.2
| -0.8%
|n/a
|-
|2000
|8.4
|1,005
|2.1
| -0.9%
|49.9%
|-
|2005
|18.9
|1,875
|9.1
|8.3%
|20.9%
|-
|2006
|19.8
|1,898
|10.2
|1.7%
|19.0%
|-
|2007
|21.2
|1,957
|12.0
|3.9%
|16.0%
|-
|2008
|22.5
|2,008
|14.4
|4.0%
|14.6%
|-
|2009
|23.3
|2,011
|13.0
|2.9%
|22.6%
|-
|2010
|26.0
|2,175
|14.3
|10.5%
|22.5%
|-
|2011
|26.9
|2,174
|16.2
|1.3%
|22.9%
|-
|2012
|29.3
|2,290
|16.2
|6.9%
|22.1%
|-
|2013
|31.4
|2,379
|16.9
|5.6%
|23.5%
|-
|2014
|34.0
|2,485
|18.2
|6.1%
|29.4%
|-
|2015
|34.7
|2,462
|14.5
|1.4%
|32.1%
|-
|2016
|32.9
|2,256
|13.4
| -6.3%
|38.1%
|-
|2017
|32.8
|2,182
|13.3
| -2.0%
|36.8%
|-
|2018
|36.0
|2,325
|15.3
|5.9%
|33.3%
|-
|2019
|39.3
|2,462
|14.9
|6.6%
|38.0%
|-
|2020
|36.8
|2,240
|14.6
| -2.1%
|41.2%
|-
|2021
|41.0
|2,422
|15.9
| -0.9%
|42.4%
|-
|2022
|45.5
|2,612
|16.3
|3.6%
|34.5%
|-
|2023
|49.4
|2,758
|17.6
|4.9%
|32.7%
|-
|2024
|52.2
|2,832
|18.7
|3.2%
|31.5%
|}
Other statistics
GDP:
purchasing power parity – $28.62 billion (2017 est.)
GDP – real growth rate:
-3.1% (2017 est.)
GDP – per capita:
$2,300 (2017 est.)
Gross national saving:
15.5% of GDP (2017 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
<br />agriculture:
52.3% (2017 est.)
<br />industry:
14.7% (2017 est.)
<br />services:
33.1% (2017 est.)
Population below poverty line::
46.7% (2011 est.)
Distribution of family income – Gini index:
43.3 (2011 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.9% (2017 est.)
Labor force:
5.654 million (2017 est.)
Labor force – by occupation:
agriculture 80%, industry and services 20% (2006 est.)
Budget:
<br />revenues:
1.337 billion (2017 est.)
<br />expenditures:
1.481 billion (2017 est.)
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):
-1.5% (of GDP) (2017 est.)
Public debt:
52.5% of GDP (2017 est.)
Industries:
oil, cotton textiles, brewing, natron (sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes, construction materials
Industrial production growth rate:
-4% (2017 est.)
electrification: total population: 4% (2013)
electrification: urban areas: 14% (<span class="subfield-note"></span>2013)
electrification: rural areas: 1% (<span class="subfield-note"></span>2013)
Electricity – production:
224.3 million kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity – production by source:
<br />fossil fuel:
~98%
<br />hydro:
0%
<br />nuclear:
0%
<br />other renewable:
~3% (2017)
Electricity – consumption:
208.6 million kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity – exports:
0 kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity – imports:
0 kWh (2016 est.)
Agriculture – products:
cotton, sorghum, millet, peanuts, sesame, corn, rice, potatoes, onions, cassava (manioc, tapioca), cattle, sheep, goats, camels
Exports:
$2.464 billion (2017 est.)
Exports – commodities:
oil, livestock, cotton, sesame, gum arabic, shea butter
Exports – partners:
US 38.7%, China 16.6%, Netherlands 15.7%, UAE 12.2%, India 6.3% (2017)
Imports:
$2.16 billion (2017 est.)
Imports – commodities:
machinery and transportation equipment, industrial goods, foodstuffs, textiles
Imports – partners:
China 19.9%, Cameroon 17.2%, France 17%, US 5.4%, India 4.9%, Senegal 4.5% (2017)
Debt – external:
$1.724 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$22.9 million (31 December 2017 est.)
See also
* Chad
* Economy of Africa
* Petroleum industry in Chad
* United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
References
;General
*
External links
* [http://www.trademap.org/open_access/Index.aspx?proceedtrue&reporter148 Chad latest trade data on ITC Trade Map]
* [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTSITETOOLS/0,,contentMDK:20263700~menuPK:534320~pagePK:98400~piPK:98424~theSitePK:95474,00.html#6 World Bank – Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project]
Chad
Chad
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Chad
|
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Telecommunications in Chad
|
Telecommunications in Chad include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Radio and television
Radio stations:
state-owned radio network, Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne (RNT), operates national and regional stations; about 10 private radio stations; some stations rebroadcast programs from international broadcasters (2007);
2 AM, 4 FM, and 5 shortwave stations (2001).
Radios:
1.7 million (1997).
Television stations:
1 state-owned TV station, Tele Tchad (2007);
Main lines:
29,900 lines in use, 176th in the world (2012);
168,100 users, 145th in the world (2009);
Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012).
Internet hosts:
6 hosts, 229th in the world (2012);
Internet censorship and surveillance
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms. However, in September 2023 the government has banned Starlink on the country's territory. Illegal use, sale or purchase is punishable by imprisonment or penalty from 100 000 000 to 200 000 000 francs CFA (around 152 000 - 304 000 €).
The constitution provides for freedom of opinion, expression, and press, but the government does not always respect these rights. Private individuals are generally free to criticize the government without reprisal, but reporters and publishers risk harassment from authorities when publishing critical articles. The 2010 media law abolished prison sentences for defamation and insult, but prohibits "inciting racial, ethnic, or religious hatred," which is punishable by one to two years in prison and a fine of one to three million CFA francs ($2,000 to $6,000).
See also
Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne, state-operated national radio broadcaster.
Télé Tchad, state-operated national TV broadcaster.
Societe des Telecommunications Internationales du Tchad (SotelTchad), telecommunications parastatal providing landline telephone and Internet services.
List of terrestrial fibre optic cable projects in Africa
Media of Chad
Economy of Chad
Chad
References
External links
"Chad still on pace for ICT policy goals", oAfrica, 20 November 2010.
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Chad
|
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|
Transport in Chad
|
Transport infrastructure within Chad is generally poor, especially in the north and east of the country. River transport is limited to the south-west corner. As of 2011 Chad had no railways though two lines are planned - from the capital to the Sudanese and Cameroonian borders during the wet season, especially in the southern half of the country. In the north, roads are merely tracks across the desert and land mines continue to present a danger. Draft animals (horses, donkeys and camels) remain important in much of the country.
thumb|right|300px|Rebuilt Bridge in south west of Chad over the Bragoto River
thumb|Through the desert near the Chad-Libya border
Fuel supplies can be erratic, even in the south-west of the country, and are expensive. Elsewhere they are practically non-existent.
Highways
thumb|left
thumb|Road transport during wet season
Three trans-African automobile routes pass through Chad:
the Tripoli-Cape Town Highway (3)
the Dakar-Ndjamena Highway (5)
the Ndjamena-Djibouti Highway (6)
As at 2018 Chad had a total of 44,000 km of roads of which approximately 260 km are paved.
Airports
Chad had an estimated 58 airports, only 9 of which had paved runways. In 2015, scheduled airlines in Chad carried approximately 28,332 passengers.
Airports with paved runways
Statistics on airports with paved runways as of 2017:
Abeche Airport
Bol Airport
Faya-Largeau Airport
Moundou Airport
N'Djamena International Airport
Sarh Airport
Airports - with unpaved runways
Statistics on airports with unpaved runways as of 2013:
The CIA World Factbook however cites only 582 km of pipeline in Chad itself as at 2013.
No operative lines were listed as of 2019.
In 2021, an ADB study was funded for that rail link from Cameroon to Chad.
Seaports and harbors
None (landlocked).
Chad's main routes to the sea are:
From N'Djamena and the south west of Chad:
By road to Ngaoundéré, in Cameroon, and then by rail to Douala
By road to Maiduguri, in Nigeria, and then by rail to Port Harcourt
From the north and east of Chad:
By road across the Sahara desert to Libya
In colonial times, the main access was by road to Bangui, in the Central African Republic, then by river boat to Brazzaville, and onwards by rail from Brazzaville to Pointe Noire, on Congo's Atlantic coast. This route is now little used.
There is also a route across Sudan, to the Red Sea, but very little trade goes this way.
Links with Niger, north of Lake Chad, are practically nonexistent; it is easier to reach Niger via Cameroon and Nigeria.
Ministry of Transport
The Ministry is represented at the regional level by the Regional Delegations, which have jurisdiction over a part of the National Territory as defined by Decree No. 003 / PCE / CTPT / 91. Their organization and responsibilities are defined by Order No. 006 / MTPT / SE / DG / 92.
The Regional Delegations are:
The Regional Delegation of the Center covering the regions of Batha, Guéra and Salamat with headquarters in Mongo;
The Regional Delegation of the Center-Ouest covering the regions of Chari Baguirmi and Hatier Lamis with headquarters Massakory;
The North-West Regional Delegation covering the Kanem and Lake regions with headquarters in Mao;
The Western Regional Delegation covering the areas of Mayo-East Kebbi, Mayo-West Kebbi and Tandjile with headquarters in Bongor;
The Eastern Regional Delegation covering the regions of Wadi Fira and Ouaddai with headquarters in Abéché;
The South-East Regional Delegation covering the Mandoul and Moyen Chari regions with headquarters in Sarh;
The Southwest Regional Delegation covering the regions of Logone Occidental and Logone Orientai with headquarters in Moundou;
The Northern Regional Delegation covering the BET region with headquarters in Faya.
Each Regional Delegation is organized into regional services, namely: the Regional Roads Service, the Regional Transport Service, the Civilian Buildings Regional Service and, as needed, other regional services may be established in one or more Delegations .
See also
Chad
Economy of Chad
References
External links
Maps
UN Map
UNHCR Atlas Map
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Chad
|
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|
Chadian National Army
|
<br/>
| image = Flintlock 2017 closing ceremony in Chad 170316-A-CJ298-005.jpg
| alt | caption Flag of the Chadian National Army
| image2 | alt2
| caption2 | motto Honneur et fidélité ("Honor and fidelity")
| founded = 1961
| current_form | disbanded
| branches =
| headquarters = N'Djamena
| flying_hours | website <!---->
<!-- Leadership -->
| commander-in-chief = Mahamat Déby
| commander-in-chief_title = Commander-in-Chief
| chief minister | chief minister_title
| minister Dago Yacouba
| minister_title = Minister of Defence
| commander = Lt. Gen. Abakar Abdelkerim Daoud
| commander_title = Chief of the General Staff
<!-- Manpower -->
| age 18 years of age There is also the General Directorate of the Security Services of State Institutions (DGSSIE), with the functions of presidential security, military intelligence, and counterterrorism; it answers directly to the president of Chad.
Historically, Chad's military was known as the Chadian Armed Forces (FAT) from independence until 1983, when Hissène Habré took power from the transitional government, and then as the Chadian National Armed Forces (FANT) from then until Habré was overthrown by Idriss Déby in 1990. The military is known for being involved in the country's politics. After the death of President Idriss Déby in 2021 during a rebel offensive, his son Mahamat Déby, who was a military commander, took office as his successor, initially as the leader of the Transitional Military Council. The Chadian National Army has been focused on counterinsurgency operations against rebel groups within the country and Islamic insurgents that are located in the Lake Chad region.
Chad has an essential role in regional security, with its army often described as the most capable in the Sahel, and it is an active member of the G5 Sahel and the Multinational Joint Task Force. It was also the largest contributor to MINUSMA, the United Nations mission in Mali. The Chadian military has combat experience in recent decades from fighting domestic rebel groups, protecting Chad's borders during instability in Libya and Sudan, and combat tours in Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the Central African Republic. France had a military presence in Chad from its independence in 1960 until 2025, when the last French base was given over to the Chadian National Army. The French Armed Forces had a significant role in training some Chadian units.HistoryFounding and early conflictsThe first president of Chad, François Tombalbaye, established the nation's military on 27 May 1961. From independence through the period of the presidency of Félix Malloum (1975–79), the official national army was known as the Chadian Armed Forces (Forces Armées Tchadiennes—FAT). Composed mainly of soldiers from southern Chad, FAT had its roots in the army recruited by France and had military traditions dating back to World War I. In November 2006 Libya supplied Chad with four Aermacchi SF.260W light attack planes. They were used to strike enemy positions by the Chadian Air Force, but one was shot down by rebels. During the 2008 battle of N'Djamena, gunships and tanks were put to good use, pushing armed militia forces back from the Presidential palace. The battle impacted the highest levels of the army leadership, as Daoud Soumain, its Chief of Staff, was killed.
On March 23, 2020, a Chadian army base was ambushed by fighters of the jihadist insurgent group Boko Haram. The army lost 92 servicemen in one day. In response, President Déby launched an operation dubbed "Wrath of Boma". According to Canadian counter terrorism St-Pierre, numerous external operations and rising insecurity in the neighboring countries had recently overstretched the capacities of the Chadian armed forces.
After the death of President Idriss Déby on 19 April 2021 in fighting with FACT rebels, his son General Mahamat Idriss Déby was named interim (and, later, permanent) president and head of the armed forces.Structure and organizationThe Chadian General Staff of the Army Headquarters is located in N'Djamena.
The training institution of the Chadian National Army is the Groupement des écoles militaires interarmées du Tchad.
Budget
The CIA World Factbook estimates the military budget of Chad to be 4.2 percent of GDP as of 2006. Given the then GDP ($7.095 bln) of the country, military spending was estimated to be about $300 million. This estimate however dropped after the end of the Civil war in Chad (2005–2010) to 2.0% as estimated by the World Bank for the year 2011. Between 2020 and 2023, Chad's military budget consistently remained between 2.5 and 2.9 percent of GDP.
|}
Former
{| class"wikitable" style"margin:auto; width:100%;"
|-
! style="text-align:center; width:15%;" |Location
! style="text-align:center; width:10%;" |Dates
! style="text-align:center; width:75%;" |Details
|-
! Central African Republic
|
| MICOPAX and MISCA: As of 2010, there were 121 Chadian military personnel deployed in the Central African Republic for a peacekeeping mission in the framework of ECOWAS. Chad continued its involvement when the mission was replaced by the African Union-led MISCA, but it chose to withdraw after its soldiers were accused of shooting into a marketplace, unprovoked, in 2014.
|-
! Ivory Coast
|
| UNOCI: One Chadian military observer as of 2010. In the last year of the mission, 2023, there were 1,449 Chadian soldiers deployed. As of 2022 Chad had lost a total of 74 soldiers killed as part of the UN mission in Mali.
|-
! Nigeria
|
| MNJTF: Chad deployed 1,000 soldiers into Nigeria's Borno State in 2015 to attack Boko Haram.<ref name="AFSS2020" />
|}
See also
* Chadian Armed Forces
* Chadian National Armed Forces
* Nomad and National Guard
References
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
*R. Hure "L'Armee d' Afrique 1830–1962"
*John Keegan "World Armies"
*"Economic Development and the Libya-Chad Wars," Chapter 12 in Kenneth Pollack, Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness, Oxford University Press, New York, 2019.
*
* External links
*[https://www.africaintelligence.com/central-africa/2024/11/14/boko-haram-attack-calls-into-question-pilot-training,110339371-gra Chad: Boko Haram attack calls into question pilot training], Africa Intelligence, 14 November 2024 (requires free registration)
Category:Chadian Civil War (2005–2010)
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadian_National_Army
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Foreign relations of Chad
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
The foreign relations of Chad are significantly influenced by the desire for oil revenue and investment in Chadian oil industry and support for former Chadian President Idriss Déby. Chad is officially non-aligned but maintains close relations with France, its former colonial power. Relations with neighbouring countries Libya and Sudan vary periodically. Lately, the Idris Déby regime waged an intermittent proxy war with Sudan. Aside from those two countries, Chad generally enjoys good relations with its neighbouring states.Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Chad maintains diplomatic relations with:
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Bilateral relations
Africa
Although relations with Libya improved during the presidency of Idriss Déby, strains persist. Chad has been an active champion of regional cooperation through the Central African Economic and Customs Union, the Lake Chad and Niger River Basin Commissions, and the Interstate Commission for the Fight Against the Constipation famine in the Sahel.
Delimitation of international boundaries in the vicinity of Lake Chad, the lack of which led to border incidents in the past, has been completed and awaits ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"width:100%; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:15%;" | Country
! style="width:12%;" | Formal Relations Began
!Notes
|-
|
|
|
* Chad has an embassy in Ouagadougou.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->||
* Chad has an embassy in Kinshasa.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->||
* Chad has an embassy in Malabo.
|-
|
|
|
* Chad is represented in Kenya through its embassy in Addis Ababa.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->||See Chad-Libya relations
Chadian-Libyan relations were ameliorated when Libyan-supported Idriss Déby unseated Habré on December 2. Gaddafi was the first head of state to recognize the new regime, and he also signed treaties of friendship and cooperation on various levels; but regarding the Aouzou Strip Déby followed his predecessor, declaring that if necessary he would fight to keep the strip out of Libya's hands.
The Aouzou dispute was concluded for good on February 3, 1994, when the judges of the ICJ by a majority of 16 to 1 decided that the Aouzou Strip belonged to Chad. The court's judgement was implemented without delay, the two parties signing as early as April 4 an agreement concerning the practical modalities for the implementation of the judgement. Monitored by international observers, the withdrawal of Libyan troops from the Strip began on April 15 and was completed by May 10. The formal and final transfer of the Strip from Libya to Chad took place on May 30, when the sides signed a joint declaration stating that the Libyan withdrawal had been effected.
* Chad has an embassy in Tripoli.
|-
|
|
|
* Chad has an embassy in Bamako.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->||
* Chad has an embassy in Niamey.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->|| See Chad-Nigeria relations
Nigeria's 1983 economic austerity campaign produced strains with neighboring states, including Chad. Nigeria expelled several hundred thousand foreign workers, mostly from its oil industry, which faced drastic cuts as a result of declining world oil prices.
On December 24, 2005, Chad declared itself as in a "state of belligerance" with neighboring Sudan. The conflict in the border region of Darfur has become an increasingly bi-national affair as increasing numbers of Sudanese flee to refugee camps in Chad, and Sudanese government troops and militias cross the borders to strike at both these camps and specific ethnic groups. Although the Government of Chad and the Government of Sudan signed the Tripoli Agreement on February 8, 2006, officially ending hostilities, fighting continues. On August 11, 2006, Chad and Sudan resumed relations at the behest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Chad broke diplomatic relations with Sudan at least twice in 2006 because it believed the Sudanese government was supporting Janjaweed and UFDC rebels financially and with arms. Two accords were signed, the Tripoli Accord, which was signed on February 8 and failed to end the fighting, and the more recently signed N'Djamena Agreement. On May 11, 2008, Sudan announced it was cutting diplomatic relations with Chad, claiming that it was helping rebels in Darfur to attack the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
* Chad has an embassy in Khartoum and a consulate-general in Geneina.
* Sudan has an embassy in N'Djamena.
|-
|
|
|The two countries maintain diplomatic relations and Idriss Déby visited Kenya in November 2016.
|-
|
|
|
* Zambia is represented in Chad through its embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.
|}
Americas
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"width:100%; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:15%;"| Country
! style="width:12%;"| Formal Relations Began
!Notes
|- valign="top"
|||8 October 1996||
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 8 October 1996. In 2012, Chadian President Idriss Déby Itno paid a visit to Brazil.
* Brazil is accredited to Chad from its embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
* Chad is accredited to Brazil from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.
|- valign="top"
|||February 1962||Both countries established diplomatic relations in February 1962
* Canada is accredited to Chad from its high commission in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
* Chad has an embassy in Ottawa.
|- valign="top"
|||9 June 1976||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 9 June 1976
* Chad is accredited to Cuba from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.
* Cuba is accredited to Chad from its embassy in Niamey, Niger.
|- valign="top"
|||25 February 1976||See Chad–Mexico relations
Chad and Mexico established diplomatic relations on 25 February 1976. In May 2002, Chadian Prime Minister Nagoum Yamassoum paid a visit to the Mexican city of Monterrey to attend the Monterrey Consensus conference.
* Chad is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.
* Mexico is accredited to Chad from its embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
|- valign="top"
|||11 August 1960|| See Chad–United States relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 11 August 1960
]]
The US embassy in N'Djamena, established at Chadian independence in 1960, was closed from the onset of the heavy fighting in the city in 1980 until the withdrawal of the Libyan forces at the end of 1981. It was reopened in January 1982. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Information Service (USIS) offices resumed activities in Chad in September 1983. The United States Department of State issued a travel advisory to U.S. citizens in 2009, recommending that citizens not affiliated with humanitarian efforts avoid all travel to eastern Chad and the Chad/Central African Republic border area due to insecurity caused by banditry, recent clashes between Chadian government and rebel forces, and political tension between Chad and Sudan. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on September 24, 2017, suspending the entry of Chadian nationals to the United States. The proclamation claims that the government of Chad "does not adequately share public-safety and terrorism-related information..." On April 10, 2018, the US Government lifted travel restrictions on Chad.
* Chad has an embassy in Washington, DC.
* United States has an embassy in N'djamena.
|}
Asia
Despite centuries-old cultural ties to the Arab World, the Chadian Government maintained few significant ties to Arab states in North Africa or West Asia in the 1980s. In November 2018, President Deby visited Israel and announced his intention to restore diplomatic relations. Chad and Israel re-established diplomatic relations in January 2019.
During the 1980s, Arab opinion on the Chadian–Libyan conflict over the Aouzou Strip was divided. and expressed their desire to see the dispute over the Aouzou Strip settled peacefully.
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"width:100%; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:15%;"| Country
! style="width:12%;"| Formal Relations Began
!Notes
|-
|
|
|
* Chad is represented in Brunei through its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
|- valign="top"
|||28 November 1972||See Chad–China relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 28 November 1972, but China severed diplomatic relations with Chad in 1997 when the country resumed diplomatic ties with Taiwan. According to a joint communique signed by the two countries when they resumed diplomatic ties starting from August 6, 2006, Chad recognized there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory
* Chad has an embassy in Beijing.
* China has an embassy in N'Djamena.
|- valign="top"
|||18 October 1975||See Chad–India relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 18 October 1975
* Chad has an embassy in New Delhi.
* India has an embassy in N'Djamena.
|-
|
|19 July 1972
|Both countries established diplomatic relations on 19 July 1972
|-
|
|29 April 1973
|Both countries established diplomatic relations on 29 April 1973.
|- valign="top"
|||10 January 1961||See Chad–Israel relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 10 January 1961, but diplomatic relations were broken on 28 November 1972 and re-established on 20 January 2019
In November 2018, Chadian President Idriss Déby paid a visit to Israel. In January 2019 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to Chad. During the visit, both nations re-established diplomatic relations since relations were cut in 1972. In February 2023, Chad opened an embassy in Israel.
|-
|
|
|
* Pakistan is represented in Chad through its embassy in Sudan.
|-
|
|
|
* The State of Palestine is represented in Chad through its embassy in Bamako, Mali.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->||See Chad–Taiwan relations
Chad and Taiwan had relations from 1962 to 1972 when Chad first switched diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China. Chad then reestablished bilateral ties with Taiwan from 1997 to 2006. Since August 2006, Chad has granted diplomatic recognition to China.
|- valign="top"
|||27 January 1970||See Chad–Turkey relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 27 January 1970
* Chad has an embassy in Ankara.
* Turkey has an embassy in N'Djamena.
* Chad has an embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate-general in Dubai.
* UAE has an embassy in N'Djamena.
*UAE opened coordination office for foreign aid in Chad in August 2023.
|}
Europe
Chad is officially non-aligned but maintains close relations with France, its former colonial power, which has about 1,200 troops stationed in the capital N'Djamena. It receives economic aid from countries of the European Community, the United States, and various international organizations. Libya supplies aid and has an ambassador resident in N'Djamena. Traditionally strong ties with the Western community have weakened over the past two years due to a dispute between the Government of Chad and the World Bank over how the profits from Chad's petroleum reserves are allocated. Although oil output to the West has resumed and the dispute has officially been resolved, resentment towards what the Déby administration considered "foreign meddling" lingers.
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"width:100%; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:15%;"| Country
! style="width:12%;"| Formal Relations Began
!Notes
|-
|
|
|Austria is represented in Chad through its embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.
|-
|
|
|Denmark is represented in Chad through its embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
|- valign="top"
|||12 August 1960||See Chad–France relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 12 August 1960
France was Chad's most important foreign donor and patron for the first three decades following independence in 1960.
* Chad has an embassy in Paris.
* France has an embassy in N'djamena.
|- valign="top"
|||7 May 1962|| See Chad–Netherlands relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 7 May 1962 when accredited first Ambassador of Netherlands to Chad (resident in Leopoldville)
* Chad is accredited to Netherlands from its embassy in Brussels, Belgium.
* Netherlands is accredited to Chad from its embassy in Khartoum, Sudan.
|- valign="top"
|||15 July 1969|| See Chad–Romania relations
Chad–Romania relations were established on July 15, 1969. However, neither country has an embassy in the other's capital, and although an agreement on trade was signed in 1969, followed by an agreement on economic and technical cooperation in 1971, , the volume of bilateral trade remained insignificant.
In November 2007, Romania announced that they would deploy 120 troops to Chad and the Central African Republic in connection with a European Union peacekeeping mission there. Romania continued to condemn violence in Chad and blamed it on rebel groups. However, by mid-2008, Romanian defence minister Teodor Meleşcanu indicated that his country would not send further troops to the mission in Chad, stating that they had reached their limits and did not want involvement in a war theatre.
Chad and Romania have almost identical flags.
|- valign="top"
|||||See Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
Chad established diplomatic relations with the UK on 9 December 1960.
Both countries share common membership of the International Criminal Court, and the World Trade Organization. Bilaterally the two countries have a Development Partnership.
|}
Oceania
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"width:100%; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:15%;"| Country
! style="width:12%;"| Formal Relations Began
!Notes
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->||Australia is represented in Chad through its embassy in Paris, France.
|}
Membership of international organizations
Chad belongs to the following international organizations:
* United Nations and some of its specialized and related agencies
* Organization for African Unity
* Central African Customs and Economic Union (UDEAC)
* African Financial Community (Franc Zone)
* Agency for the Francophone Community
* African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
* African Development Bank
* Central African States Development Bank
* Economic and Monetary Union of Central African (CEMAC)
* Economic Commission for Africa; G-77
* International Civil Aviation Organization
* International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
* International Development Association
* Islamic Development Bank
* International Fund for Agricultural Development
* International Finance Corporation
* International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
* International Labour Organization
* International Monetary Fund
* Intelsat
* Interpol
* International Olympic Committee
* International Telecommunication Union
* International Trade Union Confederation
* NAM
* Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
* Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
* Universal Postal Union
* World Confederation of Labour
* World Intellectual Property Organization;
* World Meteorological Organization;
* World Tourism Organization
* World Trade Organization
See also
* List of diplomatic missions in Chad
* List of diplomatic missions of Chad
References
}}
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Chad
|
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5342
|
Commentary
|
Commentary or commentaries may refer to:
Publications
Commentary (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee
Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works attributed to Julius Caesar
Commentaries of Ishodad of Merv, set of ninth-century Syriac treatises on the Bible
Commentaries on the Laws of England, a 1769 treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone
Commentaries on Living, a series of books by Jiddu Krishnamurti originally published in 1956, 1958 and 1960
Moralia in Job, a sixth-century treatise by Saint Gregory
Commentary of Zuo, one of the earliest Chinese works of narrative history, covering the period from 722 to 468 BCE
Commentaries, a work attributed to Taautus
Religions
Atthakatha, commentaries on the Pāli Canon in Theravāda Buddhism
Sub-commentaries (Theravāda), commentaries on the commentaries on the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism
Exegesis, a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text (e.g. a Bible commentary)
Tafsir, an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran
List of biblical commentaries
Jewish commentaries on the Bible
Other uses
Published opinion piece material, in any of several forms:
An editorial, written by the editorial staff or board of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical
Column (periodical), a regular feature of such a publication in which usually the same single writer offers advice, observation, or other commentary
An op-ed, an opinion piece by an author unaffiliated with the publication
Letters to the editor, written by readers of such a publication
Posts made in the comments section of an online publication, serving a similar function to paper periodicals' letters to the editor
Commentary (philology), a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication (and usually translation) of a text
Audio commentary track for DVDs and Blu-Rays – an additional audio track that plays in real-time with the video material, and comments on that video
Sports commentary or play-by-play, a running description of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast
Color commentary, supplementing play-by-play commentary, often filling in any time when play is not in progress
Criticism, the practice of judging the merits and faults of something or someone
Textual Criticism, the production of scientifically reliable editions of historical texts
Commentary! The Musical, the musical commentary accompanying Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Commentary or narration, the words in a documentary film
Literary criticism, the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature
Close reading in literary criticism, the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text
Political criticism or political commentary, criticism that is specific of or relevant to politics
Public commentary received by governmental and other bodies, e.g. in response to proposals, reports, etc.
See also
Commentry, a place in central France
Comment (disambiguation)
Commentaire, a French quarterly
Reaction video, commentaries in video format
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentary
|
2025-04-05T18:27:10.131954
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5346
|
Colloid
|
image of a colloid.]]
A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend the definition to include substances like aerosols and gels. The term colloidal suspension refers unambiguously to the overall mixture (although a narrower sense of the word suspension is distinguished from colloids by larger particle size). A colloid has a dispersed phase (the suspended particles) and a continuous phase (the medium of suspension). The dispersed phase particles have a diameter of approximately 1 nanometre to 1 micrometre.
Some colloids are translucent because of the Tyndall effect, which is the scattering of light by particles in the colloid. Other colloids may be opaque or have a slight color.
Colloidal suspensions are the subject of interface and colloid science. This field of study began in 1845 by Francesco Selmi, who called them pseudosolutions, and expanded by Michael Faraday and Thomas Graham, who coined the term colloid in 1861.
Classification
Colloids can be classified as follows:
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center"
|-
! colspan"2" rowspan"2" | Medium/phase
! colspan="3" | Dispersed phase
|-
! style=width:30%; | Gas
! style=width:30%; | Liquid
! style=width:30%; | Solid
|-
! rowspan="3" | Dispersion <br />medium
! Gas
| style"vertical-align: top;"
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Liquid aerosol<br />Examples: fog, clouds, condensation, mist, steam, hair sprays
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Solid aerosol<br />Examples: smoke, ice cloud, atmospheric particulate matter
|-
! Liquid
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Foam<br />Example: whipped cream, shaving cream
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Emulsion or Liquid crystal<br />Examples: milk, mayonnaise, hand cream, latex, , liquid biomolecular condensate
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Sol<br />Examples: pigmented ink, sediment, precipitates, solid biomolecular condensate
|-
! Solid
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Solid foam<br />Examples: aerogel, floating soap, styrofoam, pumice
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Gel<br />Examples: agar, gelatin, jelly, gel-like biomolecular condensate
|style="vertical-align: top;"|Solid sol<br />Example: cranberry glass
|}
Homogeneous mixtures with a dispersed phase in this size range may be called colloidal aerosols, colloidal emulsions, colloidal suspensions, colloidal foams, colloidal dispersions, or hydrosols.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Aerogel hand.jpg|Aerogel
File:Jello Cubes.jpg|Jello cubes
File:Opaleszens Kolloid SiO2.jpg|Colloidal silica gel with light opalescence
File:Crème Chantilly.jpg|Whipped cream
File:Dollop of hair gel.jpg|A dollop of hair gel
File:Cream in round container.jpg|Creams are semi-solid emulsions of oil and water. Oil-in-water creams are used for cosmetic purpose while water-in-oil creams for medicinal purpose
File:Why is the sky blue.jpg|Tyndall effect in an opalite:<br>it scatters blue light making it appear blue from the side, but orange light shines through.<br>Opal is a gel in which water is dispersed in silica crystals.
File:Glass of Milk (33657535532).jpg|Milk - emulsion of liquid butterfat globules dispersed in water
File:Mist - Ensay region3.jpg|Mist
</gallery>
Hydrocolloids
Hydrocolloids describe certain chemicals (mostly polysaccharides and proteins) that are colloidally dispersible in water. Thus becoming effectively "soluble" they change the rheology of water by raising the viscosity and/or inducing gelation. They may provide other interactive effects with other chemicals, in some cases synergistic, in others antagonistic. Using these attributes hydrocolloids are very useful chemicals since in many areas of technology from foods through pharmaceuticals, personal care and industrial applications, they can provide stabilization, destabilization and separation, gelation, flow control, crystallization control and numerous other effects. Apart from uses of the soluble forms some of the hydrocolloids have additional useful functionality in a dry form if after solubilization they have the water removed - as in the formation of films for breath strips or sausage casings or indeed, wound dressing fibers, some being more compatible with skin than others. There are many different types of hydrocolloids each with differences in structure function and utility that generally are best suited to particular application areas in the control of rheology and the physical modification of form and texture. Some hydrocolloids like starch and casein are useful foods as well as rheology modifiers, others have limited nutritive value, usually providing a source of fiber.
The term hydrocolloids also refers to a type of dressing designed to lock moisture in the skin and help the natural healing process of skin to reduce scarring, itching and soreness.
Components
Hydrocolloids contain some type of gel-forming agent, such as sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) and gelatin. They are normally combined with some type of sealant, i.e. polyurethane to 'stick' to the skin.
Compared with solution
A colloid has a dispersed phase and a continuous phase, whereas in a solution, the solute and solvent constitute only one phase. A solute in a solution are individual molecules or ions, whereas colloidal particles are bigger. For example, in a solution of salt in water, the sodium chloride (NaCl) crystal dissolves, and the Na<sup>+</sup> and Cl<sup>−</sup> ions are surrounded by water molecules. However, in a colloid such as milk, the colloidal particles are globules of fat, rather than individual fat molecules. Because colloid is multiple phases, it has very different properties compared to fully mixed, continuous solution. Interaction between particles The following forces play an important role in the interaction of colloid particles:
*Excluded volume repulsion: This refers to the impossibility of any overlap between hard particles.
*Electrostatic interaction: Colloidal particles often carry an electrical charge and therefore attract or repel each other. The charge of both the continuous and the dispersed phase, as well as the mobility of the phases are factors affecting this interaction.
*van der Waals forces: This is due to interaction between two dipoles that are either permanent or induced. Even if the particles do not have a permanent dipole, fluctuations of the electron density gives rise to a temporary dipole in a particle. This temporary dipole induces a dipole in particles nearby. The temporary dipole and the induced dipoles are then attracted to each other. This is known as van der Waals force, and is always present (unless the refractive indexes of the dispersed and continuous phases are matched), is short-range, and is attractive.
*Steric forces: A repulsive steric force typically occurring due to adsorbed polymers coating a colloid's surface.
*Depletion forces: An attractive entropic force arising from an osmotic pressure imbalance when colloids are suspended in a medium of much smaller particles or polymers called depletants.
Sedimentation velocity
The Earth’s gravitational field acts upon colloidal particles. Therefore, if the colloidal particles are denser than the medium of suspension, they will sediment (fall to the bottom), or if they are less dense, they will cream (float to the top). Larger particles also have a greater tendency to sediment because they have smaller Brownian motion to counteract this movement.
The sedimentation or creaming velocity is found by equating the Stokes drag force with the gravitational force:
:<math>m_Ag=6\pi \eta rv</math>
where
:<math>m_Ag</math> is the Archimedean weight of the colloidal particles,
:<math>\eta</math> is the viscosity of the suspension medium,
:<math>r</math> is the radius of the colloidal particle,
and <math>v</math> is the sedimentation or creaming velocity.
The mass of the colloidal particle is found using:
:<math>m_A =V(\rho_1 - \rho_2)</math>
where
:<math>V</math> is the volume of the colloidal particle, calculated using the volume of a sphere <math>V = \frac{4}{3}\pi r^3</math>,
and <math>\rho_1-\rho_2</math> is the difference in mass density between the colloidal particle and the suspension medium.
By rearranging, the sedimentation or creaming velocity is:
:<math>v = \frac{m_Ag}{6\pi\eta r}</math>
There is an upper size-limit for the diameter of colloidal particles because particles larger than 1 μm tend to sediment, and thus the substance would no longer be considered a colloidal suspension.
The colloidal particles are said to be in sedimentation equilibrium if the rate of sedimentation is equal to the rate of movement from Brownian motion.
Preparation
There are two principal ways to prepare colloids:
* Dispersion of large particles or droplets to the colloidal dimensions by milling, spraying, or application of shear (e.g., shaking, mixing, or high shear mixing).
* Condensation of small dissolved molecules into larger colloidal particles by precipitation, condensation, or redox reactions. Such processes are used in the preparation of colloidal silica or gold.
Stabilization
The stability of a colloidal system is defined by particles remaining suspended in solution and depends on the interaction forces between the particles. These include electrostatic interactions and van der Waals forces, because they both contribute to the overall free energy of the system.
A colloid is stable if the interaction energy due to attractive forces between the colloidal particles is less than kT, where k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature. If this is the case, then the colloidal particles will repel or only weakly attract each other, and the substance will remain a suspension.
If the interaction energy is greater than kT, the attractive forces will prevail, and the colloidal particles will begin to clump together. This process is referred to generally as aggregation, but is also referred to as flocculation, coagulation or precipitation. While these terms are often used interchangeably, for some definitions they have slightly different meanings. For example, coagulation can be used to describe irreversible, permanent aggregation where the forces holding the particles together are stronger than any external forces caused by stirring or mixing. Flocculation can be used to describe reversible aggregation involving weaker attractive forces, and the aggregate is usually called a floc. The term precipitation is normally reserved for describing a phase change from a colloid dispersion to a solid (precipitate) when it is subjected to a perturbation. A common method of stabilising a colloid (converting it from a precipitate) is peptization, a process where it is shaken with an electrolyte.
* Steric stabilization consists absorbing a layer of a polymer or surfactant on the particles to prevent them from getting close in the range of attractive forces. This technique is used to stabilize colloidal particles in all types of solvents, including organic solvents.
A combination of the two mechanisms is also possible (electrosteric stabilization).
A method called gel network stabilization represents the principal way to produce colloids stable to both aggregation and sedimentation. The method consists in adding to the colloidal suspension a polymer able to form a gel network. Particle settling is hindered by the stiffness of the polymeric matrix where particles are trapped, and the long polymeric chains can provide a steric or electrosteric stabilization to dispersed particles. Examples of such substances are xanthan and guar gum. Destabilization
Destabilization can be accomplished by different methods:
*Removal of the electrostatic barrier that prevents aggregation of the particles. This can be accomplished by the addition of salt to a suspension to reduce the Debye screening length (the width of the electrical double layer) of the particles. It is also accomplished by changing the pH of a suspension to effectively neutralise the surface charge of the particles in suspension.
*Addition of a charged polymer flocculant. Polymer flocculants can bridge individual colloidal particles by attractive electrostatic interactions. For example, negatively charged colloidal silica or clay particles can be flocculated by the addition of a positively charged polymer.
*Addition of non-adsorbed polymers called depletants that cause aggregation due to entropic effects.
Unstable colloidal suspensions of low-volume fraction form clustered liquid suspensions, wherein individual clusters of particles sediment if they are more dense than the suspension medium, or cream if they are less dense. However, colloidal suspensions of higher-volume fraction form colloidal gels with viscoelastic properties. Viscoelastic colloidal gels, such as bentonite and toothpaste, flow like liquids under shear, but maintain their shape when shear is removed. It is for this reason that toothpaste can be squeezed from a toothpaste tube, but stays on the toothbrush after it is applied.
Monitoring stability
The most widely used technique to monitor the dispersion state of a product, and to identify and quantify destabilization phenomena, is multiple light scattering coupled with vertical scanning. This method, known as turbidimetry, is based on measuring the fraction of light that, after being sent through the sample, it backscattered by the colloidal particles. The backscattering intensity is directly proportional to the average particle size and volume fraction of the dispersed phase. Therefore, local changes in concentration caused by sedimentation or creaming, and clumping together of particles caused by aggregation, are detected and monitored. These phenomena are associated with unstable colloids.
Dynamic light scattering can be used to detect the size of a colloidal particle by measuring how fast they diffuse. This method involves directing laser light towards a colloid. The scattered light will form an interference pattern, and the fluctuation in light intensity in this pattern is caused by the Brownian motion of the particles. If the apparent size of the particles increases due to them clumping together via aggregation, it will result in slower Brownian motion. This technique can confirm that aggregation has occurred if the apparent particle size is determined to be beyond the typical size range for colloidal particles. Segregation of different populations of particles have been highlighted when using centrifugation and vibration.As a model system for atomsIn physics, colloids are an interesting model system for atoms. Micrometre-scale colloidal particles are large enough to be observed by optical techniques such as confocal microscopy. Many of the forces that govern the structure and behavior of matter, such as excluded volume interactions or electrostatic forces, govern the structure and behavior of colloidal suspensions. For example, the same techniques used to model ideal gases can be applied to model the behavior of a hard sphere colloidal suspension. Phase transitions in colloidal suspensions can be studied in real time using optical techniques, and are analogous to phase transitions in liquids. In many interesting cases optical fluidity is used to control colloid suspensions.
Crystals
A colloidal crystal is a highly ordered array of particles that can be formed over a very long range (typically on the order of a few millimeters to one centimeter) and that appear analogous to their atomic or molecular counterparts. One of the finest natural examples of this ordering phenomenon can be found in precious opal, in which brilliant regions of pure spectral color result from close-packed domains of amorphous colloidal spheres of silicon dioxide (or silica, SiO<sub>2</sub>). These spherical particles precipitate in highly siliceous pools in Australia and elsewhere, and form these highly ordered arrays after years of sedimentation and compression under hydrostatic and gravitational forces. The periodic arrays of submicrometre spherical particles provide similar arrays of interstitial voids, which act as a natural diffraction grating for visible light waves, particularly when the interstitial spacing is of the same order of magnitude as the incident lightwave.
Thus, it has been known for many years that, due to repulsive Coulombic interactions, electrically charged macromolecules in an aqueous environment can exhibit long-range crystal-like correlations with interparticle separation distances, often being considerably greater than the individual particle diameter. In all of these cases in nature, the same brilliant iridescence (or play of colors) can be attributed to the diffraction and constructive interference of visible lightwaves that satisfy Bragg’s law, in a matter analogous to the scattering of X-rays in crystalline solids.
The large number of experiments exploring the physics and chemistry of these so-called "colloidal crystals" has emerged as a result of the relatively simple methods that have evolved in the last 20 years for preparing synthetic monodisperse colloids (both polymer and mineral) and, through various mechanisms, implementing and preserving their long-range order formation.
In biology
Colloidal phase separation is an important organising principle for compartmentalisation of both the cytoplasm and nucleus of cells into biomolecular condensates—similar in importance to compartmentalisation via lipid bilayer membranes, a type of liquid crystal. The term biomolecular condensate has been used to refer to clusters of macromolecules that arise via liquid-liquid or liquid-solid phase separation within cells. Macromolecular crowding strongly enhances colloidal phase separation and formation of biomolecular condensates.
In the environment
Colloidal particles can also serve as transport vectors
of diverse contaminants in the surface water (sea water, lakes, rivers, freshwater bodies) and in underground water circulating in fissured rocks
(e.g. limestone, sandstone, granite). Radionuclides and heavy metals easily sorb onto colloids suspended in water. Various types of colloids are recognised: inorganic colloids (e.g. clay particles, silicates, iron oxy-hydroxides), organic colloids (humic and fulvic substances). When heavy metals or radionuclides form pure colloids, the term "eigencolloid" is used to designate pure phases, i.e., pure Tc(OH)<sub>4</sub>, U(OH)<sub>4</sub>, or Am(OH)<sub>3</sub>. Colloids have been suspected for the long-range transport of plutonium on the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. They have been the subject of detailed studies for many years. However, the mobility of inorganic colloids is very low in compacted bentonites and in deep clay formations
because of the process of ultrafiltration occurring in dense clay membrane.
The question is less clear for small organic colloids often mixed in porewater with truly dissolved organic molecules.
In soil science, the colloidal fraction in soils consists of tiny clay and humus particles that are less than 1μm in diameter and carry either positive and/or negative electrostatic charges that vary depending on the chemical conditions of the soil sample, i.e. soil pH.
Intravenous therapy
Colloid solutions used in intravenous therapy belong to a major group of volume expanders, and can be used for intravenous fluid replacement. Colloids preserve a high colloid osmotic pressure in the blood, and therefore, they should theoretically preferentially increase the intravascular volume, whereas other types of volume expanders called crystalloids also increase the interstitial volume and intracellular volume. However, there is still controversy to the actual difference in efficacy by this difference, Another difference is that crystalloids generally are much cheaper than colloids.<ref namegregory/>References
Category:Chemical mixtures
Category:Colloidal chemistry
Category:Condensed matter physics
Category:Soft matter
Category:Dosage forms
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid
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Chinese
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Chinese may refer to:
Something related to China
Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
Zhonghua minzu, the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
List of ethnic groups in China, people of various ethnicities in contemporary China
Ethnic minorities in China, people of non-Han Chinese ethnicities in modern China
Ethnic groups in Chinese history, people of various ethnicities in historical China
Nationals of the People's Republic of China
Nationals of the Republic of China
Overseas Chinese, Chinese people residing outside the territories of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan
Sinitic languages, the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family
Chinese language, a group of related languages spoken predominantly in China, sharing a written script (Chinese characters in traditional and simplified forms)
Standard Chinese, the standard form of Mandarin Chinese in mainland China, similar to forms of Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan and Singapore
Varieties of Chinese, topolects grouped under Chinese languages
Written Chinese, writing scripts used for Chinese languages
Chinese characters, logograms used for the writing of East Asian languages
Chinese cuisine, styles of food originating from China or their derivatives
"Chinese", a song about take out meals by Lily Allen from It's Not Me, It's You
See also
Chinese citizen (disambiguation)
Tang Chinese (disambiguation)
Category:Language and nationality disambiguation pages
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese
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Riding shotgun
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| coined_by = Alfred Henry Lewis (1905)
}}
"Riding shotgun" was a phrase used to describe the bodyguard who rides alongside a stagecoach driver, typically armed with a break-action shotgun, called a coach gun, to ward off bandits or hostile Native Americans. In modern use, it refers to the practice of sitting alongside the driver in a moving vehicle. The coining of this phrase dates to 1905 at the latest.EtymologyThe expression "riding shotgun" is derived from "shotgun messenger", a colloquial term for "express messenger", when stagecoach travel was popular during the American Wild West and the Colonial period in Australia. The person rode alongside the driver. The first known use of the phrase "riding shotgun" was in the 1905 novel The Sunset Trail by Alfred Henry Lewis. to provide an armed response in case of threat to the cargo, which was usually a strongbox. Absence of an armed person in that position often signaled that the stage was not carrying a strongbox, but only passengers.
Historical examples
Tombstone, Arizona Territory
On the evening of March 15, 1881, a Kinnear & Company stagecoach carrying US$26,000 in silver bullion () was en route from the boom town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory to Benson, Arizona, the nearest freight terminal. Bob Paul, who had run for Pima County Sheriff and was contesting the election he lost due to ballot-stuffing, was temporarily working once again as the Wells Fargo shotgun messenger. He had taken the reins and driver's seat in Contention City because the usual driver, a well-known and popular man named Eli "Budd" Philpot, was ill. Philpot was riding shotgun.
Near Drew's Station, just outside Contention City, a man stepped into the road and commanded them to "Hold!" Three cowboys attempted to rob the stage. Paul, in the driver's seat, fired his shotgun and emptied his revolver at the robbers, wounding a cowboy later identified as Bill Leonard in the groin. Philpot, riding shotgun, and passenger Peter Roerig, riding in the rear dickey seat, were both shot and killed. The horses spooked and Paul wasn't able to bring the stage under control for almost a mile, leaving the robbers with nothing. Paul, who normally rode shotgun, later said he thought the first shot killing Philpot had been meant for him.
When Wyatt Earp first arrived in Tombstone in December 1879, he initially took a job as a stagecoach shotgun messenger for Wells Fargo, guarding shipments of silver bullion. When Earp was appointed Pima County Deputy Sheriff on July 27, 1881, his brother Morgan Earp took over his job.
Historical weapon
When Wells, Fargo & Co. began regular stagecoach service from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco, California in 1858, they issued shotguns to its drivers and guards for defense along the perilous 2,800 mile route. The guard was called a shotgun messenger and they were issued a Coach gun, typically a 10-gauge or 12-gauge, short, double-barreled shotgun.
Modern usage
The term has been applied to an informal game, typically played by younger people. When 3 or more people are getting into a vehicle, the first person to say "shotgun" determines who rides beside the driver. Specific rules used vary.
See also
* Coach gun
* Drive-by shooting
* Shotgun messenger
References
Category:1900s neologisms
Category:1905 quotations
Category:English-language idioms
Category:American cultural conventions
Category:Car games
Category:Wyatt Earp
Category:Bodyguards
Category:Coaches (carriage)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_shotgun
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Cooking
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thumb|upright=1.0|A man cooking in a restaurant kitchen, Morocco
Cooking, also known as cookery or professionally as the culinary arts, is the art, science and craft of using heat to make food more palatable, digestible, nutritious, or safe. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire, to using electric stoves, to baking in various types of ovens, to boiling and blanching in water, reflecting local conditions, techniques and traditions. Cooking is an aspect of all human societies and a cultural universal.
Types of cooking also depend on the skill levels and training of the cooks. Cooking is done both by people in their own dwellings and by professional cooks and chefs in restaurants and other food establishments.
Preparing food with heat or fire is an activity unique to humans. Archeological evidence of cooking fires from at least 300,000 years ago exists, but some estimate that humans started cooking up to 2 million years ago.
The expansion of agriculture, commerce, trade, and transportation between civilizations in different regions offered cooks many new ingredients. New inventions and technologies, such as the invention of pottery for holding and boiling of water, expanded cooking techniques. Some modern cooks apply advanced scientific techniques to food preparation to further enhance the flavor of the dish served.
History
thumb|right|Pots being heated with a wood-burning fire in South India
Phylogenetic analysis suggests that early hominids may have adopted cooking 1 million to 2 million years ago. of burnt bone fragments and plant ashes from the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa has provided evidence supporting control of fire by early humans 1 million years ago. In his seminal work Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, Richard Wrangham suggested that evolution of bipedalism and a large cranial capacity meant that early Homo habilis regularly cooked food. However, unequivocal evidence in the archaeological record for the controlled use of fire begins at 400,000 BCE, long after Homo erectus. Archaeological evidence from 300,000 years ago, in the form of ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint, are found across Europe and the Middle East. The oldest evidence (via heated fish teeth from a deep cave) of controlled use of fire to cook food by archaic humans was dated to ~780,000 years ago. Anthropologists think that widespread cooking fires began about 250,000 years ago when hearths first appeared.
Recently, the earliest hearths have been reported to be at least 790,000 years old.
Communication between the Old World and the New World in the Columbian Exchange influenced the history of cooking. The movement of foods across the Atlantic from the New World, such as potatoes, tomatoes, maize, beans, bell pepper, chili pepper, vanilla, pumpkin, cassava, avocado, peanut, pecan, cashew, pineapple, blueberry, sunflower, chocolate, gourds, green beans, and squash, had a profound effect on Old World cooking. The movement of foods across the Atlantic from the Old World, such as cattle, sheep, pigs, wheat, oats, barley, rice, apples, pears, peas, chickpeas, mustard, and carrots, similarly changed New World cooking.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, food was a classic marker of identity in Europe. In the 19th-century "Age of Nationalism", cuisine became a defining symbol of national identity.
The Industrial Revolution brought mass-production, mass-marketing, and standardization of food. Factories processed, preserved, canned, and packaged a wide variety of foods, and processed cereals quickly became a defining feature of the American breakfast. In the 1920s, freezing methods, cafeterias, and fast food restaurants emerged.
Ingredients
Most ingredients in cooking are derived from living organisms. Vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts as well as herbs and spices come from plants, while meat, eggs, and dairy products come from animals. Mushrooms and the yeast used in baking are kinds of fungi. Cooks also use water and minerals such as salt. Cooks can also use wine or spirits.
Naturally occurring ingredients contain various amounts of molecules called proteins, carbohydrates and fats. They also contain water and minerals. Cooking involves a manipulation of the chemical properties of these molecules.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates include the common sugar, sucrose (table sugar), a disaccharide, and such simple sugars as glucose (made by enzymatic splitting of sucrose) and fructose (from fruit), and starches from sources such as cereal flour, rice, arrowroot and potato.
The interaction of heat and carbohydrate is complex. Long-chain sugars such as starch tend to break down into more digestible simpler sugars. If the sugars are heated so that all water of crystallisation is driven off, caramelization starts, with the sugar undergoing thermal decomposition with the formation of carbon, and other breakdown products producing caramel. Similarly, the heating of sugars and proteins causes the Maillard reaction, a basic flavor-enhancing technique.
An emulsion of starch with fat or water can, when gently heated, provide thickening to the dish being cooked. In European cooking, a mixture of butter and flour called a roux is used to thicken liquids to make stews or sauces. In Asian cooking, a similar effect is obtained from a mixture of rice or corn starch and water. These techniques rely on the properties of starches to create simpler mucilaginous saccharides during cooking, which causes the familiar thickening of sauces. This thickening will break down, however, under additional heat.
Fats
thumb|Doughnuts frying in oil
Types of fat include vegetable oils, animal products such as butter and lard, as well as fats from grains, including maize and flax oils. Fats are used in a number of ways in cooking and baking. To prepare stir fries, grilled cheese or pancakes, the pan or griddle is often coated with fat or oil. Fats are also used as an ingredient in baked goods such as cookies, cakes and pies. Fats can reach temperatures higher than the boiling point of water, and are often used to conduct high heat to other ingredients, such as in frying, deep frying or sautéing. Fats are used to add flavor to food (e.g., butter or bacon fat), prevent food from sticking to pans and create a desirable texture.
Fats are one of the three main macronutrient groups in human diet, along with carbohydrates and proteins, and the main components of common food products like milk, butter, tallow, lard, salt pork, and cooking oils. They are a major and dense source of food energy for many animals and play important structural and metabolic functions, in most living beings, including energy storage, waterproofing, and thermal insulation. The human body can produce the fat it requires from other food ingredients, except for a few essential fatty acids that must be included in the diet. Dietary fats are also the carriers of some flavor and aroma ingredients and vitamins that are not water-soluble.
Proteins
Edible animal material, including muscle, offal, milk, eggs and egg whites, contains substantial amounts of protein. Almost all vegetable matter (in particular legumes and seeds) also includes proteins, although generally in smaller amounts. Mushrooms have high protein content. Any of these may be sources of essential amino acids. When proteins are heated they become denatured (unfolded) and change texture. In many cases, this causes the structure of the material to become softer or more friable – meat becomes cooked and is more friable and less flexible. In some cases, proteins can form more rigid structures, such as the coagulation of albumen in egg whites. The formation of a relatively rigid but flexible matrix from egg white provides an important component in baking cakes, and also underpins many desserts based on meringue.
thumb|Water is often used to cook foods such as noodles.
Water
Cooking often involves water, and water-based liquids. These can be added in order to immerse the substances being cooked (this is typically done with water, stock or wine). Alternatively, the foods themselves can release water. A favorite method of adding flavor to dishes is to save the liquid for use in other recipes. Liquids are so important to cooking that the name of the cooking method used is often based on how the liquid is combined with the food, as in steaming, simmering, boiling, braising and blanching. Heating liquid in an open container results in rapidly increased evaporation, which concentrates the remaining flavor and ingredients; this is a critical component of both stewing and sauce making.
Vitamins and minerals
thumb|Vegetables contain important vitamins and minerals.
Vitamins and minerals are required for normal metabolism; and what the body cannot manufacture itself must come from external sources. Vitamins come from several sources including fresh fruit and vegetables (Vitamin C), carrots, liver (Vitamin A), cereal bran, bread, liver (B vitamins), fish liver oil (Vitamin D) and fresh green vegetables (Vitamin K). Many minerals are also essential in small quantities including iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium chloride and sulfur; and in very small quantities copper, zinc and selenium. The micronutrients, minerals, and vitamins in fruit and vegetables may be destroyed or eluted by cooking. Vitamin C is especially prone to oxidation during cooking and may be completely destroyed by protracted cooking. The bioavailability of some vitamins such as thiamin, vitamin B6, niacin, folate, and carotenoids are increased with cooking by being freed from the food microstructure. Blanching or steaming vegetables is a way of minimizing vitamin and mineral loss in cooking.
Methods
There are many methods of cooking, most of which have been known since antiquity. These include baking, roasting, frying, grilling, barbecuing, smoking, boiling, steaming and braising. A more recent innovation is microwaving. Various methods use differing levels of heat and moisture and vary in cooking time. The method chosen greatly affects the result. Some major hot cooking techniques include:
thumb|right|A cook sautees onions and green peppers in a skillet.
Roasting
Roasting – Barbecuing – Grilling/Broiling – Rotisserie – Searing
Baking
Baking – Baking Blind
Boiling
Boiling – Blanching – Braising – Coddling – Double steaming – Infusion – Poaching – Pressure cooking – Simmering – Smothering – Steaming – Steeping – Stewing – Stone boiling – Vacuum flask cooking
Frying
Fry – Air frying — Deep frying – Gentle frying – Hot salt frying – Hot sand frying – Pan frying – Pressure frying – Sautéing – Shallow frying – Stir frying – Vacuum frying
Steaming
Steaming works by boiling water continuously, causing it to vaporise into steam; the steam then carries heat to the nearby food, thus cooking the food. By many it is considered a healthy form of cooking, holding nutrients within the vegetable or meat being cooked.
En papillote – The food is put into a pouch and then baked, allowing its own moisture to steam the food.
Smoking
Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood.
Sous vide
Sous vide
Health and safety
Indoor air pollution
As of 2021, over 2.6 billion people cook using open fires or inefficient stoves using kerosene, biomass, and coal as fuel. These cooking practices use fuels and technologies that produce high levels of household air pollution, causing 3.8 million premature deaths annually. Of these deaths, 27% are from pneumonia, 27% from ischaemic heart disease, 20% from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 18% from stroke, and 8% from lung cancer. Women and young children are disproportionately affected, since they spend the most time near the hearth.
Security while cooking
Hazards while cooking can include:
Unseen slippery surfaces (such as from oil stains, water droplets, or items that have fallen on the floor)
Cuts; about a third of the US's estimated annual 400,000 knife injuries are kitchen-related.
Burns or fires
To prevent those injuries there are protections such as cooking clothing, anti-slip shoes, fire extinguisher and more.
Food safety
Cooking can prevent many foodborne illnesses that would otherwise occur if raw food is consumed. When heat is used in the preparation of food, it can kill or inactivate harmful organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, as well as various parasites such as tapeworms and Toxoplasma gondii. Food poisoning and other illness from uncooked or poorly prepared food may be caused by bacteria such as pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Campylobacter, viruses such as noroviruses, and protozoa such as Entamoeba histolytica. Bacteria, viruses and parasites may be introduced through salad, meat that is uncooked or done rare, and unboiled water.
The sterilizing effect of cooking depends on temperature, cooking time, and technique used. Some food spoilage bacteria such as Clostridium botulinum or Bacillus cereus can form spores that survive cooking or boiling, which then germinate and regrow after the food has cooled. This makes it unsafe to reheat cooked food more than once.
Cooking increases the digestibility of many foods which are inedible or poisonous when raw. For example, raw cereal grains are hard to digest, while kidney beans are toxic when raw or improperly cooked due to the presence of phytohaemagglutinin, which is inactivated by cooking for at least ten minutes at .
Food safety depends on the safe preparation, handling, and storage of food. Food spoilage bacteria proliferate in the "Danger zone" temperature range from ; therefore, food should not be stored in this temperature range. Washing of hands and surfaces, especially when handling different meats, and keeping raw food separate from cooked food to avoid cross-contamination, are good practices in food preparation. Foods prepared on plastic cutting boards may be less likely to harbor bacteria than wooden ones. Washing and disinfecting cutting boards, especially after use with raw meat, poultry, or seafood, reduces the risk of contamination. However, research has shown that in the specific case of carotenoids a greater proportion is absorbed from cooked vegetables than from raw vegetables. Although there has been some basic research on how sulforaphane might exert beneficial effects in vivo, there is no high-quality evidence for its efficacy against human diseases.
The United States Department of Agriculture has studied retention data for 16 vitamins, 8 minerals, and alcohol for approximately 290 foods across various cooking methods.
Carcinogens and AGEs
thumb|right|Chicken, pork and bacon-wrapped corn cooking in a barbecue smoker. Studies show that barbecuing and smoking generate carcinogens.
In a human epidemiological analysis by Richard Doll and Richard Peto in 1981, diet was estimated to cause a large percentage of cancers. Studies suggest that around 32% of cancer deaths may be avoidable by changes to the diet. Some of these cancers may be caused by carcinogens in food generated during the cooking process, although it is often difficult to identify the specific components in diet that serve to increase cancer risk.
Several studies published since 1990 indicate that cooking meat at high temperature creates heterocyclic amines (HCA's), which are thought to increase cancer risk in humans. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that human subjects who ate beef rare or medium-rare had less than one third the risk of stomach cancer than those who ate beef medium-well or well-done. While avoiding meat or eating meat raw may be the only ways to avoid HCA's in meat fully, the National Cancer Institute states that cooking meat below creates "negligible amounts" of HCA's. Also, microwaving meat before cooking may reduce HCAs by 90% by reducing the time needed for the meat to be cooked at high heat.
Baking, grilling or broiling food, especially starchy foods, until a toasted crust is formed generates significant concentrations of acrylamide. This discovery in 2002 led to international health concerns. Subsequent research has however found that it is not likely that the acrylamides in burnt or well-cooked food cause cancer in humans; Cancer Research UK categorizes the idea that burnt food causes cancer as a "myth".
Cooking food at high temperature may create advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) that are believed to be involved in a number of diseases, including diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer and cardiovascular diseases, as well as in ageing. AGEs are a group of compounds that are formed between reducing sugars and amino acids via Maillard reaction. These compounds impart colors, tastes and smells that are specific to these food, but may also be deleterious to health. Dry heat (e.g. in roasting or grilling) can significantly increase the production of AGEs, as well as food rich in animal protein and fats. The production of AGEs during cooking can be significantly reduced by cooking in water or moist heat, reducing the cooking times and temperatures, as well as by first marinating the meat in acidic ingredients such as lemon juice and vinegar.
Scientific aspects
The scientific study of cooking has become known as molecular gastronomy. This is a subdiscipline of food science concerning the physical and chemical transformations that occur during cooking.
Important contributions have been made by scientists, chefs and authors such as Hervé This (chemist), Nicholas Kurti (physicist), Peter Barham (physicist), Harold McGee (author), Shirley Corriher (biochemist, author), Robert Wolke (chemist, author.) It is different for the application of scientific knowledge to cooking, that is "molecular cooking" (for the technique) or "molecular cuisine" (for a culinary style), for which chefs such as Raymond Blanc, Philippe and Christian Conticini, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Pierre Gagnaire (chef).
Chemical processes central to cooking include hydrolysis (in particular beta elimination of pectins, during the thermal treatment of plant tissues), pyrolysis, and glycation reactions wrongly named Maillard reactions.
Cooking foods with heat depends on many factors: the specific heat of an object, thermal conductivity, and (perhaps most significantly) the difference in temperature between the two objects. Thermal diffusivity is the combination of specific heat, conductivity and density that determines how long it will take for the food to reach a certain temperature.
Home-cooking and commercial cooking
thumb|A restaurant kitchen in Munich, Germany (Haxnbauer restaurant)
Home cooking has traditionally been a process carried out informally in a home or around a communal fire, and can be enjoyed by all members of the family, although in many cultures women bear primary responsibility. Cooking is also often carried out outside of personal quarters, for example at restaurants, or schools. Bakeries were one of the earliest forms of cooking outside the home, and bakeries in the past often offered the cooking of pots of food provided by their customers as an additional service. In the present day, factory food preparation has become common, with many "ready-to-eat" as well as "ready-to-cook" foods being prepared and cooked in factories and home cooks using a mixture of scratch made, and factory made foods together to make a meal. The nutritional value of including more commercially prepared foods has been found to be inferior to home-made foods. Home-cooked meals tend to be healthier with fewer calories, and less saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium on a per calorie basis while providing more fiber, calcium, and iron. The ingredients are also directly sourced, so there is control over authenticity, taste, and nutritional value. The superior nutritional quality of home-cooking could therefore play a role in preventing chronic disease. Cohort studies following the elderly over 10 years show that adults who cook their own meals have significantly lower mortality, even when controlling for confounding variables.
"Home-cooking" may be associated with comfort food, and some commercially produced foods and restaurant meals are presented through advertising or packaging as having been "home-cooked", regardless of their actual origin. This trend began in the 1920s and is attributed to people in urban areas of the U.S. wanting homestyle food even though their schedules and smaller kitchens made cooking harder.
See also
Carryover cooking
Cookbook
Cooker
Cooking weights and measures
Culinary arts
Culinary profession
Cooking school
Dishwashing
Food and cooking hygiene
Food industry
Food preservation
Food writing
Foodpairing
Gourmet Museum and Library
High altitude cooking
International food terms
List of cooking appliances
List of cuisines
List of films about cooking
List of food preparation utensils
List of ovens
List of stoves
Scented water
Staple (cooking)
References
External links
Florence Nightingale (1861), Directions for Cooking by Troops, in Camp and Hospital
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Home economics
Category:Survival skills
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking
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Card game
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thumb|right|The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts
A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules with international tournaments being held, but most are folk games whose rules may vary by region, culture, location or from circle to circle.
Traditional card games are played with a deck or pack of playing cards which are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. The composition of a deck is known to each player. In some cases several decks are shuffled together to form a single pack or shoe. Modern card games usually have bespoke decks, often with a vast amount of cards, and can include number or action cards. This type of game is generally regarded as part of the board game hobby.
Games using playing cards exploit the fact that cards are individually identifiable from one side only, so that each player knows only the cards they hold and not those held by anyone else. For this reason card games are often characterized as games of "imperfect information"—as distinct from games of perfect information, where the current position is fully visible to all players throughout the game. Many games that are not generally placed in the family of card games do in fact use cards for some aspect of their play.
Some games that are placed in the card game genre involve a board. The distinction is that the play in a card game chiefly depends on the use of the cards by players (the board is a guide for scorekeeping or for card placement), while board games (the principal non-card game genre to use cards) generally focus on the players' positions on the board, and use the cards for some secondary purpose.
History
14th and 15th centuries
The earliest European mention of playing cards appears in 1371 in a Catalan language rhyme dictionary. This suggests that cards may have been "reasonably well known" in Catalonia (now part of Spain) at that time, perhaps introduced as a result of maritime trade with the Mamluk rulers of Egypt. It is not until 1408 that the first card game is described in a document about the exploits of two card sharps; although it is evidently very simple, the game is not named. In fact the earliest game to be mentioned by name is Karnöffel, first mentioned in 1426 and which is still played in several forms today, including Bruus, Knüffeln, Kaiserspiel and Styrivolt. Ronfa and Condemnade are also recorded during the 15th century.
Since the arrival of trick-taking games in Europe in the late 14th century, there have only been two major innovations. The first was the introduction of trump cards with the power to beat all cards in other suits. Such cards were initially called trionfi and first appeared with the advent of Tarot cards in which there is a separate, permanent trump suit comprising a number of picture cards. Thus games played with Tarot cards appeared very early on and spread to most parts of Europe with the notable exceptions of the British Isles, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Balkans. However, we do not know the rules of the early Tarot games; the earliest detailed description in any language being those published by the Abbé de Marolles in Nevers in 1637.
The concept of trumps was sufficiently powerful that it was soon transferred to games played with far cheaper ordinary packs of cards, as opposed to expensive Tarot cards. The first of these was Triomphe, the name simply being the French equivalent of the Italian trionfi. Although not testified before 1538, its first rules were written by a Spaniard who left his native country for Milan in 1509 never to return; thus the game may date to the late 15th century.
Others games that may well date to the 15th century are Gleek, Pochen – the game of Bocken or Boeckels being attested in Strasbourg in 1441 – and Thirty-One, which is first mentioned in a French translation of a 1440 sermon by the Italian, Saint Bernadine, the name actually referring to two different card games: one like Pontoon and one like Commerce.
16th century
In the 16th century printed documents replace handwritten sources and card games become a popular topic with preachers, autobiographists and writers in general. A key source of the games in vogue in France and Europe at that time is François Rabelais, whose fictional character Gargantua played no less than 30 card games, many of which are recognisable. They include: Aluette, Bête, Cent, Coquimbert, Coucou, Flush or Flux, Gé (Pairs), Gleek, Lansquenet, Piquet, Post and Pair, Primero, Ronfa, Triomphe, Sequence, Speculation, Tarot and Trente-et-Un; possibly Rams, Mouche and Brandeln as well. Girolamo Cardano also provides invaluable information including the earliest rules of Trappola. Among the most popular were the games of Flusso and Primiera, which originated in Italy and spread throughout Europe, becoming known in England as Flush and Primero. Another first was Losing Loadum, noted by Florio in 1591, which is the earliest known English point-trick game. In Scotland, the game of Mawe, testified in the 1550s, evolved from a country game into one played at the royal Scottish court, becoming a favorite of James VI. The ancestor of Cribbage – a game called Noddy – is mentioned for the first time in 1589, "Noddy" being the Knave turned for trump at the start of play.
17th century
The 17th century saw an upsurge in the number of new games being reported as well as the first sets of rules, those for Piquet appearing in 1632 and Reversis in 1634. Cotton records the first rules for the classic English games of Cribbage, a descendant of Noddy, and Whist, a development of English Trump or Ruff ('ruff' then meaning 'rob') in which four players were dealt 12 cards each and the dealer 'robbed' from the remaining stock of 4 cards.
Piquet was a two-player, trick-taking game that originated in France, probably in the 16th century and was initially played with 36 cards before, around 1690, the pack reduced to the 32 cards that gives the Piquet pack its name. Reversis is a reverse game in which players avoid taking tricks and appears to be an Italian invention that came to France around 1600 and spread rapidly to other countries in Europe. In Comète the aim is to be first to shed all one's hand cards to sequences laid out in rows on the table. However, there are certain cards known as 'stops' or hocs: cards that end a sequence and give the one who played it the advantage of being able to start a new sequence. This concept spread to other 17th and 18th century games including Poque, Comete, Emprunt, Manille, Nain Jaune and Lindor, all except Emprunt being still played in some form today.
It was the 17th century that saw the second of the two great innovations being introduced into trick-taking games: the concept of bidding. Ombre's origins are unclear and obfuscated by the existence of a game called Homme or Bête in France, ombre and homme being respectively Spanish and French for 'man'. In Ombre, the player who won the bidding became the "Man" and played alone against the other two. The game spread rapidly across Europe, spawning variants for different numbers of players and known as Quadrille, Quintille, Médiateur and Solo. Quadrille went on to become highly fashionable in England during the 18th century and is mentioned several times, for example, in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
The first rules of any game in the German language were those for Rümpffen published in 1608 and later expanded in several subsequent editions. In addition, the first German games compendium, Palamedes Redivivus appeared in 1678, containing the rules for Hoick (Hoc), Ombre, Picquet (sic), Rümpffen and Thurnspiel.
18th century
The evolution of card games continued apace, with notable national games emerging like Briscola and Tressette (Italy), Schafkopf (Bavaria), Jass (Switzerland), Mariage, the ancestor of Austria's Schnapsen and Germany's Sixty-Six, and Tapp Tarock, the progenitor of most modern central European Tarot games. Whist spread to the continent becoming very popular in the north and west. In France, Comet appeared, a game that later evolved into Nain Jaune and the Victorian game of Pope Joan.
Types
thumb|right|Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia
Card games may be classified in different ways: by their objective, by the equipment used (e.g. number of cards and type of suits), by country of origin or by mechanism (how the game is played). Parlett and McLeod predominantly group cards games by mechanism of which there are five categories: outplay, card exchange, hand comparison, layout and a miscellaneous category that includes combat and compendium games. These are described in the following sections.
Outplay games
Easily the largest category of games in which players have a hand of cards and must play them out to the table. Play ends when players have played all their cards.
Plain-trick games
Many common Anglo-American games fall into the category of plain-trick games. The usual objective is to take the most tricks, but variations taking all tricks, making as few tricks (or penalty cards) as possible or taking an exact number of tricks. Bridge, Whist and Spades are popular examples. Hearts, Black Lady and Black Maria are examples of reverse games in which the aim is to avoid certain cards. Plain-trick games may be divided into the following 11 groups:
Adding games
This is a small group whose ancestor is Noddy, now extinct, but which generated the far more interesting games of Costly Colours and Cribbage. Players play in turn and add the values of the cards as they go. The aim is to reach or avoid certain totals and also to score for certain combinations.
Fishing games
In fishing games, cards from the hand are played against cards in a layout on the table, capturing table cards if they match. Fishing games are popular in many nations, including China, where there are many diverse fishing games. Scopa is considered one of the national card games of Italy. Cassino is the only fishing game to be widely played in English-speaking countries. Zwicker has been described as a "simpler and jollier version of Cassino", played in Germany. Tablanet (tablić) is a fishing-style game popular in Balkans.
Matching games
The object of a matching (or sometimes "melding") game is to acquire particular groups of matching cards before an opponent can do so. In Rummy, this is done through drawing and discarding, and the groups are called melds. Mahjong is a very similar game played with tiles instead of cards. Non-Rummy examples of match-type games generally fall into the "fishing" genre and include the children's games Go Fish and Old Maid.
War group
In games of the war group, also called "catch and collect games" or "accumulating games", the object is to acquire all cards in the deck. Examples include most War type games, and games involving slapping a discard pile such as Slapjack. Egyptian Ratscrew has both of these features.
Climbing games
Climbing games are an Oriental family in which the idea is to play a higher card or combination of cards than the one just played. Alternatively a player must pass or may choose to pass even if able to beat. The sole Western example is the game of President, which is probably derived from an Asian game.
Card exchange games
Card exchange games form another large category in which players exchange a card or cards from their hands with table cards or with other players with the aim, typically, of collecting specific cards or card combinations. Games of the rummy family are the best known.
Draw and discard group
In these games players draw a card from stock, make a move if possible or desired, and then discard a card to a discard pile. Almost all the games of this group are in the rummy family, but Golf is a non-rummy example.
Commerce group
As the name might suggest, players exchange hand cards with a common pool of cards on the table. Examples include Schwimmen, Kemps, James Bond and Whisky Poker. They originated in the old European games of Thirty-One and Commerce.
Cuckoo group
A very old round game played in different forms in different countries. Players are dealt just one card and may try and swap it with a neighbor to avoid having the lowest card or, sometimes, certain penalty cards. The old French game is Coucou and its later English cousin is Ranter Go Round, also called Chase the Ace and Screw Your Neighbour.
A family of such games played with special cards includes Italian Cucù, Scandinavian Gnav, Austrian Hexenspiel and German Vogelspiel.
Quartet group
Games involving collecting sets of cards, the best known of which is Happy Families. Highly successful is its German equivalent, Quartett, which may be played with a Skat pack, but is much more commonly played with proprietary packs.
Card passing group
Games involving passing cards to your neighbors. The classic game is Old Maid which may, however, be derived from German Black Peter and related to the French game of Vieux Garçon. Pig, with its variations of Donkey and Spoons, is also popular.
Layout games
Patience or solitaire games
Most patience or card solitaire games are designed to be played by one player, but some are designed for two or more players to compete.
Connecting games
The most common of these is Card Dominoes also known as Fan Tan or Parliament in which the idea is to build the four suits in sequence from a central card (the 7 in 52-card games or the Unter in 32-card packs). The winner is the first out and the loser the last left in holding cards.
Poker games
Poker is a family of gambling games in which players bet into a pool, called the pot, the value of which changes as the game progresses that the value of the hand they carry will beat all others according to the ranking system. Variants largely differ on how cards are dealt and the methods by which players can improve a hand. For many reasons, including its age and its popularity among Western militaries, it is one of the most universally known card games in existence.
Banking games
These are gambling games played for money or chips in which players compete, not against one another, but against a banker. They are commonly played in casinos, but many have become domesticized, played at home for sweets, matchsticks or points. In casino games, the banker will have a 'house advantage' that ensures a profit for the casino. Popular casino games include Blackjack and Baccarat, while Pontoon is a cousin of Blackjack that emerged from the trenches of the First World War to become a popular British family game.
Miscellaneous games
These games do not fit into any of the foregoing categories. The only traditional games in this group are the compendium games, which date back at least 200 years, and Speculation, a 19th century trading game.
Compendium games
Compendium games consist of a sequence of different contracts played in succession. A common pattern is for a number of reverse deals to be played, in which the aim is to avoid certain cards, followed by a final contract which is a domino-type game. Examples include: Barbu, Herzeln, Lorum and Rosbiratschka. In other games, such as Quodlibet and Rumpel, there is a range of widely varying contracts.
Combat games
A new genre not recorded before 1970, most of which use proprietary cards of the collectible card game type (see below). The earliest example is Cuttle and the best known is Magic: The Gathering.
Card games by objective
Another broad way of classifying card games is by objective. There are four main types as well as a handful of games that have miscellaneous objectives.
Capturing games
In these games the objective is to capture cards or to avoid capturing them. These break down into the following:
Most cards. The aim is to capture as many cards as possible. Most plain trick games fall into this group.
Fewest cards. Common in compendium games, otherwise rare. Often occurs as a contract within a game known as a Misère, Bettel, Null or Nolo.
Exact number of cards. To win games of the exact bidding group a player must take the exact number of tricks bid.
Most points. In point-trick games and most fishing games, the aim is to capture the most points in cards.
Fewest points. Some or all cards incur penalty points and so the aim is to capture as few points as possible.
Exact points. A small group in which players aim to score a specific number of points e.g. Differenzler Jass.
Most or fewest points. In some Jass games e.g. Molotov, the aim is to secure either the most or fewest points, leaving the player in the middle as the loser.
Win last trick. In games like Tuppen, the player who takes the last trick wins; all earlier tricks are irrelevant. Some games also have a bonus or extra points for winning the last trick or winning it with a specific card.
Lose last trick. In a few games, e.g. Krypkille, the aim is to lose the last trick.
Mixed objectives. Some games, e.g. Kaiser, have both positive and negative point cards.
Shedding games
In a shedding game, also called an accumulating game, players start with a hand of cards, and the object of the game is to be the first player to discard all cards from one's hand. Common shedding games include Crazy Eights (commercialized by Mattel as Uno) and Daihinmin. Similar games are Switch, Mau Mau or Whot!. Some matching-type games are also shedding-type games; some variants of Rummy such as Paskahousu, Phase 10, Rummikub, the bluffing game I Doubt It, and the children's games Musta Maija and Old Maid, fall into both categories.
Combination games
In many games, the aim is to form combinations of cards: by addition, by matching sets or forming sequences. All Rummy games are based on the last two principles, although in the basic variants, the end objective is to shed cards which makes them shedding games (see above). However, meld scoring variants such as Canasta or Rommé are true combination games.
Comparing games
Comparing card games are those where hand values are compared to determine the winner, also known as "vying" or "showdown" games. Poker, blackjack, mus, and baccarat are examples of comparing card games. As seen, nearly all of these games are designed as gambling games.
Drinking games
Drinking card games are drinking games using cards, in which the object in playing the game is either to drink or to force others to drink. Many games are ordinary card games with the establishment of "drinking rules"; President, for instance, is virtually identical to Daihinmin but with additional rules governing drinking. Poker can also be played using a number of drinks as the wager. Another game often played as a drinking game is Toepen, quite popular in the Netherlands. Some card games are designed specifically to be played as drinking games.
Proprietary games
These are card games played with a dedicated deck. Many other card games have been designed and published on a commercial or amateur basis. In a few cases, the game uses the standard 52-card deck, but the object is unique. In Eleusis, for example, players play single cards, and are told whether the play was legal or illegal, in an attempt to discover the underlying rules made up by the dealer.
Most of these games however typically use a specially made deck of cards designed specifically for the game (or variations of it). The decks are thus usually proprietary, but may be created by the game's players. Uno, Phase 10, Set, and 1000 Blank White Cards are popular dedicated-deck card games; 1000 Blank White Cards is unique in that the cards for the game are designed by the players of the game while playing it; there is no commercially available deck advertised as such.
Collectible card games (CCGs)
Collectible card games (CCG) are proprietary playing card games. CCGs are games of strategy between two or more players. Each player has their own deck constructed from a very large pool of unique cards in the commercial market. The cards have different effects, costs, and art. New card sets are released periodically and sold as starter decks or booster packs. Obtaining the different cards makes the game a collectible card game, and cards are sold or traded on the secondary market. Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! are well-known collectible card games.
Living card games (LCGs)
Living card games (LCGs) are similar to collectible card games (CCGs), with their most distinguishing feature being a fixed distribution method, which breaks away from the traditional collectible card game format. While new cards for CCGs are usually sold in the form of starter decks or booster packs (the latter being often randomized), LCGs thrive on a model that requires players to acquire one core set in order to play the game, which players can further customize by acquiring extra sets or expansions featuring new content in the form of cards or scenarios. No randomization is involved in the process, thus players that get the same sets or expansions will get the exact same content. The term was popularized by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) and mainly applies to its products, however some tabletop gaming companies can be seen using a very similar model.
Simulation card games
A deck of either customized dedicated cards or a standard deck of playing cards with assigned meanings is used to simulate the actions of another activity, for example card football.
Fictional card games
Many games, including card games, are fabricated by science fiction authors and screenwriters to distance a culture depicted in the story from present-day Western culture. They are commonly used as filler to depict background activities in an atmosphere like a bar or rec room, but sometimes the drama revolves around the play of the game. Some of these games become real card games as the holder of the intellectual property develops and markets a suitable deck and ruleset for the game, while others lack sufficient descriptions of rules, or depend on cards or other hardware that are infeasible or physically impossible.
Typical structure of card games
Number and association of players
thumb|The Card Players, 1895 by Paul Cézanne
thumb|Historically, card games such as whist and contract bridge were opportunities for quiet socializing, as shown in this 1930s magic lantern slide photo taken in Seattle, Washington.
Any specific card game imposes restrictions on the number of players. The most significant dividing lines run between one-player games and two-player games, and between two-player games and multi-player games. Card games for one player are known as solitaire or patience card games. (See list of solitaire card games.) Generally speaking, they are in many ways special and atypical, although some of them have given rise to two- or multi-player games such as Spite and Malice.
In card games for two players, usually not all cards are distributed to the players, as they would otherwise have perfect information about the game state. Two-player games have always been immensely popular and include some of the most significant card games such as piquet, bezique, sixty-six, klaberjass, gin rummy and cribbage. Many multi-player games started as two-player games that were adapted to a greater number of players. For such adaptations a number of non-obvious choices must be made beginning with the choice of a game orientation.
One way of extending a two-player game to more players is by building two teams of equal size. A common case is four players in two fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise as in whist and contract bridge. Partners sit opposite to each other and cannot see each other's hands. If communication between the partners is allowed at all, then it is usually restricted to a specific list of permitted signs and signals. 17th-century French partnership games such as triomphe were special in that partners sat next to each other and were allowed to communicate freely so long as they did not exchange cards or play out of order.
Another way of extending a two-player game to more players is as a cut-throat or individual game, in which all players play for themselves, and win or lose alone. Most such card games are round games, i.e. they can be played by any number of players starting from two or three, so long as there are enough cards for all.
For some of the most interesting games such as ombre, tarot and skat, the associations between players change from hand to hand. Ultimately players all play on their own, but for each hand, some game mechanism divides the players into two teams. Most typically these are solo games, i.e. games in which one player becomes the soloist and has to achieve some objective against the others, who form a team and win or lose all their points jointly. But in games for more than three players, there may also be a mechanism that selects two players who then have to play against the others.
Direction of play
The players of a card game normally form a circle around a table or other space that can hold cards. The game orientation or direction of play, which is only relevant for three or more players, can be either clockwise or counterclockwise. It is the direction in which various roles in the game proceed. (In real-time card games, there may be no need for a direction of play.) Most regions have a traditional direction of play, such as:
Counterclockwise in most of Asia and in Latin America.
Clockwise in North America and Australia.
Europe is roughly divided into a clockwise area in the north and a counterclockwise area in the south. The boundary runs between England, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Austria (mostly), Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia (clockwise) and France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Balkans, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (counterclockwise).
Games that originate in a region with a strong preference are often initially played in the original direction, even in regions that prefer the opposite direction. For games that have official rules and are played in tournaments, the direction of play is often prescribed in those rules.
Determining who deals
Most games have some form of asymmetry between players. The roles of players are normally expressed in terms of the dealer, i.e. the player whose task it is to shuffle the cards and distribute them to the players. Being the dealer can be a (minor or major) advantage or disadvantage, depending on the game. Therefore, after each played hand, the deal normally passes to the next player according to the game orientation.
As it can still be an advantage or disadvantage to be the first dealer, there are some standard methods for determining who is the first dealer. A common method is by cutting, which works as follows. One player shuffles the deck and places it on the table. Each player lifts a packet of cards from the top, reveals its bottom card, and returns it to the deck. The player who reveals the highest (or lowest) card becomes dealer. In the case of a tie, the process is repeated by the tied players. For some games such as whist this process of cutting is part of the official rules, and the hierarchy of cards for the purpose of cutting (which need not be the same as that used otherwise in the game) is also specified. But in general, any method can be used, such as tossing a coin in case of a two-player game, drawing cards until one player draws an ace, or rolling dice.
Hands, rounds and games
A hand, also called a deal, is a unit of the game that begins with the dealer shuffling and dealing the cards as described below, and ends with the players scoring and the next dealer being determined. The set of cards that each player receives and holds in his or her hands is also known as that player's hand.
The hand is over when the players have finished playing their hands. Most often this occurs when one player (or all) has no cards left. The player who sits after the dealer in the direction of play is known as eldest hand (or in two-player games as elder hand) or forehand. A game round consists of as many hands as there are players. After each hand, the deal is passed on in the direction of play, i.e. the previous eldest hand becomes the new dealer. Normally players score points after each hand. A game may consist of a fixed number of rounds. Alternatively it can be played for a fixed number of points. In this case it is over with the hand in which a player reaches the target score.
Shuffling
Shuffling is the process of bringing the cards of a pack into a random order. There are a large number of techniques with various advantages and disadvantages. Riffle shuffling is a method in which the deck is divided into two roughly equal-sized halves that are bent and then released, so that the cards interlace. Repeating this process several times randomizes the deck well, but the method is harder to learn than some others and may damage the cards. The overhand shuffle and the Hindu shuffle are two techniques that work by taking batches of cards from the top of the deck and reassembling them in the opposite order. They are easier to learn but must be repeated more to sufficiently randomize the deck. A method suitable for small children consists in spreading the cards on a large surface and moving them around before picking up the deck again. This is also the most common method for shuffling tiles such as dominoes.
For casino games that are played for large sums it is vital that the cards be properly randomized, but for many games this is less critical, and in fact player experience can suffer when the cards are shuffled too well. The official skat rules stipulate that the cards are shuffled well, but according to a decision of the German skat court, a one-handed player should ask another player to do the shuffling, rather than use a shuffling machine, as it would shuffle the cards too well. French belote rules go so far as to prescribe that the deck never be shuffled between hands.
Dealing
The dealer takes all of the cards in the pack, arranges them so that they are in a uniform stack, and shuffles them. In strict play, the dealer then offers the deck to the previous player (in the sense of the game direction) for cutting. If the deal is clockwise, this is the player to the dealer's right; if counterclockwise, it is the player to the dealer's left. The invitation to cut is made by placing the pack, face downward, on the table near the player who is to cut: who then lifts the upper portion of the pack clear of the lower portion and places it alongside. (Normally the two portions have about equal size. Strict rules often indicate that each portion must contain a certain minimum number of cards, such as three or five.) The formerly lower portion is then replaced on top of the formerly upper portion. Instead of cutting, one may also knock on the deck to indicate that one trusts the dealer to have shuffled fairly.
The actual deal (distribution of cards) is done in the direction of play, beginning with eldest hand. The dealer holds the pack, face down, in one hand, and removes cards from the top of it with his or her other hand to distribute to the players, placing them face down on the table in front of the players to whom they are dealt. The cards may be dealt one at a time, or in batches of more than one card; and either the entire pack or a determined number of cards are dealt out. The undealt cards, if any, are left face down in the middle of the table, forming the stock (also called the talon, widow, skat or kitty depending on the game and region).
Throughout the shuffle, cut, and deal, the dealer should prevent the players from seeing the faces of any of the cards. The players should not try to see any of the faces. Should a player accidentally see a card, other than one's own, proper etiquette would be to admit this. It is also dishonest to try to see cards as they are dealt, or to take advantage of having seen a card. Should a card accidentally become exposed, (visible to all), any player can demand a redeal (all the cards are gathered up, and the shuffle, cut, and deal are repeated) or that the card be replaced randomly into the deck ("burning" it) and a replacement dealt from the top to the player who was to receive the revealed card.
When the deal is complete, all players pick up their cards, or "hand", and hold them in such a way that the faces can be seen by the holder of the cards but not the other players, or vice versa depending on the game. It is helpful to fan one's cards out so that if they have corner indices all their values can be seen at once. In most games, it is also useful to sort one's hand, rearranging the cards in a way appropriate to the game. For example, in a trick-taking game it may be easier to have all one's cards of the same suit together, whereas in a rummy game one might sort them by rank or by potential combinations.
Signalling
Normally communication between partners about tactics or the cards in their hands is forbidden. However, in a small number of games communication and/or signaling is permitted and very much part of the play. Most of these games are very old and, often, have rules of play that allow any card to be played at any time. Such games include:
Karnöffel, the oldest card game in Europe still played in some form today, played with German-suited cards, and its surviving descendants:
Knüffeln (north Germany) and Styrivolt (Faroes) played with 48 French-suited cards
Kaiserspiel, Swiss game with a Swiss-suited pack of 48 cards
Mus, a Basque game known since the 18th century, played with a Spanish deck of forty cards;
Brisca, a Spanish game adapted from the French Brisque, is played with a Spanish pack of forty cards;
Watten, a Bavarian and Austrian game, is played with 36 German-suited cards;
Perlaggen, a Tyrolean game played with 33 German-suited cards;
Truc y Flou, a card game of Aragonese origin.
Trut or Truc, reported in the west of France from the 16th century, also known in Catalonia and South America (as Truco).
Rules
A new card game starts in a small way, either as someone's invention, or as a modification of an existing game. Those playing it may agree to change the rules as they wish. The rules that they agree on become the "house rules" under which they play the game. A set of house rules may be accepted as valid by a group of players wherever they play, as it may also be accepted as governing all play within a particular house, café, or club.
When a game becomes sufficiently popular, so that people often play it with strangers, there is a need for a generally accepted set of rules. This need is often met when a particular set of house rules becomes generally recognized. For example, when Whist became popular in 18th-century England, players in the Portland Club agreed on a set of house rules for use on its premises. Players in some other clubs then agreed to follow the "Portland Club" rules, rather than go to the trouble of codifying and printing their own sets of rules. The Portland Club rules eventually became generally accepted throughout England and Western cultures.
There is nothing static or "official" about this process. For the majority of games, there is no one set of universal rules by which the game is played, and the most common ruleset is no more or less than that. Many widely played card games, such as Canasta and Pinochle, have no official regulating body. The most common ruleset is often determined by the most popular distribution of rulebooks for card games. Perhaps the original compilation of popular playing card games was collected by Edmund Hoyle, a self-made authority on many popular parlor games. The U.S. Playing Card Company now owns the eponymous Hoyle brand, and publishes a series of rulebooks for various families of card games that have largely standardized the games' rules in countries and languages where the rulebooks are widely distributed. However, players are free to, and often do, invent "house rules" to supplement or even largely replace the "standard" rules.
If there is a sense in which a card game can have an official set of rules, it is when that card game has an "official" governing body. For example, the rules of tournament bridge are governed by the World Bridge Federation, and by local bodies in various countries such as the American Contract Bridge League in the U.S., and the English Bridge Union in England. The rules of skat are governed by The International Skat Players Association and, in Germany, by the Deutscher Skatverband which publishes the Skatordnung. The rules of French tarot are governed by the Fédération Française de Tarot. The rules of Schafkopf are laid down by the Schafkopfschule in Munich. Even in these cases, the rules must only be followed at games sanctioned by these governing bodies or where the tournament organisers specify them. Players in informal settings are free to implement agreed supplemental or substitute rules. For example, in Schafkopf there are numerous local variants sometimes known as "impure" Schafkopf and specified by assuming the official rules and describing the additions e.g. "with Geier and Bettel, tariff 5/10 cents".
Rule infractions
An infraction is any action which is against the rules of the game, such as playing a card when it is not one's turn to play or the accidental exposure of a card, informally known as "bleeding."
In many official sets of rules for card games, the rules specifying the penalties for various infractions occupy more pages than the rules specifying how to play correctly. This is tedious but necessary for games that are played seriously. Players who intend to play a card game at a high level generally ensure before beginning that all agree on the penalties to be used. When playing privately, this will normally be a question of agreeing house rules. In a tournament, there will probably be a tournament director who will enforce the rules when required and arbitrate in cases of doubt.
If a player breaks the rules of a game deliberately, this is cheating. The rest of this section is therefore about accidental infractions, caused by ignorance, clumsiness, inattention, etc.
As the same game is played repeatedly among a group of players, precedents build up about how a particular infraction of the rules should be handled. For example, "Sheila just led a card when it wasn't her turn. Last week when Jo did that, we agreed ... etc." Sets of such precedents tend to become established among groups of players, and to be regarded as part of the house rules. Sets of house rules may become formalized, as described in the previous section. Therefore, for some games, there is a "proper" way of handling infractions of the rules. But for many games, without governing bodies, there is no standard way of handling infractions.
In many circumstances, there is no need for special rules dealing with what happens after an infraction. As a general principle, the person who broke a rule should not benefit from it, and the other players should not lose by it. An exception to this may be made in games with fixed partnerships, in which it may be felt that the partner(s) of the person who broke a rule should also not benefit. The penalty for an accidental infraction should be as mild as reasonable, consistent with there being a possible benefit to the person responsible.
Playing cards
thumb|left|upright=.75|A Chinese playing card dated 1400 AD, Ming dynasty
The oldest surviving reference to the card game in world history is from the 9th century China, when the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang, written by Tang-dynasty writer Su E, described Princess Tongchang (daughter of Emperor Yizong of Tang) playing the "leaf game" with members of the Wei clan (the family of the princess's husband) in 868 . The Song dynasty statesman and historian Ouyang Xiu has noted that paper playing cards arose in connection to an earlier development in the book format from scrolls to pages. The earliest European references speak of a Saracen or Moorish game called naib, and in fact an almost complete Mamluk Egyptian deck of 52 cards in a distinct oriental design has survived from around the same time, with the four suits swords, polo sticks, cups and coins and the ranks king, governor, second governor, and ten to one.
The 1430s in Italy saw the invention of the tarot deck, a full Latin-suited deck augmented by suitless cards with painted motifs that played a special role as trumps. Tarot card games are still played with (subsets of) these decks in parts of Central Europe. A full tarot deck contains 14 cards in each suit; low cards labeled 1–10, and court cards (jack), (cavalier/knight), (queen), and (king), plus the fool or excuse card, and 21 trump cards. In the 18th century the card images of the traditional Italian tarot decks became popular in cartomancy and evolved into "esoteric" decks used primarily for the purpose; today most tarot decks sold in North America are the occult type, and are closely associated with fortune telling. In Europe, "playing tarot" decks remain popular for games, and have evolved since the 18th century to use regional suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs in France; leaves, hearts, bells and acorns in Germany) as well as other familiar aspects of the English-pattern pack such as corner card indices and "stamped" card symbols for non-court cards. Decks differ regionally based on the number of cards needed to play the games; the French tarot consists of the "full" 78 cards, while Germanic, Spanish and Italian Tarot variants remove certain values (usually low suited cards) from the deck, creating a deck with as few as 32 cards.
The French suits were introduced around 1480 and, in France, mostly replaced the earlier Latin suits of swords, clubs, cups and coins.
Chinese handmade mother-of-pearl gaming counters were used in scoring and bidding of card games in the West during the approximate period of 1700–1840. The gaming counters would bear an engraving such as a coat of arms or a monogram to identify a family or individual. Many of the gaming counters also depict Chinese scenes, flowers or animals. Queen Charlotte is one prominent British individual who is known to have played with the Chinese gaming counters. Card games such as Ombre, Quadrille and Pope Joan were popular at the time and required counters for scoring. The production of counters declined after Whist, with its different scoring method, became the most popular card game in the West.
Based on the association of card games and gambling, Pope Benedict XIV banned card games on October 17, 1750.
See also
Game of chance
Game of skill
R. F. Foster (games)
Henry Jones (writer) who wrote under the pseudonym "Cavendish"
John Scarne
Dice game
List of card games by number of cards
References
Bibliography
Depaulis, Thierry (1985). "Le Jeu de Cartes: Quelques Regles du Passe" in The Playing-Card. Vol. XIII (3). February 1985. pp. 74–80.
Depaulis, Thierry (1990). "Pochspiel: an 'International' Card Game of the 15th Century – Part I" in The Playing-Card, Vol. 19, No. 2 (November 1990), pp. 52–67.
Florio, John (1591). Second Frutes. London: Woodcock.
Parlett, David (2007). "The origins of Euchre" in The Playing-Card, 35 (4), Apr–June 2007. pp. 255–261.
Parlett, David (1991). A History of Card Games, OUP, Oxford.
* Skelton (1522). Why not to Court. Cited in the OED. See David Parlett's article: Laugh and Lie Down.
External links
International Playing Card Society
Rules for historic card games
Collection of rules to many card games
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Cross-stitch
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, Germany]]
Cross-stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches (called cross stitches) in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a piece of evenweave fabric (such as linen) in each direction so that the stitches are of uniform size and appearance. This form of cross-stitch is also called counted cross-stitch in order to distinguish it from other forms of cross-stitch. Sometimes cross-stitch is done on designs printed on the fabric (stamped cross-stitch); the stitcher simply stitches over the printed pattern. Cross-stitch is often executed on easily countable fabric called aida cloth, whose weave creates a plainly visible grid of squares with holes for the needle at each corner.
Fabrics used in cross-stitch include linen, aida cloth, and mixed-content fabrics called 'evenweave' such as jobelan. All cross-stitch fabrics are technically "evenweave" as the term refers to the fact that the fabric is woven to make sure that there are the same number of threads per inch in both the warp and the weft (i.e. vertically and horizontally). Fabrics are categorized by threads per inch (referred to as 'count'), which can range from 11 to 40 count.
Counted cross-stitch projects are worked from a gridded pattern called a chart and can be used on any count fabric; the count of the fabric and the number of threads per stitch determine the size of the finished stitching. For example, if a given design is stitched on a 28 count cross-stitch fabric with each cross worked over two threads, the finished stitching size is the same as it would be on a 14 count aida cloth fabric with each cross worked over one square. These methods are referred to as "2 over 2" (2 embroidery threads used to stitch over 2 fabric threads) and "1 over 1" (1 embroidery thread used to stitch over 1 fabric thread or square), respectively. There are different methods of stitching a pattern, including the cross-country method where one colour is stitched at a time, or the parking method where one block of fabric is stitched at a time and the end of the thread is "parked" at the next point the same colour occurs in the pattern.History
Cross-stitch can be found all over the world since the Middle Ages. Many folk museums show examples of clothing decorated with cross-stitch, especially from continental Europe and Asia.
The cross-stitch sampler is called that because it was generally stitched by a young girl to learn how to stitch and to record alphabet and other patterns to be used in her household sewing. These samples of her stitching could be referred back to over the years. Often, motifs and initials were stitched on household items to identify their owner, or simply to decorate the otherwise-plain cloth. The earliest known cross stitch sampler made in the United States is currently housed at Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The sampler was created by Loara Standish, daughter of Captain Myles Standish and pioneer of the Leviathan stitch, circa 1653., mid-twentieth century.]]
Traditionally, cross-stitch was used to embellish items like household linens, tablecloths, dishcloths, and doilies (only a small portion of which would actually be embroidered, such as a border). Although there are many cross-stitchers who still employ it in this fashion, it is now increasingly popular to work the pattern on pieces of fabric and hang them on the wall for decoration. Cross-stitch is also often used to make greeting cards, pillow tops, or as inserts for box tops, coasters and trivets.
. Top half of picture is the reverse side.]]
Multicoloured, shaded, painting-like patterns as we know them today are a fairly modern development, deriving from similar shaded patterns of Berlin wool work of the mid-nineteenth century. Besides designs created expressly for cross-stitch, there are software programs that convert a photograph or a fine art image into a chart suitable for stitching. One example of this is in the cross-stitched reproduction of the Sistine Chapel charted and stitched by Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts.
There are many cross-stitching "guilds" and groups across the United States and Europe which offer classes, collaborate on large projects, stitch for charity, and provide other ways for local cross-stitchers to get to know one another. Individually owned local needlework shops (LNS) often have stitching nights at their shops, or host weekend stitching retreats.
Today, cotton floss is the most common embroidery thread. It is a thread made of mercerized cotton, composed of six strands that are only loosely twisted together and easily separable. While there are other manufacturers, the two most-commonly used (and oldest) brands are DMC and Anchor, both of which have been manufacturing embroidery floss since the 1800s.
Other materials used are pearl (or perle) cotton, Danish flower thread, silk and Rayon. Different wool threads, metallic threads or other novelty threads are also used, sometimes for the whole work, but often for accents and embellishments. Hand-dyed cross-stitch floss is created just as the name implies—it is dyed by hand. Because of this, there are variations in the amount of color throughout the thread. Some variations can be subtle, while some can be a huge contrast. Some also have more than one color per thread.
Cross-stitch is widely used in traditional Palestinian dressmaking. Palestinian cross stitch is called tatreez. In 2021, tatreez was added to the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Related stitches and forms of embroidery
The cross-stitch can be executed partially such as in quarter-, half-, and three-quarter-stitches. A single straight stitch, done in the form of backstitching, is often used as an outline, to add detail or definition.
There are many stitches which are related structurally to cross-stitch. The best known are Italian cross-stitch (as seen in Assisi embroidery), long-armed cross-stitch, and Montenegrin stitch. Italian cross-stitch and Montenegrin stitch are reversible, meaning the work looks the same on both sides. These styles have a slightly different look than ordinary cross-stitch. These more difficult stitches are rarely used in mainstream embroidery, but they are still used to recreate historical pieces of embroidery or by the creative and adventurous stitcher. The double cross-stitch, also known as a Leviathan stitch or Smyrna cross-stitch, combines a cross-stitch with an upright cross-stitch.
Berlin wool work and similar petit point stitchery resembles the heavily shaded, opulent styles of cross-stitch, and sometimes also used charted patterns on paper.
Cross-stitch is often combined with other popular forms of embroidery, such as Hardanger embroidery or blackwork embroidery. Cross-stitch may also be combined with other work, such as canvaswork or drawn thread work. Beadwork and other embellishments such as paillettes, charms, small buttons and specialty threads of various kinds may also be used. Cross stitch can often be used in needlepoint.
Twenty first century cross stitch trends
Cross-stitch has become increasingly popular with the younger generation of Europe in recent years. Retailers such as John Lewis experienced a 17% rise in sales of haberdashery products between 2009 and 2010. Hobbycraft, a chain of stores selling craft supplies, also enjoyed an 11% increase in sales over the year to February 22, 2009 primarily attributed to the needlework sector. The cross stitch market has continued to grow and market research firm Mintel reported a 12% rise in women doing some sort of needlecraft as a hobby between 2015 and 2017. London department store Liberty's, reported double-digit growth in the fabric and haberdashery departments in 2017 and the store increased its range by 25%.
Knitting and cross-stitching have become more popular hobbies for a younger market, in contrast to its traditional reputation as a hobby for retirees. Sewing and craft groups such as Stitch and Bitch London have resurrected the idea of the traditional craft club. At Clothes Show Live 2010 there was a new area called "Sknitch" promoting modern sewing, knitting and embroidery.
In a departure from the traditional designs associated with cross-stitch, there is a current trend for more postmodern or tongue-in-cheek designs featuring retro images or contemporary sayings. It is linked to a concept known as 'subversive cross-stitch', which involves more risque designs, often fusing the traditional sampler style with sayings designed to shock or be incongruous with the old-fashioned image of cross-stitch.
Stitching designs on other materials can be accomplished by using waste canvas. This is a temporary gridded canvas similar to regular canvas used for embroidery that is held together by a water-soluble glue, which is removed after completion of stitch design. Soluble canvas serves a similar purpose and is entirely dissolved in water after finishing a design. Other crafters have taken to cross-stitching on all manner of gridded objects as well including old kitchen strainers or chain-link fences.
While cross stitch is traditionally a women's craft, it is growing in popularity among men. Cross-stitch and feminism In the 21st century, an emphasis on feminist design has emerged within cross-stitch communities. Some cross-stitchers have commented on the way that the practice of embroidery makes them feel connected to the women who practised it before them. There is a push for all embroidery, including cross-stitch, to be respected as a significant art form.
Cross-stitch and computers
The development of computer technology has also affected such a seemingly conservative craft as cross-stitch. With the help of computer visualization algorithms, it is now possible to create embroidery designs using a photograph or any other picture. Visualisation uses a drawing on a graphical grid, representing colors and / or symbols, which gives the user an indication of the possible use of colors, the position of those colors, and the type of stitch used, such as full cross or quarter stitch. Flosstube An increasingly popular activity for cross-stitchers is to watch and make YouTube videos detailing their hobby. Flosstubers, as they are known, typically cover WIPs (Works in Progress), FOs (Finished Objects), and Haul (new patterns, thread, and fabric, as well as cross-stitching accessories, such as needle minders). Other accessories include but are not limited to: Floss organizers, thread conditioner, pin cushions, aida cloth or plastic canvas, and embroidery needles. See also
* Mosaic
* Pixel art
* Embroidery
Notes
References
* Caulfield, S. F. A., and B. C. Saward, The Dictionary of Needlework, 1885.
* Enthoven, Jacqueline: The Creative Stitches of Embroidery, Van Norstrand Rheinhold, 1964, .
* Gillow, John, and Bryan Sentance: World Textiles, Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown, 1999, .
* Reader's Digest, Complete Guide to Needlework. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (March 1992) .
External links
* Articles related to the recent comeback in popularity of cross stitch. [https://lordlibidan.com/is-cross-stitch-dead/ "Is Cross Stitch Dead?"]
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Category:Embroidery stitches
Category:Sewing stitches
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Casino game
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thumb|right|upright=1.2|Slot machines are a popular type of casino game
Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, where permitted by law. Casino games can also be played outside of casinos for entertainment purposes, like in parties or in school competitions, on machines that simulate gambling.
Categories
thumb|right|Overhead view of a casino floor with table games (bottom) and slot machines
There are three general categories of casino games: gaming machines, table games, and random number games. Gaming machines, such as slot machines and pachinko, are usually played by one player at a time and do not require the involvement of casino employees. Tables games, such as blackjack or craps, involve one or more players who are competing against the house (the casino itself) rather than each other. Table games are usually conducted by casino employees known as croupiers or dealers. Random number games are based on the selection of random numbers, either from a computerized random number generator or from other gaming equipment. Random number games may be played at a table or through the purchase of paper tickets or cards, such as keno or bingo.
Some casino games combine multiple of the above aspects; for example, roulette is a table game conducted by a dealer, that involves random numbers. Casinos may also offer other types of gaming, such as hosting poker games or tournaments where players compete against each other.
Common casino games
Games commonly found at casinos include table games, gaming machines and random number games.
Table games
In the United States, 'table game' is the term used for games of chance such as blackjack, craps, roulette, and baccarat that are played against the casino and operated by one or more live croupiers, as opposed to those played on a mechanical device like a slot machine or against other players instead of the casino, such as standard poker.
Table games are popularly played in casinos and involve some form of legal gambling, but they are also played privately under varying house rules. The term has significance in that some jurisdictions permit casinos to have only slots and no table games. In some states, this law has resulted in casinos employing electronic table games, such as roulette, blackjack, and craps.
Table games found in casinos include:
Baccarat
Blackjack
Craps
Roulette
Poker (Texas hold'em, Five-card draw, Omaha hold'em)
Big Six wheel
Pool
Gaming machines
Gaming machines found in casinos include:
Pachinko
Slot machine
Video lottery terminal
Video poker
Random numbers games
Random numbers games found in casinos include:
Bingo
Keno
House advantage
Casino games typically provide a predictable long-term advantage to the casino, or "house", while offering the players the possibility of a short-term gain that in some cases can be large. Some casino games have a skill element, where the players' decisions have an impact on the results. Players possessing sufficient skills to eliminate the inherent long-term disadvantage (the house edge or vigorish) in a casino game are referred to as advantage players.
The players' disadvantage is a result of the casino not paying winning wagers according to the game's "true odds", which are the payouts that would be expected considering the odds of a wager either winning or losing. For example, if a game is played by wagering on the number that would result from the roll of one die, the true odds would be 6 times the amount wagered since there is a 1 in 6 chance of any single number appearing, assuming that the player gets the original amount wagered back. However, the casino may only pay 4 times the amount wagered for a winning wager.
The house edge, or vigorish, is defined as the casino profit expressed as a percentage of the player's original bet. (In games such as blackjack or Spanish 21, the final bet may be several times the original bet, if the player doubles and splits.)
In American roulette, there are two "zeroes" (0, 00) and 36 non-zero numbers (18 red and 18 black). This leads to a higher house edge compared to European roulette. The chances of a player, who bets 1 unit on red, winning are 18/38 and his chances of losing 1 unit are 20/38. The player's expected value is EV (18/38 × 1) + (20/38 × (−1)) 18/38 − 20/38 −2/38 −5.26%. Therefore, the house edge is 5.26%. After 10 spins, betting 1 unit per spin, the average house profit will be 10 × 1 × 5.26% 0.53 units. European roulette wheels have only one "zero" and therefore the house advantage (ignoring the en prison rule) is equal to 1/37 2.7%.
The house edge of casino games varies greatly with the game, with some games having an edge as low as 0.3%. Keno can have house edges of up to 25%, slot machines having up to 15%.
The calculation of the roulette house edge is a trivial exercise; for other games, this is not usually the case. Combinatorial analysis and/or computer simulation is necessary to complete the task.
In games that have a skill element, such as blackjack or Spanish 21, the house edge is defined as the house advantage from optimal play (without the use of advanced techniques such as card counting), on the first hand of the shoe (the container that holds the cards). The set of optimal plays for all possible hands is known as "basic strategy" and is highly dependent on the specific rules and even the number of decks used.
Traditionally, the majority of casinos have refused to reveal the house edge information for their slots games, and due to the unknown number of symbols and weightings of the reels, in most cases, it is much more difficult to calculate the house edge than in other casino games. However, due to some online properties revealing this information and some independent research conducted by Michael Shackleford in the offline sector, this pattern is slowly changing.
In games where players are not competing against the house, such as poker, the casino usually earns money via a commission, known as a "rake".
Standard deviation
The luck factor in a casino game is quantified using standard deviations (SD). The standard deviation of a simple game like roulette can be calculated using the binomial distribution. In the binomial distribution, SD \sqrt{npq}, where n number of rounds played, p probability of winning, and q probability of losing. The binomial distribution assumes a result of 1 unit for a win, and 0 units for a loss, rather than −1 units for a loss, which doubles the range of possible outcomes. Furthermore, if we flat bet at 10 units per round instead of 1 unit, the range of possible outcomes increases 10 fold.
SD (roulette, even-money bet) 2b \sqrt{npq}, where b flat bet per round, n number of rounds, p 18/38, and q = 20/38.
For example, after 10 rounds at 1 unit per round, the standard deviation will be 2 × 1 × \sqrt{10 * 18/38 * 20/38} 3.16 units. After 10 rounds, the expected loss will be 10 × 1 × 5.26% 0.53. As you can see, standard deviation is many times the magnitude of the expected loss.
The standard deviation for pai gow poker is the lowest out of all common casino games. Many casino games, particularly slot machines, have extremely high standard deviations. The bigger size of the potential payouts, the more the standard deviation may increase.
As the number of rounds increases, eventually, the expected loss will exceed the standard deviation, many times over. From the formula, we can see that the standard deviation is proportional to the square root of the number of rounds played, while the expected loss is proportional to the number of rounds played. As the number of rounds increases, the expected loss increases at a much faster rate. This is why it is impossible for a gambler to win in the long term. It is the high ratio of short-term standard deviation to expected loss that fools gamblers into thinking that they can win.
It is important for a casino to know both the house edge and variance for all of their games. The house edge tells them what kind of profit they will make as a percentage of turnover, and the variance tells them how much they need in the way of cash reserves. The mathematicians and computer programmers that do this kind of work are called gaming mathematicians and gaming analysts. Casinos do not have in-house expertise in this field, so they outsource their requirements to experts in the gaming analysis field.
See also
Gambler's fallacy
References
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Pong console at the Computerspielemuseum Berlin|alt=Two children playing Pong on a television set.]]
A video game or computer game<!--the term "computer game" to mean "video game" is common in many dialects of English, such as British--> is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, most commonly shown in a video format on a television set, computer monitor, flat-panel display or touchscreen on handheld devices, or a virtual reality headset. Most modern video games are audiovisual, with audio complement delivered through speakers or headphones, and sometimes also with other types of sensory feedback (e.g., haptic technology that provides tactile sensations). Some video games also allow microphone and webcam inputs for in-game chatting and livestreaming.
Video games are typically categorized according to their hardware platform, which traditionally includes arcade video games, console games, and computer games (which includes LAN games, online games, and browser games). More recently, the video game industry has expanded onto mobile gaming through mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet computers), virtual and augmented reality systems, and remote cloud gaming. Video games are also classified into a wide range of genres based on their style of gameplay and target audience.
The first video game prototypes in the 1950s and 1960s were simple extensions of electronic games using video-like output from large, room-sized mainframe computers. The first consumer video game was the arcade video game Computer Space in 1971, which took inspiration from the earlier 1962 computer game Spacewar!. In 1972 came the now-iconic video game Pong and the first home console, the Magnavox Odyssey. The industry grew quickly during the "golden age" of arcade video games from the late 1970s to early 1980s but suffered from the crash of the North American video game market in 1983 due to loss of publishing control and saturation of the market. Following the crash, the industry matured, was dominated by Japanese companies such as Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, and established practices and methods around the development and distribution of video games to prevent a similar crash in the future, many of which continue to be followed. In the 2000s, the core industry centered on "AAA" games, leaving little room for riskier experimental games. Coupled with the availability of the Internet and digital distribution, this gave room for independent video game development (or "indie games") to gain prominence into the 2010s. Since then, the commercial importance of the video game industry has been increasing. The emerging Asian markets and proliferation of smartphone games in particular are altering player demographics towards casual gaming and increasing monetization by incorporating games as a service.
Today, video game development requires numerous skills, vision, teamwork, and liaisons between different parties, including developers, publishers, distributors, retailers, hardware manufacturers, and other marketers, to successfully bring a game to its consumers. , the global video game market had estimated annual revenues of across hardware, software, and services, which is three times the size of the global music industry and four times that of the film industry in 2019, making it a formidable heavyweight across the modern entertainment industry. The video game market is also a major influence behind the electronics industry, where personal computer component, console, and peripheral sales, as well as consumer demands for better game performance, have been powerful driving factors for hardware design and innovation.Origins
(1958), an early analog computer game that used an oscilloscope for a display]]
(1962), an early mainframe computer game, pictured running on a PDP-1 computer]]
(1972), one of the earliest arcade video games]]
Early video games use interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a "cathode-ray tube amusement device" was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U.S. Patent 2455992. Inspired by radar display technology, it consists of an analog device allowing a user to control the parabolic arc of a dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which are paper drawings fixed to the screen. Other early examples include Christopher Strachey's draughts game, the Nimrod computer at the 1951 Festival of Britain; OXO, a tic-tac-toe computer game by Alexander S. Douglas for the EDSAC in 1952; Tennis for Two, an electronic interactive game engineered by William Higinbotham in 1958; and Spacewar!, written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen's on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1962. Each game has different means of display: NIMROD has a panel of lights to play the game of Nim, OXO has a graphical display to play tic-tac-toe, Tennis for Two has an oscilloscope to display a side view of a tennis court,
These inventions laid the foundation for modern video games. In 1966, while working at Sanders Associates, Ralph H. Baer devised a system to play a basic table tennis game on a television screen. With the company's approval, Baer created the prototype known as the "Brown Box". Sanders patented Baer's innovations and licensed them to Magnavox, which commercialized the technology as the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, released in 1972. Separately, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, inspired by seeing Spacewar! running at Stanford University, devised a similar version running in a smaller coin-operated arcade cabinet using a less expensive computer. This was released as Computer Space, the first arcade video game, in 1971. Bushnell and Dabney went on to form Atari, Inc., and with Allan Alcorn, created their second arcade game in 1972, the hit ping pong-style Pong, which was directly inspired by the table tennis game on the Odyssey. Atari made a home version of Pong, which was released by Christmas 1975. Both Baer and Bushnell have been titled "Father of Video Games" for their contributions.
Terminology
The term "video game" was developed to describe electronic games played on a video display rather than on a teletype printer, audio speaker, or similar device. This also distinguished from handheld electronic games such as Merlin, which commonly used LED lights for indicators not in combination for imaging purposes. Particularly in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, this is common due to the historic relevance of domestically produced microcomputers. Other terms used include digital game, for example, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The term "computer game" can also refer to PC games, which are played primarily on personal computers or other flexible hardware systems, to distinguish them from console games, arcade games, or mobile games. However, these terms were also used interchangeably with "video game" in the 1970s, primarily due to "video" and "television" being synonymous. In Japan, where consoles like the Odyssey were first imported and then made within the country by the large television manufacturers such as Toshiba and Sharp Corporation, such games are known as "TV games", "TV geemu", or "terebi geemu". The term "TV game" is still commonly used into the 21st century. "Electronic game" may also be used to refer to video games, but this also incorporates devices like early handheld electronic games that lack any video output. Though Bushnell believed the term came from a vending magazine review of Computer Space in 1971, a review of the major vending magazines Vending Times and Cashbox showed that the term may have come even earlier, appearing first in a letter dated July 10, 1972. In the letter, Bushnell uses the term "video game" twice. Per video game historian Keith Smith, the sudden appearance suggested that the term had been proposed and readily adopted by those in the field. Around March 1973, Ed Adlum, who ran Cashboxs coin-operated section until 1972 and then later founded RePlay Magazine, covering the coin-op amusement field, in 1975, used the term in an article in March 1973. In a September 1982 issue of RePlay, Adlum is credited with first naming these games as "video games": "RePlay's Eddie Adlum worked at 'Cash Box' when 'TV games' first came out. The personalities in those days were Bushnell, his sales manager Pat Karns, and a handful of other 'TV game' manufacturers like Henry Leyser and the McEwan brothers. It seemed awkward to call their products 'TV games', so borrowing a word from Billboards description of movie jukeboxes, Adlum started to refer to this new breed of amusement machine as 'video games.' The phrase stuck." Adlum explained in 1985 that up until the early 1970s, amusement arcades typically had non-video arcade games such as pinball machines and electro-mechanical games. With the arrival of video games in arcades during the early 1970s, there was initially some confusion in the arcade industry over what term should be used to describe the new games. He "wrestled with descriptions of this type of game," alternating between "TV game" and "television game" but "finally woke up one day" and said, "What the hell... video game!"Definition
While many games readily fall into a clear, well-understood definition of video games, new genres and innovations in game development have raised the question of what are the essential factors of a video game that separate the medium from other forms of entertainment.
The introduction of interactive films in the 1980s with games like ''Dragon's Lair, featured games with full motion video played off a form of media but only limited user interaction. This had required a means to distinguish these games from more traditional board games that happen to also use external media, such as the Clue VCR Mystery Game which required players to watch VCR clips between turns. To distinguish between these two, video games are considered to require some interactivity that affects the visual display.
Most video games tend to feature some type of victory or winning conditions, such as a scoring mechanism or a final boss fight. The introduction of walking simulators (adventure games that allow for exploration but lack any objectives) like Gone Home, and empathy games (video games that tend to focus on emotion) like That Dragon, Cancer'' brought the idea of games that did not have any such type of winning condition and raising the question of whether these were actually games. These are still commonly justified as video games as they provide a game world that the player can interact with by some means.
The lack of any industry definition for a video game by 2021 was an issue during the case Epic Games v. Apple which dealt with video games offered on Apple's iOS App Store. Among concerns raised were games like Fortnite Creative and Roblox which created metaverses of interactive experiences, and whether the larger game and the individual experiences themselves were games or not in relation to fees that Apple charged for the App Store. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, recognizing that there was yet an industry standard definition for a video game, established for her ruling that "At a bare minimum, video games appear to require some level of interactivity or involvement between the player and the medium" compared to passive entertainment like film, music, and television, and "videogames are also generally graphically rendered or animated, as opposed to being recorded live or via motion capture as in films or television". Rogers still concluded that what is a video game "appears highly eclectic and diverse". On some consoles, cheat cartridges allow players to execute these cheat codes, and user-developed trainers allow similar bypassing for computer software games. Both of which might make the game easier, give the player additional power-ups, or change the appearance of the game. The term system is also commonly used. These platforms may include multiple brandsheld by platform holders, such as Nintendo or Sony, seeking to gain larger market shares. Games are typically designed to be played on one or a limited number of platforms, and exclusivity to a platform or brand is used by platform holders as a competitive edge in the video game market. However, games may be developed for alternative platforms than intended, which are described as ports or conversions. These also may be remasters - where most of the original game's source code is reused and art assets, models, and game levels are updated for modern systems – and remakes, where in addition to asset improvements, significant reworking of the original game and possibly from scratch is performed.
The list below is not exhaustive and excludes other electronic devices capable of playing video games such as PDAs and graphing calculators.
;PC games
:PC games involve a player interacting with a personal computer (PC) connected to a video monitor. Personal computers are not dedicated game platforms, so there may be differences running the same game on different hardware. Also, the openness allows some features to developers like reduced software cost, increased flexibility, increased innovation, emulation, creation of modifications or mods, open hosting for online gaming (in which a person plays a video game with people who are in a different household) and others. A gaming computer is a PC or laptop intended specifically for gaming, typically using high-performance, high-cost components. In addition to personal computer gaming, there also exist games that work on mainframe computers and other similarly shared systems, with users logging in remotely to use the computer.
;Home console
: is the best-selling video game console, with over 155 million units sold.]]A console game is played on a home console, a specialized electronic device that connects to a common television set or composite video monitor. Home consoles are specifically designed to play games using a dedicated hardware environment, giving developers a concrete hardware target for development and assurances of what features will be available, simplifying development compared to PC game development. Usually consoles only run games developed for it, or games from other platform made by the same company, but never games developed by its direct competitor, even if the same game is available on different platforms. It often comes with a specific game controller. Major console platforms include Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo.
;Handheld console
:A handheld game console is a small, self-contained electronic device that is portable and can be held in a user's hands. It features the console, a small screen, speakers and buttons, joystick or other game controllers in a single unit. Like consoles, handhelds are dedicated platforms, and share almost the same characteristics. Handheld hardware usually is less powerful than PC or console hardware. Some handheld games from the late 1970s and early 1980s could only play one game. In the 1990s and 2000s, a number of handheld games used cartridges, which enabled them to be used to play many different games. The handheld console has waned in the 2010s as mobile device gaming has become a more dominant factor.
;Arcade video game
:]] An arcade video game generally refers to a game played on an even more specialized type of electronic device that is typically designed to play only one game and is encased in a special, large coin-operated cabinet which has one built-in console, controllers (joystick, buttons, etc.), a CRT screen, and audio amplifier and speakers. Arcade games often have brightly painted logos and images relating to the theme of the game. While most arcade games are housed in a vertical cabinet, which the user typically stands in front of to play, some arcade games use a tabletop approach, in which the display screen is housed in a table-style cabinet with a see-through table top. With table-top games, the users typically sit to play. In the 1990s and 2000s, some arcade games offered players a choice of multiple games. In the 1980s, video arcades were businesses in which game players could use a number of arcade video games. In the 2010s, there are far fewer video arcades, but some movie theaters and family entertainment centers still have them.
;Browser game
:A browser game takes advantages of standardizations of technologies for the functionality of web browsers across multiple devices providing a cross-platform environment. These games may be identified based on the website that they appear, such as with Miniclip games. Others are named based on the programming platform used to develop them, such as Java and Flash games.
;Mobile game
:With the introduction of smartphones and tablet computers standardized on the iOS and Android operating systems, mobile gaming has become a significant platform. These games may use unique features of mobile devices that are not necessary present on other platforms, such as accelerometers, global positioning information and camera devices to support augmented reality gameplay.
;Cloud gaming
:Cloud gaming requires a minimal hardware device, such as a basic computer, console, laptop, mobile phone or even a dedicated hardware device connected to a display with good Internet connectivity that connects to hardware systems by the cloud gaming provider. The game is computed and rendered on the remote hardware, using a number of predictive methods to reduce the network latency between player input and output on their display device. For example, the Xbox Cloud Gaming and PlayStation Now platforms use dedicated custom server blade hardware in cloud computing centers.
;Virtual reality
: headsets in 2017]] Virtual reality (VR) games generally require players to use a special head-mounted unit that provides stereoscopic screens and motion tracking to immerse a player within virtual environment that responds to their head movements. Some VR systems include control units for the player's hands as to provide a direct way to interact with the virtual world. VR systems generally require a separate computer, console, or other processing device that couples with the head-mounted unit.
;Emulation
:An emulator enables games from a console or otherwise different system to be run in a type of virtual machine on a modern system, simulating the hardware of the original and allows old games to be played. While emulators themselves have been found to be legal in United States case law, the act of obtaining the game software that one does not already own may violate copyrights. However, there are some official releases of emulated software from game manufacturers, such as Nintendo with its Virtual Console or Nintendo Switch Online offerings.
;Backward compatibility
:Backward compatibility is similar in nature to emulation in that older games can be played on newer platforms, but typically directly though hardware and built-in software within the platform. The PlayStation 2 popularized the trend by having the capability of playing past generation games from the PlayStation via inserting the original game media into the newer console, while Nintendo's Wii could play GameCube titles as well in the same manner.
Game media
Early arcade games, home consoles, and handheld games were dedicated hardware units with the game's logic built into the electronic componentry of the hardware. Since then, most video game platforms are considered programmable, having means to read and play multiple games distributed on different types of media or formats. Physical formats include ROM cartridges, magnetic storage including magnetic-tape data storage and floppy discs, optical media formats including CD-ROM and DVDs, and flash memory cards. Furthermore digital distribution over the Internet or other communication methods as well as cloud gaming alleviate the need for any physical media. In some cases, the media serves as the direct read-only memory for the game, or it may be the form of installation media that is used to write the main assets to the player's platform's local storage for faster loading periods and later updates.
Games can be extended with new content and software patches through either expansion packs which are typically available as physical media, or as downloadable content nominally available via digital distribution. These can be offered freely or can be used to monetize a game following its initial release. Several games offer players the ability to create user-generated content to share with others to play. Other games, mostly those on personal computers, can be extended with user-created modifications or mods that alter or add onto the game; these often are unofficial and were developed by players from reverse engineering of the game, but other games provide official support for modding the game.Input device
game controller from the early 1990s]]
Video game can use several types of input devices to translate human actions to a game. Most common are the use of game controllers like gamepads and joysticks for most consoles, and as accessories for personal computer systems along keyboard and mouse controls. Common controls on the most recent controllers include face buttons, shoulder triggers, analog sticks, and directional pads ("d-pads"). Consoles typically include standard controllers which are shipped or bundled with the console itself, while peripheral controllers are available as a separate purchase from the console manufacturer or third-party vendors. Similar control sets are built into handheld consoles and onto arcade cabinets. Newer technology improvements have incorporated additional technology into the controller or the game platform, such as touchscreens and motion detection sensors that give more options for how the player interacts with the game. Specialized controllers may be used for certain genres of games, including racing wheels, light guns and dance pads. Digital cameras and motion detection can capture movements of the player as input into the game, which can, in some cases, effectively eliminate the control, and on other systems such as virtual reality, are used to enhance immersion into the game.
Display and output
By definition, all video games are intended to output graphics to an external video display, such as cathode-ray tube televisions, newer liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions and built-in screens, projectors or computer monitors, depending on the type of platform the game is played on. Features such as color depth, refresh rate, frame rate, and screen resolution are a combination of the limitations of the game platform and display device and the program efficiency of the game itself. The game's output can range from fixed displays using LED or LCD elements, text-based games, two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics, and augmented reality displays.
The game's graphics are often accompanied by sound produced by internal speakers on the game platform or external speakers attached to the platform, as directed by the game's programming. This often will include sound effects tied to the player's actions to provide audio feedback, as well as background music for the game.
Some platforms support additional feedback mechanics to the player that a game can take advantage of. This is most commonly haptic technology built into the game controller, such as causing the controller to shake in the player's hands to simulate a shaking earthquake occurring in game.
Classifications
Video games are frequently classified by a number of factors related to how one plays them.
Genre
'' is representative of the platform game genre as its gameplay involves jumping between platforms.]]
A video game, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres. However, unlike film or television which use visual or narrative elements, video games are generally categorized into genres based on their gameplay interaction, since this is the primary means which one interacts with a video game. The narrative setting does not impact gameplay; a shooter game is still a shooter game, regardless of whether it takes place in a fantasy world or in outer space. An exception is the horror game genre, used for games that are based on narrative elements of horror fiction, the supernatural, and psychological horror.
Genre names are normally self-describing in terms of the type of gameplay, such as action game, role playing game, or shoot 'em up, though some genres have derivations from influential works that have defined that genre, such as roguelikes from Rogue, Grand Theft Auto clones from Grand Theft Auto III, and battle royale games from the film Battle Royale. The names may shift over time as players, developers and the media come up with new terms; for example, first-person shooters were originally called "Doom clones" based on the 1993 game. A hierarchy of game genres exist, with top-level genres like "shooter game" and "action game" that broadly capture the game's main gameplay style, and several subgenres of specific implementation, such as within the shooter game first-person shooter and third-person shooter. Some cross-genre types also exist that fall until multiple top-level genres such as action-adventure game.Mode
at the 2004 DreamHack with hundreds of players]]
A video game's mode describes how many players can use the game at the same type. This is primarily distinguished by single-player video games and multiplayer video games. Within the latter category, multiplayer games can be played in a variety of ways, including locally at the same device, on separate devices connected through a local network such as LAN parties, or online via separate Internet connections. Most multiplayer games are based on competitive gameplay, but many offer cooperative and team-based options as well as asymmetric gameplay. Online games use server structures that can also enable massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) to support hundreds of players at the same time.
A small number of video games are zero-player games, in which the player has very limited interaction with the game itself. These are most commonly simulation games where the player may establish a starting state and then let the game proceed on its own, watching the results as a passive observer, such as with many computerized simulations of Conway's Game of Life.
Types
Most video games are intended for entertainment purposes. Different game types include:
; Core games
: Core or hard-core games refer to the typical perception of video games, developed for entertainment purposes. These games typically require a fair amount of time to learn and master, in contrast to casual games, and thus are most appealing to gamers rather than a broader audience. Most of the AAA video game industry is based around the delivery of core games.
; Casual games
: In contrast to core games, casual games are designed for ease of accessibility, simple to understand gameplay and quick to grasp rule sets, and aimed at mass market audience. They frequently support the ability to jump in and out of play on demand, such as during commuting or lunch breaks. Numerous browser and mobile games fall into the casual game area, and casual games often are from genres with low intensity game elements such as match three, hidden object, time management, and puzzle games. Causal games frequently use social-network game mechanics, where players can enlist the help of friends on their social media networks for extra turns or moves each day. Popular casual games include Tetris and Candy Crush Saga. More recent, starting in the late 2010s, are hyper-casual games which use even more simplistic rules for short but infinitely replayable games, such as Flappy Bird.
; Educational games
: Education software has been used in homes and classrooms to help teach children and students, and video games have been similarly adapted for these reasons, all designed to provide a form of interactivity and entertainment tied to game design elements. There are a variety of differences in their designs and how they educate the user. These are broadly split between edutainment games that tend to focus on the entertainment value and rote learning but are unlikely to engage in critical thinking, and educational video games that are geared towards problem solving through motivation and positive reinforcement while downplaying the entertainment value. Examples of educational games include The Oregon Trail and the Carmen Sandiego series. Further, games not initially developed for educational purposes have found their way into the classroom after release, such as that feature open worlds or virtual sandboxes like Minecraft, or offer critical thinking skills through puzzle video games like SpaceChem.
;Serious games
:'' is an example of a simulation game.]] Further extending from educational games, serious games are those where the entertainment factor may be augmented, overshadowed, or even eliminated by other purposes for the game. Game design is used to reinforce the non-entertainment purpose of the game, such as using video game technology for the game's interactive world, or gamification for reinforcement training. Educational games are a form of serious games, but other types of games include fitness games that incorporate significant physical exercise to help keep the player fit (such as Wii Fit), simulator games that resemble flight simulators to pilot aircraft (such as Microsoft Flight Simulator), advergames that are built around the advertising of a product (such as Pepsiman), and newsgames aimed at conveying a specific advocacy message (such as NarcoGuerra).
;Art games
:Although video games have been considered an art form on their own, games may be developed to try to purposely communicate a story or message, using the medium as a work of art. These art or arthouse games are designed to generate emotion and empathy from the player by challenging societal norms and offering critique through the interactivity of the video game medium. They may not have any type of win condition and are designed to let the player explore through the game world and scenarios. Most art games are indie games in nature, designed based on personal experiences or stories through a single developer or small team. Examples of art games include Passage, Flower, and That Dragon, Cancer.Content rating
]]
Video games can be subject to national and international content rating requirements. Like with film content ratings, video game ratings typing identify the target age group that the national or regional ratings board believes is appropriate for the player, ranging from all-ages, to a teenager-or-older, to mature, to the infrequent adult-only games. Most content review is based on the level of violence, both in the type of violence and how graphic it may be represented, and sexual content, but other themes such as drug and alcohol use and gambling that can influence children may also be identified. A primary identifier based on a minimum age is used by nearly all systems, along with additional descriptors to identify specific content that players and parents should be aware of.
The regulations vary from country to country but generally are voluntary systems upheld by vendor practices, with penalty and fines issued by the ratings body on the video game publisher for misuse of the ratings. Among the major content rating systems include:
* Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) that oversees games released in the United States. ESRB ratings are voluntary and rated along a E (Everyone), E10+ (Everyone 10 and older), T (Teen), M (Mature), and AO (Adults Only). Attempts to mandate video games ratings in the U.S. subsequently led to the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association'' in 2011 which ruled video games were a protected form of art, a key victory for the video game industry.
* Pan European Game Information (PEGI) covering the United Kingdom, most of the European Union and other European countries, replacing previous national-based systems. The PEGI system uses content rated based on minimum recommended ages, which include 3+, 8+, 12+, 16+, and 18+.
* Australian Classification Board (ACB) oversees the ratings of games and other works in Australia, using ratings of G (General), PG (Parental Guidance), M (Mature), MA15+ (Mature Accompanied), R18+ (Restricted), and X (Restricted for pornographic material). ACB can also deny to give a rating to game (RC – Refused Classification). The ACB's ratings are enforceable by law, and importantly, games cannot be imported or purchased digitally in Australia if they have failed to gain a rating or were given the RC rating, leading to a number of notable banned games.
* Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) rates games for Japan. Their ratings include A (all ages), B (12 and older), C (15 and over), D (17 and over), and Z (18 and over).
* Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK) rates games for Germany. Their ratings include 0, 6, 12, 16, and 18.
Additionally, the major content system provides have worked to create the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a means to streamline and align the content ratings system between different region, so that a publisher would only need to complete the content ratings review for one provider, and use the IARC transition to affirm the content rating for all other regions.
Certain nations have even more restrictive rules related to political or ideological content. Within Germany, until 2018, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (Entertainment Software Self-Regulation) would refuse to classify, and thus allow sale, of any game depicting Nazi imagery, and thus often requiring developers to replace such imagery with fictional ones. This ruling was relaxed in 2018 to allow for such imagery for "social adequacy" purposes that applied to other works of art. China's video game segment is mostly isolated from the rest of the world due to the government's censorship, and all games published there must adhere to strict government review, disallowing content such as smearing the image of the Chinese Communist Party. Foreign games published in China often require modification by developers and publishers to meet these requirements.
Development
.]]
Video game development and authorship, much like any other form of entertainment, is frequently a cross-disciplinary field. Video game developers, as employees within this industry are commonly referred to, primarily include programmers and graphic designers. Over the years, this has expanded to include almost every type of skill that one might see prevalent in the creation of any movie or television program, including sound designers, musicians, and other technicians; as well as skills that are specific to video games, such as the game designer. All of these are managed by producers.
In the early days of the industry, it was more common for a single person to manage all of the roles needed to create a video game. As platforms have become more complex and powerful in the type of material they can present, larger teams have been needed to generate all of the art, programming, cinematography, and more. This is not to say that the age of the "one-man shop" is gone, as this is still sometimes found in the casual gaming and handheld markets, where smaller games are prevalent due to technical limitations such as limited RAM or lack of dedicated 3D graphics rendering capabilities on the target platform (e.g., some PDAs).
Video games are programmed like any other piece of computer software. Prior to the mid-1970s, arcade and home consoles were programmed by assembling discrete electro-mechanical components on circuit boards, which limited games to relatively simple logic. By 1975, low-cost microprocessors were available at volume to be used for video game hardware, which allowed game developers to program more detailed games, widening the scope of what was possible. Ongoing improvements in computer hardware technology have expanded what has become possible to create in video games, coupled with convergence of common hardware between console, computer, and arcade platforms to simplify the development process. Today, game developers have a number of commercial and open source tools available for use to make games, often which are across multiple platforms to support portability, or may still opt to create their own for more specialized features and direct control of the game. Today, many games are built around a game engine that handles the bulk of the game's logic, gameplay, and rendering. These engines can be augmented with specialized engines for specific features, such as a physics engine that simulates the physics of objects in real-time. A variety of middleware exists to help developers access other features, such as playback of videos within games, network-oriented code for games that communicate via online services, matchmaking for online games, and similar features. These features can be used from a developer's programming language of choice, or they may opt to also use game development kits that minimize the amount of direct programming they have to do but can also limit the amount of customization they can add into a game. Like all software, video games usually undergo quality testing before release to assure there are no bugs or glitches in the product, though frequently developers will release patches and updates.
With the growth of the size of development teams in the industry, the problem of cost has increased. Development studios need the best talent, while publishers reduce costs to maintain profitability on their investment. Typically, a video game console development team ranges from 5 to 50 people, and some exceed 100. In May 2009, ''Assassin's Creed II'' was reported to have a development staff of 450. The growth of team size combined with greater pressure to get completed projects into the market to begin recouping production costs has led to a greater occurrence of missed deadlines, rushed games, and the release of unfinished products.
While amateur and hobbyist game programming had existed since the late 1970s with the introduction of home computers, a newer trend since the mid-2000s is indie game development. Indie games are made by small teams outside any direct publisher control, their games being smaller in scope than those from the larger "AAA" game studios, and are often experiments in gameplay and art style. Indie game development is aided by the larger availability of digital distribution, including the newer mobile gaming market, and readily-available and low-cost development tools for these platforms.
Game theory and studies
Although departments of computer science have been studying the technical aspects of video games for years, theories that examine games as an artistic medium are a relatively recent development in the humanities. The two most visible schools in this emerging field are ludology and narratology. Narrativists approach video games in the context of what Janet Murray calls "Cyberdrama". That is to say, their major concern is with video games as a storytelling medium, one that arises out of interactive fiction. Murray puts video games in the context of the Holodeck, a fictional piece of technology from Star Trek, arguing for the video game as a medium in which the player is allowed to become another person, and to act out in another world. This image of video games received early widespread popular support, and forms the basis of films such as Tron, eXistenZ and The Last Starfighter.
Ludologists break sharply and radically from this idea. They argue that a video game is first and foremost a game, which must be understood in terms of its rules, interface, and the concept of play that it deploys. Espen J. Aarseth argues that, although games certainly have plots, characters, and aspects of traditional narratives, these aspects are incidental to gameplay. For example, Aarseth is critical of the widespread attention that narrativists have given to the heroine of the game Tomb Raider, saying that "the dimensions of Lara Croft's body, already analyzed to death by film theorists, are irrelevant to me as a player, because a different-looking body would not make me play differently... When I play, I don't even see her body, but see through it and past it." Simply put, ludologists reject traditional theories of art because they claim that the artistic and socially relevant qualities of a video game are primarily determined by the underlying set of rules, demands, and expectations imposed on the player.
While many games rely on emergent principles, video games commonly present simulated story worlds where emergent behavior occurs within the context of the game. The term "emergent narrative" has been used to describe how, in a simulated environment, storyline can be created simply by "what happens to the player." However, emergent behavior is not limited to sophisticated games. In general, any place where event-driven instructions occur for AI in a game, emergent behavior will exist. For instance, take a racing game in which cars are programmed to avoid crashing, and they encounter an obstacle in the track: the cars might then maneuver to avoid the obstacle causing the cars behind them to slow or maneuver to accommodate the cars in front of them and the obstacle. The programmer never wrote code to specifically create a traffic jam, yet one now exists in the game.
Intellectual property for video games
Most commonly, video games are protected by copyright, though both patents and trademarks have been used as well.
Though local copyright regulations vary to the degree of protection, video games qualify as copyrighted visual-audio works, and enjoy cross-country protection under the Berne Convention. This typically only applies to the underlying code, as well as to the artistic aspects of the game such as its writing, art assets, and music. Gameplay itself is generally not considered copyrightable; in the United States among other countries, video games are considered to fall into the idea–expression distinction in that it is how the game is presented and expressed to the player that can be copyrighted, but not the underlying principles of the game.
Because gameplay is normally ineligible for copyright, gameplay ideas in popular games are often replicated and built upon in other games. At times, this repurposing of gameplay can be seen as beneficial and a fundamental part of how the industry has grown by building on the ideas of others. However, at times and more frequently at the onset of the industry, developers would intentionally create video game clones of successful games and game hardware with few changes, which led to the flooded arcade and dedicated home console market around 1978. Cloning is also a major issue with countries that do not have strong intellectual property protection laws, such as within China. The lax oversight by China's government and the difficulty for foreign companies to take Chinese entities to court had enabled China to support a large grey market of cloned hardware and software systems. The industry remains challenged to distinguish between creating new games based on refinements of past successful games to create a new type of gameplay, and intentionally creating a clone of a game that may simply swap out art assets.
Industry
was one of the typical trade show events of the video game industry.]]
2015 playing a video game]]
History
The early history of the video game industry, following the first game hardware releases and through 1983, had little structure. Video games quickly took off during the golden age of arcade video games from the late 1970s to early 1980s, but the newfound industry was mainly composed of game developers with little business experience. This led to numerous companies forming simply to create clones of popular games to try to capitalize on the market. Along with it, Nintendo established a number of core industrial practices to prevent unlicensed game development and control game distribution on their platform, methods that continue to be used by console manufacturers today. The advent of the Internet brought digital distribution as a viable means to distribute games, and contributed to the growth of more riskier, experimental independent game development as an alternative to triple-A games in the late 2000s and which has continued to grow as a significant portion of the video game industry.
* Publishers: Companies generally that oversee bringing the game from the developer to market. This often includes performing the marketing, public relations, and advertising of the game. Publishers frequently pay the developers ahead of time to make their games and will be involved in critical decisions about the direction of the game's progress, and then pay the developers additional royalties or bonuses based on sales performances. Other smaller, boutique publishers may simply offer to perform the publishing of a game for a small fee and a portion of the sales, and otherwise leave the developer with the creative freedom to proceed. A range of other publisher-developer relationships exist between these points.
* Distributors: Publishers often are able to produce their own game media and take the role of distributor, but there are also third-party distributors that can mass-produce game media and distribute to retailers. Digital storefronts like Steam and the iOS App Store also serve as distributors and retailers in the digital space.
* Retailers: Physical storefronts, which include large online retailers, department and electronic stores, and specialty video game stores, sell games, consoles, and other accessories to consumers. This has also including a trade-in market in certain regions, allowing players to turn in used games for partial refunds or credit towards other games. However, with the uprising of digital marketplaces and e-commerce revolution, retailers have been performing worse than in the past.
* Hardware manufacturers: The video game console manufacturers produce console hardware, often through a value chain system that include numerous component suppliers and contract manufacturer that assemble the consoles. Further, these console manufacturers typically require a license to develop for their platform and may control the production of some games, such as Nintendo does with the use of game cartridges for its systems. In exchange, the manufacturers may help promote games for their system and may seek console exclusivity for certain games. For games on personal computers, a number of manufacturers are devoted to high-performance "gaming computer" hardware, particularly in the graphics card area; several of the same companies overlap with component supplies for consoles. A range of third-party manufacturers also exist to provide equipment and gear for consoles post-sale, such as additional controllers for console or carrying cases and gear for handheld devices.
* Journalism: While journalism around video games used to be primarily print-based, and focused more on post-release reviews and gameplay strategy, the Internet has brought a more proactive press that use web journalism, covering games in the months prior to release as well as beyond, helping to build excitement for games ahead of release.
* Influencers: With the rising importance of social media, video game companies have found that the opinions of influencers using streaming media to play through their games has had a significant impact on game sales, and have turned to use influencers alongside traditional journalism as a means to build up attention to their game before release.
* Esports: Esports is a major function of several multiplayer games with numerous professional leagues established since the 2000s, with large viewership numbers, particularly out of southeast Asia since the 2010s.
* Trade and advocacy groups: Trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association were established to provide a common voice for the industry in response to governmental and other advocacy concerns. They frequently set up the major trade events and conventions for the industry such as E3.
* Gamers: Proactive hobbyists who are players and consumers of video games. While their representation in the industry is primarily seen through game sales, many companies follow gamers' comments on social media or on user reviews and engage with them to work to improve their products in addition to other feedback from other parts of the industry. Demographics of the larger player community also impact parts of the market; while once dominated by younger men, the market shifted in the mid-2010s towards women and older players who generally preferred mobile and causal games, leading to further growth in those sectors.
Major regional markets
The industry itself grew out from both the United States and Japan in the 1970s and 1980s before having a larger worldwide contribution. Today, the video game industry is predominantly led by major companies in North America (primarily the United States and Canada), Europe, and southeast Asia including Japan, South Korea, and China. Hardware production remains an area dominated by Asian companies either directly involved in hardware design or part of the production process, but digital distribution and indie game development of the late 2000s has allowed game developers to flourish nearly anywhere and diversify the field.Game sales
According to the market research firm Newzoo, the global video game industry drew estimated revenues of over in 2020. Mobile games accounted for the bulk of this, with a 48% share of the market, followed by console games at 28% and personal computer games at 23%. Another key difference is that, though having declined in the West, arcade games remain an important sector of the Japanese gaming industry. In South Korea, computer games are generally preferred over console games, especially MMORPG games and real-time strategy games. Computer games are also popular in China.
Effects on society
Culture
'' exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2012]]
Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed around video games and game playing. As computer and video games have increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved over time hand in hand with internet culture as well as the increasing popularity of mobile games. Many people who play video games identify as gamers, which can mean anything from someone who enjoys games to someone who is passionate about it. As video games become more social with multiplayer and online capability, gamers find themselves in growing social networks. Gaming can both be entertainment as well as competition, as a new trend known as electronic sports is becoming more widely accepted. In the 2010s, video games and discussions of video game trends and topics can be seen in social media, politics, television, film and music. The COVID-19 pandemic during 2020–2021 gave further visibility to video games as a pastime to enjoy with friends and family online as a means of social distancing.
Art
Since the mid-2000s there has been debate whether video games qualify as art, primarily as the form's interactivity interfered with the artistic intent of the work and that they are designed for commercial appeal. A significant debate on the matter came after film critic Roger Ebert published an essay "Video Games can never be art", which challenged the industry to prove him and other critics wrong. The view that video games were an art form was cemented in 2011 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association that video games were a protected form of speech with artistic merit. Since then, video game developers have come to use the form more for artistic expression, including the development of art games, and the cultural heritage of video games as works of arts, beyond their technical capabilities, have been part of major museum exhibits, including The Art of Video Games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and toured at other museums from 2012 to 2016.
Video games will inspire sequels and other video games within the same franchise, but also have influenced works outside of the video game medium. Numerous television shows (both animated and live-action), films, comics and novels have been created based on existing video game franchises. Because video games are an interactive medium there has been trouble in converting them to these passive forms of media, and typically such works have been critically panned or treated as children's media. For example, until 2019, no video game film had ever been received a "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the releases of Detective Pikachu (2019) and Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), both receiving "Fresh" ratings, shows signs of the film industry having found an approach to adapt video games for the large screen. That said, some early video game-based films have been highly successful at the box office, such as 1995's Mortal Kombat and 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
More recently since the 2000s, there has also become a larger appreciation of video game music, which ranges from chiptunes composed for limited sound-output devices on early computers and consoles, to fully-scored compositions for most modern games. Such music has frequently served as a platform for covers and remixes, and concerts featuring video game soundtracks performed by bands or orchestras, such as Video Games Live, have also become popular. As video game engines gain higher fidelity, they have also become part of the tools used in more traditional filmmaking. Unreal Engine has been used as a backbone by Industrial Light & Magic for their StageCraft technology for shows like The Mandalorian.
Separately, video games are also frequently used as part of the promotion and marketing for other media, such as for films, anime, and comics. However, these licensed games in the 1990s and 2000s often had a reputation for poor quality, developed without any input from the intellectual property rights owners, and several of them are considered among lists of games with notably negative reception, such as Superman 64. More recently, with these licensed games being developed by triple-A studios or through studios directly connected to the licensed property owner, there has been a significant improvement in the quality of these games, with an early trendsetting example of Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Beneficial uses
Besides their entertainment value, appropriately-designed video games have been seen to provide value in education across several ages and comprehension levels. Learning principles found in video games have been identified as possible techniques with which to reform the U.S. education system. It has been noticed that gamers adopt an attitude while playing that is of such high concentration, they do not realize they are learning, and that if the same attitude could be adopted at school, education would enjoy significant benefits. Students are found to be "learning by doing" while playing video games while fostering creative thinking.
Video games are also believed to be beneficial to the mind and body. It has been shown that action video game players have better hand–eye coordination and visuo-motor skills, such as their resistance to distraction, their sensitivity to information in the peripheral vision and their ability to count briefly presented objects, than nonplayers. Researchers found that such enhanced abilities could be acquired by training with action games, involving challenges that switch attention between different locations, but not with games requiring concentration on single objects. A 2018 systematic review found evidence that video gaming training had positive effects on cognitive and emotional skills in the adult population, especially with young adults. A 2019 systematic review also added support for the claim that video games are beneficial to the brain, although the beneficial effects of video gaming on the brain differed by video games types.
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Organisers of video gaming events, such as the organisers of the D-Lux video game festival in Dumfries, Scotland, have emphasised the positive aspects video games can have on mental health. Organisers, mental health workers and mental health nurses at the event emphasised the relationships and friendships that can be built around video games and how playing games can help people learn about others as a precursor to discussing the person's mental health. A study in 2020 from Oxford University also suggested that playing video games can be a benefit to a person's mental health. The report of 3,274 gamers, all over the age of 18, focused on the games Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and used actual play-time data. The report found that those that played more games tended to report greater "wellbeing". Also in 2020, computer science professor Regan Mandryk of the University of Saskatchewan said her research also showed that video games can have health benefits such as reducing stress and improving mental health. The university's research studied all age groups – "from pre-literate children through to older adults living in long term care homes" – with a main focus on 18 to 55-year-olds.
A study of gamers attitudes towards gaming which was reported about in 2018 found that millennials use video games as a key strategy for coping with stress. In the study of 1,000 gamers, 55% said that it "helps them to unwind and relieve stress ... and half said they see the value in gaming as a method of escapism to help them deal with daily work pressures".
Controversies
for video games is believed to trigger dopamine release that can encourage addictive behavior.]]
Video games have caused controversy since the 1970s. Parents and children's advocates regularly raise concerns that violent video games can influence young players into performing those violent acts in real life, and events such as the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 in which some claimed the perpetrators specifically alluded to using video games to plot out their attack, raised further fears. Medical experts and mental health professionals have also raised concerned that video games may be addictive, and the World Health Organization has included "gaming disorder" in the 11th revision of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases. Other health experts, including the American Psychiatric Association, have stated that there is insufficient evidence that video games can create violent tendencies or lead to addictive behavior, though agree that video games typically use a compulsion loop in their core design that can create dopamine that can help reinforce the desire to continue to play through that compulsion loop and potentially lead into violent or addictive behavior. Even with case law establishing that video games qualify as a protected art form, there has been pressure on the video game industry to keep their products in check to avoid over-excessive violence particularly for games aimed at younger children. The potential addictive behavior around games, coupled with increased used of post-sale monetization of video games, has also raised concern among parents, advocates, and government officials about gambling tendencies that may come from video games, such as controversy around the use of loot boxes in many high-profile games.
Numerous other controversies around video games and its industry have arisen over the years, among the more notable incidents include the 1993 United States Congressional hearings on violent games like Mortal Kombat which lead to the formation of the ESRB ratings system, numerous legal actions taken by attorney Jack Thompson over violent games such as Grand Theft Auto III and Manhunt from 2003 to 2007, the outrage over the "No Russian" level from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 which allowed the player to shoot a number of innocent non-player characters at an airport, and the Gamergate harassment campaign in 2014 that highlighted misogyny from a portion of the player demographic. The industry as a whole has also dealt with issues related to gender, racial, and LGBTQ+ discrimination and mischaracterization of these minority groups in video games. A further issue in the industry is related to working conditions, as development studios and publishers frequently use "crunch time", required extended working hours, in the weeks and months ahead of a game's release to assure on-time delivery.
Collecting and preservation
Players of video games often maintain collections of games. More recently there has been interest in retrogaming, focusing on games from the first decades. Games in retail packaging in good shape have become collectors items for the early days of the industry, with some rare publications having gone for over . Separately, there is also concern about the preservation of video games, as both game media and the hardware to play them degrade over time. Further, many of the game developers and publishers from the first decades no longer exist, so records of their games have disappeared. Archivists and preservations have worked within the scope of copyright law to save these games as part of the cultural history of the industry.
There are many video game museums around the world, including the National Videogame Museum in Frisco, Texas, which serves as the largest museum wholly dedicated to the display and preservation of the industry's most important artifacts. Europe hosts video game museums such as the Computer Games Museum in Berlin and the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland, California is a dedicated video game museum focusing on playable exhibits of console and computer games. The Video Game Museum of Rome is also dedicated to preserving video games and their history. The International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong in Rochester, New York contains one of the largest collections of electronic games and game-related historical materials in the world, including a exhibit which allows guests to play their way through the history of video games. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC has three video games on permanent display: Pac-Man, ''Dragon's Lair, and Pong''.
The Museum of Modern Art has added a total of 20 video games and one video game console to its permanent Architecture and Design Collection since 2012. In 2012, the Smithsonian American Art Museum ran an exhibition on "The Art of Video Games". However, the reviews of the exhibit were mixed, including questioning whether video games belong in an art museum.See also
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* Lists of video games
* List of accessories to video games by system
* Outline of video games
Notes
References
Bibliography
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* The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming by Steven L. Kent, Crown, 2021,
External links
* [http://www.ludoscience.com/EN/ressources/bibliographie/index.html?sort=files%20ASC Video games bibliography] by the French video game research association Ludoscience
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141010105238/http://archives.icom.museum/vlmp/computing.html The Virtual Museum of Computing (VMoC)] (archived 10 October 2014)
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Category:Games and sports introduced in 1947
Category:Digital media
Category:Articles containing video clips
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game
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Cambrian
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| lower_gssp_accept_date 1992
| upper_boundary_def = FAD of the Conodont Iapetognathus fluctivagus.
| upper_gssp_location = Greenpoint section, Green Point, Newfoundland, Canada
| upper_gssp_coords
| upper_gssp_accept_date 2000
<!--Atmospheric and Climatic Data-->
| o2 | co2
| temp | sea_level Rising steadily from 4 m to 90 m
}}
The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 486.85 Ma. The Period is also unique in its unusually high proportion of lagerstätte deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells. Etymology and history The term Cambrian is derived from the Latin version of Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales, where rocks of this age were first studied. It was named by Adam Sedgwick in 1835, who divided it into three groups; the Lower, Middle, and Upper.
Due to the scarcity of fossils, Sedgwick used rock types to identify Cambrian strata. He was also slow in publishing further work. The clear fossil record of the Silurian, however, allowed Murchison to correlate rocks of a similar age across Europe and Russia, and on these he published extensively. As increasing numbers of fossils were identified in older rocks, he extended the base of the Silurian downwards into the Sedgwick's "Upper Cambrian", claiming all fossilised strata for "his" Silurian series. Matters were complicated further when, in 1852, fieldwork carried out by Sedgwick and others revealed an unconformity within the Silurian, with a clear difference in fauna between the two.
Despite the long recognition of its distinction from younger Ordovician rocks and older Precambrian rocks, it was not until 1994 that the Cambrian system/period was internationally ratified. After decades of careful consideration, a continuous sedimentary sequence at Fortune Head, Newfoundland was settled upon as a formal base of the Cambrian Period, which was to be correlated worldwide by the earliest appearance of Treptichnus pedum.
This formal designation allowed radiometric dates to be obtained from samples across the globe that corresponded to the base of the Cambrian. An early date of 570 Ma quickly gained favour,
!
!International Series
!International Stage
!Chinese
!Australian
!Russian-Kazakhian
!North American
!European
|-
| rowspan"21" align"center" | C<br />a<br />m<br />b<br />r<br />i<br />a<br />n
| rowspan"5" align"center" | Furongian
| rowspan="2" |"Stage 10"
| rowspan="2" | Niuchehean|| Datsonian
| rowspan="2" |Batyrbaian ||Skullrockian / Ibexian (part)
| rowspan="6" |Merionethian
|-
| Payntonian
| rowspan="3" |Sunwaptan / Trempealeauan
|-
| rowspan="2" |Jiangshanian
| rowspan="2" | Jiangshanian
| rowspan="2" | Iverian
| Aksaian
|-
| rowspan="2" | Sakian
|-
|Paibian
| Paibian
|Idamean|| Steptoean / Franconian
|-
| rowspan"6" align"center" | Miaolingian
| rowspan"2" |Guzhangian|| rowspan"2" | Guzhangian || Mindyallan || Ayusokkanian
| rowspan="4" |Marjuman / Dresbachian
|-
| Boomerangian
| rowspan="3" |Mayan
| rowspan="5" |Acadian / St. David's
|-
| rowspan="2" |Drumian
| rowspan="2" | Wangcunian || Undillian
|-
|Florian
|-
| rowspan="2" |Wuliuan
| rowspan"2" | Wuliuan|| Templetonian || rowspan"3" | Amgan / Amgaian|| Topazan
|-
| rowspan="3" |Ordian
| rowspan="3" | Delmaran
|-
| rowspan="7" |Cambrian Series 2
| rowspan="4" |"Stage 4"
| rowspan="4" |Duyunian
| rowspan="6" |Branchian / Comley (part)
|-
| rowspan="2" | Toyonian
|-
| rowspan="8" |
| rowspan="3" |Dyeran
|-
| rowspan="2" |Botomian
|-
| rowspan="3" |"Stage 3"
| rowspan="3" | Nangaoan
|-
| rowspan="2" | Atdabanian
| rowspan="2" | Montezuman
|-
| rowspan="5" |Placentian / Comley (part)
|-
| rowspan"3" align"center" | Terreneuvian
| rowspan="2" |"Stage 2"
|Meishucunian
|Tommotian*
| rowspan="3" |Begadean
|-
| rowspan="2" |Jinningian
| rowspan="2" |Nemakit-Daldynian*
|-
|Fortunian
|-
| colspan"2" align"center" | Ediacaran
| || Sinian
| Adelaidean || Sakharan / Vendian
| Hadrynian
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Most Russian paleontologists define the lower boundary of the Cambrian at the base of the Tommotian Stage, characterized by diversification and global distribution of organisms with mineral skeletons and the appearance of the first Archaeocyath bioherms.
Terreneuvian
The Terreneuvian is the lowermost series/epoch of the Cambrian, lasting from 538.8 ± 0.6 Ma to c. 521 Ma. It is divided into two stages: the Fortunian stage, 538.8 ± 0.6 Ma to c. 529 Ma; and the unnamed Stage 2, c. 529 Ma to c. 521 Ma. It is divided into three stages: the Wuliuan c. 506.5 Ma to 504.5 Ma; the Drumian c. 504.5 Ma to c. 500.5 Ma; and the Guzhangian c. 500.5 Ma to c. 497 Ma. It is named after the Miaoling Mountains in southeastern Guizhou Province, South China, where the GSSP marking its base is found. This is defined by the first appearance of the oryctocephalid trilobite Oryctocephalus indicus. Secondary markers for the base of the Miaolingian include the appearance of many acritarchs forms, a global marine transgression, and the disappearance of the polymerid trilobites, Bathynotus or Ovatoryctocara. Unlike the Terreneuvian and Series 2, all the stages of the Miaolingian are defined by GSSPs.
Impact structures
Major meteorite impact structures include: the early Cambrian (c. 535 Ma) Neugrund crater in the Gulf of Finland, Estonia, a complex meteorite crater about 20 km in diameter, with two inner ridges of about 7 km and 6 km diameter, and an outer ridge of 8 km that formed as the result of an impact of an asteroid 1 km in diameter; the 5 km diameter Gardnos crater (500±10 Ma) in Buskerud, Norway, where post-impact sediments indicate the impact occurred in a shallow marine environment with rock avalanches and debris flows occurring as the crater rim was breached not long after impact; the 24 km diameter Presqu'ile crater (500 Ma or younger) Quebec, Canada; the 19 km diameter Glikson crater (c. 508 Ma) in Western Australia; the 5 km diameter Mizarai crater (500±10 Ma) in Lithuania; and the 3.2 km diameter Newporte structure (c. 500 Ma or slightly younger) in North Dakota, U.S.A. Paleogeography Reconstructing the position of the continents during the Cambrian is based on palaeomagnetic, palaeobiogeographic, tectonic, geological and palaeoclimatic data. However, these have different levels of uncertainty and can produce contradictory locations for the major continents. This, together with the ongoing debate around the existence of the Neoproterozoic supercontinent of Pannotia, means that while most models agree the continents lay in the southern hemisphere, with the vast Panthalassa Ocean covering most of northern hemisphere, the exact distribution and timing of the movements of the Cambrian continents varies between models. Early in the Cambrian, the south pole corresponded with the western South American sector and as Gondwana rotated anti-clockwise, by the middle of the Cambrian, the south pole lay in the northwest African region. Those not in favour of the existence of Pannotia show the Iapetus opening during the Late Neoproterozoic, with up to c. 6,500 km (c. 4038 miles) between Laurentia and West Gondwana at the beginning of the Cambrian.
Towards the end of the early Cambrian, rifting along Laurentia's southeastern margin led to the separation of Cuyania (now part of Argentina) from the Ouachita embayment with a new ocean established that continued to widen through the Cambrian and Early Ordovician. and the Arequipa-Antofalla block united with the South American sector of Gondwana in the early Cambrian.
Subduction zones, active since the Neoproterozoic, extended around much of Gondwana's margins, from northwest Africa southwards round South America, South Africa, East Antarctica, and the eastern edge of West Australia. Shorter subduction zones existed north of Arabia and India. This subduction extended west along the Gondwanan margin and by c. 530 Ma may have evolved into a major transform fault system.
Its southeastern margin was also a convergent boundary, with the accretion of island arcs and microcontinents to the craton, although the details are unclear. Much of the craton was covered by shallow seas, with land in the northwest and southeast. During the late Cambrian the distribution of trilobite provinces also indicate only a moderate pole-to-equator temperature gradient. The warm climate was linked to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Assembly of Gondwana led to the reorganisation of the tectonic plates with the development of new convergent plate margins and continental-margin arc magmatism that helped drive climatic warming. The eruptions of the Kalkarindji LIP basalts during Stage 4 and into the early Miaolingian, also released large quantities of carbon dioxide, methane and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere leading to rapid climatic changes and elevated sea surface temperatures. Estimates for tropical sea surface temperatures vary from c. ,
There is a complex relationship between oxygen levels, the biogeochemistry of ocean waters, and the evolution of life. Newly evolved burrowing organisms exposed anoxic sediments to the overlying oxygenated seawater. This bioturbation decreased the burial rates of organic carbon and sulphur, which over time reduced atmospheric and oceanic oxygen levels, leading to widespread anoxic conditions. Periods of higher rates of continental weathering led to increased delivery of nutrients to the oceans, boosting productivity of phytoplankton and stimulating metazoan evolution. However, rapid increases in nutrient supply led to eutrophication, where rapid growth in phytoplankton numbers result in the depletion of oxygen in the surrounding waters.
Pulses of increased oxygen levels are linked to increased biodiversity; raised oxygen levels supported the increasing metabolic demands of organisms, and increased ecological niches by expanding habitable areas of seafloor. Conversely, incursions of oxygen-deficient water, due to changes in sea level, ocean circulation, upwellings from deeper waters and/or biological productivity, produced anoxic conditions that limited habitable areas, reduced ecological niches and resulted in extinction events both regional and global. Over long timescales, the extra oxygen released by organic carbon burial is balanced by a decrease in the rates of pyrite (FeS<sub>2</sub>) burial (a process which also releases oxygen), leading to stable levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. However, during the early Cambrian, a series of linked δ<sup>13</sup>C and δ<sup>34</sup>S excursions indicate high burial rates of both organic carbon and pyrite in biologically productive yet anoxic ocean floor waters. The oxygen-rich waters produced by these processes spread from the deep ocean into shallow marine environments, extending the habitable regions of the seafloor. These pulses of oxygen are associated with the radiation of the small shelly fossils and the Cambrian arthropod radiation isotope excursion (CARE). The shells and skeletons of biomineralising organisms reflect the dominant form of calcite.
During the late Ediacaran to early Cambrian increasing oxygen levels led to a decrease in ocean acidity and an increase in the concentration of calcium in sea water. However, there was not a simple transition from aragonite to calcite seas, rather a protracted and variable change through the Cambrian. Aragonite and high-magnesium precipitation continued from the Ediacaran into Cambrian Stage 2. Low-magnesium calcite skeletal hard parts appear in Cambrian Age 2, but inorganic precipitation of aragonite also occurred at this time.
No land plant (embryophyte) fossils are known from the Cambrian. However, biofilms and microbial mats were well developed on Cambrian tidal flats and beaches 500 mya, and microbes forming microbial Earth ecosystems, comparable with modern soil crust of desert regions, contributing to soil formation. Although molecular clock estimates suggest terrestrial plants may have first emerged during the Middle or Late Cambrian, the consequent large-scale removal of the greenhouse gas CO<sub>2</sub> from the atmosphere through sequestration did not begin until the Ordovician.
Land plants may have emerged during the Cambrian, but the evidence for this is fragmentary and contested and the oldest unamibiguous evidence for land plants is from the following Ordovician. Molecular clock estimates have also led some authors to suggest that arthropods colonised land during the Cambrian, but again the earliest physical evidence of this is during the following Ordovician. Oceanic life
The Cambrian explosion was a period of rapid multicellular growth. Most animal life during the Cambrian was aquatic. Trilobites were once assumed to be the dominant life form at that time, but this has proven to be incorrect. Arthropods were by far the most dominant animals in the ocean, but trilobites were only a minor part of the total arthropod diversity. What made them so apparently abundant was their heavy armor reinforced by calcium carbonate (CaCO<sub>3</sub>), which fossilized far more easily than the fragile chitinous exoskeletons of other arthropods, leaving numerous preserved remains.
The period marked a steep change in the diversity and composition of Earth's biosphere. The Ediacaran biota suffered a mass extinction at the start of the Cambrian Period, which corresponded with an increase in the abundance and complexity of burrowing behaviour. This behaviour had a profound and irreversible effect on the substrate which transformed the seabed ecosystems. Before the Cambrian, the sea floor was covered by microbial mats. By the end of the Cambrian, burrowing animals had destroyed the mats in many areas through bioturbation. As a consequence, many of those organisms that were dependent on the mats became extinct, while the other species adapted to the changed environment that now offered new ecological niches. Around the same time there was a seemingly rapid appearance of representatives of all the mineralized phyla, including the Bryozoa, which were once thought to have only appeared in the Lower Ordovician. However, many of those phyla were represented only by stem-group forms; and since mineralized phyla generally have a benthic origin, they may not be a good proxy for (more abundant) non-mineralized phyla.
'' from the Burgess Shale, which were once believed to be green algae, but are now understood to represent hemichordates]]
While the early Cambrian showed such diversification that it has been named the Cambrian Explosion, this changed later in the period, when there occurred a sharp drop in biodiversity. About 515 Ma, the number of species going extinct exceeded the number of new species appearing. Five million years later, the number of genera had dropped from an earlier peak of about 600 to just 450. Also, the speciation rate in many groups was reduced to between a fifth and a third of previous levels. 500 Ma, oxygen levels fell dramatically in the oceans, leading to hypoxia, while the level of poisonous hydrogen sulfide simultaneously increased, causing another extinction. The later half of Cambrian was surprisingly barren and showed evidence of several rapid extinction events; the stromatolites which had been replaced by reef building sponges known as Archaeocyatha, returned once more as the archaeocyathids became extinct. This declining trend did not change until the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.
Marine life lived under low and fluctuating levels of oxygen in the ocean. During upwellings of anoxic deep ocean waters into shallow marine environments could push organisms over the edge into mass extinctions, leading ultimately to increased biodiversity. and mineralizing animals were rarer than in future periods, in part due to the unfavourable ocean chemistry. the Sinsk Algal Lens, the Maotianshan Shales, the Emu Bay Shale, and the Burgess Shale.
Symbol
The United States Federal Geographic Data Committee uses a "barred capital C" character to represent the Cambrian Period.
The Unicode character is .Gallery<gallery mode"packed">
File:CambrianStromatolites.jpg|Stromatolites of the Pika Formation (Middle Cambrian) near Helen Lake, Banff National Park, Canada
File:Elrathia kingii growth series.jpg|Trilobites, like these Elrathia kingii were very common arthropods during this time
File:20191203 Anomalocaris canadensis.png|Anomalocaris was an early marine predator, a member of the stem-arthropod group Radiodonta
File:20191108 Opabinia regalis.png|Opabinia was a bizarre stem-arthropod that possessed five stalked eyes, and a fused proboscis tipped with a claw-like appendage.
File:Protichnites, Blackberry Hill, Wisconsin, Cambrian 2.jpg|Protichnites were the trackways of arthropods that walked Cambrian beaches
File:20210830 Hallucigenia sparsa diagrammatic reconstruction.png|Hallucigenia sparsa was a member of group lobopodian, that is considered to be related to modern velvet worms.
File:20200329 Cambroraster falcatus.png|Cambroraster falcatus was a hurdiid radiodont that bore a large horseshoe-shaped carapace.
File:Schematic anatomical reconstruction of Pikaia.png|Pikaia was a stem-chordate from the Middle Cambrian
File:Amiskwia sagittiformis restoration.png|Amiskwia sagittiformis was a large bodied gnathiferan from Canada and China
File:Haplophrentis.png|Haplophrentis was a hyolith, a group of conical shelled lophotrochozoans that were potentially related to either lophophorates or mollusks.
File:Halkieria reconstruction.png|Halkieria was a bizarre invertebrate that was an early member of the mollusk group
</gallery>
See also
* Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event – circa 488 Ma
* Dresbachian extinction event—circa 499 Ma
* End Botomian extinction event—circa 513 Ma
* List of fossil sites (with link directory)
* Type locality (geology), the locality where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit, fossil or mineral species is first identified
References
Further reading
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External links
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* [http://www.trilobites.info/biostratigraphy.htm Biostratigraphy] – includes information on Cambrian trilobite biostratigraphy
* [http://www.trilobite.info Sam Gon's trilobite pages] (contains numerous Cambrian trilobites)
* [http://www.geo-lieven.com/erdzeitalter/kambrium/kambrium.htm Examples of Cambrian Fossils]
* [http://www.scotese.com/ Paleomap Project]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030829130602/http://www.earth-pages.com/archive/geobiology.asp Report on the web on Amthor and others from Geology vol. 31]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090616125244/http://www.astrobio.net/news/article251.html Weird Life on the Mats]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200727073140/https://ghkclass.com/ghkC.html?Cambrian Chronostratigraphy scale v.2018/08 | Cambrian]
Category:Geological periods
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian
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Theory of categories
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In ontology, the theory of categories concerns itself with the categories of being: the highest genera or kinds of entities. To investigate the categories of being, or simply categories, is to determine the most fundamental and the broadest classes of entities. A distinction between such categories, in making the categories or applying them, is called an ontological distinction. Various systems of categories have been proposed, they often include categories for substances, properties, relations, states of affairs or events. A representative question within the theory of categories might articulate itself, for example, in a query like, "Are universals prior to particulars?"Early developmentThe process of abstraction required to discover the number and names of the categories of being has been undertaken by many philosophers since Aristotle and involves the careful inspection of each concept to ensure that there is no higher category or categories under which that concept could be subsumed. The scholars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries developed Aristotle's ideas. For example, Gilbert of Poitiers divides Aristotle's ten categories into two sets, primary and secondary, according to whether they inhere in the subject or not:
*Primary categories: Substance, Relation, Quantity and Quality
*Secondary categories: Place, Time, Situation, Condition, Action, Passion
Furthermore, following Porphyry’s likening of the classificatory hierarchy to a tree, they concluded that the major classes could be subdivided to form subclasses, for example, Substance could be divided into Genus and Species, and Quality could be subdivided into Property and Accident, depending on whether the property was necessary or contingent. An alternative line of development was taken by Plotinus in the second century who by a process of abstraction reduced Aristotle's list of ten categories to five: Substance, Relation, Quantity, Motion and Quality. Plotinus further suggested that the latter three categories of his list, namely Quantity, Motion and Quality correspond to three different kinds of relation and that these three categories could therefore be subsumed under the category of Relation. This was to lead to the supposition that there were only two categories at the top of the hierarchical tree, namely Substance and Relation. Many supposed that relations only exist in the mind. Substance and Relation, then, are closely commutative with Matter and Mind--this is expressed most clearly in the dualism of René Descartes.
Vaisheshika
StoicAristotle
One of Aristotle’s early interests lay in the classification of the natural world, how for example the genus "animal" could be first divided into "two-footed animal" and then into "wingless, two-footed animal". He realised that the distinctions were being made according to the qualities the animal possesses, the quantity of its parts and the kind of motion that it exhibits. To fully complete the proposition "this animal is ..." Aristotle stated in his work on the Categories that there were ten kinds of predicate where ...
"... each signifies either substance or quantity or quality or relation or where or when or being-in-a-position or having or acting or being acted upon".
He realised that predicates could be simple or complex. The simple kinds consist of a subject and a predicate linked together by the "categorical" or inherent type of relation. For Aristotle the more complex kinds were limited to propositions where the predicate is compounded of two of the above categories for example "this is a horse running". More complex kinds of proposition were only discovered after Aristotle by the Stoic, Chrysippus, who developed the "hypothetical" and "disjunctive" types of syllogism and these were terms which were to be developed through the Middle Ages and were to reappear in Kant's system of categories.
Category came into use with Aristotle's essay Categories, in which he discussed univocal and equivocal terms, predication, and ten categories:
*Substance, essence (ousia) – examples of primary substance: this man, this horse; secondary substance (species, genera): man, horse
*Quantity (poson, how much), discrete or continuous – examples: two cubits long, number, space, (length of) time.
*Quality (poion, of what kind or description) – examples: white, black, grammatical, hot, sweet, curved, straight.
*Relation (pros ti, toward something) – examples: double, half, large, master, knowledge.
*Place (pou, where) – examples: in a marketplace, in the Lyceum
*Time (pote, when) – examples: yesterday, last year
*Position, posture, attitude (keisthai, to lie) – examples: sitting, lying, standing
*State, condition (echein, to have or be) – examples: shod, armed
*Action (poiein, to make or do) – examples: to lance, to heat, to cool (something)
*Affection, passion (paschein, to suffer or undergo) – examples: to be lanced, to be heated, to be cooled
Plotinus
Plotinus in writing his Enneads around AD 250 recorded that "Philosophy at a very early age investigated the number and character of the existents ... some found ten, others less ... to some the genera were the first principles, to others only a generic classification of existents." He realised that some categories were reducible to others saying "Why are not Beauty, Goodness and the virtues, Knowledge and Intelligence included among the primary genera?" He concluded that such transcendental categories and even the categories of Aristotle were in some way posterior to the three Eleatic categories first recorded in Plato's dialogue Parmenides and which comprised the following three coupled terms:
*Unity/Plurality
*Motion/Stability
*Identity/Difference
Plotinus called these "the hearth of reality" deriving from them not only the three categories of Quantity, Motion and Quality but also what came to be known as "the three moments of the Neoplatonic world process":
*First, there existed the "One", and his view that "the origin of things is a contemplation"
*The Second "is certainly an activity ... a secondary phase ... life streaming from life ... energy running through the universe"
*The Third is some kind of Intelligence concerning which he wrote "Activity is prior to Intellection ... and self knowledge"
Plotinus likened the three to the centre, the radii and the circumference of a circle, and clearly thought that the principles underlying the categories were the first principles of creation. "From a single root all being multiplies." Similar ideas were to be introduced into Early Christian thought by, for example, Gregory of Nazianzus who summed it up saying "Therefore, Unity, having from all eternity arrived by motion at duality, came to rest in Trinity."
Modern development
Kant and Hegel accused the Aristotelian table of categories of being 'rhapsodic', derived arbitrarily and in bulk from experience, without any systematic necessity.
The early modern dualism, which has been described above, of Mind and Matter or Subject and Relation, as reflected in the writings of Descartes underwent a substantial revision in the late 18th century. The first objections to this stance were formulated in the eighteenth century by Immanuel Kant who realised that we can say nothing about Substance except through the relation of the subject to other things.
For example: In the sentence "This is a house" the substantive subject "house" only gains meaning in relation to human use patterns or to other similar houses. The category of Substance disappears from Kant's tables, and under the heading of Relation, Kant lists inter alia the three relationship types of Disjunction, Causality and Inherence. The three older concepts of Quantity, Motion and Quality, as Peirce discovered, could be subsumed under these three broader headings in that Quantity relates to the subject through the relation of Disjunction; Motion relates to the subject through the relation of Causality; and Quality relates to the subject through the relation of Inherence. Sets of three continued to play an important part in the nineteenth century development of the categories, most notably in G.W.F. Hegel's extensive tabulation of categories, and in C.S. Peirce's categories set out in his work on the logic of relations. One of Peirce's contributions was to call the three primary categories Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness which both emphasises their general nature, and avoids the confusion of having the same name for both the category itself and for a concept within that category.
In a separate development, and building on the notion of primary and secondary categories introduced by the Scholastics, Kant introduced the idea that secondary or "derivative" categories could be derived from the primary categories through the combination of one primary category with another. This would result in the formation of three secondary categories: the first, "Community" was an example that Kant gave of such a derivative category; the second, "Modality", introduced by Kant, was a term which Hegel, in developing Kant's dialectical method, showed could also be seen as a derivative category; and the third, "Spirit" or "Will" were terms that Hegel and Schopenhauer were developing separately for use in their own systems. Karl Jaspers in the twentieth century, in his development of existential categories, brought the three together, allowing for differences in terminology, as Substantiality, Communication and Will. This pattern of three primary and three secondary categories was used most notably in the nineteenth century by Peter Mark Roget to form the six headings of his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. The headings used were the three objective categories of Abstract Relation, Space (including Motion) and Matter and the three subjective categories of Intellect, Feeling and Volition, and he found that under these six headings all the words of the English language, and hence any possible predicate, could be assembled.
Kant
In the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), Immanuel Kant argued that the categories are part of our own mental structure and consist of a set of a priori concepts through which we interpret the world around us. These concepts correspond to twelve logical functions of the understanding which we use to make judgements and there are therefore two tables given in the Critique, one of the Judgements and a corresponding one for the Categories. To give an example, the logical function behind our reasoning from ground to consequence (based on the Hypothetical relation) underlies our understanding of the world in terms of cause and effect (the Causal relation). In each table the number twelve arises from, firstly, an initial division into two: the Mathematical and the Dynamical; a second division of each of these headings into a further two: Quantity and Quality, and Relation and Modality respectively; and, thirdly, each of these then divides into a further three subheadings as follows.
Table of Judgements
Mathematical
*Quantity
**Universal
**Particular
**Singular
*Quality
**Affirmative
**Negative
**Infinite
Dynamical
*Relation
**Categorical
**Hypothetical
**Disjunctive
*Modality
**Problematic
**Assertoric
**Apodictic
Table of Categories
Mathematical
*Quantity
**Unity
**Plurality
**Totality
*Quality
**Reality
**Negation
**Limitation
Dynamical
*Relation
**Inherence and Subsistence (substance and accident)
**Causality and Dependence (cause and effect)
**Community (reciprocity)
*Modality
**Possibility
**Existence
**Necessity
Criticism of Kant's system followed, firstly, by Arthur Schopenhauer, who amongst other things was unhappy with the term "Community", and declared that the tables "do open violence to truth, treating it as nature was treated by old-fashioned gardeners", and secondly, by W.T.Stace who in his book The Philosophy of Hegel suggested that in order to make Kant's structure completely symmetrical a third category would need to be added to the Mathematical and the Dynamical. This, he said, Hegel was to do with his category of concept.
Hegel
G.W.F. Hegel in his Science of Logic (1812) attempted to provide a more comprehensive system of categories than Kant and developed a structure that was almost entirely triadic. So important were the categories to Hegel that he claimed the first principle of the world, which he called the "absolute", is "a system of categories the categories must be the reason of which the world is a consequent".
Using his own logical method of sublation, later called the Hegelian dialectic, reasoning from the abstract through the negative to the concrete, he arrived at a hierarchy of some 270 categories, as explained by W. T. Stace. The three very highest categories were "logic", "nature" and "spirit". The three highest categories of "logic", however, he called "being", "essence", and "notion" which he explained as follows:
* Being was differentiated from Nothing by containing with it the concept of the "other", an initial internal division that can be compared with Kant's category of disjunction. Stace called the category of Being the sphere of common sense containing concepts such as consciousness, sensation, quantity, quality and measure.
* Essence. The "other" separates itself from the "one" by a kind of motion, reflected in Hegel's first synthesis of "becoming". For Stace this category represented the sphere of science containing within it firstly, the thing, its form and properties; secondly, cause, effect and reciprocity, and thirdly, the principles of classification, identity and difference.
* Notion. Having passed over into the "Other" there is an almost neoplatonic return into a higher unity that in embracing the "one" and the "other" enables them to be considered together through their inherent qualities. This according to Stace is the sphere of philosophy proper where we find not only the three types of logical proposition: disjunctive, hypothetical, and categorical but also the three transcendental concepts of beauty, goodness and truth.
Schopenhauer's category that corresponded with "notion" was that of "idea", which in his Four-Fold Root of Sufficient Reason he complemented with the category of the "will". The title of his major work was The World as Will and Idea. The two other complementary categories, reflecting one of Hegel's initial divisions, were those of Being and Becoming. At around the same time, Goethe was developing his colour theories in the of 1810, and introduced similar principles of combination and complementation, symbolising, for Goethe, "the primordial relations which belong both to nature and vision". Hegel in his Science of Logic accordingly asks us to see his system not as a tree but as a circle.
Twentieth-century development
In the twentieth century the primacy of the division between the subjective and the objective, or between mind and matter, was disputed by, among others, Bertrand Russell and Gilbert Ryle. Philosophy began to move away from the metaphysics of categorisation towards the linguistic problem of trying to differentiate between, and define, the words being used. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s conclusion was that there were no clear definitions which we can give to words and categories but only a "halo" or "corona" of related meanings radiating around each term. Gilbert Ryle thought the problem could be seen in terms of dealing with "a galaxy of ideas" rather than a single idea, and suggested that category mistakes are made when a concept (e.g. "university"), understood as falling under one category (e.g. abstract idea), is used as though it falls under another (e.g. physical object). With regard to the visual analogies being used, Peirce and Lewis, just like Plotinus earlier, likened the terms of propositions to points, and the relations between the terms to lines. Peirce, taking this further, talked of univalent, bivalent and trivalent relations linking predicates to their subject and it is just the number and types of relation linking subject and predicate that determine the category into which a predicate might fall. Primary categories contain concepts where there is one dominant kind of relation to the subject. Secondary categories contain concepts where there are two dominant kinds of relation. Examples of the latter were given by Heidegger in his two propositions "the house is on the creek" where the two dominant relations are spatial location (Disjunction) and cultural association (Inherence), and "the house is eighteenth century" where the two relations are temporal location (Causality) and cultural quality (Inherence). A third example may be inferred from Kant in the proposition "the house is impressive or sublime" where the two relations are spatial or mathematical disposition (Disjunction) and dynamic or motive power (Causality). Both Peirce and Wittgenstein introduced the analogy of colour theory in order to illustrate the shades of meanings of words. Primary categories, like primary colours, are analytical representing the furthest we can go in terms of analysis and abstraction and include Quantity, Motion and Quality. Secondary categories, like secondary colours, are synthetic and include concepts such as Substance, Community and Spirit.
Apart from these, the categorial scheme of Alfred North Whitehead and his Process Philosophy, alongside Nicolai Hartmann and his Critical Realism, remain one of the most detailed and advanced systems in categorial research in metaphysics.
Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce, who had read Kant and Hegel closely, and who also had some knowledge of Aristotle, proposed a system of merely three phenomenological categories: Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness, which he repeatedly invoked in his subsequent writings. Like Hegel, C.S. Peirce attempted to develop a system of categories from a single indisputable principle, in Peirce's case the notion that in the first instance he could only be aware of his own ideas.
"It seems that the true categories of consciousness are first, feeling ... second, a sense of resistance ... and third, synthetic consciousness, or thought".
Elsewhere he called the three primary categories: Quality, Reaction and Meaning, and even Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness, saying, "perhaps it is not right to call these categories conceptions, they are so intangible that they are rather tones or tints upon conceptions":
*Firstness (Quality): "The first is predominant in feeling ... we must think of a quality without parts, e.g. the colour of magenta ... When I say it is a quality I do not mean that it "inheres" in a subject ... The whole content of consciousness is made up of qualities of feeling, as truly as the whole of space is made up of points, or the whole of time by instants".
*Secondness (Reaction): "This is present even in such a rudimentary fragment of experience as a simple feeling ... an action and reaction between our soul and the stimulus ... The idea of second is predominant in the ideas of causation and of statical force ... the real is active; we acknowledge it by calling it the actual".
*Thirdness (Meaning): "Thirdness is essentially of a general nature ... ideas in which thirdness predominate [include] the idea of a sign or representation ... Every genuine triadic relation involves meaning ... the idea of meaning is irreducible to those of quality and reaction ... synthetical consciousness is the consciousness of a third or medium".
Although Peirce's three categories correspond to the three concepts of relation given in Kant's tables, the sequence is now reversed and follows that given by Hegel, and indeed before Hegel of the three moments of the world-process given by Plotinus. Later, Peirce gave a mathematical reason for there being three categories in that although monadic, dyadic and triadic nodes are irreducible, every node of a higher valency is reducible to a "compound of triadic relations". Ferdinand de Saussure, who was developing "semiology" in France just as Peirce was developing "semiotics" in the US, likened each term of a proposition to "the centre of a constellation, the point where other coordinate terms, the sum of which is indefinite, converge".
Others
Edmund Husserl (1962, 2000) wrote extensively about categorial systems as part of his phenomenology.
For Gilbert Ryle (1949), a category (in particular a "category mistake") is an important semantic concept, but one having only loose affinities to an ontological category.
Contemporary systems of categories have been proposed by John G. Bennett (The Dramatic Universe, 4 vols., 1956–65), Wilfrid Sellars (1974), Reinhardt Grossmann (1983, 1992), Johansson (1989), Hoffman and Rosenkrantz (1994), Roderick Chisholm (1996), Barry Smith (ontologist) (2003), and Jonathan Lowe (2006).
See also
* Categories (Aristotle)
* Categories (Peirce)
* Categories (Stoic)
* Category (Kant)
* Metaphysics
* Modal logic
* Ontology
* Schema (Kant)
* Similarity (philosophy)
References
Selected bibliography
*Aristotle, 1953. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051212140439/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/metaphysics/ Metaphysics]. Ross, W. D., trans. Oxford University Press.
*--------, 2004. [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/a8/categori.html Categories], Edghill, E. M., trans. Uni. of Adelaide library.
*John G. Bennett, 1956–1965. The Dramatic Universe. London, Hodder & Stoughton.
*Gustav Bergmann, 1992. New Foundations of Ontology. Madison: Uni. of Wisconsin Press.
*Browning, Douglas, 1990. Ontology and the Practical Arena. Pennsylvania State Uni.
*Butchvarov, Panayot, 1979. Being qua Being: A Theory of Identity, Existence, and Predication. Indiana Uni. Press.
*Roderick Chisholm, 1996. A Realistic Theory of Categories. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Feibleman, James Kern, 1951. Ontology. The Johns Hopkins Press (reprinted 1968, Greenwood Press, Publishers, New York).
*Grossmann, Reinhardt, 1983. The Categorial Structure of the World. Indiana Uni. Press.
*Grossmann, Reinhardt, 1992. The Existence of the World: An Introduction to Ontology. Routledge.
*Haaparanta, Leila and Koskinen, Heikki J., 2012. Categories of Being: Essays on Metaphysics and Logic. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Hoffman, J., and Rosenkrantz, G. S.,1994. Substance among other Categories. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Edmund Husserl, 1962. Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology. Boyce Gibson, W. R., trans. Collier.
*------, 2000. Logical Investigations, 2nd ed. Findlay, J. N., trans. Routledge.
*Johansson, Ingvar, 1989. Ontological Investigations. Routledge, 2nd ed. Ontos Verlag 2004.
* Kahn, Charles H., 2009. Essays on Being, Oxford University Press.
*Immanuel Kant, 1998. Critique of Pure Reason. Guyer, Paul, and Wood, A. W., trans. Cambridge Uni. Press.
*Charles Sanders Peirce, 1992, 1998. The Essential Peirce, vols. 1,2. Houser, Nathan et al., eds. Indiana Uni. Press.
*Gilbert Ryle, 1949. The Concept of Mind. Uni. of Chicago Press.
*Wilfrid Sellars, 1974, "Toward a Theory of the Categories" in Essays in Philosophy and Its History. Reidel.
*Barry Smith, 2003. "Ontology" in Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information. Blackwell.
External links
* Aristotle's [http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/categories.html Categories] at MIT.
*
* "[http://ejap.louisiana.edu/EJAP/1997.spring/thomasson976.html Ontological Categories and How to Use Them]" – Amie Thomasson.
* "[http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~weltyc/fois/fois-2001/keynote/ Recent Advances in Metaphysics]" – E. J. Lowe.
* [http://www.ontology.co/ Theory and History of Ontology] – Raul Corazzon.
Category:Concepts in metaphysics
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Concrete
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mortar|plaster}}
, as used for construction]]
Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely-used building material, and the most-manufactured material in the world.
When aggregate is mixed with dry Portland cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry that can be poured and molded into shape. The cement reacts with the water through a process called hydration, which hardens it after several hours to form a solid matrix that binds the materials together into a durable stone-like material with various uses. This time allows concrete to not only be cast in forms, but also to have a variety of tooled processes performed. The hydration process is exothermic, which means that ambient temperature plays a significant role in how long it takes concrete to set. Often, additives (such as pozzolans or superplasticizers) are included in the mixture to improve the physical properties of the wet mix, delay or accelerate the curing time, or otherwise modify the finished material. Most structural concrete is poured with reinforcing materials (such as steel rebar) embedded to provide tensile strength, yielding reinforced concrete.
Before the invention of Portland cement in the early 1800s, lime-based cement binders, such as lime putty, were often used. The overwhelming majority of concretes are produced using Portland cement, but sometimes with other hydraulic cements, such as calcium aluminate cement. Many other non-cementitious types of concrete exist with other methods of binding aggregate together, including asphalt concrete with a bitumen binder, which is frequently used for road surfaces, and polymer concretes that use polymers as a binder.
Concrete is distinct from mortar. Whereas concrete is itself a building material, and contains both coarse (large) and fine (small) aggregate particles, mortar contains only fine aggregates and is mainly used as a bonding agent to hold bricks, tiles and other masonry units together. Grout is another material associated with concrete and cement. It also does not contain coarse aggregates and is usually either pourable or thixotropic, and is used to fill gaps between masonry components or coarse aggregate which has already been put in place. Some methods of concrete manufacture and repair involve pumping grout into the gaps to make up a solid mass in situ.
Etymology
The word concrete comes from the Latin word "" (meaning compact or condensed), the perfect passive participle of "", from "-" (together) and "" (to grow).
History
Ancient times
Concrete floors were found in the royal palace of Tiryns, Greece, which dates roughly to 1400 to 1200 BC. Lime mortars were used in Greece, such as in Crete and Cyprus, in 800 BC. The Assyrian Jerwan Aqueduct (688 BC) made use of waterproof concrete. Concrete was used for construction in many ancient structures.
Mayan concrete at the ruins of Uxmal (AD 850–925) is referenced in Incidents of Travel in the Yucatán by John L. Stephens. "The roof is flat and had been covered with cement". "The floors were cement, in some places hard, but, by long exposure, broken, and now crumbling under the feet." "But throughout the wall was solid, and consisting of large stones imbedded in mortar, almost as hard as rock."
Small-scale production of concrete-like materials was pioneered by the Nabatean traders who occupied and controlled a series of oases and developed a small empire in the regions of southern Syria and northern Jordan from the 4th century BC. They discovered the advantages of hydraulic lime, with some self-cementing properties, by 700 BC. They built kilns to supply mortar for the construction of rubble masonry houses, concrete floors, and underground waterproof cisterns. They kept the cisterns secret as these enabled the Nabataeans to thrive in the desert. Some of these structures survive to this day.
Classical era
, finished 128 AD, the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.]]
ed dome was laid on moulds, mounted on temporary scaffolding.]]
exposed in a characteristic Roman arch. In contrast to modern concrete structures, the concrete used in Roman buildings was usually covered with brick or stone.]]
The Romans used concrete extensively from 300 BC to AD 476. During the Roman Empire, Roman concrete (or opus caementicium'') was made from quicklime, pozzolana and an aggregate of pumice. Its widespread use in many Roman structures, a key event in the history of architecture termed the Roman architectural revolution, freed Roman construction from the restrictions of stone and brick materials. It enabled revolutionary new designs in terms of both structural complexity and dimension. The Colosseum in Rome was built largely of concrete, and the Pantheon has the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.
<blockquote>Concrete, as the Romans knew it, was a new and revolutionary material. Laid in the shape of arches, vaults and domes, it quickly hardened into a rigid mass, free from many of the internal thrusts and strains that troubled the builders of similar structures in stone or brick.</blockquote>
Modern tests show that opus caementicium had a similar compressive strength to modern Portland-cement concrete (c. ). However, due to the absence of reinforcement, its tensile strength was far lower than modern reinforced concrete, and its mode of application also differed:
<blockquote>Modern structural concrete differs from Roman concrete in two important details. First, its mix consistency is fluid and homogeneous, allowing it to be poured into forms rather than requiring hand-layering together with the placement of aggregate, which, in Roman practice, often consisted of rubble. Second, integral reinforcing steel gives modern concrete assemblies great strength in tension, whereas Roman concrete could depend only upon the strength of the concrete bonding to resist tension.</blockquote>
The long-term durability of Roman concrete structures has been found to be due to its use of pyroclastic (volcanic) rock and ash, whereby the crystallization of strätlingite (a complex calcium aluminosilicate hydrate) and the coalescence of this and similar calcium–aluminium-silicate–hydrate cementing binders helped give the concrete a greater degree of fracture resistance even in seismically active environments. Roman concrete is significantly more resistant to erosion by seawater than modern concrete; it used pyroclastic materials which react with seawater to form Al-tobermorite crystals over time. The use of hot mixing and the presence of lime clasts have been proposed to give the concrete a self-healing ability, where cracks that form become filled with calcite that prevents the crack from spreading.
The widespread use of concrete in many Roman structures ensured that many survive to the present day. The Baths of Caracalla in Rome are just one example. Many Roman aqueducts and bridges, such as the magnificent Pont du Gard in southern France, have masonry cladding on a concrete core, as does the dome of the Pantheon.
Middle Ages
After the Roman Empire, the use of burned lime and pozzolana was greatly reduced. Low kiln temperatures in the burning of lime, lack of pozzolana, and poor mixing all contributed to a decline in the quality of concrete and mortar. From the 11th century, the increased use of stone in church and castle construction led to an increased demand for mortar. Quality began to improve in the 12th century through better grinding and sieving. Medieval lime mortars and concretes were non-hydraulic and were used for binding masonry, "hearting" (binding rubble masonry cores) and foundations. Bartholomaeus Anglicus in his De proprietatibus rerum (1240) describes the making of mortar. In an English translation from 1397, it reads "lyme ... is a stone brent; by medlynge thereof with sonde and water sement is made". From the 14th century, the quality of mortar was again excellent, but only from the 17th century was pozzolana commonly added.
The Canal du Midi'' was built using concrete in 1670.
Industrial era
in Devon, England]]
Perhaps the greatest step forward in the modern use of concrete was Smeaton's Tower, built by British engineer John Smeaton in Devon, England, between 1756 and 1759. This third Eddystone Lighthouse pioneered the use of hydraulic lime in concrete, using pebbles and powdered brick as aggregate.
A method for producing Portland cement was developed in England and patented by Joseph Aspdin in 1824. Aspdin chose the name for its similarity to Portland stone, which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. His son William continued developments into the 1840s, earning him recognition for the development of "modern" Portland cement.
Reinforced concrete was invented in 1849 by Joseph Monier. and the first reinforced concrete house was built by François Coignet in 1853.
The first concrete reinforced bridge was designed and built by Joseph Monier in 1875.
Prestressed concrete and post-tensioned concrete were pioneered by Eugène Freyssinet, a French structural and civil engineer. Concrete components or structures are compressed by tendon cables during, or after, their fabrication in order to strengthen them against tensile forces developing when put in service. Freyssinet patented the technique on 2 October 1928.CompositionConcrete is an artificial composite material, comprising a matrix of cementitious binder (typically Portland cement paste or asphalt) and a dispersed phase or "filler" of aggregate (typically a rocky material, loose stones, and sand). The binder "glues" the filler together to form a synthetic conglomerate. Many types of concrete are available, determined by the formulations of binders and the types of aggregate used to suit the application of the engineered material. These variables determine strength and density, as well as chemical and thermal resistance of the finished product.
of a concrete railway sleeper below a rail]]
Construction aggregates consist of large chunks of material in a concrete mix, generally a coarse gravel or crushed rocks such as limestone, or granite, along with finer materials such as sand.
Cement paste, most commonly made of Portland cement, is the most prevalent kind of concrete binder. For cementitious binders, water is mixed with the dry cement powder and aggregate, which produces a semi-liquid slurry (paste) that can be shaped, typically by pouring it into a form. The concrete solidifies and hardens through a chemical process called hydration. The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together, creating a robust, stone-like material. Other cementitious materials, such as fly ash and slag cement, are sometimes added—either pre-blended with the cement or directly as a concrete component—and become a part of the binder for the aggregate. Fly ash and slag can enhance some properties of concrete such as fresh properties and durability. It consists of a mixture of calcium silicates (alite, belite), aluminates and ferrites—compounds, which will react with water. Portland cement and similar materials are made by heating limestone (a source of calcium) with clay or shale (a source of silicon, aluminium and iron) and grinding this product (called clinker) with a source of sulfate (most commonly gypsum).
Cement kilns are extremely large, complex, and inherently dusty industrial installations. Of the various ingredients used to produce a given quantity of concrete, the cement is the most energetically expensive. Even complex and efficient kilns require 3.3 to 3.6 gigajoules of energy to produce a ton of clinker and then grind it into cement. Many kilns can be fueled with difficult-to-dispose-of wastes, the most common being used tires. The extremely high temperatures and long periods of time at those temperatures allows cement kilns to efficiently and completely burn even difficult-to-use fuels. The five major compounds of calcium silicates and aluminates comprising Portland cement range from 5 to 50% in weight.
Curing
Combining water with a cementitious material forms a cement paste by the process of hydration. The cement paste glues the aggregate together, fills voids within it, and makes it flow more freely.
As stated by Abrams' law, a lower water-to-cement ratio yields a stronger, more durable concrete, whereas more water gives a freer-flowing concrete with a higher slump. The hydration of cement involves many concurrent reactions. The process involves polymerization, the interlinking of the silicates and aluminate components as well as their bonding to sand and gravel particles to form a solid mass. One illustrative conversion is the hydration of tricalcium silicate:
: Cement chemist notation: C<sub>3</sub>S + H → C-S-H + CH + heat
: Standard notation: Ca<sub>3</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>O → CaO・SiO<sub>2</sub>・H<sub>2</sub>O (gel) + Ca(OH)<sub>2</sub> + heat
: Balanced: 2 Ca<sub>3</sub>SiO<sub>5</sub> + 7 H<sub>2</sub>O → 3 CaO・2 SiO<sub>2</sub>・4 H<sub>2</sub>O (gel) + 3 Ca(OH)<sub>2</sub> + heat
: (approximately as the exact ratios of CaO, SiO<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>O in C-S-H can vary)
Aggregates
]]
Fine and coarse aggregates make up the bulk of a concrete mixture. Sand, natural gravel, and crushed stone are used mainly for this purpose. Recycled aggregates (from construction, demolition, and excavation waste) are increasingly used as partial replacements for natural aggregates, while a number of manufactured aggregates, including air-cooled blast furnace slag and bottom ash are also permitted.
The size distribution of the aggregate determines how much binder is required. Aggregate with a very even size distribution has the biggest gaps whereas adding aggregate with smaller particles tends to fill these gaps. The binder must fill the gaps between the aggregate as well as paste the surfaces of the aggregate together, and is typically the most expensive component. Thus, variation in sizes of the aggregate reduces the cost of concrete. The aggregate is nearly always stronger than the binder, so its use does not negatively affect the strength of the concrete.
Redistribution of aggregates after compaction often creates non-homogeneity due to the influence of vibration. This can lead to strength gradients.
Decorative stones such as quartzite, small river stones or crushed glass are sometimes added to the surface of concrete for a decorative "exposed aggregate" finish, popular among landscape designers.
Admixtures
Admixtures are materials in the form of powder or fluids that are added to the concrete to give it certain characteristics not obtainable with plain concrete mixes. Admixtures are defined as additions "made as the concrete mix is being prepared". The most common admixtures are retarders and accelerators. In normal use, admixture dosages are less than 5% by mass of cement and are added to the concrete at the time of batching/mixing. (See below.) The common types of admixtures are as follows:
* Accelerators speed up the hydration (hardening) of the concrete. Typical materials used are calcium chloride, calcium nitrate and sodium nitrate. However, use of chlorides may cause corrosion in steel reinforcing and is prohibited in some countries, so that nitrates may be favored, even though they are less effective than the chloride salt. Accelerating admixtures are especially useful for modifying the properties of concrete in cold weather.
* Air entraining agents add and entrain tiny air bubbles in the concrete, which reduces damage during freeze-thaw cycles, increasing durability. However, entrained air entails a tradeoff with strength, as each 1% of air may decrease compressive strength by 5%. If too much air becomes trapped in the concrete as a result of the mixing process, defoamers can be used to encourage the air bubble to agglomerate, rise to the surface of the wet concrete and then disperse.
* Bonding agents are used to create a bond between old and new concrete (typically a type of polymer) with wide temperature tolerance and corrosion resistance.
* Corrosion inhibitors are used to minimize the corrosion of steel and steel bars in concrete.
* Crystalline admixtures are typically added during batching of the concrete to lower permeability. The reaction takes place when exposed to water and un-hydrated cement particles to form insoluble needle-shaped crystals, which fill capillary pores and micro-cracks in the concrete to block pathways for water and waterborne contaminates. Concrete with crystalline admixture can expect to self-seal as constant exposure to water will continuously initiate crystallization to ensure permanent waterproof protection.
* Pigments can be used to change the color of concrete, for aesthetics.
* Plasticizers increase the workability of plastic, or "fresh", concrete, allowing it to be placed more easily, with less consolidating effort. A typical plasticizer is lignosulfonate. Plasticizers can be used to reduce the water content of a concrete while maintaining workability and are sometimes called water-reducers due to this use. Such treatment improves its strength and durability characteristics.
* Superplasticizers (also called high-range water-reducers) are a class of plasticizers that have fewer deleterious effects and can be used to increase workability more than is practical with traditional plasticizers. Superplasticizers are used to increase compressive strength. It increases the workability of the concrete and lowers the need for water content by 15–30%.
* Pumping aids improve pumpability, thicken the paste and reduce separation and bleeding.
* Retarders slow the hydration of concrete and are used in large or difficult pours where partial setting is undesirable before completion of the pour. Typical retarders include sugar, sodium gluconate, citric acid, and tartaric acid.
Mineral admixtures and blended cements
Inorganic materials that have pozzolanic or latent hydraulic properties, these very fine-grained materials are added to the concrete mix to improve the properties of concrete (mineral admixtures), Products which incorporate limestone, fly ash, blast furnace slag, and other useful materials with pozzolanic properties into the mix, are being tested and used. These developments are ever growing in relevance to minimize the impacts caused by cement use, notorious for being one of the largest producers (at about 5 to 10%) of global greenhouse gas emissions. The use of alternative materials also is capable of lowering costs, improving concrete properties, and recycling wastes, the latest being relevant for circular economy aspects of the construction industry, whose demand is ever growing with greater impacts on raw material extraction, waste generation and landfill practices.
* Fly ash: A by-product of coal-fired electric generating plants, it is used to partially replace Portland cement (by up to 60% by mass). The properties of fly ash depend on the type of coal burnt. In general, siliceous fly ash is pozzolanic, while calcareous fly ash has latent hydraulic properties.
* Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS or GGBS): A by-product of steel production is used to partially replace Portland cement (by up to 80% by mass). It has latent hydraulic properties.
* Silica fume: A by-product of the production of silicon and ferrosilicon alloys. Silica fume is similar to fly ash, but has a particle size 100 times smaller. This results in a higher surface-to-volume ratio and a much faster pozzolanic reaction. Silica fume is used to increase strength and durability of concrete, but generally requires the use of superplasticizers for workability.
* High reactivity metakaolin (HRM): Metakaolin produces concrete with strength and durability similar to concrete made with silica fume. While silica fume is usually dark gray or black in color, high-reactivity metakaolin is usually bright white in color, making it the preferred choice for architectural concrete where appearance is important.
* Carbon nanofibers can be added to concrete to enhance compressive strength and gain a higher Young's modulus, and also to improve the electrical properties required for strain monitoring, damage evaluation and self-health monitoring of concrete. Carbon fiber has many advantages in terms of mechanical and electrical properties (e.g., higher strength) and self-monitoring behavior due to the high tensile strength and high electrical conductivity.
* Carbon products have been added to make concrete electrically conductive, for deicing purposes.
* New research from Japan's University of Kitakyushu shows that a washed and dried recycled mix of used diapers can be an environmental solution to producing less landfill and using less sand in concrete production. A model home was built in Indonesia to test the strength and durability of the new diaper-cement composite.Production
showing a concrete mixer being filled from ingredient silos]]
, in 1936]]
Concrete production is the process of mixing together the various ingredients—water, aggregate, cement, and any additives—to produce concrete. Concrete production is time-sensitive. Once the ingredients are mixed, workers must put the concrete in place before it hardens. In modern usage, most concrete production takes place in a large type of industrial facility called a concrete plant, or often a batch plant. The usual method of placement is casting in formwork, which holds the mix in shape until it has set enough to hold its shape unaided.
Concrete plants come in two main types, ready-mix plants and central mix plants. A ready-mix plant blends all of the solid ingredients, while a central mix does the same but adds water. A central-mix plant offers more precise control of the concrete quality. Central mix plants must be close to the work site where the concrete will be used, since hydration begins at the plant.
A concrete plant consists of large hoppers for storage of various ingredients like cement, storage for bulk ingredients like aggregate and water, mechanisms for the addition of various additives and amendments, machinery to accurately weigh, move, and mix some or all of those ingredients, and facilities to dispense the mixed concrete, often to a concrete mixer truck.
Modern concrete is usually prepared as a viscous fluid, so that it may be poured into forms. The forms are containers that define the desired shape. Concrete formwork can be prepared in several ways, such as slip forming and steel plate construction. Alternatively, concrete can be mixed into dryer, non-fluid forms and used in factory settings to manufacture precast concrete products.
Interruption in pouring the concrete can cause the initially placed material to begin to set before the next batch is added on top. This creates a horizontal plane of weakness called a cold joint between the two batches. Once the mix is where it should be, the curing process must be controlled to ensure that the concrete attains the desired attributes. During concrete preparation, various technical details may affect the quality and nature of the product.Design mix
Design mix ratios are decided by an engineer after analyzing the properties of the specific ingredients being used. Instead of using a 'nominal mix' of 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, and 4 parts aggregate, a civil engineer will custom-design a concrete mix to exactly meet the requirements of the site and conditions, setting material ratios and often designing an admixture package to fine-tune the properties or increase the performance envelope of the mix. Design-mix concrete can have very broad specifications that cannot be met with more basic nominal mixes, but the involvement of the engineer often increases the cost of the concrete mix.
Concrete mixes are primarily divided into nominal mix, standard mix and design mix.
Nominal mix ratios are given in volume of <math>\text{Cement : Sand : Aggregate}</math>. Nominal mixes are a simple, fast way of getting a basic idea of the properties of the finished concrete without having to perform testing in advance.
Various governing bodies (such as British Standards) define nominal mix ratios into a number of grades, usually ranging from lower compressive strength to higher compressive strength. The grades usually indicate the 28-day cure strength.Mixing
Thorough mixing is essential to produce uniform, high-quality concrete.
has shown that the mixing of cement and water into a paste before combining these materials with aggregates can increase the compressive strength of the resulting concrete. The paste is generally mixed in a , shear-type mixer at a w/c (water to cement ratio) of 0.30 to 0.45 by mass. The cement paste premix may include admixtures such as accelerators or retarders, superplasticizers, pigments, or silica fume. The premixed paste is then blended with aggregates and any remaining batch water and final mixing is completed in conventional concrete mixing equipment.
Resonant acoustic mixing has also been found effective in producing ultra-high performance cementitious materials, as it produces a dense matrix with low porosity.Sample analysis—workability
being placed]]
Workability is the ability of a fresh (plastic) concrete mix to fill the form/mold properly with the desired work (pouring, pumping, spreading, tamping, vibration) and without reducing the concrete's quality. Workability depends on water content, aggregate (shape and size distribution), cementitious content and age (level of hydration) and can be modified by adding chemical admixtures, like superplasticizer. Raising the water content or adding chemical admixtures increases concrete workability. Excessive water leads to increased bleeding or segregation of aggregates (when the cement and aggregates start to separate), with the resulting concrete having reduced quality. Changes in gradation can also affect workability of the concrete, although a wide range of gradation can be used for various applications. An undesirable gradation can mean using a large aggregate that is too large for the size of the formwork, or which has too few smaller aggregate grades to serve to fill the gaps between the larger grades, or using too little or too much sand for the same reason, or using too little water, or too much cement, or even using jagged crushed stone instead of smoother round aggregate such as pebbles. Any combination of these factors and others may result in a mix which is too harsh, i.e., which does not flow or spread out smoothly, is difficult to get into the formwork, and which is difficult to surface finish.
Workability can be measured by the concrete slump test, a simple measure of the plasticity of a fresh batch of concrete following the ASTM C 143 or EN 12350-2 test standards. Slump is normally measured by filling an "Abrams cone" with a sample from a fresh batch of concrete. The cone is placed with the wide end down onto a level, non-absorptive surface. It is then filled in three layers of equal volume, with each layer being tamped with a steel rod to consolidate the layer. When the cone is carefully lifted off, the enclosed material slumps a certain amount, owing to gravity. A relatively dry sample slumps very little, having a slump value of one or two inches (25 or 50 mm) out of . A relatively wet concrete sample may slump as much as eight inches. Workability can also be measured by the flow table test.
Slump can be increased by addition of chemical admixtures such as plasticizer or superplasticizer without changing the water-cement ratio. Some other admixtures, especially air-entraining admixture, can increase the slump of a mix.
High-flow concrete, like self-consolidating concrete, is tested by other flow-measuring methods. One of these methods includes placing the cone on the narrow end and observing how the mix flows through the cone while it is gradually lifted.
After mixing, concrete is a fluid and can be pumped to the location where needed.
Curing
Maintaining optimal conditions for cement hydration
Concrete must be kept moist during curing in order to achieve optimal strength and durability. During curing hydration occurs, allowing calcium-silicate hydrate (C-S-H) to form. Over 90% of a mix's final strength is typically reached within four weeks, with the remaining 10% achieved over years or even decades. The conversion of calcium hydroxide in the concrete into calcium carbonate from absorption of CO<sub>2</sub> over several decades further strengthens the concrete and makes it more resistant to damage. This carbonation reaction, however, lowers the pH of the cement pore solution and can corrode the reinforcement bars.
Hydration and hardening of concrete during the first three days is critical. Abnormally fast drying and shrinkage due to factors such as evaporation from wind during placement may lead to increased tensile stresses at a time when it has not yet gained sufficient strength, resulting in greater shrinkage cracking. The early strength of the concrete can be increased if it is kept damp during the curing process. Minimizing stress prior to curing minimizes cracking. High-early-strength concrete is designed to hydrate faster, often by increased use of cement that increases shrinkage and cracking. The strength of concrete changes (increases) for up to three years. It depends on cross-section dimension of elements and conditions of structure exploitation.
Properly curing concrete leads to increased strength and lower permeability and avoids cracking where the surface dries out prematurely. Care must also be taken to avoid freezing or overheating due to the exothermic setting of cement. Improper curing can cause spalling, reduced strength, poor abrasion resistance and cracking.
Curing techniques avoiding water loss by evaporation
During the curing period, concrete is ideally maintained at controlled temperature and humidity. To ensure full hydration during curing, concrete slabs are often sprayed with "curing compounds" that create a water-retaining film over the concrete. Typical films are made of wax or related hydrophobic compounds. After the concrete is sufficiently cured, the film is allowed to abrade from the concrete through normal use.
Traditional conditions for curing involve spraying or ponding the concrete surface with water. The adjacent picture shows one of many ways to achieve this, ponding—submerging setting concrete in water and wrapping in plastic to prevent dehydration. Additional common curing methods include wet burlap and plastic sheeting covering the fresh concrete.
For higher-strength applications, accelerated curing techniques may be applied to the concrete. A common technique involves heating the poured concrete with steam, which serves to both keep it damp and raise the temperature so that the hydration process proceeds more quickly and more thoroughly.
Alternative types
Asphalt
Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitumen macadam, or rolled asphalt in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, as well as the core of embankment dams. Asphalt mixtures have been used in pavement construction since the beginning of the twentieth century. It consists of mineral aggregate bound together with asphalt, laid in layers, and compacted. The process was refined and enhanced by Belgian inventor and U.S. immigrant Edward De Smedt.
The terms asphalt (or asphaltic) concrete, bituminous asphalt concrete, and bituminous mixture are typically used only in engineering and construction documents, which define concrete as any composite material composed of mineral aggregate adhered with a binder. The abbreviation, AC, is sometimes used for asphalt concrete but can also denote asphalt content or asphalt cement, referring to the liquid asphalt portion of the composite material.
Graphene enhanced concrete
Graphene enhanced concretes are standard designs of concrete mixes, except that during the cement-mixing or production process, a small amount of chemically engineered graphene is added. These enhanced graphene concretes are designed around the concrete application. Microbial Bacteria such as Bacillus pasteurii, Bacillus pseudofirmus, Bacillus cohnii, Sporosarcina pasteuri, and Arthrobacter crystallopoietes increase the compression strength of concrete through their biomass. However some forms of bacteria can also be concrete-destroying. Bacillus sp. CT-5. can reduce corrosion of reinforcement in reinforced concrete by up to four times. Sporosarcina pasteurii reduces water and chloride permeability. B. pasteurii increases resistance to acid. Bacillus pasteurii and B. sphaericuscan induce calcium carbonate precipitation in the surface of cracks, adding compression strength. Nanoconcrete Nanoconcrete (also spelled "nano concrete"' or "nano-concrete") is a class of materials that contains Portland cement particles that are no greater than 100 μm and particles of silica no greater than 500 μm, which fill voids that would otherwise occur in normal concrete, thereby substantially increasing the material's strength. It is widely used in foot and highway bridges where high flexural and compressive strength are indicated. Polymer
Polymer concretes are mixtures of aggregate and any of various polymers and may be reinforced. The cement is costlier than lime-based cements, but polymer concretes nevertheless have advantages; they have significant tensile strength even without reinforcement, and they are largely impervious to water. Polymer concretes are frequently used for the repair and construction of other applications, such as drains.
Plant fibers
Plant fibers and particles can be used in a concrete mix or as a reinforcement. These materials can increase ductility but the lignocellulosic particles hydrolyze during concrete curing as a result of alkaline environment and elevated temperatures Such process, that is difficult to measure, can affect the properties of the resulting concrete. Sulfur concrete
Sulfur concrete is a special concrete that uses sulfur as a binder and does not require cement or water.
Volcanic
Volcanic concrete substitutes volcanic rock for the limestone that is burned to form clinker. It consumes a similar amount of energy, but does not directly emit carbon as a byproduct. Volcanic rock/ash are used as supplementary cementitious materials in concrete to improve the resistance to sulfate, chloride and alkali silica reaction due to pore refinement. Also, they are generally cost effective in comparison to other aggregates, good for semi and light weight concretes, They have been extensively used since ancient times to produce materials for building applications. For example, pumice and other volcanic glasses were added as a natural pozzolanic material for mortars and plasters during the construction of the Villa San Marco in the Roman period (89 BC – 79 AD), which remain one of the best-preserved otium villae of the Bay of Naples in Italy.
Waste light
Waste light is a form of polymer modified concrete. The specific polymer admixture allows the replacement of all the traditional aggregates (gravel, sand, stone) by any mixture of solid waste materials in the grain size of 3–10 mm to form a low-compressive-strength (3–20 N/mm<sup>2</sup>) product for road and building construction. One cubic meter of waste light concrete contains 1.1–1.3 m<sup>3</sup> of shredded waste and no other aggregates.
Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC)
Recycled aggregate concretes are standard concrete mixes with the addition or substitution of natural aggregates with recycled aggregates sourced from construction and demolition wastes, disused pre-cast concretes or masonry. In most cases, recycled aggregate concrete results in higher water absorption levels by capillary action and permeation, which are the prominent determiners of the strength and durability of the resulting concrete. The increase in water absorption levels is mainly caused by the porous adhered mortar that exists in the recycled aggregates. Accordingly, recycled concrete aggregates that have been washed to reduce the quantity of mortar adhered to aggregates show lower water absorption levels compared to untreated recycled aggregates.
The quality of the recycled aggregate concrete is determined by several factors, including the size, the number of replacement cycles, and the moisture levels of the recycled aggregates. When the recycled concrete aggregates are crushed into coarser fractures, the mixed concrete shows better permeability levels, resulting in an overall increase in strength. In contrast, recycled masonry aggregates provide better qualities when crushed in finer fractures. With each generation of recycled concrete, the resulting compressive strength decreases.
Properties
Concrete has relatively high compressive strength, but much lower tensile strength. Therefore, it is usually reinforced with materials that are strong in tension (often steel). The elasticity of concrete is relatively constant at low stress levels but starts decreasing at higher stress levels as matrix cracking develops. Concrete has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion and shrinks as it matures. All concrete structures crack to some extent, due to shrinkage and tension. Concrete that is subjected to long-duration forces is prone to creep.
Tests can be performed to ensure that the properties of concrete correspond to specifications for the application.
The ingredients affect the strengths of the material. Concrete strength values are usually specified as the lower-bound compressive strength of either a cylindrical or cubic specimen as determined by standard test procedures.
The strengths of concrete is dictated by its function. Very low-strength— or less—concrete may be used when the concrete must be lightweight. Lightweight concrete is often achieved by adding air, foams, or lightweight aggregates, with the side effect that the strength is reduced. For most routine uses, concrete is often used. concrete is readily commercially available as a more durable, although more expensive, option. Higher-strength concrete is often used for larger civil projects. Strengths above are often used for specific building elements. For example, the lower floor columns of high-rise concrete buildings may use concrete of or more, to keep the size of the columns small. Bridges may use long beams of high-strength concrete to lower the number of spans required. Occasionally, other structural needs may require high-strength concrete. If a structure must be very rigid, concrete of very high strength may be specified, even much stronger than is required to bear the service loads. Strengths as high as have been used commercially for these reasons.Energy efficiencyThe cement produced for making concrete accounts for about 8% of worldwide emissions per year (compared to, e.g., global aviation at 1.9%). The two largest sources of are produced by the cement manufacturing process, arising from (1) the decarbonation reaction of limestone in the cement kiln (T ≈ 950 °C), and (2) from the combustion of fossil fuel to reach the sintering temperature (T ≈ 1450 °C) of cement clinker in the kiln. The energy required for extracting, crushing, and mixing the raw materials (construction aggregates used in the concrete production, and also limestone and clay feeding the cement kiln) is lower. Energy requirement for transportation of ready-mix concrete is also lower because it is produced nearby the construction site from local resources, typically manufactured within 100 kilometers of the job site. The overall embodied energy of concrete at roughly 1 to 1.5 megajoules per kilogram is therefore lower than for many structural and construction materials.
Once in place, concrete offers a great energy efficiency over the lifetime of a building. Concrete walls leak air far less than those made of wood frames. Air leakage accounts for a large percentage of energy loss from a home. The thermal mass properties of concrete increase the efficiency of both residential and commercial buildings. By storing and releasing the energy needed for heating or cooling, concrete's thermal mass delivers year-round benefits by reducing temperature swings inside and minimizing heating and cooling costs. While insulation reduces energy loss through the building envelope, thermal mass uses walls to store and release energy. Modern concrete wall systems use both external insulation and thermal mass to create an energy-efficient building. Insulating concrete forms (ICFs) are hollow blocks or panels made of either insulating foam or rastra that are stacked to form the shape of the walls of a building and then filled with reinforced concrete to create the structure.
Fire safety
(1968) is a Brutalist design constructed largely of precast and poured in place concrete.]]
Concrete buildings are more resistant to fire than those constructed using steel frames, since concrete has lower heat conductivity than steel and can thus last longer under the same fire conditions. Concrete is sometimes used as a fire protection for steel frames, for the same effect as above. Concrete as a fire shield, for example Fondu fyre, can also be used in extreme environments like a missile launch pad.
Options for non-combustible construction include floors, ceilings and roofs made of cast-in-place and hollow-core precast concrete. For walls, concrete masonry technology and Insulating Concrete Forms (ICFs) are additional options. ICFs are hollow blocks or panels made of fireproof insulating foam that are stacked to form the shape of the walls of a building and then filled with reinforced concrete to create the structure.
Concrete also provides good resistance against externally applied forces such as high winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes owing to its lateral stiffness, which results in minimal horizontal movement. However, this stiffness can work against certain types of concrete structures, particularly where a relatively higher flexing structure is required to resist more extreme forces.
Earthquake safety
As discussed above, concrete is very strong in compression, but weak in tension. Larger earthquakes can generate very large shear loads on structures. These shear loads subject the structure to both tensile and compressional loads. Concrete structures without reinforcement, like other unreinforced masonry structures, can fail during severe earthquake shaking. Unreinforced masonry structures constitute one of the largest earthquake risks globally. These risks can be reduced through seismic retrofitting of at-risk buildings, (e.g. school buildings in Istanbul, Turkey).
Construction
in Buffalo, New York]]
Concrete is one of the most durable building materials. It provides superior fire resistance compared with wooden construction and gains strength over time. Structures made of concrete can have a long service life. Concrete is used more than any other artificial material in the world. As of 2006, about 7.5 billion cubic meters of concrete are made each year, more than one cubic meter for every person on Earth.
Reinforced
'' statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is made of reinforced concrete clad in a mosaic of thousands of triangular soapstone tiles.]]
The use of reinforcement, in the form of iron was introduced in the 1850s by French industrialist François Coignet, and it was not until the 1880s that German civil engineer G. A. Wayss used steel as reinforcement. Concrete is a relatively brittle material that is strong under compression but less in tension. Plain, unreinforced concrete is unsuitable for many structures as it is relatively poor at withstanding stresses induced by vibrations, wind loading, and so on. Hence, to increase its overall strength, steel rods, wires, mesh or cables can be embedded in concrete before it is set. This reinforcement, often known as rebar, resists tensile forces.
Reinforced concrete (RC) is a versatile composite and one of the most widely used materials in modern construction. It is made up of different constituent materials with very different properties that complement each other. In the case of reinforced concrete, the component materials are almost always concrete and steel. These two materials form a strong bond together and are able to resist a variety of applied forces, effectively acting as a single structural element.
Reinforced concrete can be precast or cast-in-place (in situ) concrete, and is used in a wide range of applications such as; slab, wall, beam, column, foundation, and frame construction. Reinforcement is generally placed in areas of the concrete that are likely to be subject to tension, such as the lower portion of beams. Usually, there is a minimum of 50 mm cover, both above and below the steel reinforcement, to resist spalling and corrosion which can lead to structural instability. Precasting offers considerable advantages because it is carried out in a controlled environment, protected from the elements, but the downside of this is the contribution to greenhouse gas emission from transportation to the construction site. is commonly applied during construction. An early example at Hoover Dam used a network of pipes between vertical concrete placements to circulate cooling water during the curing process to avoid damaging overheating. Similar systems are still used; depending on volume of the pour, the concrete mix used, and ambient air temperature, the cooling process may last for many months after the concrete is placed. Various methods also are used to pre-cool the concrete mix in mass concrete structures.
Prestressed
]]
Prestressed concrete is a form of reinforced concrete that builds in compressive stresses during construction to oppose tensile stresses experienced in use. This can greatly reduce the weight of beams or slabs, by
better distributing the stresses in the structure to make optimal use of the reinforcement. For example, a horizontal beam tends to sag. Prestressed reinforcement along the bottom of the beam counteracts this.
In pre-tensioned concrete, the prestressing is achieved by using steel or polymer tendons or bars that are subjected to a tensile force prior to casting, or for post-tensioned concrete, after casting.
There are two different systems being used: Low temperatures significantly slow the chemical reactions involved in hydration of cement, thus affecting the strength development. Preventing freezing is the most important precaution, as formation of ice crystals can cause damage to the crystalline structure of the hydrated cement paste. If the surface of the concrete pour is insulated from the outside temperatures, the heat of hydration will prevent freezing.
The American Concrete Institute (ACI) definition of cold weather placement, ACI 306, is:
* A period when for more than three successive days the average daily air temperature drops below 40 °F (~ 4.5 °C), and
* Temperature stays below for more than one-half of any 24-hour period.
In Canada, where temperatures tend to be much lower during the cold season, the following criteria are used by CSA A23.1:
* When the air temperature is ≤ 5 °C, and
* When there is a probability that the temperature may fall below 5 °C within 24 hours of placing the concrete.
The minimum strength before exposing concrete to extreme cold is . CSA A 23.1 specified a compressive strength of 7.0 MPa to be considered safe for exposure to freezing. Underwater placement
Concrete may be placed and cured underwater. Care must be taken in the placement method to prevent washing out the cement. Underwater placement methods include the tremie, pumping, skip placement, manual placement using toggle bags, and bagwork.
A tremie is a vertical, or near-vertical, pipe with a hopper at the top used to pour concrete underwater in a way that avoids washout of cement from the mix due to turbulent water contact with the concrete while it is flowing. This produces a more reliable strength of the product. The method is generally used for placing small quantities and for repairs. Wet concrete is loaded into a reusable canvas bag and squeezed out at the required place by the diver. Care must be taken to avoid washout of the cement and fines.
is the manual placement by divers of woven cloth bags containing dry mix, followed by piercing the bags with steel rebar pins to tie the bags together after every two or three layers, and create a path for hydration to induce curing, which can typically take about 6 to 12 hours for initial hardening and full hardening by the next day. Bagwork concrete will generally reach full strength within 28 days. Each bag must be pierced by at least one, and preferably up to four pins. Bagwork is a simple and convenient method of underwater concrete placement which does not require pumps, plant, or formwork, and which can minimise environmental effects from dispersing cement in the water. Prefilled bags are available, which are sealed to prevent premature hydration if stored in suitable dry conditions. The bags may be biodegradable.
is an alternative method of forming a concrete mass underwater, where the forms are filled with coarse aggregate and the voids then completely filled from the bottom by displacing the water with pumped grout. more reflective and last significantly longer than other paving surfaces, yet have a much smaller market share than other paving solutions. Modern-paving methods and design practices have changed the economics of concrete paving, so that a well-designed and placed concrete pavement will be less expensive on initial costs and significantly less expensive over the life cycle. Another major benefit is that pervious concrete can be used, which eliminates the need to place storm drains near the road, and reducing the need for slightly sloped roadway to help rainwater to run off. No longer requiring discarding rainwater through use of drains also means that less electricity is needed (more pumping is otherwise needed in the water-distribution system), and no rainwater gets polluted as it no longer mixes with polluted water. Rather, it is immediately absorbed by the ground. Tube forest Cement molded into a forest of tubular structures can be 5.6 times more resistant to cracking/failure than standard concrete. The approach mimics mammalian cortical bone that features elliptical, hollow osteons suspended in an organic matrix, connected by relatively weak "cement lines". Cement lines provide a preferable in-plane crack path. This design fails via a "stepwise toughening mechanism". Cracks are contained within the tube, reducing spreading, by dissipating energy at each tube/step.Environment, health and safety
The manufacture and use of concrete produce a wide range of environmental, economic and social impacts.
Health and safety
emission from the use of power tool]]
Grinding of concrete can produce hazardous dust. Exposure to cement dust can lead to issues such as silicosis, kidney disease, skin irritation and similar effects. The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States recommends attaching local exhaust ventilation shrouds to electric concrete grinders to control the spread of this dust. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has placed more stringent regulations on companies whose workers regularly come into contact with silica dust. An updated silica rule, which OSHA put into effect 23 September 2017 for construction companies, restricted the amount of breathable crystalline silica workers could legally come into contact with to 50 micro grams per cubic meter of air per 8-hour workday. That same rule went into effect 23 June 2018 for general industry, hydraulic fracturing and maritime. That deadline was extended to 23 June 2021 for engineering controls in the hydraulic fracturing industry. Companies which fail to meet the tightened safety regulations can face financial charges and extensive penalties. The presence of some substances in concrete, including useful and unwanted additives, can cause health concerns due to toxicity and radioactivity. Fresh concrete (before curing is complete) is highly alkaline and must be handled with proper protective equipment.
Cement
A major component of concrete is cement, a fine powder used mainly to bind sand and coarser aggregates together in concrete. Although a variety of cement types exist, the most common is "Portland cement", which is produced by mixing clinker with smaller quantities of other additives such as gypsum and ground limestone. The production of clinker, the main constituent of cement, is responsible for the bulk of the sector's greenhouse gas emissions, including both energy intensity and process emissions.
The cement industry is one of the three primary producers of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas – the other two being energy production and transportation industries. On average, every tonne of cement produced releases one tonne of CO<sub>2</sub> into the atmosphere. Pioneer cement manufacturers have claimed to reach lower carbon intensities, with 590 kg of CO<sub>2</sub>eq per tonne of cement produced. The emissions are due to combustion and calcination processes, which roughly account for 40% and 60% of the greenhouse gases, respectively. Considering that cement is only a fraction of the constituents of concrete, it is estimated that a tonne of concrete is responsible for emitting about 100–200 kg of CO<sub>2</sub>. Every year more than 10 billion tonnes of concrete are used worldwide.
The embodied carbon of a precast concrete facade can be reduced by 50% when using the presented fiber reinforced high performance concrete in place of typical reinforced concrete cladding. Studies have been conducted about commercialization of low-carbon concretes. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of low-carbon concrete was investigated according to the ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) and fly ash (FA) replacement ratios. Global warming potential (GWP) of GGBS decreased by 1.1 kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq/m<sup>3</sup>, while FA decreased by 17.3 kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq/m<sup>3</sup> when the mineral admixture replacement ratio was increased by 10%. This study also compared the compressive strength properties of binary blended low-carbon concrete according to the replacement ratios, and the applicable range of mixing proportions was derived.
Climate change adaptation
High-performance building materials will be particularly important for enhancing resilience, including for flood defenses and critical-infrastructure protection. Risks to infrastructure and cities posed by extreme weather events are especially serious for those places exposed to flood and hurricane damage, but also where residents need protection from extreme summer temperatures. Traditional concrete can come under strain when exposed to humidity and higher concentrations of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>. While concrete is likely to remain important in applications where the environment is challenging, novel, smarter and more adaptable materials are also needed. End-of-life: degradation and waste in northeastern Pennsylvania opened in 1915 and is still in regular use today]]
Recycling
There have been concerns about the recycling of painted concrete due to possible lead content. Studies have indicated that recycled concrete exhibits lower strength and durability compared to concrete produced using natural aggregates. This deficiency can be addressed by incorporating supplementary materials such as fly ash into the mixture.World records
The world record for the largest concrete pour in a single project is the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei Province, China by the Three Gorges Corporation. The amount of concrete used in the construction of the dam is estimated at 16 million cubic meters over 17 years. The previous record was 12.3 million cubic meters held by Itaipu hydropower station in Brazil.
The world record for concrete pumping was set on 7 August 2009 during the construction of the Parbati Hydroelectric Project, near the village of Suind, Himachal Pradesh, India, when the concrete mix was pumped through a vertical height of .
The Polavaram dam works in Andhra Pradesh on 6 January 2019 entered the Guinness World Records by pouring 32,100 cubic metres of concrete in 24 hours. The world record for the largest continuously poured concrete raft was achieved in August 2007 in Abu Dhabi by contracting firm Al Habtoor-CCC Joint Venture and the concrete supplier is Unibeton Ready Mix. The pour (a part of the foundation for the Abu Dhabi's Landmark Tower) was 16,000 cubic meters of concrete poured within a two-day period. The previous record, 13,200 cubic meters poured in 54 hours despite a severe tropical storm requiring the site to be covered with tarpaulins to allow work to continue, was achieved in 1992 by joint Japanese and South Korean consortiums Hazama Corporation and the Samsung C&T Corporation for the construction of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The world record for largest continuously poured concrete floor was completed 8 November 1997, in Louisville, Kentucky by design-build firm EXXCEL Project Management. The monolithic placement consisted of of concrete placed in 30 hours, finished to a flatness tolerance of F<sub>F</sub> 54.60 and a levelness tolerance of F<sub>L</sub> 43.83. This surpassed the previous record by 50% in total volume and 7.5% in total area.
The record for the largest continuously placed underwater concrete pour was completed 18 October 2010, in New Orleans, Louisiana by contractor C. J. Mahan Construction Company, LLC of Grove City, Ohio. The placement consisted of 10,251 cubic yards of concrete placed in 58.5 hours using two concrete pumps and two dedicated concrete batch plants. Upon curing, this placement allows the cofferdam to be dewatered approximately below sea level to allow the construction of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Sill & Monolith Project to be completed in the dry.
Art
Concrete is used as an artistic medium. Its appearance is also imitated in other media: for example Congolese artist Sardoine Mia creates canvases that look like concrete surfaces.
See also
<!---This list has been trimmed to articles that pertain directly to concrete as a material or product.--->
*
*
*
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* Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
Further reading
* External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190504100410/https://www.constructiontest.org/concrete-meaning-properties-strength-advantages-construction/ Advantage and Disadvantage of Concrete]
*
*
* [https://openresearch.surrey.ac.uk/view/pdfCoverPage?instCode44SUR_INST&filePid13140253340002346&download=true Release of ultrafine particles from three simulated building processes]
* Concrete: [https://sustainabilitydocs.com/concrete-the-quest-for-greener-alternatives/ The Quest for Greener Alternatives]
Category:Building materials
Category:Composite materials
Category:Heterogeneous chemical mixtures
Category:Masonry
Category:Pavements
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Coitus interruptus
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After the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, contraceptive practices fell out of use in Europe; the use of contraceptive pessaries, for example, is not documented again until the 15th century. If withdrawal was used during the Roman Empire, knowledge of the art may have been lost during its decline. One US study, based on self-reported data from the 2006–2010 cycle of the National Survey of Family Growth, found significant differences in failure rate based on parity status. Women with 0 previous births had a 12-month failure rate of only 8.4%, which then increased to 20.4% for those with 1 prior birth and again to 27.7% for those with 2 or more.
An analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys in 43 developing countries between 1990 and 2013 found a median 12-month failure rate across subregions of 13.4%, with a range of 7.8–17.1%. Individual countries within the subregions were even more varied. A large scale study of women in England and Scotland during 1968–1974 to determine the efficacy of various contraceptive methods found a failure rate of 6.7 per 100 woman-years of use. This was a “typical use” failure rate, including user failure to use the method correctly. In comparison, the combined oral contraceptive pill has an actual use failure rate of 2–8%, while intrauterine devices (IUDs) have an actual use failure rate of 0.1–0.8%. Condoms have an actual use failure rate of 10–18%. (See Comparison of birth control methods.)
For couples that use coitus interruptus consistently and correctly at every act of intercourse, the failure rate is 4% per year. This rate is derived from an educated guess based on a modest chance of sperm in the pre-ejaculate. In comparison, the pill has a perfect-use failure rate of 0.3%, IUDs a rate of 0.1–0.6%, and internal condoms a rate of 2%. However, several small studies have failed to find any viable sperm in the fluid. While no large conclusive studies have been done, it is believed by some that the cause of method (correct-use) failure is the pre-ejaculate fluid picking up sperm from a previous ejaculation. For this reason, it is recommended that the male partner urinate between ejaculations, to clear the urethra of sperm, and wash any ejaculate from objects that might come near the woman's vulva (such as hands and penis). A noted limitation to these previous studies' findings is that pre-ejaculate samples were analyzed after the critical two-minute point. That is, looking for motile sperm in small amounts of pre-ejaculate via microscope after two minutes – when the sample has most likely dried – makes examination and evaluation "extremely difficult". However, across a wide range of observed values, total sperm count (as with other identified semen and sperm characteristics) has weak power to predict which couples are at risk of pregnancy. Regardless, this study introduced the concept that some men may consistently have sperm in their pre-ejaculate, due to a "leakage," while others may not. It is widely believed that urinating after an ejaculation will flush the urethra of remaining sperm. Other reasons for the popularity of this method are its anecdotal increase in male sexual deftness, it has no direct monetary cost, requires no artificial devices, has no physical side effects, can be practiced without a prescription or medical consultation, and provides no barriers to stimulation.
Disadvantages
Compared to the other common reversible methods of contraception such as IUDs, hormonal contraceptives, and male condoms, coitus interruptus is less effective at preventing pregnancy.
The method is largely ineffective in the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), like HIV, since pre-ejaculate may carry viral particles or bacteria which may infect the partner if this fluid comes in contact with mucous membranes. However, a reduction in the volume of bodily fluids exchanged during intercourse may reduce the likelihood of disease transmission compared to using no method due to the smaller number of pathogens present.
In the United States, according to the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) in 2014, 8.1% of reproductive-aged women reported using withdrawal as a primary contraceptive method. This was a significant increase from 2012 when 4.8% of women reported the use of withdrawal as their most effective method. However, when withdrawal is used in addition to or in rotation with another contraceptive method, the percentage of women using withdrawal jumps from 5% for sole use and 11% for any withdrawal use in 2002,
When asked if withdrawal was used at least once in the past month by women, use of withdrawal increased from 13% as sole use to 33% ever use in the past month. The use of withdrawal varied by the unmarried man's age and cohabiting status, but not by ethnicity or race. The use of withdrawal decreased significantly with increasing age groups, ranging from 26.2% among men aged 15–19 to 12% among men aged 35–44. The use of withdrawal was significantly higher for never-married men (23.0%) compared with formerly married (16.3%) and cohabiting (13.0%) men.
See also
* Coitus reservatus
* Coitus saxonicus
* Masturbation
References
External links
* [http://www.religiousconsultation.org/islam_contraception_abortion_in_SacredChoices.htm Contraception and abortion in Islam]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110430203244/http://www.birth-control-comparison.info/withdrawal.htm Withdrawal]
Category:Methods of birth control
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Condom
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or
|bc_type = Barrier
|date_first_use Ancient
|typical_failure% = 18
|typical_failure_ref There are both external condoms, also called male condoms, and internal (female) condoms.
<!-- Technique -->
The external condom is rolled onto an erect penis before intercourse and works by forming a physical barrier which limits skin-to-skin contact, exposure to fluids, and blocks semen from entering the body of a sexual partner.
With proper use—and use at every act of intercourse—women whose partners use external condoms experience a 2% per-year pregnancy rate. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. As of 2019, globally around 21% of those using birth control use the condom, making it the second-most common method after female sterilization (24%). Rates of condom use are highest in East and Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Most commonly the Pearl Index is used to calculate effectiveness rates, but some studies use decrement tables.
The typical use pregnancy rate among condom users varies depending on the population being studied, ranging from 10 to 18% per year. The perfect use pregnancy rate of condoms is 2% per year.
Sexually transmitted infections
, Argentina, part of an awareness campaign for the 2005 World AIDS Day]]
Condoms are widely recommended for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). They have been shown to be effective in reducing infection rates in both men and women. While not perfect, the condom is effective at reducing the transmission of organisms that cause AIDS, genital herpes, cervical cancer, genital warts, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and other diseases. Condoms are often recommended as an adjunct to more effective birth control methods (such as IUD) in situations where STI protection is also desired.
For this reason, condoms are frequently used by those in the swinging community.
According to a 2000 report by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), consistent use of latex condoms reduces the risk of HIV transmission by approximately 85% relative to risk when unprotected, putting the seroconversion rate (infection rate) at 0.9 per 100 person-years with condom, down from 6.7 per 100 person-years. Analysis published in 2007 from the University of Texas Medical Branchand the World Health Organization found similar risk reductions of 80–95%.
The 2000 NIH review concluded that condom use significantly reduces the risk of gonorrhea for men. Another study in the same year found consistent condom use was effective at reducing transmission of herpes simplex virus-2, also known as genital herpes, in both men and women.
Although a condom is effective in limiting exposure, some disease transmission may occur even with a condom. Infectious areas of the genitals, especially when symptoms are present, may not be covered by a condom, and as a result, some diseases like HPV and herpes may be transmitted by direct contact. The primary effectiveness issue with using condoms to prevent STIs, however, is inconsistent use. In addition, researchers in the UK suggest that a hormone in semen can aggravate existing cervical cancer, condom use during sex can prevent exposure to the hormone.
Causes of failure
Condoms may slip off the penis after ejaculation, break due to improper application or physical damage (such as tears caused when opening the package), or break or slip due to latex degradation (typically from usage past the expiration date, improper storage, or exposure to oils). The rate of breakage is between 0.4% and 2.3%, while the rate of slippage is between 0.6% and 1.3%. Failure rates are higher for anal sex, and until 2022, condoms were only approved by the FDA for vaginal sex. The One Male Condom received FDA approval for anal sex on 23 February 2022.
Different modes of condom failure result in different levels of semen exposure. If a failure occurs during application, the damaged condom may be disposed of and a new condom applied before intercourse begins – such failures generally pose no risk to the user. One study found that semen exposure from a broken condom was about half that of unprotected intercourse; semen exposure from a slipped condom was about one-fifth that of unprotected intercourse.
Standard condoms will fit almost any penis, with varying degrees of comfort or risk of slippage. Many condom manufacturers offer "snug" or "magnum" sizes. Some manufacturers also offer custom sized-to-fit condoms, with claims that they are more reliable and offer improved sensation/comfort. Some studies have associated larger penises and smaller condoms with increased breakage and decreased slippage rates (and vice versa), but other studies have been inconclusive. Some authors encourage users to choose thinner condoms "for greater durability, sensation, and comfort", but others warn that "the thinner the condom, the smaller the force required to break it".
Experienced condom users are significantly less likely to have a condom slip or break compared to first-time users, although users who experience one slippage or breakage are more likely to suffer a second such failure. An article in Population Reports suggests that education on condom use reduces behaviors that increase the risk of breakage and slippage. A Family Health International publication also offers the view that education can reduce the risk of breakage and slippage, but emphasizes that more research needs to be done to determine all of the causes of breakage and slippage.
Another possible cause of condom failure is sabotage. One motive is to have a child against a partner's wishes or consent. Some commercial sex workers from Nigeria reported clients sabotaging condoms in retaliation for being coerced into condom use. Using a fine needle to make several pinholes at the tip of the condom is believed to significantly impact on their effectiveness. Side effects The use of latex condoms by people with an allergy to latex can cause allergic symptoms, such as skin irritation. In people with severe latex allergies, using a latex condom can potentially be life-threatening. Repeated use of latex condoms can also cause the development of a latex allergy in some people. Irritation may also occur due to spermicides that may be present. Use External condoms are usually packaged inside a foil or plastic wrapper, in a rolled-up form, and are designed to be applied to the tip of the penis and then unrolled over the erect penis. It is important that the closed end or the teat of the condom is pinched when the condom is placed on the tip of the penis. This will ensure that air is not trapped inside the condom which could cause it to burst during intercourse. In addition, this leaves space for the semen to collect which reduces the risk of it being forced out of the base of the device. Most condoms have a teat end for this purpose. Soon after ejaculating, the male should withdraw from his partner's body. The condom should then be carefully removed from the penis away from the other partner. It is recommended that the condom be wrapped in tissue or tied in a knot, then disposed of in a trash receptacle. Adult film industry In 2012 proponents gathered 372,000 voter signatures through a citizens' initiative in Los Angeles County to put Measure B on the 2012 ballot. As a result, Measure B, a law requiring the use of condoms in the production of pornographic films, was passed. This requirement has received much criticism and is said by some to be counter-productive, merely forcing companies that make pornographic films to relocate to other places without this requirement. Producers claim that condom use depresses sales.
Sex education
Condoms are often used in sex education programs, because they have the capability to reduce the chances of pregnancy and the spread of some sexually transmitted infections when used correctly. A recent American Psychological Association (APA) press release supported the inclusion of information about condoms in sex education, saying "comprehensive sexuality education programs ... discuss the appropriate use of condoms", and "promote condom use for those who are sexually active."
In the United States, teaching about condoms in public schools is opposed by some religious organizations. Planned Parenthood, which advocates family planning and sex education, argues that no studies have shown abstinence-only programs to result in delayed intercourse, and cites surveys showing that 76% of American parents want their children to receive comprehensive sexuality education including condom use.
Infertility treatment
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Common procedures in infertility treatment such as semen analysis and intrauterine insemination (IUI) require collection of semen samples. These are most commonly obtained through masturbation, but an alternative to masturbation is use of a special collection condom to collect semen during sexual intercourse.
Collection condoms are made from silicone or polyurethane, as latex is somewhat harmful to sperm. Some religions prohibit masturbation entirely. Also, compared with samples obtained from masturbation, semen samples from collection condoms have higher total sperm counts, sperm motility, and percentage of sperm with normal morphology. For this reason, they are believed to give more accurate results when used for semen analysis, and to improve the chances of pregnancy when used in procedures such as intracervical or intrauterine insemination. Adherents of religions that prohibit contraception, such as Catholicism, may use collection condoms with holes pricked in them.
Other uses
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Condoms excel as multipurpose containers and barriers because they are waterproof, elastic, durable, and (for military and espionage uses) will not arouse suspicion if found.
Ongoing military utilization began during World War II, and includes covering the muzzles of rifle barrels to prevent fouling, the waterproofing of firing assemblies in underwater demolitions, and storage of corrosive materials and garrotes by paramilitary agencies.
Condoms have also been used to smuggle alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs across borders and into prisons by filling the condom with drugs, tying it in a knot and then either swallowing it or inserting it into the rectum. These methods are very dangerous and potentially lethal; if the condom breaks, the drugs inside become absorbed into the bloodstream and can cause an overdose.
Medically, condoms can be used to cover endovaginal ultrasound probes, or in field chest needle decompressions they can be used to make a one-way valve.
Condoms have also been used to protect scientific samples from the environment, and to waterproof microphones for underwater recording. Types Most condoms have a reservoir tip or teat end, making it easier to accommodate the man's ejaculate. Condoms come in different sizes and shapes.
They also come in a variety of surfaces intended to stimulate the user's partner. Materials Natural latex Latex has outstanding elastic properties: Its tensile strength exceeds 30 MPa, and latex condoms may be stretched in excess of 800% before breaking. In 1990 the ISO set standards for condom production (ISO 4074, Natural latex rubber condoms), and the EU followed suit with its CEN standard (Directive 93/42/EEC concerning medical devices). Every latex condom is tested for holes with an electric current. If the condom passes, it is rolled and packaged. In addition, a portion of each batch of condoms is subject to water leak and air burst testing.
While the advantages of latex have made it the most popular condom material, it does have some drawbacks. Latex condoms are damaged when used with oil-based substances as lubricants, such as petroleum jelly, cooking oil, baby oil, mineral oil, skin lotions, suntan lotions, cold creams, butter or margarine. Contact with oil makes latex condoms more likely to break or slip off due to loss of elasticity caused by the oils. Additionally, latex allergy precludes use of latex condoms and is one of the principal reasons for the use of other materials. In May 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for the production of condoms composed of Vytex, latex that has been treated to remove 90% of the proteins responsible for allergic reactions. An allergen-free condom made of synthetic latex (polyisoprene) is also available.
Polyurethane condoms tend to be the same width and thickness as latex condoms, with most polyurethane condoms between 0.04 mm and 0.07 mm thick.
Polyurethane can be considered better than latex in several ways: it conducts heat better than latex, is not as sensitive to temperature and ultraviolet light (and so has less rigid storage requirements and a longer shelf life), can be used with oil-based lubricants, is less allergenic than latex, and does not have an odor. Polyurethane condoms have gained FDA approval for sale in the United States as an effective method of contraception and HIV prevention, and under laboratory conditions have been shown to be just as effective as latex for these purposes.
However, polyurethane condoms are less elastic than latex ones, and may be more likely to slip or break than latex, lose their shape or bunch up more than latex, and are more expensive.
Polyisoprene is a synthetic version of natural rubber latex. While significantly more expensive, it has the advantages of latex (such as being softer and more elastic than polyurethane condoms) This is because intestines, by their nature, are porous, permeable membranes, and while sperm are too large to pass through the pores, viruses—such as HIV, herpes, and genital warts—are small enough to pass. The FDA cautions that while lambskin condoms "provide good birth control and a varying degree of protection against some, but not all, sexually transmitted diseases", people do not know what STIs a partner might have, and thus cannot assume that a lambskin condom will protect them. As slaughter by-products, lambskin condoms are also not vegetarian. Pharmacist advice prepared by the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal says that lambskin condoms "are generally not recommended" due to limited STI prevention. An article in Adolescent Medicine advises that they "should be used only for pregnancy prevention". In contrast, application of separately packaged spermicide is believed to increase the contraceptive efficacy of condoms. The World Health Organization says that spermicidally lubricated condoms should no longer be promoted. However, it recommends using a nonoxynol-9 lubricated condom over no condom at all. , nine condom manufacturers have stopped manufacturing condoms with nonoxynol-9 and Planned Parenthood has discontinued the distribution of condoms so lubricated. Ribbed and studded Textured condoms include studded and ribbed condoms which can provide extra sensations to both partners. The studs or ribs can be located on the inside, outside, or both; alternatively, they are located in specific sections to provide directed stimulation to either the G-spot or frenulum. Many textured condoms which advertise "mutual pleasure" also are bulb-shaped at the top, to provide extra stimulation to the penis. Some women experience irritation during vaginal intercourse with studded condoms.
Other
The anti-rape condom is another variation designed to be worn by women. It is designed to cause pain to the attacker, hopefully allowing the victim a chance to escape.
A collection condom is used to collect semen for fertility treatments or sperm analysis. These condoms are designed to maximize sperm life.
In February 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first condoms specifically indicated to help reduce transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during anal intercourse. Prevalence The prevalence of condom use varies greatly between countries. Most surveys of contraceptive use are among married women, or women in informal unions. Japan has the highest rate of condom usage in the world: in that country, condoms account for almost 80% of contraceptive use by married women. On average, in developed countries, condoms are the most popular method of birth control: 28% of married contraceptive users rely on condoms. In the average less-developed country, condoms are less common: only 6–8% of married contraceptive users choose condoms.<!--
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History
's treatise on syphilis. Published in 1564, it describes what is possibly the first use of condoms.]]
Before the 19th century
Whether condoms were used in ancient civilizations is debated by archaeologists and historians. In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, pregnancy prevention was generally seen as a woman's responsibility, and the only well documented contraception methods were female-controlled devices.
Ukiyoe from the 19th century depicting Kabuto-gata among its sex toys used among women, stored by the British Museum|thumb|upright=1.2]]
In 16th-century Italy, anatomist and physician Gabriele Falloppio wrote a treatise on syphilis. Falloppio's treatise is the earliest uncontested description of condom use: it describes linen sheaths soaked in a chemical solution and allowed to dry before use. The cloths he described were sized to cover the glans of the penis, and were held on with a ribbon. Falloppio claimed that an experimental trial of the linen sheath demonstrated protection against syphilis.
After this, the use of penis coverings to protect from disease is described in a wide variety of literature throughout Europe. The first indication that these devices were used for birth control, rather than disease prevention, is the 1605 theological publication De iustitia et iure (On justice and law) by Catholic theologian Leonardus Lessius, who condemned them as immoral.
In addition to linen, condoms during the Renaissance were made out of intestines and bladder. In the late 16th century, Dutch traders introduced condoms made from "fine leather" to Japan. Unlike the horn condoms used previously, these leather condoms covered the entire penis.
From at least the 18th century, condom use was opposed in some legal, religious, and medical circles for essentially the same reasons that are given today: condoms reduce the likelihood of pregnancy, which some thought immoral or undesirable for the nation; they do not provide full protection against sexually transmitted infections, while belief in their protective powers was thought to encourage sexual promiscuity; and, they are not used consistently due to inconvenience, expense, or loss of sensation. The first rubber condom was produced in 1855. The earliest rubber condoms had a seam and were as thick as a bicycle inner tube. Besides this type, small rubber condoms covering only the glans were often used in England and the United States. There was more risk of losing them and if the rubber ring was too tight, it would constrict the penis. This type of condom was the original "capote" (French for condom), perhaps because of its resemblance to a woman's bonnet worn at that time, also called a capote.
For many decades, rubber condoms were manufactured by wrapping strips of raw rubber around penis-shaped molds, then dipping the wrapped molds in a chemical solution to cure the rubber. invented a new technique of converting latex into rubber without a coagulant (demulsifier), which featured using water as a solvent and warm air to dry the solution, as well as optionally preserving liquid latex with ammonia. Condoms made this way, commonly called "latex" ones, required less labor to produce than cement-dipped rubber condoms, which had to be smoothed by rubbing and trimming. The use of water to suspend the rubber instead of gasoline and benzene eliminated the fire hazard previously associated with all condom factories. Latex condoms also performed better for the consumer: they were stronger and thinner than rubber condoms, and had a shelf life of five years (compared to three months for rubber). However, during this period Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany increased restrictions on condoms (limited sales as disease preventatives were still allowed).
celebrations.]]
In the 1960s and 1970s quality regulations tightened, and more legal barriers to condom use were removed. the use of condoms was encouraged to prevent transmission of HIV. Despite opposition by some political, religious, and other figures, national condom promotion campaigns occurred in the U.S. and Europe. As one response, manufacturers have changed the tone of their advertisements from scary to humorous.
The global condom market was estimated at US$9.2 billion in 2020. Etymology and other terms The term condom first appears in the early 18th century: early forms include condum (1706 and 1717), condon (1708) and cundum (1744). The word's etymology is unknown. In popular tradition, the invention and naming of the condom came to be attributed to an associate of England's King Charles II, one "Dr. Condom" or "Earl of Condom". There is however no evidence of the existence of such a person, and condoms had been used for over one hundred years before King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660. (house), and (scabbard or case). William E. Kruck wrote an article in 1981 concluding that, "As for the word 'condom', I need state only that its origin remains completely unknown, and there ends this search for an etymology." Modern dictionaries may also list the etymology as "unknown".
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Other terms are also commonly used to describe condoms. In North America condoms are also commonly known as prophylactics, or rubbers. In Britain they may be called French letters or rubber johnnies. Additionally, condoms may be referred to using the manufacturer's name.
Society and culture
Some moral and scientific criticism of condoms exists despite the many benefits of condoms agreed on by scientific consensus and sexual health experts.
Condom usage is typically recommended for new couples who have yet to develop full trust in their partner with regard to STIs. Established couples on the other hand have few concerns about STIs, and can use other methods of birth control such as the pill, which does not act as a barrier to intimate sexual contact. Note that the polar debate with regard to condom usage is attenuated by the target group the argument is directed. Notably the age category and stable partner question are factors, as well as the distinction between heterosexual and homosexuals, who have different kinds of sex and have different risk consequences and factors.
Among the prime objections to condom usage is the blocking of erotic sensation, or the intimacy that barrier-free sex provides. As the condom is held tightly to the skin of the penis, it diminishes the delivery of stimulation through rubbing and friction. Condom proponents claim this has the benefit of making sex last longer, by diminishing sensation and delaying male ejaculation. Those who promote condom-free heterosexual sex (slang: "bareback") claim that the condom puts a barrier between partners, diminishing what is normally a highly sensual, intimate, and spiritual connection between partners.
Religious
The United Church of Christ (UCC), a Reformed denomination of the Congregationalist tradition, promotes the distribution of condoms in churches and faith-based educational settings.
On the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church opposes all kinds of sexual acts outside of marriage, as well as any sexual act in which the chance of successful conception has been reduced by direct and intentional acts (for example, surgery to prevent conception) or foreign objects (for example, condoms).
The use of condoms to prevent STI transmission is not specifically addressed by Catholic doctrine, and is currently a topic of debate among theologians and high-ranking Catholic authorities. A few, such as Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, believe the Catholic Church should actively support condoms used to prevent disease, especially serious diseases such as AIDS. However, the majority view—including all statements from the Vatican—is that condom-promotion programs encourage promiscuity, thereby actually increasing STI transmission. This view was most recently reiterated in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest organized body of any world religion. The church has hundreds of programs dedicated to fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa, but its opposition to condom use in these programs has been highly controversial.
In a November 2011 interview, Pope Benedict XVI discussed for the first time the use of condoms to prevent STI transmission. He said that the use of a condom can be justified in a few individual cases if the purpose is to reduce the risk of an HIV infection. He gave as an example male prostitutes. There was some confusion at first whether the statement applied only to homosexual prostitutes and thus not to heterosexual intercourse at all. However, Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican, clarified that it applied to heterosexual and transsexual prostitutes, whether male or female, as well. He did, however, also clarify that the Vatican's principles on sexuality and contraception had not been changed. Scientific and environmental More generally, some scientific researchers have expressed objective concern over certain ingredients sometimes added to condoms, notably talc and nitrosamines. Dry dusting powders are applied to latex condoms before packaging to prevent the condom from sticking to itself when rolled up. Previously, talc was used by most manufacturers, but cornstarch is currently the most popular dusting powder. Although rare during normal use, talc is known to be potentially irritant to mucous membranes (such as in the vagina). Cornstarch is generally believed to be safe; however, some researchers have raised concerns over its use as well.
Nitrosamines, which are potentially carcinogenic in humans, are believed to be present in a substance used to improve elasticity in latex condoms. A 2001 review stated that humans regularly receive 1,000 to 10,000 times greater nitrosamine exposure from food and tobacco than from condom use and concluded that the risk of cancer from condom use is very low. However, a 2004 study in Germany detected nitrosamines in 29 out of 32 condom brands tested, and concluded that exposure from condoms might exceed the exposure from food by 1.5- to 3-fold.
In addition, the large-scale use of disposable condoms has resulted in concerns over their environmental impact via littering and in landfills, where they can eventually wind up in wildlife environments if not incinerated or otherwise permanently disposed of first. Polyurethane condoms in particular, given they are a form of plastic, are not biodegradable, and latex condoms take a very long time to break down. Experts, such as AVERT, recommend condoms be disposed of in a garbage receptacle, as flushing them down the toilet (which some people do) may cause plumbing blockages and other problems. Furthermore, the plastic and foil wrappers condoms are packaged in are also not biodegradable. However, the benefits condoms offer are widely considered to offset their small landfill mass.
While biodegradable, Cultural barriers to use In much of the Western world, the introduction of the pill in the 1960s was associated with a decline in condom use. Perhaps because of this restricted access to hormonal contraception, Japan has the highest rate of condom usage in the world: in 2008, 80% of contraceptive users relied on condoms. A similar phenomenon has been noted in a survey of low-income American black women; the women in this study also reported a fear of violence at the suggestion to their male partners that condoms be used.
A telephone survey conducted by Rand Corporation and Oregon State University, and published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes showed that belief in AIDS conspiracy theories among United States black men is linked to rates of condom use. As conspiracy beliefs about AIDS grow in a given sector of these black men, consistent condom use drops in that same sector. Female use of condoms was not similarly affected.
In the African continent, condom promotion in some areas has been impeded by anti-condom campaigns by some Muslim Some women in Africa believe that condoms are "for prostitutes" and that respectable women should not use them. A few clerics even promote the lie that condoms are deliberately laced with HIV. In the United States, possession of many condoms has been used by police to accuse women of engaging in prostitution. The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS has condemned this practice and there are efforts to end it.
Middle-Eastern couples who have not had children, because of the strong desire and social pressure to establish fertility as soon as possible within marriage, rarely use condoms.
In 2017, India restricted TV advertisements for condoms to between the hours of 10 pm to 6 am. Family planning advocates were against this, saying it was liable to "undo decades of progress on sexual and reproductive health".
Major manufacturers
One analyst described the size of the condom market as something that "boggles the mind". Numerous small manufacturers, nonprofit groups, and government-run manufacturing plants exist around the world.
The Invisible Condom, developed at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, is a gel that hardens upon increased temperature after insertion into the vagina or rectum. In the lab, it has been shown to effectively block HIV and herpes simplex virus. The barrier breaks down and liquefies after several hours. , the invisible condom is in the clinical trial phase, and has not yet been approved for use.
Also developed in 2005 is a condom treated with an erectogenic compound. The drug-treated condom is intended to help the wearer maintain an erection, which should also help reduce slippage. If approved, the condom would be marketed under the Durex brand. , it was still in clinical trials.
In March 2013, philanthropist Bill Gates offered US$100,000 grants through his foundation for a condom design that "significantly preserves or enhances pleasure" to encourage more males to adopt the use of condoms for safer sex. The grant information stated: "The primary drawback from the male perspective is that condoms decrease pleasure as compared to no condom, creating a trade-off that many men find unacceptable, particularly given that the decisions about use must be made just prior to intercourse. Is it possible to develop a product without this stigma, or better, one that is felt to enhance pleasure?" In November of the same year, 11 research teams were selected to receive the grant money. References External links
* [https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/condoms WHO fact sheet on condoms]
* "[https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2014/02/15/sheathing-cupids-arrow Sheathing Cupid's Arrow: the Oldest Artificial Contraceptive May Be Ripe for a Makeover]", The Economist, February 2014.
Category:16th-century introductions
Category:HIV/AIDS
Category:Prevention of HIV/AIDS
Category:Penis
Category:Sexual health
Category:World Health Organization essential medicines
Category:Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
Category:Contraception for males
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Country code
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A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed.
The term country code frequently refers to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, as well as the telephone country code, which is embodied in the E.164 recommendation by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 675
The standard ISO 3166-1 defines short identification codes for most countries and dependent areas:
*ISO 3166-1 alpha-2: two-letter code
*ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: three-letter code
*ISO 3166-1 numeric: three-digit code
The two-letter codes are used as the basis for other codes and applications, for example,
*for ISO 4217 currency codes
*with deviations, for country code top-level domain names (ccTLDs) on the Internet: list of Internet TLDs.
Other applications are defined in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.
ITU
Telephone country codes
In telecommunications, a country code, or international subscriber dialing (ISD) code, is a telephone number prefix used in international direct dialing (IDD) and for destination routing of telephone calls to a country other than the caller's. A country or region with an autonomous telephone administration must apply for membership in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to participate in the international public switched telephone network (PSTN). Today, country codes are defined by the ITU-T section of the ITU in standards E.123 and E.164.
Historically, country codes were first defined in 1960 by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (C.C.I.T.T) in Recommendation E.29 in the ITU Red Book as international codes for Europe, parts of western Asia, and some Mediterranean countries,
In 1964, E.29 was expanded with a global code system based on world numbering zones. In the 1968 White Book, the definition of country codes was relegated to ITU Recommendation E.161.
Codes were typically allocated by landmass and then subdivided by the capacity of each network at the time. France, the United Kingdom, the USA and USSR obtained preferential numbers due to their dominance in telecommunications at the time whilst China was able to ensure that Taiwan was officially unlisted whilst being allocated the code "886".
Country codes constitute the international telephone numbering plan, and are dialed only when calling a telephone number in another country. They are dialed before the national telephone number. International calls require at least one additional prefix to be dialing before the country code, to connect the call to international circuits, the international call prefix. When printing telephone numbers this is indicated by a plus-sign (+) in front of a complete international telephone number, per ITU Recommendation E164.
Other ITU codes
The ITU also maintains the following other country codes:
* The E.212 mobile country codes (MCC), for mobile/wireless phone addresses.
* The ITU prefix, the first few characters of call signs of radio and television stations (maritime, aeronautical, broadcasting, and other types) to identify their country of origin
** ITU prefix - amateur and experimental stations, specific prefixes for amateur and experimental radio use, so that operators can be identified by their country of origin. These prefixes are legally administered by the national entity to which prefix ranges are assigned.
* Maritime identification digits, to identify countries in maritime mobile radio transmissions.
* ITU letter codes, to identify ITU member-countries.
Other country codes
The developers of ISO 3166 intended that in time it would replace other coding systems.
Other general-purpose systems
* FIPS country codes: Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 10-4 defined two-letter codes used by the U.S. government and in the CIA World Factbook. On September 2, 2008, FIPS 10-4 was one of ten standards withdrawn by NIST as a Federal Information Processing Standard.
* GOST 7.67: country codes in Cyrillic from the GOST standards committee.
* NATO country codes: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) initially used two-letter codes largely borrowed from the FIPS 10-4 codes mentioned above. In 2003, the eighth edition of the Standardisation Agreement (STANAG) adopted the ISO 3166 three-letter codes with one exception (the code for Macedonia). With the ninth edition, NATO is transitioning to four- and six-letter codes based on ISO 3166 with a few exceptions and additions.
* The first-level of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics of the European Union, mostly focusing on EU member states.
* UNDP country codes, used by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
* World Area Codes, used by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of the United States Department of Transportation.
Business
* GS1 country codes, defined by the nonprofit international organization GS1 for its Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and other standards for barcodes and the corresponding issue company prefixes.
* WIPO ST.3, defined by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to identify both countries and regional intellectual property organizations.
Sport
* IOC country codes, defined by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to identify member countries, specifically National Olympic Committees.
* FIFA country codes, to identify member and non-member countries of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).
Transport
* International vehicle registration codes, under the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic to identify the country that issued a motor vehicle's vehicle registration plate.
** After the 2004 EU enlargement, the EU began instead using the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for license plate codes, but with two modifications: EL for Greece (instead of GR) and (formerly) UK for United Kingdom (instead of GB)[https://web.archive.org/web/20190628014602/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/pdfscache/4904.pdf]
** Diplomatic license plates in the United States, issued by the U.S. State Department to accredited diplomats, include a two-letter country code to identify that representative's country.
* ICAO aircraft registration prefixes, defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to identify an aircraft's country of registration.
* ICAO airport code prefixes, defined by the ICAO to identify an airport's country.
* UIC country codes, to identify members of the International Union of Railways (UIC).
Other specific-purpose codes
* Country code top-level domain (ccTLD), an Internet top-level domain. Originally defined by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), it was initially based on ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.
* World Meteorological Organization (WMO) maintains its own list of country codes in reporting meteorological observations.
Other codings
Country identities may be encoded in the following coding systems:
*The initial digits of International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN) are group identifiers for countries, areas, or language regions.
Lists of country codes by country
A -
B -
C -
D–E -
F -
G -
H–I -
J–K -
L -
M -
N -
O–Q -
R -
S -
T -
U–Z
See also
*List of ISO 3166 country codes
*ISO 639 language codes
*Language code
*Numbering scheme
References
External links
*[http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/codes/country.htm Comparison of various systems]
*Another comparison:
*A comparison with [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613013243/http://maurits.myweb.uga.edu/CountryCodes.xls ISO, IFS and others] with [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613013156/http://maurits.myweb.uga.edu/CountryCodesSourcebook.txt notes]
*[http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49alpha.htm United Nations Region Codes]
Category:Geocodes
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Cladistics
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Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived characteristics (synapomorphies) that are not present in more distant groups and ancestors. However, from an empirical perspective, common ancestors are inferences based on a cladistic hypothesis of relationships of taxa whose character states can be observed. Theoretically, a last common ancestor and all its descendants constitute a (minimal) clade. Importantly, all descendants stay in their overarching ancestral clade. For example, if the terms worms or fishes were used within a strict cladistic framework, these terms would include humans. Many of these terms are normally used paraphyletically, outside of cladistics, e.g. as a 'grade', which are fruitless to precisely delineate, especially when including extinct species. Radiation results in the generation of new subclades by bifurcation, but in practice sexual hybridization may blur very closely related groupings.
As a hypothesis, a clade can be rejected only if some groupings were explicitly excluded. It may then be found that the excluded group did actually descend from the last common ancestor of the group, and thus emerged within the group. ("Evolved from" is misleading, because in cladistics all descendants stay in the ancestral group). To keep only valid clades, upon finding that the group is paraphyletic this way, either such excluded groups should be granted to the clade, or the group should be abolished.
Branches down to the divergence to the next significant (e.g. extant) sister are considered stem-groupings of the clade, but in principle each level stands on its own, to be assigned a unique name. For a fully bifurcated tree, adding a group to a tree also adds an additional (named) clade, and a new level on that branch. Specifically, also extinct groups are always put on a side-branch, not distinguishing whether an actual ancestor of other groupings was found.
The techniques and nomenclature of cladistics have been applied to disciplines other than biology. (See phylogenetic nomenclature.)
Cladistics findings are posing a difficulty for taxonomy, where the rank and (genus-)naming of established groupings may turn out to be inconsistent.
Cladistics is now the most commonly used method to classify organisms.
History
The original methods used in cladistic analysis and the school of taxonomy derived from the work of the German entomologist Willi Hennig, who referred to it as phylogenetic systematics (also the title of his 1966 book); but the terms "cladistics" and "clade" were popularized by other researchers. Cladistics in the original sense refers to a particular set of methods used in phylogenetic analysis, although it is now sometimes used to refer to the whole field.
What is now called the cladistic method appeared as early as 1901 with a work by Peter Chalmers Mitchell for birds and subsequently by Robert John Tillyard (for insects) in 1921, and W. Zimmermann (for plants) in 1943. The term "clade" was introduced in 1958 by Julian Huxley after having been coined by Lucien Cuénot in 1940, "cladogenesis" in 1958, "cladistic" by Arthur Cain and Harrison in 1960, "cladist" (for an adherent of Hennig's school) by Ernst Mayr in 1965, and "cladistics" in 1966.
Originally conceived, if only in essence, by Willi Hennig in a book published in 1950, cladistics did not flourish until its translation into English in 1966 (Lewin 1997). Today, cladistics is the most popular method for inferring phylogenetic trees from morphological data.
In the 1990s, the development of effective polymerase chain reaction techniques allowed the application of cladistic methods to biochemical and molecular genetic traits of organisms, vastly expanding the amount of data available for phylogenetics. At the same time, cladistics rapidly became popular in evolutionary biology, because computers made it possible to process large quantities of data about organisms and their characteristics.
Methodology
The cladistic method interprets each shared character state transformation as a potential piece of evidence for grouping. Synapomorphies (shared, derived character states) are viewed as evidence of grouping, while symplesiomorphies (shared ancestral character states) are not. The outcome of a cladistic analysis is a cladogram – a tree-shaped diagram (dendrogram) that is interpreted to represent the best hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters and originally calculated by hand, genetic sequencing data and computational phylogenetics are now commonly used in phylogenetic analyses, and the parsimony criterion has been abandoned by many phylogeneticists in favor of more "sophisticated" but less parsimonious evolutionary models of character state transformation. Cladists contend that these models are unjustified because there is no evidence that they recover more "true" or "correct" results from actual empirical data sets
Every cladogram is based on a particular dataset analyzed with a particular method. Datasets are tables consisting of molecular, morphological, ethological and/or other characters and a list of operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which may be genes, individuals, populations, species, or larger taxa that are presumed to be monophyletic and therefore to form, all together, one large clade; phylogenetic analysis infers the branching pattern within that clade. Different datasets and different methods, not to mention violations of the mentioned assumptions, often result in different cladograms. Only scientific investigation can show which is more likely to be correct.
Until recently, for example, cladograms like the following have generally been accepted as accurate representations of the ancestral relations among turtles, lizards, crocodilians, and birds:
|1=
|2=
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If this phylogenetic hypothesis is correct, then the last common ancestor of turtles and birds, at the branch near the lived earlier than the last common ancestor of lizards and birds, near the . Most molecular evidence, however, produces cladograms more like this:
|1=
|2=
}}
}}
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If this is accurate, then the last common ancestor of turtles and birds lived later than the last common ancestor of lizards and birds. Since the cladograms show two mutually exclusive hypotheses to describe the evolutionary history, at most one of them is correct.
s, showing a monophyletic taxon (a clade: the simians or Anthropoidea, in yellow), a paraphyletic taxon (the prosimians, in blue, including the red patch), and a polyphyletic taxon (the nocturnal primates – the lorises and the tarsiers – in red)]]
The cladogram to the right represents the current universally accepted hypothesis that all primates, including strepsirrhines like the lemurs and lorises, had a common ancestor all of whose descendants are or were primates, and so form a clade; the name Primates is therefore recognized for this clade. Within the primates, all anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and humans) are hypothesized to have had a common ancestor all of whose descendants are or were anthropoids, so they form the clade called Anthropoidea. The "prosimians", on the other hand, form a paraphyletic taxon. The name Prosimii is not used in phylogenetic nomenclature, which names only clades; the "prosimians" are instead divided between the clades Strepsirhini and Haplorhini, where the latter contains Tarsiiformes and Anthropoidea.
Lemurs and tarsiers may have looked closely related to humans, in the sense of being close on the evolutionary tree to humans. However, from the perspective of a tarsier, humans and lemurs would have looked close, in the exact same sense. Cladistics forces a neutral perspective, treating all branches (extant or extinct) in the same manner. It also forces one to try to make statements, and honestly take into account findings, about the exact historic relationships between the groups.
Terminology for character states
The following terms, coined by Hennig, are used to identify shared or distinct character states among groups:
* A plesiomorphy ("close form") or ancestral state is a character state that a taxon has retained from its ancestors. When two or more taxa that are not nested within each other share a plesiomorphy, it is a symplesiomorphy (from syn-, "together"). Symplesiomorphies do not mean that the taxa that exhibit that character state are necessarily closely related. For example, Reptilia is traditionally characterized by (among other things) being cold-blooded (i.e., not maintaining a constant high body temperature), whereas birds are warm-blooded. Since cold-bloodedness is a plesiomorphy, inherited from the common ancestor of traditional reptiles and birds, and thus a symplesiomorphy of turtles, snakes and crocodiles (among others), it does not mean that turtles, snakes and crocodiles form a clade that excludes the birds.
* An apomorphy ("separate form") or derived state is an innovation. It can thus be used to diagnose a clade – or even to help define a clade name in phylogenetic nomenclature. Features that are derived in individual taxa (a single species or a group that is represented by a single terminal in a given phylogenetic analysis) are called autapomorphies (from auto-, "self"). Autapomorphies express nothing about relationships among groups; clades are identified (or defined) by synapomorphies (from syn-, "together"). For example, the possession of digits that are homologous with those of Homo sapiens is a synapomorphy within the vertebrates. The tetrapods can be singled out as consisting of the first vertebrate with such digits homologous to those of Homo sapiens together with all descendants of this vertebrate (an apomorphy-based phylogenetic definition). Importantly, snakes and other tetrapods that do not have digits are nonetheless tetrapods: other characters, such as amniotic eggs and diapsid skulls, indicate that they descended from ancestors that possessed digits which are homologous with ours.
* A character state is homoplastic or "an instance of homoplasy" if it is shared by two or more organisms but is absent from their common ancestor or from a later ancestor in the lineage leading to one of the organisms. It is therefore inferred to have evolved by convergence or reversal. Both mammals and birds are able to maintain a high constant body temperature (i.e., they are warm-blooded). However, the accepted cladogram explaining their significant features indicates that their common ancestor is in a group lacking this character state, so the state must have evolved independently in the two clades. Warm-bloodedness is separately a synapomorphy of mammals (or a larger clade) and of birds (or a larger clade), but it is not a synapomorphy of any group including both these clades. Hennig's Auxiliary Principle states that shared character states should be considered evidence of grouping unless they are contradicted by the weight of other evidence; thus, homoplasy of some feature among members of a group may only be inferred after a phylogenetic hypothesis for that group has been established.
The terms plesiomorphy and apomorphy are relative; their application depends on the position of a group within a tree. For example, when trying to decide whether the tetrapods form a clade, an important question is whether having four limbs is a synapomorphy of the earliest taxa to be included within Tetrapoda: did all the earliest members of the Tetrapoda inherit four limbs from a common ancestor, whereas all other vertebrates did not, or at least not homologously? By contrast, for a group within the tetrapods, such as birds, having four limbs is a plesiomorphy. Using these two terms allows a greater precision in the discussion of homology, in particular allowing clear expression of the hierarchical relationships among different homologous features.
It can be difficult to decide whether a character state is in fact the same and thus can be classified as a synapomorphy, which may identify a monophyletic group, or whether it only appears to be the same and is thus a homoplasy, which cannot identify such a group. There is a danger of circular reasoning: assumptions about the shape of a phylogenetic tree are used to justify decisions about character states, which are then used as evidence for the shape of the tree. Phylogenetics uses various forms of parsimony to decide such questions; the conclusions reached often depend on the dataset and the methods. Such is the nature of empirical science, and for this reason, most cladists refer to their cladograms as hypotheses of relationship. Cladograms that are supported by a large number and variety of different kinds of characters are viewed as more robust than those based on more limited evidence. Terminology for taxa Mono-, para- and polyphyletic taxa can be understood based on the shape of the tree (as done above), as well as based on their character states. These are compared in the table below.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Term
! Node-based definition
! Character-based definition
|- valign="top"
| Holophyly, Monophyly
| A clade, a monophyletic taxon, is a taxon that consists of the last common ancestor and all its descendants.
| A clade is characterized by one or more apomorphies: derived character states present in the first member of the taxon, inherited by its descendants (unless secondarily lost), and not inherited by any other taxa.
|- valign="top"
| Paraphyly
| A paraphyletic assemblage is one that is constructed by taking a clade and removing one or more smaller clades. (Removing one clade produces a singly paraphyletic assemblage, removing two produces a doubly paraphyletic assemblage, and so on.)
| A paraphyletic assemblage is characterized by one or more plesiomorphies: character states inherited from ancestors but not present in all of their descendants. As a consequence, a paraphyletic assemblage is truncated, in that it excludes one or more clades from an otherwise monophyletic taxon. An alternative name is evolutionary grade, referring to an ancestral character state within the group. While paraphyletic assemblages are popular among paleontologists and evolutionary taxonomists, cladists do not recognize paraphyletic assemblages as having any formal information content – they are merely parts of clades.
|- valign="top"
| Polyphyly
| A polyphyletic assemblage is one which is neither monophyletic nor paraphyletic.
| A polyphyletic assemblage is characterized by one or more homoplasies: character states which have converged or reverted so as to be the same but which have not been inherited from a common ancestor. No systematist recognizes polyphyletic assemblages as taxonomically meaningful entities, although ecologists sometimes consider them meaningful labels for functional participants in ecological communities (e. g., primary producers, detritivores, etc.).
|}
Criticism
Cladistics, either generally or in specific applications, has been criticized from its beginnings. Decisions as to whether particular character states are homologous, a precondition of their being synapomorphies, have been challenged as involving circular reasoning and subjective judgements. Of course, the potential unreliability of evidence is a problem for any systematic method, or for that matter, for any empirical scientific endeavor at all.
Transformed cladistics arose in the late 1970s in an attempt to resolve some of these problems by removing a priori assumptions about phylogeny from cladistic analysis, but it has remained unpopular.
Issues
Ancestors
The cladistic method does not identify fossil species as actual ancestors of a clade. Instead, fossil taxa are identified as belonging to separate extinct branches. While a fossil species could be the actual ancestor of a clade, there is no way to know that. Therefore, a more conservative hypothesis is that the fossil taxon is related to other fossil and extant taxa, as implied by the pattern of shared apomorphic features. Extinction status An otherwise extinct group with any extant descendants, is not considered (literally) extinct, and for instance does not have a date of extinction. Hybridization, interbreeding Anything having to do with biology and sex is complicated and messy, and cladistics is no exception. Many species reproduce sexually, and are capable of interbreeding for millions of years. Worse, during such a period, many branches may have radiated, and it may take hundreds of millions of years for them to have whittled down to just two. Only then one can theoretically assign proper last common ancestors of groupings which do not inadvertently include earlier branches. The process of true cladistic bifurcation can thus take a much more extended time than one is usually aware of. In practice, for recent radiations, cladistically guided findings only give a coarse impression of the complexity. A more detailed account will give details about fractions of introgressions between groupings, and even geographic variations thereof. This has been used as an argument for the use of paraphyletic groupings, There are several processes in nature which can cause horizontal gene transfer. This does typically not directly interfere with ancestry of the organism, but can complicate the determination of that ancestry. On another level, one can map the horizontal gene transfer processes, by determining the phylogeny of the individual genes using cladistics. Naming stability If there is unclarity in mutual relationships, there are a lot of possible trees. Assigning names to each possible clade may not be prudent. Furthermore, established names are discarded in cladistics, or alternatively carry connotations which may no longer hold, such as when additional groups are found to have emerged in them. Naming changes are the direct result of changes in the recognition of mutual relationships, which often is still in flux, especially for extinct species. Hanging on to older naming and/or connotations is counter-productive, as they typically do not reflect actual mutual relationships precisely at all. E.g. Archaea, Asgard archaea, protists, slime molds, worms, invertebrata, fishes, reptilia, monkeys, Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, Homo erectus all contain Homo sapiens cladistically, in their sensu lato meaning. For originally extinct stem groups, sensu lato generally means generously keeping previously included groups, which then may come to include even living species. A pruned sensu stricto meaning is often adopted instead, but the group would need to be restricted to a single branch on the stem. Other branches then get their own name and level. This is commensurate to the fact that more senior stem branches are in fact closer related to the resulting group than the more basal stem branches; that those stem branches only may have lived for a short time does not affect that assessment in cladistics. In disciplines other than biology The comparisons used to acquire data on which cladograms can be based are not limited to the field of biology. Any group of individuals or classes that are hypothesized to have a common ancestor, and to which a set of common characteristics may or may not apply, can be compared pairwise. Cladograms can be used to depict the hypothetical descent relationships within groups of items in many different academic realms. The only requirement is that the items have characteristics that can be identified and measured.
Anthropology and archaeology: Cladistic methods have been used to reconstruct the development of cultures or artifacts using groups of cultural traits or artifact features.
Comparative mythology and folktale use cladistic methods to reconstruct the protoversion of many myths. Mythological phylogenies constructed with mythemes clearly support low horizontal transmissions (borrowings), historical (sometimes Palaeolithic) diffusions and punctuated evolution. They also are a powerful way to test hypotheses about cross-cultural relationships among folktales.
Literature: Cladistic methods have been used in the classification of the surviving manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, and the manuscripts of the Sanskrit Charaka Samhita.
Historical linguistics: Cladistic methods have been used to reconstruct the phylogeny of languages using linguistic features. This is similar to the traditional comparative method of historical linguistics, but is more explicit in its use of parsimony and allows much faster analysis of large datasets (computational phylogenetics).
Textual criticism or stemmatics: Cladistic methods have been used to reconstruct the phylogeny of manuscripts of the same work (and reconstruct the lost original) using distinctive copying errors as apomorphies. This differs from traditional historical-comparative linguistics in enabling the editor to evaluate and place in genetic relationship large groups of manuscripts with large numbers of variants that would be impossible to handle manually. It also enables parsimony analysis of contaminated traditions of transmission that would be impossible to evaluate manually in a reasonable period of time.
Astrophysics infers the history of relationships between galaxies to create branching diagram hypotheses of galaxy diversification.
See also
* Bioinformatics
* Biomathematics
* Coalescent theory
* Common descent
* Glossary of scientific naming
* Language family
* Patrocladogram
* Phylogenetic network
* Scientific classification
* Stratocladistics
* Subclade
* Systematics
* Three-taxon analysis
* Tree model
* Tree structure
Notes and references
Bibliography
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* Available free online at [http://gallica.bnf.fr Gallica] (No direct URL). This is the paper credited by for the first use of the term 'clade'.
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* responding to .
* Translated from manuscript in German eventually published in 1982 (Phylogenetische Systematik, Verlag Paul Parey, Berlin).
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* d'Huy, Julien (2012b), "Le motif de Pygmalion : origine afrasienne et diffusion en Afrique". Sahara, 23: 49-59 [https://www.academia.edu/1930092/Le_motif_de_Pygmalion_origine_afrasienne_et_diffusion_en_Afrique._-_Sahara_23_2012_49-59].
* d'Huy, Julien (2013a), "Polyphemus (Aa. Th. 1137)." "A phylogenetic reconstruction of a prehistoric tale". Nouvelle Mythologie Comparée / New Comparative Mythology 1, [http://nouvellemythologiecomparee.hautetfort.com/archive/2013/01/20/julien-d-huy-polyphemus-aa-th-1137.html]
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* d'Huy, Julien (2013c) "Les mythes évolueraient par ponctuations". Mythologie française, 252, 2013c: 8–12. [https://www.academia.edu/4478823/Les_mythes_evolueraient_par_ponctuations._-_Mythologie_francaise_252_2013_8-12]
* d'Huy, Julien (2013d) "A Cosmic Hunt in the Berber sky : a phylogenetic reconstruction of Palaeolithic mythology". ''Les Cahiers de l'AARS'', 15, 2013d: 93–106. [https://www.academia.edu/3045718/A_Cosmic_Hunt_in_the_Berber_sky_a_phylogenetic_reconstruction_of_Palaeolithic_mythology._-_Les_Cahiers_de_lAARS_15_2013_93-106]
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* Reissued 1997 in paperback. Includes a reprint of Mayr's 1974 anti-cladistics paper at pp. 433–476, "Cladistic analysis or cladistic classification." This is the paper to which is a response.
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* Tehrani, Jamshid J., 2013, "The Phylogeny of Little Red Riding Hood", PLOS ONE, 13 November.[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0078871]
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External links
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* [https://www.onezoom.org/life OneZoom: Tree of Life – all living species as intuitive and zoomable fractal explorer (responsive design)]
* [http://www.cladistics.org/ Willi Hennig Society]
* [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1096-0031 Cladistics] (scholarly journal of the Willi Hennig Society)
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Category:Phylogenetics
Category:Evolutionary biology
Category:Zoology
Category:Philosophy of biology
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Calendar
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n Gregorian calendar for a Catholic church]]
, height: 20.3 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)]]
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physical record (often paper) of such a system. A calendar can also mean a list of planned events, such as a court calendar, or a partly or fully chronological list of documents, such as a calendar of wills.
Periods in a calendar (such as years and months) are usually, though not necessarily, synchronized with the cycle of the sun or the moon. The most common type of pre-modern calendar was the lunisolar calendar, a lunar calendar that occasionally adds one intercalary month to remain synchronized with the solar year over the long term.
Etymology
The term calendar is taken from , the term for the first day of the month in the Roman calendar, related to the verb 'to call out', referring to the "calling" of the new moon when it was first seen. Latin meant 'account book, register' (as accounts were settled and debts were collected on the calends of each month). The Latin term was adopted in Old French as and from there in Middle English as by the 13th century (the spelling calendar is early modern).
The first recorded physical calendars, dependent on the development of writing in the Ancient Near East, are the Bronze Age Egyptian and Sumerian calendars.
During the Vedic period India developed a sophisticated timekeeping methodology and calendars for Vedic rituals. According to Yukio Ohashi, the Vedanga calendar in ancient India was based on astronomical studies during the Vedic Period and was not derived from other cultures.
A large number of calendar systems in the Ancient Near East were based on the Babylonian calendar dating from the Iron Age, among them the calendar system of the Persian Empire, which in turn gave rise to the Zoroastrian calendar and the Hebrew calendar.
A great number of Hellenic calendars were developed in Classical Greece, and during the Hellenistic period they gave rise to the ancient Roman calendar and to various Hindu calendars.
Calendars in antiquity were lunisolar, depending on the introduction of intercalary months to align the solar and the lunar years. This was mostly based on observation, but there may have been early attempts to model the pattern of intercalation algorithmically, as evidenced in the fragmentary 2nd-century Coligny calendar.
The Roman calendar was reformed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. His "Julian" calendar was no longer dependent on the observation of the new moon, but followed an algorithm of introducing a leap day every four years. This created a dissociation of the calendar month from lunation. The Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582, corrected most of the remaining difference between the Julian calendar and the solar year.
The Islamic calendar is based on the prohibition of intercalation (nasi') by Muhammad, in Islamic tradition dated to a sermon given on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah AH 10 (Julian date: 6 March 632). This resulted in an observation-based lunar calendar that shifts relative to the seasons of the solar year.
There have been several modern proposals for reform of the modern calendar, such as the World Calendar, the International Fixed Calendar, the Holocene calendar, and the Hanke–Henry Permanent Calendar. Such ideas are promoted from time to time, but have failed to gain traction because of the loss of continuity and the massive upheaval that implementing them would involve, as well as their effect on cycles of religious activity.
Systems
A full calendar system has a different calendar date for every day. Thus the week cycle is by itself not a full calendar system; neither is a system to name the days within a year without a system for identifying the years.
The simplest calendar system just counts time periods from a reference date. This applies for the Julian day or Unix Time. Virtually the only possible variation is using a different reference date, in particular, one less distant in the past to make the numbers smaller. Computations in these systems are just a matter of addition and subtraction.
Other calendars have one (or multiple) larger units of time.
Calendars that contain one level of cycles:
* week and weekday – this system (without year, the week number keeps on increasing) is not very common
* year and ordinal date within the year, e.g., the ISO 8601 ordinal date system
Calendars with two levels of cycles:
* year, month, and day – most systems, including the Gregorian calendar (and its very similar predecessor, the Julian calendar), the Islamic calendar, the Solar Hijri calendar and the Hebrew calendar
* year, week, and weekday – e.g., the ISO week date
Cycles can be synchronized with periodic phenomena:
and Moon, Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493]]
* Lunar calendars are synchronized to the motion of the Moon (lunar phases); an example is the Islamic calendar.
* Solar calendars are based on perceived seasonal changes synchronized to the apparent motion of the Sun; an example is the Persian calendar.
* Lunisolar calendars are based on a combination of both solar and lunar reckonings; examples include the traditional calendar of China, the Hindu calendar in India and Nepal, and the Hebrew calendar.
* The week cycle is an example of one that is not synchronized to any external phenomenon (although it may have been derived from lunar phases, beginning anew every month).
Very commonly a calendar includes more than one type of cycle or has both cyclic and non-cyclic elements.
Most calendars incorporate more complex cycles. For example, the vast majority of them track years, months, weeks and days. The seven-day week is practically universal, though its use varies. It has run uninterrupted for millennia.
Solar
Solar calendars assign a date to each solar day. The length of the interval between two such successive events may be allowed to vary slightly during the year, or it may be averaged into a mean solar day. Other types of calendar may also use a solar day.
The Egyptians appear to have been the first to develop a solar calendar, using as a fixed point the annual sunrise reappearance of the Dog Star—Sirius, or Sothis—in the eastern sky, which coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile River. They built a calendar with 365 days, divided into 12 months of 30 days each, with 5 extra days at the end of the year. However, they did not include the extra bit of time in each year, and this caused their calendar to slowly become inaccurate.
Lunar
Not all calendars use the solar year as a unit. A lunar calendar is one in which days are numbered within each lunar phase cycle. Because the length of the lunar month is not an even fraction of the length of the tropical year, a purely lunar calendar quickly drifts against the seasons, which do not vary much near the equator. It does, however, stay constant with respect to other phenomena, notably tides. An example is the Islamic calendar.
Alexander Marshack, in a controversial reading, believed that marks on a bone baton () represented a lunar calendar. Other marked bones may also represent lunar calendars. Similarly, Michael Rappenglueck believes that marks on a 15,000-year-old cave painting represent a lunar calendar.LunisolarA lunisolar calendar is a lunar calendar that compensates by adding an extra month as needed to realign the months with the seasons. Prominent examples of lunisolar calendar are Hindu calendar and Buddhist calendar that are popular in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Another example is the Hebrew calendar, which uses a 19-year cycle.Subdivisions
Nearly all calendar systems group consecutive days into "months" and also into "years". In a solar calendar a year approximates Earth's tropical year (that is, the time it takes for a complete cycle of seasons), traditionally used to facilitate the planning of agricultural activities. In a lunar calendar, the month approximates the cycle of the moon phase. Consecutive days may be grouped into other periods such as the week.
Because the number of days in the tropical year is not a whole number, a solar calendar must have a different number of days in different years. This may be handled, for example, by adding an extra day in leap years. The same applies to months in a lunar calendar and also the number of months in a year in a lunisolar calendar. This is generally known as intercalation. Even if a calendar is solar, but not lunar, the year cannot be divided entirely into months that never vary in length.
Cultures may define other units of time, such as the week, for the purpose of scheduling regular activities that do not easily coincide with months or years. Many cultures use different baselines for their calendars' starting years. Historically, several countries have based their calendars on regnal years, a calendar based on the reign of their current sovereign. For example, the year 2006 in Japan is year 18 Heisei, with Heisei being the era name of Emperor Akihito.
Other types
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Arithmetical and astronomical
, 5591 (1831)]]
An astronomical calendar is based on ongoing observation; examples are the religious Islamic calendar and the old religious Jewish calendar in the time of the Second Temple. Such a calendar is also referred to as an observation-based calendar. The advantage of such a calendar is that it is perfectly and perpetually accurate. The disadvantage is that working out when a particular date would occur is difficult.
An arithmetic calendar is one that is based on a strict set of rules; an example is the current Jewish calendar. Such a calendar is also referred to as a rule-based calendar. The advantage of such a calendar is the ease of calculating when a particular date occurs. The disadvantage is imperfect accuracy. Furthermore, even if the calendar is very accurate, its accuracy diminishes slowly over time, owing to changes in Earth's rotation. This limits the lifetime of an accurate arithmetic calendar to a few thousand years. After then, the rules would need to be modified from observations made since the invention of the calendar.
Other variants
The early Roman calendar, created during the reign of Romulus, lumped the 61 days of the winter period together as simply "winter". Over time, this period became January and February; through further changes over time (including the creation of the Julian calendar) this calendar became the modern Gregorian calendar, introduced in the 1570s.
Usage
or Islamic calendars.]]
The primary practical use of a calendar is to identify days: to be informed about or to agree on a future event and to record an event that has happened. Days may be significant for agricultural, civil, religious, or social reasons. For example, a calendar provides a way to determine when to start planting or harvesting, which days are religious or civil holidays, which days mark the beginning and end of business accounting periods, and which days have legal significance, such as the day taxes are due or a contract expires. Also, a calendar may, by identifying a day, provide other useful information about the day such as its season.
Calendars are also used as part of a complete timekeeping system: date and time of day together specify a moment in time. In the modern world, timekeepers can show time, date, and weekday. Some may also show the lunar phase.
Gregorian
The Gregorian calendar is the de facto international standard and is used almost everywhere in the world for civil purposes. The widely used solar aspect is a cycle of leap days in a 400-year cycle designed to keep the duration of the year aligned with the solar year. There is a lunar aspect which approximates the position of the moon during the year, and is used in the calculation of the date of Easter. Each Gregorian year has either 365 or 366 days (the leap day being inserted as 29 February), amounting to an average Gregorian year of 365.2425 days (compared to a solar year of 365.2422 days).
The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 as a refinement to the Julian calendar, that had been in use throughout the European Middle Ages, amounting to a 0.002% correction in the length of the year. During the Early Modern period, its adoption was mostly limited to Roman Catholic nations, but by the 19th century it had become widely adopted for the sake of convenience in international trade. The last European country to adopt it was Greece, in 1923.
The calendar epoch used by the Gregorian calendar is inherited from the medieval convention established by Dionysius Exiguus and associated with the Julian calendar. The year number is variously given as AD (for Anno Domini) or CE (for Common Era or Christian Era).Religious
(pancanga) for the year 1871/2 from Rajasthan (Library of Congress, Asian Division)]]
The most important use of pre-modern calendars is keeping track of the liturgical year and the observation of religious feast days.
While the Gregorian calendar is itself historically motivated to the calculation of the Easter date, it is now in worldwide secular use as the de facto standard. Alongside the use of the Gregorian calendar for secular matters, there remain several calendars in use for religious purposes.
Western Christian liturgical calendars are based on the cycle of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, and generally include the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time (Time after Epiphany), Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time (Time after Pentecost). Some Christian calendars do not include Ordinary Time and every day falls into a denominated season.
The Eastern Orthodox Church employs the use of 2 liturgical calendars; the Julian calendar (often called the Old Calendar) and the Revised Julian Calendar (often called the New Calendar). The Revised Julian Calendar is nearly the same as the Gregorian calendar, with the addition that years divisible by 100 are not leap years, except that years with remainders of 200 or 600 when divided by 900 remain leap years, e.g. 2000 and 2400 as in the Gregorian calendar.
The Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in most of the Muslim countries (concurrently with the Gregorian calendar) and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holy days and festivals. Its epoch is the Hijra (corresponding to AD 622). With an annual drift of 11 or 12 days, the seasonal relation is repeated approximately every 33 Islamic years.
Various Hindu calendars remain in use in the Indian subcontinent, including the Nepali calendars, Bengali calendar, Malayalam calendar, Tamil calendar, Vikrama Samvat used in Northern India, and Shalivahana calendar in the Deccan states.
The Buddhist calendar and the traditional lunisolar calendars of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand are also based on an older version of the Hindu calendar.
Most of the Hindu calendars are inherited from a system first enunciated in Vedanga Jyotisha of Lagadha, standardized in the Sūrya Siddhānta and subsequently reformed by astronomers such as Āryabhaṭa (AD 499), Varāhamihira (6th century) and Bhāskara II (12th century).
The Hebrew calendar is used by Jews worldwide for religious and cultural affairs, also influences civil matters in Israel (such as national holidays) and can be used business dealings (such as for the dating of cheques).
Followers of the Baháʼí Faith use the Baháʼí calendar. The Baháʼí Calendar, also known as the Badi Calendar was first established by the Bab in the Kitab-i-Asma. The Baháʼí Calendar is also purely a solar calendar and comprises 19 months each having nineteen days.
National
The Chinese, Hebrew, Hindu, and Julian calendars are widely used for religious and social purposes.
The Iranian (Persian) calendar is used in Iran and some parts of Afghanistan. The Assyrian calendar is in use by the members of the Assyrian community in the Middle East (mainly Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran) and the diaspora. The first year of the calendar is exactly 4750 years prior to the start of the Gregorian calendar. The Ethiopian calendar or Ethiopic calendar is the principal calendar used in Ethiopia and Eritrea, with the Oromo calendar also in use in some areas. In neighboring Somalia, the Somali calendar co-exists alongside the Gregorian and Islamic calendars. In Thailand, where the Thai solar calendar is used, the months and days have adopted the western standard, although the years are still based on the traditional Buddhist calendar.
Fiscal
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A fiscal calendar generally means the accounting year of a government or a business. It is used for budgeting, keeping accounts, and taxation. It is a set of 12 months that may start at any date in a year. The US government's fiscal year starts on 1 October and ends on 30 September. The government of India's fiscal year starts on 1 April and ends on 31 March. Small traditional businesses in India start the fiscal year on Diwali festival and end the day before the next year's Diwali festival.
In accounting (and particularly accounting software), a fiscal calendar (such as a 4/4/5 calendar) fixes each month at a specific number of weeks to facilitate comparisons from month to month and year to year. January always has exactly 4 weeks (Sunday through Saturday), February has 4 weeks, March has 5 weeks, etc. Note that this calendar will normally need to add a 53rd week to every 5th or 6th year, which might be added to December or might not be, depending on how the organization uses those dates. There exists an international standard way to do this (the ISO week). The ISO week starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday. Week 1 is always the week that contains 4 January in the Gregorian calendar.
Formats
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The term calendar applies not only to a given scheme of timekeeping but also to a specific record or device displaying such a scheme, for example, an appointment book in the form of a pocket calendar (or personal organizer), desktop calendar, a wall calendar, etc.
In a paper calendar, one or two sheets can show a single day, a week, a month, or a year. If a sheet is for a single day, it easily shows the date and the weekday. If a sheet is for multiple days it shows a conversion table to convert from weekday to date and back. With a special pointing device, or by crossing out past days, it may indicate the current date and weekday. This is the most common usage of the word.
In the US Sunday is considered the first day of the week and so appears on the far left and Saturday the last day of the week appearing on the far right. In Britain, the weekend may appear at the end of the week so the first day is Monday and the last day is Sunday. The US calendar display is also used in Britain.
It is common to display the Gregorian calendar in separate monthly grids of seven columns (from Monday to Sunday, or Sunday to Saturday depending on which day is considered to start the week – this varies according to country) and five to six rows (or rarely, four rows when the month of February contains 28 days in common years beginning on the first day of the week), with the day of the month numbered in each cell, beginning with 1. The sixth row is sometimes eliminated by marking 23/30 and 24/31 together as necessary.
When working with weeks rather than months, a continuous format is sometimes more convenient, where no blank cells are inserted to ensure that the first day of a new month begins on a fresh row.
Software
Calendaring software provides users with an electronic version of a calendar, and may additionally provide an appointment book, address book, or contact list.
Calendaring is a standard feature of many PDAs, EDAs, and smartphones. The software may be a local package designed for individual use (e.g., Lightning extension for Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook without Exchange Server, or Windows Calendar) or maybe a networked package that allows for the sharing of information between users (e.g., Mozilla Sunbird, Windows Live Calendar, Google Calendar, or Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Server).
See also
* General Roman Calendar
* List of calendars
* Advent calendar
* Calendar reform
* Calendrical calculation
* Docket (court)
* History of calendars
* Horology
* List of international common standards
* List of unofficial observances by date
* Real-time clock (RTC), which underlies the Calendar software on modern computers.
* Unit of time
References
Citations
Sources
* |url https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=calendar}}
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Further reading
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External links
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*[http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/ Calendar converter, including all major civil, religious and technical calendars.]
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Physical cosmology
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upright=1.6|thumb|Artist conception of the Big Bang cosmological model, the most widely accepted out of all in physical cosmology (neither time nor size to scale)
Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fundamental questions about its origin, structure, evolution, and ultimate fate. Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed those physical laws to be understood.
Physical cosmology, as it is now understood, began in 1915 with the development of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, followed by major observational discoveries in the 1920s: first, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe contains a huge number of external galaxies beyond the Milky Way; then, work by Vesto Slipher and others showed that the universe is expanding. These advances made it possible to speculate about the origin of the universe, and allowed the establishment of the Big Bang theory, by Georges Lemaître, as the leading cosmological model. A few researchers still advocate a handful of alternative cosmologies; however, most cosmologists agree that the Big Bang theory best explains the observations.
Dramatic advances in observational cosmology since the 1990s, including the cosmic microwave background, distant supernovae and galaxy redshift surveys, have led to the development of a standard model of cosmology. This model requires the universe to contain large amounts of dark matter and dark energy whose nature is currently not well understood, but the model gives detailed predictions that are in excellent agreement with many diverse observations.
Cosmology draws heavily on the work of many disparate areas of research in theoretical and applied physics. Areas relevant to cosmology include particle physics experiments and theory, theoretical and observational astrophysics, general relativity, quantum mechanics, and plasma physics.
Subject history
Modern cosmology developed along tandem tracks of theory and observation. In 1916, Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity, which provided a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time. At the time, Einstein believed in a static universe, but found that his original formulation of the theory did not permit it. This is because masses distributed throughout the universe gravitationally attract, and move toward each other over time. However, he realized that his equations permitted the introduction of a constant term which could counteract the attractive force of gravity on the cosmic scale. Einstein published his first paper on relativistic cosmology in 1917, in which he added this cosmological constant to his field equations in order to force them to model a static universe. The Einstein model describes a static universe; space is finite and unbounded (analogous to the surface of a sphere, which has a finite area but no edges). However, this so-called Einstein model is unstable to small perturbations—it will eventually start to expand or contract. His equations describe the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker universe, which may expand or contract, and whose geometry may be open, flat, or closed.
thumb|upright=1.9|History of the Universe – gravitational waves are hypothesized to arise from cosmic inflation, a rapidly accelerated expansion just after the Big Bang However, it is difficult to determine the distance to astronomical objects. One way is to compare the physical size of an object to its angular size, but a physical size must be assumed in order to do this. Another method is to measure the brightness of an object and assume an intrinsic luminosity, from which the distance may be determined using the inverse-square law. Due to the difficulty of using these methods, they did not realize that the nebulae were actually galaxies outside our own Milky Way, nor did they speculate about the cosmological implications. In 1927, the Belgian Roman Catholic priest Georges Lemaître independently derived the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker equations and proposed, on the basis of the recession of spiral nebulae, that the universe began with the "explosion" of a "primeval atom"—which was later called the Big Bang. In 1929, Edwin Hubble provided an observational basis for Lemaître's theory. Hubble showed that the spiral nebulae were galaxies by determining their distances using measurements of the brightness of Cepheid variable stars. He discovered a relationship between the redshift of a galaxy and its distance. He interpreted this as evidence that the galaxies are receding from Earth in every direction at speeds proportional to their distance from Earth. This fact is now known as Hubble's law, though the numerical factor Hubble found relating recessional velocity and distance was off by a factor of ten, due to not knowing about the types of Cepheid variables.
Given the cosmological principle, Hubble's law suggested that the universe was expanding. Two primary explanations were proposed for the expansion. One was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow. The other explanation was Fred Hoyle's steady state model in which new matter is created as the galaxies move away from each other. In this model, the universe is roughly the same at any point in time.
For a number of years, support for these theories was evenly divided. However, the observational evidence began to support the idea that the universe evolved from a hot dense state. The discovery of the cosmic microwave background in 1965 lent strong support to the Big Bang model,
An alternative view to extend the Big Bang model, suggesting the universe had no beginning or singularity and the age of the universe is infinite, has been presented.
In September 2023, astrophysicists questioned the overall current view of the universe, in the form of the Standard Model of Cosmology, based on the latest James Webb Space Telescope studies.
Energy of the cosmos
The lightest chemical elements, primarily hydrogen and helium, were created during the Big Bang through the process of nucleosynthesis. The net process results in a later energy release, meaning subsequent to the Big Bang. Such reactions of nuclear particles can lead to sudden energy releases from cataclysmic variable stars such as novae. Gravitational collapse of matter into black holes also powers the most energetic processes, generally seen in the nuclear regions of galaxies, forming quasars and active galaxies.
Cosmologists cannot explain all cosmic phenomena exactly, such as those related to the accelerating expansion of the universe, using conventional forms of energy. Instead, cosmologists propose a new form of energy called dark energy that permeates all space. One hypothesis is that dark energy is just the vacuum energy, a component of empty space that is associated with the virtual particles that exist due to the uncertainty principle.
There is no clear way to define the total energy in the universe using the most widely accepted theory of gravity, general relativity. Therefore, it remains controversial whether the total energy is conserved in an expanding universe. For instance, each photon that travels through intergalactic space loses energy due to the redshift effect. This energy is not transferred to any other system, so seems to be permanently lost. On the other hand, some cosmologists insist that energy is conserved in some sense; this follows the law of conservation of energy.
Different forms of energy may dominate the cosmos—relativistic particles which are referred to as radiation, or non-relativistic particles referred to as matter. Relativistic particles are particles whose rest mass is zero or negligible compared to their kinetic energy, and so move at the speed of light or very close to it; non-relativistic particles have much higher rest mass than their energy and so move much slower than the speed of light.
As the universe expands, both matter and radiation become diluted. However, the energy densities of radiation and matter dilute at different rates. As a particular volume expands, mass-energy density is changed only by the increase in volume, but the energy density of radiation is changed both by the increase in volume and by the increase in the wavelength of the photons that make it up. Thus the energy of radiation becomes a smaller part of the universe's total energy than that of matter as it expands. The very early universe is said to have been 'radiation dominated' and radiation controlled the deceleration of expansion. Later, as the average energy per photon becomes roughly 10 eV and lower, matter dictates the rate of deceleration and the universe is said to be 'matter dominated'. The intermediate case is not treated well analytically. As the expansion of the universe continues, matter dilutes even further and the cosmological constant becomes dominant, leading to an acceleration in the universe's expansion.
History of the universe
The history of the universe is a central issue in cosmology. The history of the universe is divided into different periods called epochs, according to the dominant forces and processes in each period. The standard cosmological model is known as the Lambda-CDM model.
Equations of motion
Within the standard cosmological model, the equations of motion governing the universe as a whole are derived from general relativity with a small, positive cosmological constant. The solution is an expanding universe; due to this expansion, the radiation and matter in the universe cool and become diluted. At first, the expansion is slowed down by gravitation attracting the radiation and matter in the universe. However, as these become diluted, the cosmological constant becomes more dominant and the expansion of the universe starts to accelerate rather than decelerate. In our universe this happened billions of years ago.
Particle physics in cosmology
During the earliest moments of the universe, the average energy density was very high, making knowledge of particle physics critical to understanding this environment. Hence, scattering processes and decay of unstable elementary particles are important for cosmological models of this period.
As a rule of thumb, a scattering or a decay process is cosmologically important in a certain epoch if the time scale describing that process is smaller than, or comparable to, the time scale of the expansion of the universe. The time scale that describes the expansion of the universe is 1/H with H being the Hubble parameter, which varies with time. The expansion timescale 1/H is roughly equal to the age of the universe at each point in time.
Timeline of the Big Bang
Observations suggest that the universe began around 13.8 billion years ago. Since then, the evolution of the universe has passed through three phases. The very early universe, which is still poorly understood, was the split second in which the universe was so hot that particles had energies higher than those currently accessible in particle accelerators on Earth. Therefore, while the basic features of this epoch have been worked out in the Big Bang theory, the details are largely based on educated guesses.
Following this, in the early universe, the evolution of the universe proceeded according to known high energy physics. This is when the first protons, electrons and neutrons formed, then nuclei and finally atoms. With the formation of neutral hydrogen, the cosmic microwave background was emitted. Finally, the epoch of structure formation began, when matter started to aggregate into the first stars and quasars, and ultimately galaxies, clusters of galaxies and superclusters formed. The future of the universe is not yet firmly known, but according to the ΛCDM model it will continue expanding forever.
Areas of study
Below, some of the most active areas of inquiry in cosmology are described, in roughly chronological order. This does not include all of the Big Bang cosmology, which is presented in Timeline of the Big Bang.
Very early universe
thumb|upright=1.2|The inflationary theory as an augmentation to the Big Bang theory was first proposed by Alan Guth of MIT. Inflation solves the 'horizon problem' by making the early universe much more compact than was assumed in the standard model. Given such smaller size, causal contact (i.e., thermal communication) would have been possible among all regions of the early universe. The image was an adaptation from various generic charts depicting the growth of the size of the observable universe, for both the standard model and inflationary model respectively, of the Big Bang theory.
The early, hot universe appears to be well explained by the Big Bang from roughly 10−33 seconds onwards, but there are several problems. One is that there is no compelling reason, using current particle physics, for the universe to be flat, homogeneous, and isotropic (see the cosmological principle). Moreover, grand unified theories of particle physics suggest that there should be magnetic monopoles in the universe, which have not been found. These problems are resolved by a brief period of cosmic inflation, which drives the universe to flatness, smooths out anisotropies and inhomogeneities to the observed level, and exponentially dilutes the monopoles. The physical model behind cosmic inflation is extremely simple, but it has not yet been confirmed by particle physics, and there are difficult problems reconciling inflation and quantum field theory. Some cosmologists think that string theory and brane cosmology will provide an alternative to inflation.
Another major problem in cosmology is what caused the universe to contain far more matter than antimatter. Cosmologists can observationally deduce that the universe is not split into regions of matter and antimatter. If it were, there would be X-rays and gamma rays produced as a result of annihilation, but this is not observed. Therefore, some process in the early universe must have created a small excess of matter over antimatter, and this (currently not understood) process is called baryogenesis. Three required conditions for baryogenesis were derived by Andrei Sakharov in 1967, and requires a violation of the particle physics symmetry, called CP-symmetry, between matter and antimatter. However, particle accelerators measure too small a violation of CP-symmetry to account for the baryon asymmetry. Cosmologists and particle physicists look for additional violations of the CP-symmetry in the early universe that might account for the baryon asymmetry.
Both the problems of baryogenesis and cosmic inflation are very closely related to particle physics, and their resolution might come from high energy theory and experiment, rather than through observations of the universe.
Big Bang Theory
Big Bang nucleosynthesis is the theory of the formation of the elements in the early universe. It finished when the universe was about three minutes old and its temperature dropped below that at which nuclear fusion could occur. Big Bang nucleosynthesis had a brief period during which it could operate, so only the very lightest elements were produced. Starting from hydrogen ions (protons), it principally produced deuterium, helium-4, and lithium. Other elements were produced in only trace abundances. The basic theory of nucleosynthesis was developed in 1948 by George Gamow, Ralph Asher Alpher, and Robert Herman. It was used for many years as a probe of physics at the time of the Big Bang, as the theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis connects the abundances of primordial light elements with the features of the early universe. Specifically, it can be used to test the equivalence principle, to probe dark matter, and test neutrino physics. Some cosmologists have proposed that Big Bang nucleosynthesis suggests there is a fourth "sterile" species of neutrino.
Standard model of Big Bang cosmology
The ΛCDM (Lambda cold dark matter) or Lambda-CDM model is a parametrization of the Big Bang cosmological model in which the universe contains a cosmological constant, denoted by Lambda (Greek Λ), associated with dark energy, and cold dark matter (abbreviated CDM). It is frequently referred to as the standard model of Big Bang cosmology.
Cosmic microwave background
The cosmic microwave background is radiation left over from decoupling after the epoch of recombination when neutral atoms first formed. At this point, radiation produced in the Big Bang stopped Thomson scattering from charged ions. The radiation, first observed in 1965 by Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson, has a perfect thermal black-body spectrum. It has a temperature of 2.7 kelvins today and is isotropic to one part in 105. Cosmological perturbation theory, which describes the evolution of slight inhomogeneities in the early universe, has allowed cosmologists to precisely calculate the angular power spectrum of the radiation, and it has been measured by the recent satellite experiments (COBE and WMAP) and many ground and balloon-based experiments (such as Degree Angular Scale Interferometer, Cosmic Background Imager, and Boomerang). One of the goals of these efforts is to measure the basic parameters of the Lambda-CDM model with increasing accuracy, as well as to test the predictions of the Big Bang model and look for new physics. The results of measurements made by WMAP, for example, have placed limits on the neutrino masses.
Newer experiments, such as QUIET and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, are trying to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. These measurements are expected to provide further confirmation of the theory as well as information about cosmic inflation, and the so-called secondary anisotropies, such as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and Sachs-Wolfe effect, which are caused by interaction between galaxies and clusters with the cosmic microwave background.
On 17 March 2014, astronomers of the BICEP2 Collaboration announced the apparent detection of B-mode polarization of the CMB, considered to be evidence of primordial gravitational waves that are predicted by the theory of inflation to occur during the earliest phase of the Big Bang. However, later that year the Planck collaboration provided a more accurate measurement of cosmic dust, concluding that the B-mode signal from dust is the same strength as that reported from BICEP2. On 30 January 2015, a joint analysis of BICEP2 and Planck data was published and the European Space Agency announced that the signal can be entirely attributed to interstellar dust in the Milky Way.
Formation and evolution of large-scale structure
Understanding the formation and evolution of the largest and earliest structures (i.e., quasars, galaxies, clusters and superclusters) is one of the largest efforts in cosmology. Cosmologists study a model of hierarchical structure formation in which structures form from the bottom up, with smaller objects forming first, while the largest objects, such as superclusters, are still assembling. One way to study structure in the universe is to survey the visible galaxies, in order to construct a three-dimensional picture of the galaxies in the universe and measure the matter power spectrum. This is the approach of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey.
Another tool for understanding structure formation is simulations, which cosmologists use to study the gravitational aggregation of matter in the universe, as it clusters into filaments, superclusters and voids. Most simulations contain only non-baryonic cold dark matter, which should suffice to understand the universe on the largest scales, as there is much more dark matter in the universe than visible, baryonic matter. More advanced simulations are starting to include baryons and study the formation of individual galaxies. Cosmologists study these simulations to see if they agree with the galaxy surveys, and to understand any discrepancy.
thumb|upright=1.2|An example of a gravitational lens found in the DESI Legacy Surveys data. There are four sets of lensed images in DESI-090.9854-35.9683, corresponding to four distinct background galaxies—from the outermost giant red arc to the innermost bright blue arc, arranged in four concentric circles. All of them are gravitationally warped—or lensed—by the orange galaxy at the very center. Dark matter is expected to produce gravitational lensing also.
Other, complementary observations to measure the distribution of matter in the distant universe and to probe reionization include:
The Lyman-alpha forest, which allows cosmologists to measure the distribution of neutral atomic hydrogen gas in the early universe, by measuring the absorption of light from distant quasars by the gas.
The 21-centimeter absorption line of neutral atomic hydrogen also provides a sensitive test of cosmology.
Weak lensing, the distortion of a distant image by gravitational lensing due to dark matter.
These will help cosmologists settle the question of when and how structure formed in the universe.
Dark matter
Evidence from Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background, structure formation, and galaxy rotation curves suggests that about 23% of the mass of the universe consists of non-baryonic dark matter, whereas only 4% consists of visible, baryonic matter. The gravitational effects of dark matter are well understood, as it behaves like a cold, non-radiative fluid that forms haloes around galaxies. Dark matter has never been detected in the laboratory, and the particle physics nature of dark matter remains completely unknown. Without observational constraints, there are a number of candidates, such as a stable supersymmetric particle, a weakly interacting massive particle, a gravitationally-interacting massive particle, an axion, and a massive compact halo object. Alternatives to the dark matter hypothesis include a modification of gravity at small accelerations (MOND) or an effect from brane cosmology. TeVeS is a version of MOND that can explain gravitational lensing.
Dark energy
If the universe is flat, there must be an additional component making up 73% (in addition to the 23% dark matter and 4% baryons) of the energy density of the universe. This is called dark energy. In order not to interfere with Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background, it must not cluster in haloes like baryons and dark matter. There is strong observational evidence for dark energy, as the total energy density of the universe is known through constraints on the flatness of the universe, but the amount of clustering matter is tightly measured, and is much less than this. The case for dark energy was strengthened in 1999, when measurements demonstrated that the expansion of the universe has begun to gradually accelerate.
Apart from its density and its clustering properties, nothing is known about dark energy. Quantum field theory predicts a cosmological constant (CC) much like dark energy, but 120 orders of magnitude larger than that observed. Steven Weinberg and a number of string theorists (see string landscape) have invoked the 'weak anthropic principle': i.e. the reason that physicists observe a universe with such a small cosmological constant is that no physicists (or any life) could exist in a universe with a larger cosmological constant. Many cosmologists find this an unsatisfying explanation: perhaps because while the weak anthropic principle is self-evident (given that living observers exist, there must be at least one universe with a cosmological constant (CC) which allows for life to exist) it does not attempt to explain the context of that universe. For example, the weak anthropic principle alone does not distinguish between:
Only one universe will ever exist and there is some underlying principle that constrains the CC to the value we observe.
Only one universe will ever exist and although there is no underlying principle fixing the CC, we got lucky.
Lots of universes exist (simultaneously or serially) with a range of CC values, and of course ours is one of the life-supporting ones.
Other possible explanations for dark energy include quintessence or a modification of gravity on the largest scales. The effect on cosmology of the dark energy that these models describe is given by the dark energy's equation of state, which varies depending upon the theory. The nature of dark energy is one of the most challenging problems in cosmology.
A better understanding of dark energy is likely to solve the problem of the ultimate fate of the universe. In the current cosmological epoch, the accelerated expansion due to dark energy is preventing structures larger than superclusters from forming. It is not known whether the acceleration will continue indefinitely, perhaps even increasing until a big rip, or whether it will eventually reverse, lead to a Big Freeze, or follow some other scenario.
Gravitational waves
Gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of spacetime that propagate as waves at the speed of light, generated in certain gravitational interactions that propagate outward from their source. Gravitational-wave astronomy is an emerging branch of observational astronomy which aims to use gravitational waves to collect observational data about sources of detectable gravitational waves such as binary star systems composed of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes; and events such as supernovae, and the formation of the early universe shortly after the Big Bang.
In 2016, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration teams announced that they had made the first observation of gravitational waves, originating from a pair of merging black holes using the Advanced LIGO detectors. On 15 June 2016, a second detection of gravitational waves from coalescing black holes was announced. Besides LIGO, many other gravitational-wave observatories (detectors) are under construction.
Other areas of inquiry
Cosmologists also study:
Whether primordial black holes were formed in our universe, and what happened to them.
Detection of cosmic rays with energies above the GZK cutoff, and whether it signals a failure of special relativity at high energies.
The equivalence principle, and if the fundamental laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe.
Biophysical cosmology: a type of physical cosmology that studies and understands life as part or an inherent part of physical cosmology. It stresses that life is inherent to the universe and therefore frequent.
See also
Accretion
Hubble's law
Illustris project
List of cosmologists
Physical ontology
Quantum cosmology
String cosmology
Universal Rotation Curve
References
Further reading
Popular
Textbooks
Introductory cosmology and general relativity without the full tensor apparatus, deferred until the last part of the book.
Modern introduction to cosmology covering the homogeneous and inhomogeneous universe as well as inflation and the CMB.
An introductory text, released slightly before the WMAP results.
For undergraduates; mathematically gentle with a strong historical focus.
An introductory astronomy text.
The classic reference for researchers.
Cosmology without general relativity.
An introduction to cosmology with a thorough discussion of inflation.
Discusses the formation of large-scale structures in detail.
An introduction including more on general relativity and quantum field theory than most.
Strong historical focus.
The classic work on large-scale structure and correlation functions.
A standard reference for the mathematical formalism.
External links
From groups
Cambridge Cosmology – from Cambridge University (public home page)
Cosmology 101 – from the NASA WMAP group
Center for Cosmological Physics. University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Origins, Nova Online – Provided by PBS
From individuals
Gale, George, "Cosmology: Methodological Debates in the 1930s and 1940s", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
Madore, Barry F., "Level 5 : A Knowledgebase for Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology". Caltech and Carnegie. Pasadena, California.
Tyler, Pat, and Newman, Phil, "Beyond Einstein". Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics (LHEA) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Wright, Ned. "Cosmology tutorial and FAQ". Division of Astronomy & Astrophysics, UCLA.
Category:Philosophy of physics
Category:Philosophy of time
Category:Astronomical sub-disciplines
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Cosmic inflation
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In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the very early universe. Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate. The re-acceleration of this slowing expansion due to dark energy began after the universe was already over 7.7 billion years old (5.4 billion years ago).
Inflation theory was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with notable contributions by several theoretical physicists, including Alexei Starobinsky at Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Alan Guth at Cornell University, and Andrei Linde at Lebedev Physical Institute. Starobinsky, Guth, and Linde won the 2014 Kavli Prize "for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation". It was developed further in the early 1980s. It explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Quantum fluctuations in the microscopic inflationary region, magnified to cosmic size, become the seeds for the growth of structure in the Universe (see galaxy formation and evolution and structure formation). Many physicists also believe that inflation explains why the universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic), why the cosmic microwave background radiation is distributed evenly, why the universe is flat, and why no magnetic monopoles have been observed.
The detailed particle physics mechanism responsible for inflation is unknown. A number of inflation model predictions have been confirmed by observation; for example temperature anisotropies observed by the COBE satellite in 1992 exhibit nearly scale-invariant spectra as predicted by the inflationary paradigm and WMAP results also show strong evidence for inflation. However, some scientists dissent from this position.
In 2002, three of the original architects of the theory were recognized for their major contributions; physicists Alan Guth of M.I.T., Andrei Linde of Stanford, and Paul Steinhardt of Princeton shared the Dirac Prize "for development of the concept of inflation in cosmology". In 2012, Guth and Linde were awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their invention and development of inflationary cosmology. Overview
Around 1930, Edwin Hubble discovered that light from remote galaxies was redshifted; the more remote, the more shifted. This implies that the galaxies are receding from the Earth, with more distant galaxies receding more rapidly, such that galaxies also recede from each other. This expansion of the universe was previously predicted by Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaître from the theory of general relativity. It can be understood as a consequence of an initial impulse, which sent the contents of the universe flying apart at such a rate that their mutual gravitational attraction has not reversed their increasing separation.
Inflation may have provided this initial impulse. According to the Friedmann equations that describe the dynamics of an expanding universe, a fluid with sufficiently negative pressure exerts gravitational repulsion in the cosmological context. A field in a positive-energy false vacuum state could represent such a fluid, and the resulting repulsion would set the universe into exponential expansion. This inflation phase was originally proposed by Alan Guth in 1979 because the exponential expansion could dilute exotic relics, such as magnetic monopoles, that were predicted by grand unified theories at the time. This would explain why such relics were not seen. It was quickly realized that such accelerated expansion would resolve the horizon problem and the flatness problem. These problems arise from the notion that to look like it does today, the Universe must have started from very finely tuned, or "special", initial conditions at the Big Bang.
Theory
An expanding universe generally has a cosmological horizon, which, by analogy with the more familiar horizon caused by the curvature of Earth's surface, marks the boundary of the part of the Universe that an observer can see. Light (or other radiation) emitted by objects beyond the cosmological horizon in an accelerating universe never reaches the observer, because the space in between the observer and the object is expanding too rapidly.
– gravitational waves are hypothesized to arise from cosmic inflation, a phase of accelerated expansion just after the Big Bang.]]
The observable universe is one causal patch of a much larger unobservable universe; other parts of the Universe cannot communicate with Earth yet. These parts of the Universe are outside our current cosmological horizon, which is believed to be 46 billion light years in all directions from Earth. In the standard hot big bang model, without inflation, the cosmological horizon moves out, bringing new regions into view. Yet as a local observer sees such a region for the first time, it looks no different from any other region of space the local observer has already seen: Its background radiation is at nearly the same temperature as the background radiation of other regions, and its space-time curvature is evolving lock-step with the others. This presents a mystery: how did these new regions know what temperature and curvature they were supposed to have? They could not have learned it by getting signals, because they were not previously in communication with our past light cone.
Inflation answers this question by postulating that all the regions come from an earlier era with a big vacuum energy, or cosmological constant. A space with a cosmological constant is qualitatively different: instead of moving outward, the cosmological horizon stays put. For any one observer, the distance to the cosmological horizon is constant. With exponentially expanding space, two nearby observers are separated very quickly; so much so, that the distance between them quickly exceeds the limits of communication. The spatial slices are expanding very fast to cover huge volumes. Things are constantly moving beyond the cosmological horizon, which is a fixed distance away, and everything becomes homogeneous.
As the inflationary field slowly relaxes to the vacuum, the cosmological constant goes to zero and space begins to expand normally. The new regions that come into view during the normal expansion phase are exactly the same regions that were pushed out of the horizon during inflation, and so they are at nearly the same temperature and curvature, because they come from the same originally small patch of space.
The theory of inflation thus explains why the temperatures and curvatures of different regions are so nearly equal. It also predicts that the total curvature of a space-slice at constant global time is zero. This prediction implies that the total ordinary matter, dark matter and residual vacuum energy in the Universe have to add up to the critical density, and the evidence supports this. More strikingly, inflation allows physicists to calculate the minute differences in temperature of different regions from quantum fluctuations during the inflationary era, and many of these quantitative predictions have been confirmed.Space expands
In a space that expands exponentially (or nearly exponentially) with time, any pair of free-floating objects that are initially at rest will move apart from each other at an accelerating rate, at least as long as they are not bound together by any force. From the point of view of one such object, the spacetime is something like an inside-out Schwarzschild black hole—each object is surrounded by a spherical event horizon. Once the other object has fallen through this horizon it can never return, and even light signals it sends will never reach the first object (at least so long as the space continues to expand exponentially).
In the approximation that the expansion is exactly exponential, the horizon is static and remains a fixed physical distance away. This patch of an inflating universe can be described by the following metric:
:<math>
ds^2=- (1- \Lambda r^2) \, c^2dt^2 + {1\over 1-\Lambda r^2} \, dr^2 + r^2 \, d\Omega^2.
</math>
This exponentially expanding spacetime is called a de Sitter space, and to sustain it there must be a cosmological constant, a vacuum energy density that is constant in space and time and proportional to Λ in the above metric. For the case of exactly exponential expansion, the vacuum energy has a negative pressure p equal in magnitude to its energy density ρ; the equation of state is p=−ρ.
Inflation is typically not an exactly exponential expansion, but rather quasi- or near-exponential. In such a universe the horizon will slowly grow with time as the vacuum energy density gradually decreases.
Few inhomogeneities remain
Because the accelerating expansion of space stretches out any initial variations in density or temperature to very large length scales, an essential feature of inflation is that it smooths out inhomogeneities and anisotropies, and reduces the curvature of space. This pushes the Universe into a very simple state in which it is completely dominated by the inflaton field and the only significant inhomogeneities are tiny quantum fluctuations. Inflation also dilutes exotic heavy particles, such as the magnetic monopoles predicted by many extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. If the Universe was only hot enough to form such particles before a period of inflation, they would not be observed in nature, as they would be so rare that it is quite likely that there are none in the observable universe. Together, these effects are called the inflationary "no-hair theorem" by analogy with the no hair theorem for black holes.
The "no-hair" theorem works essentially because the cosmological horizon is no different from a black-hole horizon, except for not testable disagreements about what is on the other side. The interpretation of the no-hair theorem is that the Universe (observable and unobservable) expands by an enormous factor during inflation. In an expanding universe, energy densities generally fall, or get diluted, as the volume of the Universe increases. For example, the density of ordinary "cold" matter (dust) declines as the inverse of the volume: when linear dimensions double, the energy density declines by a factor of eight; the radiation energy density declines even more rapidly as the Universe expands since the wavelength of each photon is stretched (redshifted), in addition to the photons being dispersed by the expansion. When linear dimensions are doubled, the energy density in radiation falls by a factor of sixteen (see the solution of the energy density continuity equation for an ultra-relativistic fluid). During inflation, the energy density in the inflaton field is roughly constant. However, the energy density in everything else, including inhomogeneities, curvature, anisotropies, exotic particles, and standard-model particles is falling, and through sufficient inflation these all become negligible. This leaves the Universe flat and symmetric, and (apart from the homogeneous inflaton field) mostly empty, at the moment inflation ends and reheating begins.
}}
Reheating
Inflation is a period of supercooled expansion, when the temperature drops by a factor of 100,000 or so. (The exact drop is model-dependent, but in the first models it was typically from K down to K.) This relatively low temperature is maintained during the inflationary phase. When inflation ends, the temperature returns to the pre-inflationary temperature; this is called reheating or thermalization because the large potential energy of the inflaton field decays into particles and fills the Universe with Standard Model particles, including electromagnetic radiation, starting the radiation dominated phase of the Universe. Because the nature of the inflaton field is not known, this process is still poorly understood, although it is believed to take place through a parametric resonance.
Motivations
Inflation tries to resolve several problems in Big Bang cosmology that were discovered in the 1970s. Inflation was first proposed by Alan Guth in 1979 while investigating the problem of why no magnetic monopoles are seen today; he found that a positive-energy false vacuum would, according to general relativity, generate an exponential expansion of space. It was quickly realised that such an expansion would resolve many other long-standing problems. These problems arise from the observation that to look like it does today, the Universe would have to have started from very finely tuned, or "special" initial conditions at the Big Bang. Inflation attempts to resolve these problems by providing a dynamical mechanism that drives the Universe to this special state, thus making a universe like ours much more likely in the context of the Big Bang theory.Horizon problem
The horizon problem is the problem of determining why the universe appears statistically homogeneous and isotropic in accordance with the cosmological principle. For example, molecules in a canister of gas are distributed homogeneously and isotropically because they are in thermal equilibrium: gas throughout the canister has had enough time to interact to dissipate inhomogeneities and anisotropies. The situation is quite different in the big bang model without inflation, because gravitational expansion does not give the early universe enough time to equilibrate. In a big bang with only the matter and radiation known in the Standard Model, two widely separated regions of the observable universe cannot have equilibrated because they move apart from each other faster than the speed of light and thus have never come into causal contact. In the early Universe, it was not possible to send a light signal between the two regions. Because they have had no interaction, it is difficult to explain why they have the same temperature (are thermally equilibrated). Historically, proposed solutions included the Phoenix universe of Georges Lemaître, the related oscillatory universe of Richard Chase Tolman, and the Mixmaster universe of Charles Misner. Lemaître and Tolman proposed that a universe undergoing a number of cycles of contraction and expansion could come into thermal equilibrium. Their models failed, however, because of the buildup of entropy over several cycles. Misner made the (ultimately incorrect) conjecture that the Mixmaster mechanism, which made the Universe more chaotic, could lead to statistical homogeneity and isotropy.
Flatness problem
The flatness problem is sometimes called one of the Dicke coincidences (along with the cosmological constant problem). It became known in the 1960s that the density of matter in the Universe was comparable to the critical density necessary for a flat universe (that is, a universe whose large-scale geometry is the usual Euclidean geometry, rather than a non-Euclidean hyperbolic or spherical geometry).
Therefore, regardless of the shape of the universe, the contribution of spatial curvature to the expansion of the Universe could not be much greater than the contribution of matter. But as the Universe expands, the curvature redshifts away more slowly than matter and radiation. Extrapolated into the past, this presents a fine-tuning problem because the contribution of curvature to the Universe must be exponentially small (sixteen orders of magnitude less than the density of radiation at Big Bang nucleosynthesis, for example). Observations of the cosmic microwave background have demonstrated that the Universe is flat to within a few percent.
Magnetic-monopole problem
Stable magnetic monopoles are a problem for Grand Unified Theories, which propose that at high temperatures (such as in the early universe), the electromagnetic force, strong, and weak nuclear forces are not actually fundamental forces but arise due to spontaneous symmetry breaking from a single gauge theory. These theories predict a number of heavy, stable particles that have not been observed in nature. The most notorious is the magnetic monopole, a kind of stable, heavy "charge" of magnetic field.
Monopoles are predicted to be copiously produced following Grand Unified Theories at high temperature, and they should have persisted to the present day, to such an extent that they would become the primary constituent of the Universe. Not only is that not the case, but all searches for them have failed, placing stringent limits on the density of relic magnetic monopoles in the Universe.
A period of inflation that occurs below the temperature where magnetic monopoles can be produced would offer a possible resolution of this problem: Monopoles would be separated from each other as the Universe around them expands, potentially lowering their observed density by many orders of magnitude. Though, as cosmologist Martin Rees has written,
: "Skeptics about exotic physics might not be hugely impressed by a theoretical argument to explain the absence of particles that are themselves only hypothetical. Preventive medicine can readily seem 100 percent effective against a disease that doesn't exist!"
History
Precursors
In the early days of general relativity, Albert Einstein introduced the cosmological constant to allow a static solution, which was a three-dimensional sphere with a uniform density of matter. Later, Willem de Sitter found a highly symmetric inflating universe, which described a universe with a cosmological constant that is otherwise empty. It was discovered that Einstein's universe is unstable, and that small fluctuations cause it to collapse or turn into a de Sitter universe.
In 1965, Erast Gliner proposed a unique assumption regarding the early Universe's pressure in the context of the Einstein–Friedmann equations. According to his idea, the pressure was negatively proportional to the energy density. This relationship between pressure and energy density served as the initial theoretical prediction of dark energy.
In the early 1970s, Yakov Zeldovich noticed the flatness and horizon problems of Big Bang cosmology; before his work, cosmology was presumed to be symmetrical on purely philosophical grounds.
The Causal Universe of Brout Englert and Gunzig
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In 1978 and 1979, Robert Brout, François Englert and Edgard Gunzig suggested that the universe could originate from a fluctuation of Minkowski space which would be followed by a period in which the geometry would resemble De Sitter space.
This initial period would then evolve into the standard expanding universe. They noted that their proposal makes the universe causal, as there are neither particle nor event horizons in their model.
Starobinsky inflation
In the Soviet Union, Alexei Starobinsky noted that quantum corrections to general relativity should be important for the early universe. These generically lead to curvature-squared corrections to the Einstein–Hilbert action and a form of modified gravity. The solution to Einstein's equations in the presence of curvature squared terms, when the curvatures are large, leads to an effective cosmological constant. Therefore, he proposed that the early universe went through an inflationary de Sitter era. This resolved the cosmology problems and led to specific predictions for the corrections to the microwave background radiation, corrections that were then calculated in detail. Starobinsky used the action
:<math>
S=\frac{1}{2} \int d^4 x \left(R + \frac{R^2}{6M^2} \right)
</math>
which corresponds to the potential
:<math>\quad V(\phi)=\Lambda^4 \left(1 - e^{-\sqrt{2/3} \phi/M^2_p} \right)^2 </math>
in the Einstein frame. This results in the observables: <math> n_s1 - \frac{2}{N}, \qquad r\frac{12}{N^2}.</math>
Monopole problem
In 1978, Zeldovich noted the magnetic monopole problem, which was an unambiguous quantitative version of the horizon problem, this time in a subfield of particle physics, which led to several speculative attempts to resolve it. In 1980, Alan Guth realized that false vacuum decay in the early universe would solve the problem, leading him to propose a scalar-driven inflation. Starobinsky's and Guth's scenarios both predicted an initial de Sitter phase, differing only in mechanistic details.
Early inflationary models
(solid line) as a function of the linear expansion (scale factor) of the universe. During cosmological inflation, the Hubble radius is constant. The physical wavelength of a perturbation mode (dashed line) is also shown. The plot illustrates how the perturbation mode grows larger than the horizon during cosmological inflation before coming back inside the horizon, which grows rapidly during radiation domination. If cosmological inflation had never happened, and radiation domination continued back until a gravitational singularity, then the mode would never have been inside the horizon in the very early universe, and no causal mechanism could have ensured that the universe was homogeneous on the scale of the perturbation mode.]]
Guth proposed inflation in January 1981 to explain the nonexistence of magnetic monopoles; it was Guth who coined the term "inflation". At the same time, Starobinsky argued that quantum corrections to gravity would replace the supposed initial singularity of the Universe with an exponentially expanding de Sitter phase. In October 1980, Demosthenes Kazanas suggested that exponential expansion could eliminate the particle horizon and perhaps solve the horizon problem, while Katsuhiko Sato suggested that an exponential expansion could eliminate domain walls (another kind of exotic relic). In 1981, Einhorn and Sato published a model similar to Guth's and showed that it would resolve the puzzle of the magnetic monopole abundance in Grand Unified Theories. Like Guth, they concluded that such a model not only required fine tuning of the cosmological constant, but also would likely lead to a much too granular universe, i.e., to large density variations resulting from bubble wall collisions.
Guth proposed that as the early universe cooled, it was trapped in a false vacuum with a high energy density, which is much like a cosmological constant. As the very early universe cooled it was trapped in a metastable state (it was supercooled), which it could only decay out of through the process of bubble nucleation via quantum tunneling. Bubbles of true vacuum spontaneously form in the sea of false vacuum and rapidly begin expanding at the speed of light. Guth recognized that this model was problematic because the model did not reheat properly: when the bubbles nucleated, they did not generate radiation. Radiation could only be generated in collisions between bubble walls. But if inflation lasted long enough to solve the initial conditions problems, collisions between bubbles became exceedingly rare. In any one causal patch it is likely that only one bubble would nucleate.
called this phase of the early Universe "de Sitter's phase". The name "inflation" was given by . ... Guth himself did not refer to work of Kazanas until he published a book on the subject, under the title The Inflationary Universe: The quest for a new theory of cosmic origin (1997),
}}
Slow-roll inflation
The bubble collision problem was solved by Andrei Linde and independently by Andreas Albrecht and Paul Steinhardt in a model named new inflation or slow-roll inflation (Guth's model then became known as old inflation). In this model, instead of tunneling out of a false vacuum state, inflation occurred by a scalar field rolling down a potential energy hill. When the field rolls very slowly compared to the expansion of the Universe, inflation occurs. However, when the hill becomes steeper, inflation ends and reheating can occur.Effects of asymmetries
Eventually, it was shown that new inflation does not produce a perfectly symmetric universe, but that quantum fluctuations in the inflaton are created. These fluctuations form the primordial seeds for all structure created in the later universe. These fluctuations were first calculated by Viatcheslav Mukhanov and G. V. Chibisov in analyzing Starobinsky's similar model. In the context of inflation, they were worked out independently of the work of Mukhanov and Chibisov at the three-week 1982 Nuffield Workshop on the Very Early Universe at Cambridge University. The fluctuations were calculated by four groups working separately over the course of the workshop: Stephen Hawking; Starobinsky; Alan Guth and So-Young Pi; and James Bardeen, Paul Steinhardt and Michael Turner.
Observational status
Inflation is a mechanism for realizing the cosmological principle, which is the basis of the standard model of physical cosmology: it accounts for the homogeneity and isotropy of the observable universe. In addition, it accounts for the observed flatness and absence of magnetic monopoles. Since Guth's early work, each of these observations has received further confirmation, most impressively by the detailed observations of the cosmic microwave background made by the Planck spacecraft. This analysis shows that the Universe is flat to within percent, and that it is homogeneous and isotropic to one part in 100,000.
Inflation predicts that the structures visible in the Universe today formed through the gravitational collapse of perturbations that were formed as quantum mechanical fluctuations in the inflationary epoch. The detailed form of the spectrum of perturbations, called a nearly-scale-invariant Gaussian random field is very specific and has only two free parameters. One is the amplitude of the spectrum and the spectral index, which measures the slight deviation from scale invariance predicted by inflation (perfect scale invariance corresponds to the idealized de Sitter universe). to compensate for the fact that within any volume, the number of modes with a given wavenumber goes as .
}}
The other free parameter is the tensor to scalar ratio. The simplest inflation models, those without fine-tuning, predict a tensor to scalar ratio near 0.1 .
Inflation predicts that the observed perturbations should be in thermal equilibrium with each other (these are called adiabatic or isentropic perturbations). This structure for the perturbations has been confirmed by the Planck spacecraft, WMAP spacecraft and other cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments, and galaxy surveys, especially the ongoing Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These experiments have shown that the one part in 100,000 inhomogeneities observed have exactly the form predicted by theory. There is evidence for a slight deviation from scale invariance. The spectral index, is one for a scale-invariant Harrison–Zel'dovich spectrum. The simplest inflation models predict that is between 0.92 and 0.98 . This is the range that is possible without fine-tuning of the parameters related to energy. and a tensor to scalar ratio that is less than 0.11 . These are considered an important confirmation of the theory of inflation. However, the third-year data revealed that the effect was a statistical anomaly.
An experimental program is underway to further test inflation with more precise CMB measurements. In particular, high precision measurements of the so-called "B-modes" of the polarization of the background radiation could provide evidence of the gravitational radiation produced by inflation, and could also show whether the energy scale of inflation predicted by the simplest models (~ GeV) is correct. However, on 19 June 2014, lowered confidence in confirming the findings was reported; on 19 September 2014, a further reduction in confidence was reported and, on 30 January 2015, even less confidence yet was reported. By 2018, additional data suggested, with 95% confidence, that <math>r</math> is 0.06 or lower: Consistent with the null hypothesis, but still also consistent with many remaining models of inflation.
Other forthcoming measurements, such as those of 21 centimeter radiation (radiation emitted and absorbed from neutral hydrogen before the first stars formed), may measure the power spectrum with even greater resolution than the CMB and galaxy surveys, although it is not known if these measurements will be possible or if interference with radio sources on Earth and in the galaxy will be too great.
Theoretical status
In Guth's early proposal, it was thought that the inflaton was the Higgs field, the field that explains the mass of the elementary particles. One problem of this identification is the current tension with experimental data at the electroweak scale,. Other models of inflation relied on the properties of Grand Unified Theories.
}}
New inflation requires the Universe to have a scalar field with an especially flat potential and special initial conditions. However, explanations for these fine-tunings have been proposed. For example, classically scale invariant field theories, where scale invariance is broken by quantum effects, provide an explanation of the flatness of inflationary potentials, as long as the theory can be studied through perturbation theory.
Linde proposed a theory known as chaotic inflation in which he suggested that the conditions for inflation were actually satisfied quite generically. Inflation will occur in virtually any universe that begins in a chaotic, high energy state that has a scalar field with unbounded potential energy.
However, in his model, the inflaton field necessarily takes values larger than one Planck unit: For this reason, these are often called large field models and the competing new inflation models are called small field'' models. In this situation, the predictions of effective field theory are thought to be invalid, as renormalization should cause large corrections that could prevent inflation.{{efn|
Technically, this is because the inflaton potential is expressed as a Taylor series in <math>\ \tfrac{ \mathrm{\phi} }{ m_\mathsf{Plk} }\ ,</math> where <math>\ \mathrm{\phi}\ </math> is the inflaton and <math>\ m_\mathsf{Plk}\ </math> is the Planck mass. While for a single term, such as the mass term <math>\ m^4_\mathrm{\phi} \left( \tfrac{ \mathrm{\phi} }{ m_\mathsf{Plk} }\right)^2\ ,</math> the slow roll conditions can be satisfied for <math>\ \mathrm \phi\ </math> much greater than <math>\ m_\mathsf{Plk}\ ,</math> this is precisely the situation in effective field theory in which higher order terms would be expected to contribute and destroy the conditions for inflation. The absence of these higher order corrections can be seen as another sort of fine tuning.
}}
This problem has not yet been resolved and some cosmologists argue that the small field models, in which inflation can occur at a much lower energy scale, are better models.
While inflation depends on quantum field theory (and the semiclassical approximation to quantum gravity) in an important way, it has not been completely reconciled with these theories.
Brandenberger commented on fine-tuning in another situation.
The amplitude of the primordial inhomogeneities produced in inflation is directly tied to the energy scale of inflation. This scale is suggested to be around GeV or times the Planck energy. The natural scale is naïvely the Planck scale so this small value could be seen as another form of fine-tuning (called a hierarchy problem): The energy density given by the scalar potential is down by compared to the Planck density. This is not usually considered to be a critical problem, however, because the scale of inflation corresponds naturally to the scale of gauge unification.
Eternal inflation
In many models, the inflationary phase of the Universe's expansion lasts forever in at least some regions of the Universe. This occurs because inflating regions expand very rapidly, reproducing themselves. Unless the rate of decay to the non-inflating phase is sufficiently fast, new inflating regions are produced more rapidly than non-inflating regions. In such models, most of the volume of the Universe is continuously inflating at any given time.
All models of eternal inflation produce an infinite, hypothetical multiverse, typically a fractal. The multiverse theory has created significant dissension in the scientific community about the viability of the inflationary model.
Paul Steinhardt, one of the original architects of the inflationary model, introduced the first example of eternal inflation in 1983. He showed that the inflation could proceed forever by producing bubbles of non-inflating space filled with hot matter and radiation surrounded by empty space that continues to inflate. The bubbles could not grow fast enough to keep up with the inflation. Later that same year, Alexander Vilenkin showed that eternal inflation is generic.
Although new inflation is classically rolling down the potential, quantum fluctuations can sometimes lift it to previous levels. These regions in which the inflaton fluctuates upwards, expand much faster than regions in which the inflaton has a lower potential energy, and tend to dominate in terms of physical volume. It has been shown that any inflationary theory with an unbounded potential is eternal. There are well-known theorems that this steady state cannot continue forever into the past. Inflationary spacetime, which is similar to de Sitter space, is incomplete without a contracting region. However, unlike de Sitter space, fluctuations in a contracting inflationary space collapse to form a gravitational singularity, a point where densities become infinite. Therefore, it is necessary to have a theory for the Universe's initial conditions.
In eternal inflation, regions with inflation have an exponentially growing volume, while regions that are not inflating do not. This suggests that the volume of the inflating part of the Universe in the global picture is always unimaginably larger than the part that has stopped inflating, even though inflation eventually ends as seen by any single pre-inflationary observer. Scientists disagree about how to assign a probability distribution to this hypothetical anthropic landscape. If the probability of different regions is counted by volume, one should expect that inflation will never end or applying boundary conditions that a local observer exists to observe it, that inflation will end as late as possible.
Some physicists believe this paradox can be resolved by weighting observers by their pre-inflationary volume. Others believe that there is no resolution to the paradox and that the multiverse is a critical flaw in the inflationary paradigm. Paul Steinhardt, who first introduced the eternal inflationary model,
Initial conditions
Some physicists have tried to avoid the initial conditions problem by proposing models for an eternally inflating universe with no origin. These models propose that while the Universe, on the largest scales, expands exponentially it was, is and always will be, spatially infinite and has existed, and will exist, forever.
Other proposals attempt to describe the ex nihilo creation of the Universe based on quantum cosmology and the following inflation. Vilenkin put forth one such scenario.
Guth described the inflationary universe as the "ultimate free lunch": new universes, similar to our own, are continually produced in a vast inflating background. Gravitational interactions, in this case, circumvent (but do not violate) the first law of thermodynamics (energy conservation) and the second law of thermodynamics (entropy and the arrow of time problem). However, while there is consensus that this solves the initial conditions problem, some have disputed this, as it is much more likely that the Universe came about by a quantum fluctuation. Don Page was an outspoken critic of inflation because of this anomaly. He stressed that the thermodynamic arrow of time necessitates low entropy initial conditions, which would be highly unlikely. According to them, rather than solving this problem, the inflation theory aggravates it – the reheating at the end of the inflation era increases entropy, making it necessary for the initial state of the Universe to be even more orderly than in other Big Bang theories with no inflation phase.
Hawking and Page later found ambiguous results when they attempted to compute the probability of inflation in the Hartle–Hawking initial state. Other authors have argued that, since inflation is eternal, the probability doesn't matter as long as it is not precisely zero: once it starts, inflation perpetuates itself and quickly dominates the Universe.
Another problem that has occasionally been mentioned is the trans-Planckian problem or trans-Planckian effects. Since the energy scale of inflation and the Planck scale are relatively close, some of the quantum fluctuations that have made up the structure in our universe were smaller than the Planck length before inflation. Therefore, there ought to be corrections from Planck-scale physics, in particular the unknown quantum theory of gravity. Some disagreement remains about the magnitude of this effect: about whether it is just on the threshold of detectability or completely undetectable.
Hybrid inflation
Another kind of inflation, called hybrid inflation, is an extension of new inflation. It introduces additional scalar fields, so that while one of the scalar fields is responsible for normal slow roll inflation, another triggers the end of inflation: when inflation has continued for sufficiently long, it becomes favorable to the second field to decay into a much lower energy state.
In hybrid inflation, one scalar field is responsible for most of the energy density (thus determining the rate of expansion), while another is responsible for the slow roll (thus determining the period of inflation and its termination). Thus fluctuations in the former inflaton would not affect inflation termination, while fluctuations in the latter would not affect the rate of expansion. Therefore, hybrid inflation is not eternal. When the second (slow-rolling) inflaton reaches the bottom of its potential, it changes the location of the minimum of the first inflaton's potential, which leads to a fast roll of the inflaton down its potential, leading to termination of inflation.
Relation to dark energy
Dark energy is broadly similar to inflation and is thought to be causing the expansion of the present-day universe to accelerate. However, the energy scale of dark energy is much lower, GeV, roughly 27 orders of magnitude less than the scale of inflation.
Inflation and string cosmology
The discovery of flux compactifications opened the way for reconciling inflation and string theory. Brane inflation suggests that inflation arises from the motion of D-branes in the compactified geometry, usually towards a stack of anti-D-branes. This theory, governed by the Dirac–Born–Infeld action, is different from ordinary inflation. The dynamics are not completely understood. It appears that special conditions are necessary since inflation occurs in tunneling between two vacua in the string landscape. The process of tunneling between two vacua is a form of old inflation, but new inflation must then occur by some other mechanism.
Inflation and loop quantum gravity
When investigating the effects the theory of loop quantum gravity would have on cosmology, a loop quantum cosmology model has evolved that provides a possible mechanism for cosmological inflation. Loop quantum gravity assumes a quantized spacetime. If the energy density is larger than can be held by the quantized spacetime, it is thought to bounce back.
Alternatives and adjuncts
Other models have been advanced that are claimed to explain some or all of the observations addressed by inflation.
Big bounce
The big bounce hypothesis attempts to replace the cosmic singularity with a cosmic contraction and bounce, thereby explaining the initial conditions that led to the big bang. The flatness and horizon problems are naturally solved in the Einstein–Cartan–Sciama–Kibble theory of gravity, without needing an exotic form of matter or free parameters. This theory extends general relativity by removing a constraint of the symmetry of the affine connection and regarding its antisymmetric part, the torsion tensor, as a dynamical variable. The minimal coupling between torsion and Dirac spinors generates a spin-spin interaction that is significant in fermionic matter at extremely high densities. Such an interaction averts the unphysical Big Bang singularity, replacing it with a cusp-like bounce at a finite minimum scale factor, before which the Universe was contracting. The rapid expansion immediately after the Big Bounce explains why the present Universe at largest scales appears spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic. As the density of the Universe decreases, the effects of torsion weaken and the Universe smoothly enters the radiation-dominated era.
Ekpyrotic and cyclic models
The ekpyrotic and cyclic models are also considered adjuncts to inflation. These models solve the horizon problem through an expanding epoch well before the Big Bang, and then generate the required spectrum of primordial density perturbations during a contracting phase leading to a Big Crunch. The Universe passes through the Big Crunch and emerges in a hot Big Bang phase. In this sense they are reminiscent of Richard Chace Tolman's oscillatory universe; in Tolman's model, however, the total age of the Universe is necessarily finite, while in these models this is not necessarily so. Whether the correct spectrum of density fluctuations can be produced, and whether the Universe can successfully navigate the Big Bang/Big Crunch transition, remains a topic of controversy and current research. Ekpyrotic models avoid the magnetic monopole problem as long as the temperature at the Big Crunch/Big Bang transition remains below the Grand Unified Scale, as this is the temperature required to produce magnetic monopoles in the first place. As things stand, there is no evidence of any 'slowing down' of the expansion, but this is not surprising as each cycle is expected to last on the order of a trillion years. String gas cosmology
String theory requires that, in addition to the three observable spatial dimensions, additional dimensions exist that are curled up or compactified (see also Kaluza–Klein theory). Extra dimensions appear as a frequent component of supergravity models and other approaches to quantum gravity. This raised the contingent question of why four space-time dimensions became large and the rest became unobservably small. An attempt to address this question, called string gas cosmology, was proposed by Robert Brandenberger and Cumrun Vafa. This model focuses on the dynamics of the early universe considered as a hot gas of strings. Brandenberger and Vafa show that a dimension of spacetime can only expand if the strings that wind around it can efficiently annihilate each other, which became known as Brandenberger–Vafa mechanism. Each string is a one-dimensional object, and the largest number of dimensions in which two strings will generically intersect (and, presumably, annihilate) is three. Therefore, the most likely number of non-compact (large) spatial dimensions is three. Current work on this model centers on whether it can succeed in stabilizing the size of the compactified dimensions and produce the correct spectrum of primordial density perturbations. The original model did not "solve the entropy and flatness problems of standard cosmology", although Brandenburger and coauthors later argued that these problems can be eliminated by implementing string gas cosmology in the context of a bouncing-universe scenario.
Varying c
Cosmological models employing a variable speed of light have been proposed to resolve the horizon problem of and provide an alternative to cosmic inflation. In the VSL models, the fundamental constant c, denoting the speed of light in vacuum, is greater in the early universe than its present value, effectively increasing the particle horizon at the time of decoupling sufficiently to account for the observed isotropy of the CMB.
Criticisms
Since its introduction by Alan Guth in 1980, the inflationary paradigm has become widely accepted. Nevertheless, many physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers of science have voiced criticisms, claiming untestable predictions and a lack of serious empirical support.
As pointed out by Roger Penrose from 1986 on, in order to work, inflation requires extremely specific initial conditions of its own, so that the problem (or pseudo-problem) of initial conditions is not solved:
: "There is something fundamentally misconceived about trying to explain the uniformity of the early universe as resulting from a thermalization process. ... For, if the thermalization is actually doing anything ... then it represents a definite increasing of the entropy. Thus, the universe would have been even more special before the thermalization than after."
The problem of specific or "fine-tuned" initial conditions would not have been solved; it would have gotten worse. At a conference in 2015, Penrose said that
: "inflation isn't falsifiable, it's falsified. ... BICEP did a wonderful service by bringing all the inflation-ists out of their shell, and giving them a black eye."
A recurrent criticism of inflation is that the invoked inflaton field does not correspond to any known physical field, and that its potential energy curve seems to be an ad hoc contrivance to accommodate almost any data obtainable. Paul Steinhardt, one of the founding fathers of inflationary cosmology, calls 'bad inflation' a period of accelerated expansion whose outcome conflicts with observations, and 'good inflation' one compatible with them:
: "Not only is bad inflation more likely than good inflation, but no inflation is more likely than either ... Roger Penrose considered all the possible configurations of the inflaton and gravitational fields. Some of these configurations lead to inflation ... Other configurations lead to a uniform, flat universe directly – without inflation. Obtaining a flat universe is unlikely overall. Penrose's shocking conclusion, though, was that obtaining a flat universe without inflation is much more likely than with inflation – by a factor of 10 to the googol, hence Steinhardt
Together with Anna Ijjas and Abraham Loeb, he wrote articles claiming that the inflationary paradigm is in trouble in view of the data from the Planck satellite.
Counter-arguments were presented by Alan Guth, David Kaiser, and Yasunori Nomura and by Linde, saying that
: "cosmic inflation is on a stronger footing than ever before".<ref nameGKN/>See also <!-- end "content" -->NotesReferencesSources
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External links
* [http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Guth/Guth_contents.html Was Cosmic Inflation The 'Bang' Of The Big Bang?], by Alan Guth, 1997
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041120175509/http://www2.iap.fr/Conferences/Colloque/col2004/Docs/20040628_liddle.pdf update 2004] by Andrew Liddle
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061002183844/http://www.symmetrymag.org/cms/?pid=1000045 The Growth of Inflation] Symmetry, December 2004
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061002193415/http://www.symmetrymag.org/cms/?pid=1000037 Guth's logbook showing the original idea]
* [https://archive.today/20121216135256/http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1697_1.asp WMAP Bolsters Case for Cosmic Inflation, March 2006]
* [http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/mar/HQ_06097_first_trillionth_WMAP.html NASA March 2006 WMAP press release]
* Max Tegmark. Our Mathematical Universe (2014), [http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/pdf/inflation_excerpt.pdf "Chapter 5: Inflation"]
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Candela
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cp 
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The candela (symbol: cd) is the unit of luminous intensity in the International System of Units (SI). It measures luminous power per unit solid angle emitted by a light source in a particular direction. Luminous intensity is analogous to radiant intensity, but instead of simply adding up the contributions of every wavelength of light in the source's spectrum, the contribution of each wavelength is weighted by the luminous efficiency function, the model of the sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths, standardized by the CIE and ISO. A common wax candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela. If emission in some directions is blocked by an opaque barrier, the emission would still be approximately one candela in the directions that are not obscured.
The word candela is Latin for candle. The old name "candle" is still sometimes used, as in foot-candle and the modern definition of candlepower. Definition The 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) redefined the candela in 2018. The new definition, which took effect on 20 May 2019, is:
<blockquote>The candela [...] is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency ,. |grouplower-alpha}} K<sub>cd</sub>, to be 683 when expressed in the unit lm W<sup>−1</sup>, which is equal to , or , where the kilogram, metre and second are defined in terms of h, c and Δν<sub>Cs</sub>.</blockquote>
Explanation
The frequency chosen is in the visible spectrum near green, corresponding to a wavelength of about 555 nanometres. The human eye, when adapted for bright conditions, is most sensitive near this frequency. Under these conditions, photopic vision dominates the visual perception of our eyes over the scotopic vision. At other frequencies, more radiant intensity is required to achieve the same luminous intensity, according to the frequency response of the human eye. The luminous intensity for light of a particular wavelength λ is given by
<math display"block">I_\mathrm{v}(\lambda) 683.002\ \mathrm{lm/W} \cdot \overline{y}(\lambda) \cdot I_\mathrm{e}(\lambda) ,</math>
where is the luminous intensity, is the radiant intensity and <math display"inline">\textstyle \overline{y}(\lambda)</math> is the photopic luminous efficiency function. If more than one wavelength is present (as is usually the case), one must integrate over the spectrum of wavelengths to get the total luminous intensity. Examples
* A common candle emits light with roughly 1 cd luminous intensity.
* A 25 W compact fluorescent light bulb puts out around 1700 lumens; if that light is radiated equally in all directions (i.e. over 4 steradians), it will have an intensity of <math>I_\text{V} \frac{1700\ \text{lm}}{4 \pi\ \text{sr}} \approx 135\ \text{lm}/\text{sr} 135\ \text{cd}.</math>
* Focused into a 20° beam (0.095 steradians), the same light bulb would have an intensity of around 18,000 cd or 18 kcd within the beam.
History
Prior to 1948, various standards for luminous intensity were in use in a number of countries. These were typically based on the brightness of the flame from a "standard candle" of defined composition, or the brightness of an incandescent filament of specific design. One of the best-known of these was the English standard of candlepower. One candlepower was the light produced by a pure spermaceti candle weighing one sixth of a pound and burning at a rate of 120 grains per hour. Germany, Austria and Scandinavia used the Hefnerkerze, a unit based on the output of a Hefner lamp.
A better standard for luminous intensity was needed. In 1884, Jules Violle had proposed a standard based on the light emitted by 1 cm<sup>2</sup> of platinum at its melting point (or freezing point). The resulting unit of intensity, called the "violle", was roughly equal to 60 English candlepower. Platinum was convenient for this purpose because it had a high enough melting point, was not prone to oxidation, and could be obtained in pure form. Violle showed that the intensity emitted by pure platinum was strictly dependent on its temperature, and so platinum at its melting point should have a consistent luminous intensity.
In practice, realizing a standard based on Violle's proposal turned out to be more difficult than expected.</blockquote>
It was then ratified in 1948 by the 9th CGPM which adopted a new name for this unit, the candela. In 1967 the 13th CGPM removed the term "new candle" and gave an amended version of the candela definition, specifying the atmospheric pressure applied to the freezing platinum:
<blockquote>The candela is the luminous intensity, in the perpendicular direction, of a surface of square metre of a black body at the temperature of freezing platinum under a pressure of newtons per square metre.</blockquote>
In 1979, because of the difficulties in realizing a Planck radiator at high temperatures and the new possibilities offered by radiometry, the 16th CGPM adopted a new definition of the candela:
<blockquote>
The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of watt per steradian.
</blockquote>
The definition describes how to produce a light source that (by definition) emits one candela, but does not specify the luminous efficiency function for weighting radiation at other frequencies. Such a source could then be used to calibrate instruments designed to measure luminous intensity with reference to a specified luminous efficiency function. An appendix to the SI Brochure makes it clear that the luminous efficiency function is not uniquely specified, but must be selected to fully define the candela.
The arbitrary (1/683) term was chosen so that the new definition would precisely match the old definition. Although the candela is now defined in terms of the second (an SI base unit) and the watt (a derived SI unit), the candela remains a base unit of the SI system, by definition.
The 26th CGPM approved the modern definition of the candela in 2018 as part of the 2019 revision of the SI, which redefined the SI base units in terms of fundamental physical constants.
SI photometric light units
Relationships between luminous intensity, luminous flux, and illuminance
If a source emits a known luminous intensity (in candelas) in a well-defined cone, the total luminous flux in lumens is given by
<math display"block">\Phi_\mathrm{v} I_\mathrm{v} 2 \pi [1 - \cos(A/2)]</math>
where is the radiation angle of the lamp—the full vertex angle of the emission cone. For example, a lamp that emits 590 cd with a radiation angle of 40° emits about 224 lumens. See MR16 for emission angles of some common lamps.
If the source emits light uniformly in all directions, the flux can be found by multiplying the intensity by 4: a uniform 1 candela source emits 4 lumens (approximately 12.566 lumens).
For the purpose of measuring illumination, the candela is not a practical unit, as it only applies to idealized point light sources, each approximated by a source small compared to the distance from which its luminous radiation is measured, also assuming that it is done so in the absence of other light sources. What gets directly measured by a light meter is incident light on a sensor of finite area, i.e. illuminance in lm/m<sup>2</sup> (lux). However, if designing illumination from many point light sources, like light bulbs, of known approximate omnidirectionally uniform intensities, the contributions to illuminance from incoherent light being additive, it is mathematically estimated as follows. If is the position of the ith source of uniform intensity , and is the unit vector normal to the illuminated elemental opaque area being measured, and provided that all light sources lie in the same half-space divided by the plane of this area,
<math display"block"> \text{illuminance at point } \mathbf{r}\text{ on } dA\text{, } E_\mathrm v(\mathbf{r}) \sum _{i}{ \frac{|\mathbf{\hat{a}}\cdot(\mathbf{r}-\mathbf{r}_i)|}{|\mathbf{r}-\mathbf{r}_i|^3} I_i }.</math>
In the case of a single point light source of intensity I<sub>v</sub>, at a distance r'' and normally incident, this reduces to
<math display"block"> E_\mathrm{v} (r) \frac{I_\mathrm v}{r^2}.</math>
SI multiples
Like other SI units, the candela can also be modified by adding a metric prefix that multiplies it by a power of 10, for example millicandela (mcd) for 10<sup>−3</sup> candela.
Notes
References
Category:SI base units
Category:Units of luminous intensity
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Condensed matter physics
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Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and electrons. More generally, the subject deals with condensed phases of matter: systems of many constituents with strong interactions among them. More exotic condensed phases include the superconducting phase exhibited by certain materials at extremely low cryogenic temperatures, the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of spins on crystal lattices of atoms, the Bose–Einstein condensates found in ultracold atomic systems, and liquid crystals. Condensed matter physicists seek to understand the behavior of these phases by experiments to measure various material properties, and by applying the physical laws of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, and other physics theories to develop mathematical models and predict the properties of extremely large groups of atoms.
The diversity of systems and phenomena available for study makes condensed matter physics the most active field of contemporary physics: one third of all American physicists self-identify as condensed matter physicists, and the Division of Condensed Matter Physics is the largest division of the American Physical Society. These include solid state and soft matter physicists, who study quantum and non-quantum physical properties of matter respectively. Both types study a great range of materials, providing many research, funding and employment opportunities. The field overlaps with chemistry, materials science, engineering and nanotechnology, and relates closely to atomic physics and biophysics. The theoretical physics of condensed matter shares important concepts and methods with that of particle physics and nuclear physics.
A variety of topics in physics such as crystallography, metallurgy, elasticity, magnetism, etc., were treated as distinct areas until the 1940s, when they were grouped together as solid-state physics. Around the 1960s, the study of physical properties of liquids was added to this list, forming the basis for the more comprehensive specialty of condensed matter physics. According to the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, physics professor Manuel Cardona, it was Albert Einstein who created the modern field of condensed matter physics starting with his seminal 1905 article on the photoelectric effect and photoluminescence which opened the fields of photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy, and later his 1907 article on the specific heat of solids which introduced, for the first time, the effect of lattice vibrations on the thermodynamic properties of crystals, in particular the specific heat. Deputy Director of the Yale Quantum Institute A. Douglas Stone makes a similar priority case for Einstein in his work on the synthetic history of quantum mechanics.EtymologyAccording to physicist Philip Warren Anderson, the use of the term "condensed matter" to designate a field of study was coined by him and Volker Heine, when they changed the name of their group at the Cavendish Laboratories, Cambridge, from Solid state theory to Theory of Condensed Matter in 1967, as they felt it better included their interest in liquids, nuclear matter, and so on. Although Anderson and Heine helped popularize the name "condensed matter", it had been used in Europe for some years, most prominently in the Springer-Verlag journal Physics of Condensed Matter, launched in 1963. The name "condensed matter physics" emphasized the commonality of scientific problems encountered by physicists working on solids, liquids, plasmas, and other complex matter, whereas "solid state physics" was often associated with restricted industrial applications of metals and semiconductors. In the 1960s and 70s, some physicists felt the more comprehensive name better fit the funding environment and Cold War politics of the time.
References to "condensed" states can be traced to earlier sources. For example, in the introduction to his 1947 book Kinetic Theory of Liquids, Yakov Frenkel proposed that "The kinetic theory of liquids must accordingly be developed as a generalization and extension of the kinetic theory of solid bodies. As a matter of fact, it would be more correct to unify them under the title of 'condensed bodies.
History
Classical physics
and Johannes van der Waals with the helium liquefactor at Leiden in 1908]]
One of the first studies of condensed states of matter was by English chemist Humphry Davy, in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Davy observed that of the forty chemical elements known at the time, twenty-six had metallic properties such as lustre, ductility and high electrical and thermal conductivity. This indicated that the atoms in John Dalton's atomic theory were not indivisible as Dalton claimed, but had inner structure. Davy further claimed that elements that were then believed to be gases, such as nitrogen and hydrogen could be liquefied under the right conditions and would then behave as metals.
In 1823, Michael Faraday, then an assistant in Davy's lab, successfully liquefied chlorine and went on to liquefy all known gaseous elements, except for nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. and Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals supplied the theoretical framework which allowed the prediction of critical behavior based on measurements at much higher temperatures. By 1908, James Dewar and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes were successfully able to liquefy hydrogen and the then newly discovered helium respectively. However, despite the success of Drude's model, it had one notable problem: it was unable to correctly explain the electronic contribution to the specific heat and magnetic properties of metals, and the temperature dependence of resistivity at low temperatures.
In 1911, three years after helium was first liquefied, Onnes working at University of Leiden discovered superconductivity in mercury, when he observed the electrical resistivity of mercury to vanish at temperatures below a certain value. The phenomenon completely surprised the best theoretical physicists of the time, and it remained unexplained for several decades. Albert Einstein, in 1922, said regarding contemporary theories of superconductivity that "with our far-reaching ignorance of the quantum mechanics of composite systems we are very far from being able to compose a theory out of these vague ideas."
Advent of quantum mechanics
Drude's classical model was augmented by Wolfgang Pauli, Arnold Sommerfeld, Felix Bloch and other physicists. Pauli realized that the free electrons in metal must obey the Fermi–Dirac statistics. Using this idea, he developed the theory of paramagnetism in 1926. Shortly after, Sommerfeld incorporated the Fermi–Dirac statistics into the free electron model and made it better to explain the heat capacity. Two years later, Bloch used quantum mechanics to describe the motion of an electron in a periodic lattice. Band structure calculations were first used in 1930 to predict the properties of new materials, and in 1947 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley developed the first semiconductor-based transistor, heralding a revolution in electronics. This phenomenon, arising due to the nature of charge carriers in the conductor, came to be termed the Hall effect, but it was not properly explained at the time because the electron was not experimentally discovered until 18 years later. After the advent of quantum mechanics, Lev Landau in 1930 developed the theory of Landau quantization and laid the foundation for a theoretical explanation of the quantum Hall effect which was discovered half a century later.
Magnetism as a property of matter has been known in China since 4000 BC. However, the first modern studies of magnetism only started with the development of electrodynamics by Faraday, Maxwell and others in the nineteenth century, which included classifying materials as ferromagnetic, paramagnetic and diamagnetic based on their response to magnetization. Pierre Curie studied the dependence of magnetization on temperature and discovered the Curie point phase transition in ferromagnetic materials. The first attempt at a microscopic description of magnetism was by Wilhelm Lenz and Ernst Ising through the Ising model that described magnetic materials as consisting of a periodic lattice of spins that collectively acquired magnetization.]]
The Sommerfeld model and spin models for ferromagnetism illustrated the successful application of quantum mechanics to condensed matter problems in the 1930s. However, there still were several unsolved problems, most notably the description of superconductivity and the Kondo effect. After World War II, several ideas from quantum field theory were applied to condensed matter problems. These included recognition of collective excitation modes of solids and the important notion of a quasiparticle. Soviet physicist Lev Landau used the idea for the Fermi liquid theory wherein low energy properties of interacting fermion systems were given in terms of what are now termed Landau-quasiparticles. Eventually in 1956, John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and Robert Schrieffer developed the so-called BCS theory of superconductivity, based on the discovery that arbitrarily small attraction between two electrons of opposite spin mediated by phonons in the lattice can give rise to a bound state called a Cooper pair. Leo Kadanoff, Benjamin Widom and Michael Fisher developed the ideas of critical exponents and widom scaling. These ideas were unified by Kenneth G. Wilson in 1972, under the formalism of the renormalization group in the context of quantum field theory. In 1981, theorist Robert Laughlin proposed a theory explaining the unanticipated precision of the integral plateau. It also implied that the Hall conductance is proportional to a topological invariant, called Chern number, whose relevance for the band structure of solids was formulated by David J. Thouless and collaborators. Shortly after, in 1982, Horst Störmer and Daniel Tsui observed the fractional quantum Hall effect where the conductance was now a rational multiple of the constant <math>e^2/h</math>. Laughlin, in 1983, realized that this was a consequence of quasiparticle interaction in the Hall states and formulated a variational method solution, named the Laughlin wavefunction. The study of topological properties of the fractional Hall effect remains an active field of research. Decades later, the aforementioned topological band theory advanced by David J. Thouless and collaborators was further expanded leading to the discovery of topological insulators.
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A major revolution came in the field of crystallography with the discovery of quasicrystals by Daniel Shechtman. In 1982 Shechtman observed that certain metallic alloys produce unusual diffractograms that indicated that their crystalline structures are ordered, but lack translational symmetry. The discovery led the International Union of Crystallography to change its definition of a crystal to account for aperiodic structures. The second half of the twentieth century was also important for the development of soft condensed matter, in particular the thermodynamic equilibrium of several soft-matter systems such as polymers and liquid crystals due to Flory, de Gennes and others. -->
In 1986, Karl Müller and Johannes Bednorz discovered the first high temperature superconductor, La<sub>2-x</sub>Ba<sub>x</sub>CuO<sub>4</sub>, which is superconducting at temperatures as high as 39 kelvin. It was realized that the high temperature superconductors are examples of strongly correlated materials where the electron–electron interactions play an important role. A satisfactory theoretical description of high-temperature superconductors is still not known and the field of strongly correlated materials continues to be an active research topic.
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The 1986 discovery of high temperature superconductivity generated interest in the study of strongly correlated materials. Modern research in condensed matter physics is focused on problems in strongly correlated materials, quantum phase transitions and applications of quantum field theory to condensed matter systems. Problems of current interest include description of high temperature superconductivity, topological order, and other novel materials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes. in accord with the earlier theoretical predictions. Since samarium hexaboride is an established Kondo insulator, i.e. a strongly correlated electron material, it is expected that the existence of a topological Dirac surface state in this material would lead to a topological insulator with strong electronic correlations.TheoreticalTheoretical condensed matter physics involves the use of theoretical models to understand properties of states of matter. These include models to study the electronic properties of solids, such as the Drude model, the band structure and the density functional theory. Theoretical models have also been developed to study the physics of phase transitions, such as the Ginzburg–Landau theory, critical exponents and the use of mathematical methods of quantum field theory and the renormalization group. Modern theoretical studies involve the use of numerical computation of electronic structure and mathematical tools to understand phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity, topological phases, and gauge symmetries.Emergence
Theoretical understanding of condensed matter physics is closely related to the notion of emergence, wherein complex assemblies of particles behave in ways dramatically different from their individual constituents. Similarly, models of condensed matter systems have been studied where collective excitations behave like photons and electrons, thereby describing electromagnetism as an emergent phenomenon. Emergent properties can also occur at the interface between materials: one example is the lanthanum aluminate-strontium titanate interface, where two band-insulators are joined to create conductivity and superconductivity.
Electronic theory of solids
The metallic state has historically been an important building block for studying properties of solids. In 1928, Swiss physicist Felix Bloch provided a wave function solution to the Schrödinger equation with a periodic potential, known as Bloch's theorem.
Calculating electronic properties of metals by solving the many-body wavefunction is often computationally hard, and hence, approximation methods are needed to obtain meaningful predictions. The Thomas–Fermi theory, developed in the 1920s, was used to estimate system energy and electronic density by treating the local electron density as a variational parameter. Later in the 1930s, Douglas Hartree, Vladimir Fock and John Slater developed the so-called Hartree–Fock wavefunction as an improvement over the Thomas–Fermi model. The Hartree–Fock method accounted for exchange statistics of single particle electron wavefunctions. In general, it is very difficult to solve the Hartree–Fock equation. Only the free electron gas case can be solved exactly. Finally in 1964–65, Walter Kohn, Pierre Hohenberg and Lu Jeu Sham proposed the density functional theory (DFT) which gave realistic descriptions for bulk and surface properties of metals. The density functional theory has been widely used since the 1970s for band structure calculations of variety of solids.
Goldstone's theorem in quantum field theory states that in a system with broken continuous symmetry, there may exist excitations with arbitrarily low energy, called the Goldstone bosons. For example, in crystalline solids, these correspond to phonons, which are quantized versions of lattice vibrations.Phase transition
Phase transition refers to the change of phase of a system, which is brought about by change in an external parameter such as temperature, pressure, or molar composition. In a single-component system, a classical phase transition occurs at a temperature (at a specific pressure) where there is an abrupt change in the order of the system. For example, when ice melts and becomes water, the ordered hexagonal crystal structure of ice is modified to a hydrogen bonded, mobile arrangement of water molecules.
In quantum phase transitions, the temperature is set to absolute zero, and the non-thermal control parameter, such as pressure or magnetic field, causes the phase transitions when order is destroyed by quantum fluctuations originating from the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Here, the different quantum phases of the system refer to distinct ground states of the Hamiltonian matrix. Understanding the behavior of quantum phase transition is important in the difficult tasks of explaining the properties of rare-earth magnetic insulators, high-temperature superconductors, and other substances. These critical phenomena present serious challenges to physicists because normal macroscopic laws are no longer valid in the region, and novel ideas and methods must be invented to find the new laws that can describe the system.
The simplest theory that can describe continuous phase transitions is the Ginzburg–Landau theory, which works in the so-called mean-field approximation. However, it can only roughly explain continuous phase transition for ferroelectrics and type I superconductors which involves long range microscopic interactions. For other types of systems that involves short range interactions near the critical point, a better theory is needed.
Near the critical point, the fluctuations happen over broad range of size scales while the feature of the whole system is scale invariant. Renormalization group methods successively average out the shortest wavelength fluctuations in stages while retaining their effects into the next stage. Thus, the changes of a physical system as viewed at different size scales can be investigated systematically. The methods, together with powerful computer simulation, contribute greatly to the explanation of the critical phenomena associated with continuous phase transition. Commonly used experimental methods include spectroscopy, with probes such as X-rays, infrared light and inelastic neutron scattering; study of thermal response, such as specific heat and measuring transport via thermal and heat conduction.
crystal]]
Scattering
Several condensed matter experiments involve scattering of an experimental probe, such as X-ray, optical photons, neutrons, etc., on constituents of a material. The choice of scattering probe depends on the observation energy scale of interest. Visible light has energy on the scale of 1 electron volt (eV) and is used as a scattering probe to measure variations in material properties such as the dielectric constant and refractive index. X-rays have energies of the order of 10 keV and hence are able to probe atomic length scales, and are used to measure variations in electron charge density and crystal structure.
Neutrons can also probe atomic length scales and are used to study the scattering off nuclei and electron spins and magnetization (as neutrons have spin but no charge). Coulomb and Mott scattering measurements can be made by using electron beams as scattering probes. Similarly, positron annihilation can be used as an indirect measurement of local electron density. Laser spectroscopy is an excellent tool for studying the microscopic properties of a medium, for example, to study forbidden transitions in media with nonlinear optical spectroscopy. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a method by which external magnetic fields are used to find resonance modes of individual nuclei, thus giving information about the atomic, molecular, and bond structure of their environment. NMR experiments can be made in magnetic fields with strengths up to 60 tesla. Higher magnetic fields can improve the quality of NMR measurement data. Quantum oscillations is another experimental method where high magnetic fields are used to study material properties such as the geometry of the Fermi surface. High magnetic fields will be useful in experimental testing of the various theoretical predictions such as the quantized magnetoelectric effect, image magnetic monopole, and the half-integer quantum Hall effect.Magnetic resonance spectroscopyThe local structure, as well as the structure of the nearest neighbour atoms, can be investigated in condensed matter with magnetic resonance methods, such as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which are very sensitive to the details of the surrounding of nuclei and electrons by means of the hyperfine coupling. Both localized electrons and specific stable or unstable isotopes of the nuclei become the probe of these hyperfine interactions), which couple the electron or nuclear spin to the local electric and magnetic fields. These methods are suitable to study defects, diffusion, phase transitions and magnetic order. Common experimental methods include NMR, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), implanted radioactive probes as in the case of muon spin spectroscopy (<math> \mu</math>SR), Mössbauer spectroscopy, <math>\beta</math>NMR and perturbed angular correlation (PAC). PAC is especially ideal for the study of phase changes at extreme temperatures above 2000 °C due to the temperature independence of the method.Cold atomic gases
observed in a gas of ultracold rubidium atoms. The blue and white areas represent higher density.]]
Ultracold atom trapping in optical lattices is an experimental tool commonly used in condensed matter physics, and in atomic, molecular, and optical physics. The method involves using optical lasers to form an interference pattern, which acts as a lattice, in which ions or atoms can be placed at very low temperatures. Cold atoms in optical lattices are used as quantum simulators, that is, they act as controllable systems that can model behavior of more complicated systems, such as frustrated magnets. In particular, they are used to engineer one-, two- and three-dimensional lattices for a Hubbard model with pre-specified parameters, and to study phase transitions for antiferromagnetic and spin liquid ordering.
Applications
molecules. It is hoped that advances in nanoscience will lead to machines working on the molecular scale.]]
Research in condensed matter physics has given rise to several device applications, such as the development of the semiconductor transistor, and several phenomena studied in the context of nanotechnology. Methods such as scanning-tunneling microscopy can be used to control processes at the nanometer scale, and have given rise to the study of nanofabrication. Such molecular machines were developed for example by Nobel laureates in chemistry Ben Feringa, Jean-Pierre Sauvage and Fraser Stoddart. Feringa and his team developed multiple molecular machines such as the molecular car, molecular windmill and many more.
In quantum computation, information is represented by quantum bits, or qubits. The qubits may decohere quickly before useful computation is completed. This serious problem must be solved before quantum computing may be realized. To solve this problem, several promising approaches are proposed in condensed matter physics, including Josephson junction qubits, spintronic qubits using the spin orientation of magnetic materials, and the topological non-Abelian anyons from fractional quantum Hall effect states.<ref name=yeh-perspective />
Condensed matter physics also has important uses for biomedicine. For example, magnetic resonance imaging is widely used in medical imaging of soft tissue and other physiological features which cannot be viewed with traditional x-ray imaging.<ref nameyeh-perspective /> See also
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Notes
References
Further reading
* Anderson, Philip W. (2018-03-09). Basic Notions Of Condensed Matter Physics. CRC Press. .
*Girvin, Steven M.; Yang, Kun (2019-02-28). Modern Condensed Matter Physics. Cambridge University Press. .
*Coleman, Piers (2015). Introduction to Many-Body Physics, Cambridge University Press, .
*P. M. Chaikin and T. C. Lubensky (2000). Principles of Condensed Matter Physics, Cambridge University Press; 1st edition,
* Alexander Altland and Ben Simons (2006). Condensed Matter Field Theory, Cambridge University Press, .
* Michael P. Marder (2010). Condensed Matter Physics, second edition, John Wiley and Sons, .
*Lillian Hoddeson, Ernest Braun, Jürgen Teichmann and Spencer Weart, eds. (1992). Out of the Crystal Maze: Chapters from the History of Solid State Physics, Oxford University Press, .
External links
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Cultural anthropology
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Cultural Anthropology (journal)}}
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term sociocultural anthropology includes both cultural and social anthropology traditions.
Anthropologists have pointed out that through culture, people can adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways, so people living in different environments will often have different cultures. Much of anthropological theory has originated in an appreciation of and interest in the tension between the local (particular cultures) and the global (a universal human nature, or the web of connections between people in distinct places/circumstances).
Cultural anthropology has a rich methodology, including participant observation (often called fieldwork because it requires the anthropologist spending an extended period of time at the research location), interviews, and surveys.
History
, founder of cultural anthropology]]
Modern anthropology emerged in the 19th century coinciding with significant developments in the Western world. These changes sparked a renewed interest in understanding humankind, particularly, its origins, unity, and plurality. However, it was in the 20th century that cultural anthropology began to adopt a more pluralistic perspective on cultures and societies.
Cultural anthropology emerged in the late 19th century, shaped by debates over what constituted "primitive" versus "civilized" societies, an issue that preoccupied not only Freud, but many of his contemporaries. Colonialism expansion increasingly brought European thinkers into direct or indirect contact with "primitive others". The first generation of cultural anthropologists were interested in the relative status of various humans, some of whom had modern advanced technologies, while others lacked anything but face-to-face communication techniques and still lived a Paleolithic lifestyle.
Theoretical foundations
The concept of culture
One of the earliest articulations of the anthropological meaning of the term "culture" came from Sir Edward Tylor: "Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." The term "civilization" later gave way to definitions given by V. Gordon Childe, with culture forming an umbrella term and civilization becoming a particular kind of culture.
Kay Milton, former Director of Anthropology Research at Queen's University Belfast, distinguishes between general and specific cultures. This means culture can be something applied to all human beings or it can be specific to a certain group of people such as African American culture or Irish American culture. Specific cultures are structured systems which means they are organized very specifically and adding or taking away any element from that system may disrupt it.The critique of evolutionism
Anthropology is concerned with the lives of people in different parts of the world, particularly in relation to the discourse of beliefs and practices. In addressing this question, ethnologists in the 19th century divided into two schools of thought. Some, like Grafton Elliot Smith, argued that different groups must have learned from one another somehow, however indirectly; in other words, they argued that cultural traits spread from one place to another, or "diffused".
model at left, all cultures progress through set stages, while in the multilineal evolution model at right, distinctive culture histories are emphasized.]]
Other ethnologists argued that different groups had the capability of creating similar beliefs and practices independently. Some of those who advocated "independent invention", like Lewis Henry Morgan, additionally supposed that similarities meant that different groups had passed through the same stages of cultural evolution (See also classical social evolutionism). Morgan, in particular, acknowledged that certain forms of society and culture could not possibly have arisen before others. For example, industrial farming could not have been invented before simple farming, and metallurgy could not have developed without previous non-smelting processes involving metals (such as simple ground collection or mining). Morgan, like other 19th century social evolutionists, believed there was a more or less orderly progression from the primitive to the civilized.
20th-century anthropologists largely reject the notion that all human societies must pass through the same stages in the same order, on the grounds that such a notion does not fit the empirical facts. Some 20th-century ethnologists, like Julian Steward, have instead argued that such similarities reflected similar adaptations to similar environments. Although 19th-century ethnologists saw "diffusion" and "independent invention" as mutually exclusive and competing theories, most ethnographers quickly reached a consensus that both processes occur, and that both can plausibly account for cross-cultural similarities. But these ethnographers also pointed out the superficiality of many such similarities. They noted that even traits that spread through diffusion often were given different meanings and function from one society to another. Analyses of large human concentrations in big cities, in multidisciplinary studies by Ronald Daus, show how new methods may be applied to the understanding of man living in a global world and how it was caused by the action of extra-European nations, so highlighting the role of Ethics in modern anthropology.
Accordingly, most of these anthropologists showed less interest in comparing cultures, generalizing about human nature, or discovering universal laws of cultural development, than in understanding particular cultures in those cultures' own terms. Such ethnographers and their students promoted the idea of "cultural relativism", the view that one can only understand another person's beliefs and behaviors in the context of the culture in which they live or lived.
Others, such as Claude Lévi-Strauss (who was influenced both by American cultural anthropology and by French Durkheimian sociology), have argued that apparently similar patterns of development reflect fundamental similarities in the structure of human thought (see structuralism). By the mid-20th century, the number of examples of people skipping stages, such as going from hunter-gatherers to post-industrial service occupations in one generation, were so numerous that 19th-century evolutionism was effectively disproved.
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is a principle that was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas and later popularized by his students. Boas first articulated the idea in 1887: "...civilization is not something absolute, but ... is relative, and ... our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes." Although Boas did not coin the term, it became common among anthropologists after Boas' death in 1942, to express their synthesis of a number of ideas Boas had developed. Boas believed that the sweep of cultures, to be found in connection with any sub-species, is so vast and pervasive that there cannot be a relationship between culture and race. Cultural relativism involves specific epistemological and methodological claims. Whether or not these claims require a specific ethical stance is a matter of debate. This principle should not be confused with moral relativism.
Cultural relativism was in part a response to Western ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism may take obvious forms, in which one consciously believes that one's people's arts are the most beautiful, values the most virtuous, and beliefs the most truthful. Boas, originally trained in physics and geography, and heavily influenced by the thought of Kant, Herder, and von Humboldt, argued that one's culture may mediate and thus limit one's perceptions in less obvious ways. This understanding of culture confronts anthropologists with two problems: first, how to escape the unconscious bonds of one's own culture, which inevitably bias our perceptions of and reactions to the world, and second, how to make sense of an unfamiliar culture. The principle of cultural relativism thus forced anthropologists to develop innovative methods and heuristic strategies.
Boas and his students realized that if they were to conduct scientific research in other cultures, they would need to employ methods that would help them escape the limits of their own ethnocentrism. One such method is that of ethnography. This method advocates living with people of another culture for an extended period of time to learn the local language and be enculturated, at least partially, into that culture. In this context, cultural relativism is of fundamental methodological importance, because it calls attention to the importance of the local context in understanding the meaning of particular human beliefs and activities. Thus, in 1948 Virginia Heyer wrote, "Cultural relativity, to phrase it in starkest abstraction, states the relativity of the part to the whole. The part gains its cultural significance by its place in the whole, and cannot retain its integrity in a different situation."Theoretical approaches
* Actor–network theory
* Cultural materialism
* Culture theory
* Feminist anthropology
* Functionalism
* Symbolic and interpretive anthropology
* Political economy in anthropology
* Practice theory
* Structuralism
* Post-structuralism
* Systems theory in anthropology
Comparison with social anthropology
The rubric cultural anthropology is generally applied to ethnographic works that are holistic in approach, are oriented to the ways in which culture affects individual experience or aim to provide a rounded view of the knowledge, customs, and institutions of a people. Social anthropology is a term applied to ethnographic works that attempt to isolate a particular system of social relations such as those that comprise domestic life, economy, law, politics, or religion, give analytical priority to the organizational bases of social life, and attend to cultural phenomena as somewhat secondary to the main issues of social scientific inquiry.
Parallel with the rise of cultural anthropology in the United States, social anthropology developed as an academic discipline in Britain and in France.
Foundational thinkers
Lewis Henry Morgan
Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881), a lawyer from Rochester, New York, became an advocate for and ethnological scholar of the Iroquois. His comparative analyses of religion, government, material culture, and especially kinship patterns proved to be influential contributions to the field of anthropology. Like other scholars of his day (such as Edward Tylor), Morgan argued that human societies could be classified into categories of cultural evolution on a scale of progression that ranged from savagery, to barbarism, to civilization. Generally, Morgan used technology (such as bowmaking or pottery) as an indicator of position on this scale.
Franz Boas, founder of the modern discipline
(1858–1942), one of the pioneers of modern anthropology, often called the "Father of American Anthropology"]]
Franz Boas (1858–1942) established academic anthropology in the United States in opposition to Morgan's evolutionary perspective. His approach was empirical, skeptical of overgeneralizations, and eschewed attempts to establish universal laws. For example, Boas studied immigrant children to demonstrate that biological race was not immutable, and that human conduct and behavior resulted from nurture, rather than nature.
Influenced by the German tradition, Boas argued that the world was full of distinct cultures, rather than societies whose evolution could be measured by the extent of "civilization" they had. He believed that each culture has to be studied in its particularity, and argued that cross-cultural generalizations, like those made in the natural sciences, were not possible.
In doing so, he fought discrimination against immigrants, blacks, and indigenous peoples of the Americas. Many American anthropologists adopted his agenda for social reform, and theories of race continue to be popular subjects for anthropologists today. The so-called "Four Field Approach" has its origins in Boasian Anthropology, dividing the discipline in the four crucial and interrelated fields of sociocultural, biological, linguistic, and archaic anthropology (e.g. archaeology). Anthropology in the United States continues to be deeply influenced by the Boasian tradition, especially its emphasis on culture.
(1901–1978)]]
in 1937]]
Kroeber, Mead, and Benedict
Boas used his positions at Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to train and develop multiple generations of students. His first generation of students included Alfred Kroeber, Robert Lowie, Edward Sapir, and Ruth Benedict, who each produced richly detailed studies of indigenous North American cultures. They provided a wealth of details used to attack the theory of a single evolutionary process. Kroeber and Sapir's focus on Native American languages helped establish linguistics as a truly general science and free it from its historical focus on Indo-European languages.
The publication of Alfred Kroeber's textbook Anthropology (1923) marked a turning point in American anthropology. After three decades of amassing material, Boasians felt a growing urge to generalize. This was most obvious in the 'Culture and Personality' studies carried out by younger Boasians such as Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict. Influenced by psychoanalytic psychologists including Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, these authors sought to understand the way that individual personalities were shaped by the wider cultural and social forces in which they grew up.
Though such works as Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) and Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946) remain popular with the American public, Mead and Benedict never had the impact on the discipline of anthropology that some expected. Boas had planned for Ruth Benedict to succeed him as chair of Columbia's anthropology department, but she was sidelined in favor of Ralph Linton, and Mead was limited to her offices at the AMNH.Wolf, Sahlins, Mintz, and political economy
In the 1950s and mid-1960s anthropology tended increasingly to model itself after the natural sciences. Some anthropologists, such as Lloyd Fallers and Clifford Geertz, focused on processes of modernization by which newly independent states could develop. Others, such as Julian Steward and Leslie White, focused on how societies evolve and fit their ecological niche—an approach popularized by Marvin Harris.
Economic anthropology as influenced by Karl Polanyi and practiced by Marshall Sahlins and George Dalton challenged standard neoclassical economics to take account of cultural and social factors and employed Marxian analysis into anthropological study. In England, British Social Anthropology's paradigm began to fragment as Max Gluckman and Peter Worsley experimented with Marxism and authors such as Rodney Needham and Edmund Leach incorporated Lévi-Strauss's structuralism into their work. Structuralism also influenced a number of developments in the 1960s and 1970s, including cognitive anthropology and componential analysis.
In keeping with the times, much of anthropology became politicized through the Algerian War of Independence and opposition to the Vietnam War; Marxism became an increasingly popular theoretical approach in the discipline. By the 1970s the authors of volumes such as Reinventing Anthropology worried about anthropology's relevance.
Since the 1980s issues of power, such as those examined in Eric Wolf's Europe and the People Without History, have been central to the discipline. In the 1980s books like Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter pondered anthropology's ties to colonial inequality, while the immense popularity of theorists such as Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault moved issues of power and hegemony into the spotlight. Gender and sexuality became popular topics, as did the relationship between history and anthropology, influenced by Marshall Sahlins, who drew on Lévi-Strauss and Fernand Braudel to examine the relationship between symbolic meaning, sociocultural structure, and individual agency in the processes of historical transformation. Jean and John Comaroff produced a whole generation of anthropologists at the University of Chicago that focused on these themes. Also influential in these issues were Nietzsche, Heidegger, the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, Derrida and Lacan.Geertz, Schneider, and interpretive anthropology
Many anthropologists reacted against the renewed emphasis on materialism and scientific modelling derived from Marx by emphasizing the importance of the concept of culture. Authors such as David Schneider, Clifford Geertz, and Marshall Sahlins developed a more fleshed-out concept of culture as a web of meaning or signification, which proved very popular within and beyond the discipline. Geertz was to state:
Geertz's interpretive method involved what he called "thick description". The cultural symbols of rituals, political and economic action, and of kinship, are "read" by the anthropologist as if they are a document in a foreign language. The interpretation of those symbols must be re-framed for their anthropological audience, i.e. transformed from the "experience-near" but foreign concepts of the other culture, into the "experience-distant" theoretical concepts of the anthropologist. These interpretations must then be reflected back to its originators, and its adequacy as a translation fine-tuned in a repeated way, a process called the hermeneutic circle. Geertz applied his method in a number of areas, creating programs of study that were very productive. His analysis of "religion as a cultural system" was particularly influential outside of anthropology. David Schnieder's cultural analysis of American kinship has proven equally influential. Schneider demonstrated that the American folk-cultural emphasis on "blood connections" had an undue influence on anthropological kinship theories, and that kinship is not a biological characteristic, but a cultural relationship established on very different terms in different societies.
Prominent British symbolic anthropologists include Victor Turner and Mary Douglas.
The post-modern turn
In the late 1980s and 1990s authors such as James Clifford pondered ethnographic authority, in particular how and why anthropological knowledge was possible and authoritative. They were reflecting trends in research and discourse initiated by feminists in the academy, although they excused themselves from commenting specifically on those pioneering critics. Nevertheless, key aspects of feminist theory and methods became de rigueur as part of the 'post-modern moment' in anthropology: Ethnographies became more interpretative and reflexive, explicitly addressing the author's methodology; cultural, gendered, and racial positioning; and their influence on the ethnographic analysis. This was part of a more general trend of postmodernism that was popular contemporaneously. Currently anthropologists pay attention to a wide variety of issues pertaining to the contemporary world, including globalization, medicine and biotechnology, indigenous rights, virtual communities, and the anthropology of industrialized societies.Socio-cultural anthropology subfields
* Anthropology of art
* Cognitive anthropology
* Anthropology of development
* Disability anthropology
* Ecological anthropology
* Economic anthropology
* Feminist anthropology and anthropology of gender and sexuality
* Ethnohistory and historical anthropology
* Kinship and family
* Legal anthropology
* Multimodal anthropology
* Media anthropology
* Medical anthropology
* Political anthropology
* Political economy in anthropology
* Psychological anthropology
* Public anthropology
* Anthropology of religion
* Cyborg anthropology
* Transpersonal anthropology
* Urban anthropology
* Visual anthropology
Methods
Modern cultural anthropology has its origins in, and developed in reaction to, 19th century ethnology, which involves the organized comparison of human societies. Scholars like E.B. Tylor and J.G. Frazer in England worked mostly with materials collected by others—usually missionaries, traders, explorers, or colonial officials—earning them the moniker of "arm-chair anthropologists".
Participant observation
Participant observation is one of the principal research methods of cultural anthropology. It relies on the assumption that the best way to understand a group of people is to interact with them closely over a long period of time. The method originated in the field research of social anthropologists, especially Bronislaw Malinowski in Britain, the students of Franz Boas in the United States, and in the later urban research of the Chicago School of Sociology. Historically, the group of people being studied was a small, non-Western society. However, today it may be a specific corporation, a church group, a sports team, or a small town.
Interactions between an ethnographer and a cultural informant must go both ways. Just as an ethnographer may be naive or curious about a culture, the members of that culture may be curious about the ethnographer. To establish connections that will eventually lead to a better understanding of the cultural context of a situation, an anthropologist must be open to becoming part of the group, and willing to develop meaningful relationships with its members. Once a single connection has been established, it becomes easier to integrate into the community, and it is more likely that accurate and complete information is being shared with the anthropologist.
Before participant observation can begin, an anthropologist must choose both a location and a focus of study. In the case of structured observation, an observer might be required to record the order of a series of events, or describe a certain part of the surrounding environment. This is considered a problem especially when anthropologists write in the ethnographic present, a present tense which makes a culture seem stuck in time, and ignores the fact that it may have interacted with other cultures or gradually evolved since the anthropologist made observations.TopicsKinship and family
Kinship refers to the anthropological study of the ways in which humans form and maintain relationships with one another and how those relationships operate within and define social organization.
Research in kinship studies often crosses over into different anthropological subfields including medical, feminist, and public anthropology. This is likely due to its fundamental concepts, as articulated by linguistic anthropologist Patrick McConvell: Throughout history, kinship studies have primarily focused on the topics of marriage, descent, and procreation. Anthropologists have written extensively on the variations within marriage across cultures and its legitimacy as a human institution. There are stark differences between communities in terms of marital practice and value, leaving much room for anthropological fieldwork. For instance, the Nuer of Sudan and the Brahmans of Nepal practice polygyny, where one man has several marriages to two or more women. The Nyar of India and Nyimba of Tibet and Nepal practice polyandry, where one woman is often married to two or more men. The marital practice found in most cultures, however, is monogamy, where one woman is married to one man. Anthropologists also study different marital taboos across cultures, most commonly the incest taboo of marriage within sibling and parent-child relationships. It has been found that all cultures have an incest taboo to some degree, but the taboo shifts between cultures when the marriage extends beyond the nuclear family unit.
Late twentieth-century shifts in interest
In the twenty-first century, Western ideas of kinship have evolved beyond the traditional assumptions of the nuclear family, raising anthropological questions of consanguinity, lineage, and normative marital expectation. The shift can be traced back to the 1960s, with the reassessment of kinship's basic principles offered by Edmund Leach, Rodney Neeham, David Schneider, and others. The study of kinship evolved to accommodate for the fact that it cannot be separated from its institutional roots and must pay respect to the society in which it lives, including that society's contradictions, hierarchies, and individual experiences of those within it. This shift was progressed further by the emergence of second-wave feminism in the early 1970s, which introduced ideas of marital oppression, sexual autonomy, and domestic subordination. Other themes that emerged during this time included the frequent comparisons between Eastern and Western kinship systems and the increasing amount of attention paid to anthropologists' own societies, a swift turn from the focus that had traditionally been paid to largely "foreign", non-Western communities. With this technology, questions of kinship have emerged over the difference between biological and genetic relatedness, as gestational surrogates can provide a biological environment for the embryo while the genetic ties remain with a third party. If genetic, surrogate, and adoptive maternities are involved, anthropologists have acknowledged that there can be the possibility for three "biological" mothers to a single child. Western biases against single parent homes have also been explored through similar anthropological research, uncovering that a household with a single parent experiences "greater levels of scrutiny and [is] routinely seen as the 'other' of the nuclear, patriarchal family". The power dynamics in reproduction, when explored through a comparative analysis of "conventional" and "unconventional" families, have been used to dissect the Western assumptions of child bearing and child rearing in contemporary kinship studies. Critiques of kinship studies Kinship, as an anthropological field of inquiry, has been heavily criticized across the discipline. One critique is that, as its inception, the framework of kinship studies was far too structured and formulaic, relying on dense language and stringent rules. However, this critique has been challenged by the argument that it is linguistics, not cultural divergence, that has allowed for a European bias, and that the bias can be lifted by centering the methodology on fundamental human concepts. Polish anthropologist Anna Wierzbicka argues that "mother" and "father" are examples of such fundamental human concepts and can only be Westernized when conflated with English concepts such as "parent" and "sibling".
A more recent critique of kinship studies is its solipsistic focus on privileged, Western human relations and its promotion of normative ideals of human exceptionalism. In Critical Kinship Studies, social psychologists Elizabeth Peel and Damien Riggs argue for a move beyond this human-centered framework, opting instead to explore kinship through a "posthumanist" vantage point where anthropologists focus on the intersecting relationships of human animals, non-human animals, technologies and practices.Institutional anthropologyThe role of anthropology in institutions has expanded significantly since the end of the 20th century. Much of this development can be attributed to the rise in anthropologists working outside of academia and the increasing importance of globalization in both institutions and the field of anthropology. Total institutions are places that comprehensively coordinate the actions of people within them, and examples of total institutions include prisons, convents, and hospitals. Additionally, some anthropology of institutions examines the specific design of institutions and their corresponding strength. Simultaneously, anthropology of institutions extends beyond examination of the commonplace involvement of individuals in institutions to discover how and why the organizational principles evolved in the manner that they did. The ability of individuals to present the workings of an institution in a particular light or frame must additionally be taken into account when using interviews and document analysis to understand an institution,<ref name":32" /> as the involvement of an anthropologist may be met with distrust when information being released to the public is not directly controlled by the institution and could potentially be damaging.<ref name":42" />
See also
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References
External links
* [http://hraf.yale.edu Official website] of Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) based at Yale University
** [https://hraf.yale.edu/cross-cultural-research/basic-guide-to-cross-cultural-research/ A Basic Guide to Cross-Cultural Research] from HRAF
** [https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu eHRAF World Cultures]
** [https://ehrafarchaeology.yale.edu eHRAF Archaeology]
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Conversion of units
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Conversion of units is the conversion of the unit of measurement in which a quantity is expressed, typically through a multiplicative conversion factor that changes the unit without changing the quantity. This is also often loosely taken to include replacement of a quantity with a corresponding quantity that describes the same physical property.
Unit conversion is often easier within a metric system such as the SI than in others, due to the system's coherence and its metric prefixes that act as power-of-10 multipliers.
Overview
The definition and choice of units in which to express a quantity may depend on the specific situation and the intended purpose. This may be governed by regulation, contract, technical specifications or other published standards. Engineering judgment may include such factors as:
the precision and accuracy of measurement and the associated uncertainty of measurement
the statistical confidence interval or tolerance interval of the initial measurement
the number of significant figures of the measurement
the intended use of the measurement, including the engineering tolerances
historical definitions of the units and their derivatives used in old measurements; e.g., international foot vs. US survey foot.
For some purposes, conversions from one system of units to another are needed to be exact, without increasing or decreasing the precision of the expressed quantity. An adaptive conversion may not produce an exactly equivalent expression. Nominal values are sometimes allowed and used.
Factor–label method
The factor–label method, also known as the unit–factor method or the unity bracket method, is a widely used technique for unit conversions that uses the rules of algebra.
The factor–label method is the sequential application of conversion factors expressed as fractions and arranged so that any dimensional unit appearing in both the numerator and denominator of any of the fractions can be cancelled out until only the desired set of dimensional units is obtained. For example, 10 miles per hour can be converted to metres per second by using a sequence of conversion factors as shown below:
\frac{\mathrm{10~\cancel{mi}}}{\mathrm{1~\cancel{h}}} \times \frac{\mathrm{1609.344~m}}{\mathrm{1~\cancel{mi}}} \times \frac{\mathrm{1~\cancel{h}}}{\mathrm{3600~s}} = \mathrm{4.4704~\frac{m}{s}}.
Each conversion factor is chosen based on the relationship between one of the original units and one of the desired units (or some intermediary unit), before being rearranged to create a factor that cancels out the original unit. For example, as "mile" is the numerator in the original fraction and , "mile" will need to be the denominator in the conversion factor. Dividing both sides of the equation by 1 mile yields , which when simplified results in the dimensionless . Because of the identity property of multiplication, multiplying any quantity (physical or not) by the dimensionless 1 does not change that quantity. Once this and the conversion factor for seconds per hour have been multiplied by the original fraction to cancel out the units mile and hour, 10 miles per hour converts to 4.4704 metres per second.
As a more complex example, the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the flue gas from an industrial furnace can be converted to a mass flow rate expressed in grams per hour (g/h) of NOx by using the following information as shown below:
NOx concentration 10 parts per million by volume 10 ppmv = 10 volumes/106 volumes
NOx molar mass 46 kg/kmol 46 g/mol
Flow rate of flue gas 20 cubic metres per minute 20 m3/min
The flue gas exits the furnace at 0 °C temperature and 101.325 kPa absolute pressure.
The molar volume of a gas at 0 °C temperature and 101.325 kPa is 22.414 m3/kmol.
\frac{1000\ \ce{g\ NO}_x}{1 \cancel{\ce{kg\ NO}_x}} \times
\frac{46\ \cancel{\ce{kg\ NO}_x}}{1\ \cancel{\ce{kmol\ NO}_x}} \times
\frac{1\ \cancel{\ce{kmol\ NO}_x}}{22.414\ \cancel{\ce{m}^3\ \ce{NO}_x}} \times
\frac{10\ \cancel{\ce{m}^3\ \ce{NO}_x}}{10^6\ \cancel{\ce{m}^3\ \ce{gas}}} \times
\frac{20\ \cancel{\ce{m}^3\ \ce{gas}}}{1\ \cancel{\ce{minute}}} \times
\frac{60\ \cancel{\ce{minute}}}{1\ \ce{hour}} =
24.63\ \frac{\ce{g\ NO}_x}{\ce{hour}}
After cancelling any dimensional units that appear both in the numerators and the denominators of the fractions in the above equation, the NOx concentration of 10 ppmv converts to mass flow rate of 24.63 grams per hour.
Checking equations that involve dimensions
The factor–label method can also be used on any mathematical equation to check whether or not the dimensional units on the left hand side of the equation are the same as the dimensional units on the right hand side of the equation. Having the same units on both sides of an equation does not ensure that the equation is correct, but having different units on the two sides (when expressed in terms of base units) of an equation implies that the equation is wrong.
For example, check the universal gas law equation of , when:
the pressure P is in pascals (Pa)
the volume V is in cubic metres (m3)
the amount of substance n is in moles (mol)
the universal gas constant R is 8.3145 Pa⋅m3/(mol⋅K)
the temperature T is in kelvins (K)
\mathrm{Pa{\cdot}m^3} = \frac{\cancel{\mathrm{mol}}}{1} \times
\frac{\mathrm{Pa{\cdot}m^3}}{\cancel{\mathrm{mol}}\ \cancel{\mathrm{K}}} \times \frac{\cancel{\mathrm{K}}}{1}
As can be seen, when the dimensional units appearing in the numerator and denominator of the equation's right hand side are cancelled out, both sides of the equation have the same dimensional units. Dimensional analysis can be used as a tool to construct equations that relate non-associated physico-chemical properties. The equations may reveal undiscovered or overlooked properties of matter, in the form of left-over dimensions – dimensional adjusters – that can then be assigned physical significance. It is important to point out that such 'mathematical manipulation' is neither without prior precedent, nor without considerable scientific significance. Indeed, the Planck constant, a fundamental physical constant, was 'discovered' as a purely mathematical abstraction or representation that built on the Rayleigh–Jeans law for preventing the ultraviolet catastrophe. It was assigned and ascended to its quantum physical significance either in tandem or post mathematical dimensional adjustment – not earlier.
Limitations
The factor–label method can convert only unit quantities for which the units are in a linear relationship intersecting at 0 (ratio scale in Stevens's typology). Most conversions fit this paradigm. An example for which it cannot be used is the conversion between the Celsius scale and the Kelvin scale (or the Fahrenheit scale). Between degrees Celsius and kelvins, there is a constant difference rather than a constant ratio, while between degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit there is neither a constant difference nor a constant ratio. There is, however, an affine transform (, rather than a linear transform ) between them.
For example, the freezing point of water is 0 °C and 32 °F, and a 5 °C change is the same as a 9 °F change. Thus, to convert from units of Fahrenheit to units of Celsius, one subtracts 32 °F (the offset from the point of reference), divides by 9 °F and multiplies by 5 °C (scales by the ratio of units), and adds 0 °C (the offset from the point of reference). Reversing this yields the formula for obtaining a quantity in units of Celsius from units of Fahrenheit; one could have started with the equivalence between 100 °C and 212 °F, which yields the same formula.
Hence, to convert the numerical quantity value of a temperature T[F] in degrees Fahrenheit to a numerical quantity value T[C] in degrees Celsius, this formula may be used:
T[C] = (T[F] − 32) × 5/9.
To convert T[C] in degrees Celsius to T[F] in degrees Fahrenheit, this formula may be used:
T[F] = (T[C] × 9/5) + 32.
Example
Starting with:
Z = n_i \times [Z]_i
replace the original unit with its meaning in terms of the desired unit , e.g. if , then:
Z n_i \times (c_{ij} \times [Z]_j) (n_i \times c_{ij}) \times [Z]_j
Now and are both numerical values, so just calculate their product.
Or, which is just mathematically the same thing, multiply Z by unity, the product is still Z:
Z = n_i \times [Z]_i \times ( c_{ij} \times [Z]_j/[Z]_i )
For example, you have an expression for a physical value Z involving the unit feet per second () and you want it in terms of the unit miles per hour ():
{5280\,\mathrm{ft}}\quad \mathrm{and}\quad 1 = \frac{3600\,\mathrm{s}}{1\,\mathrm{h}}
|3= Last, multiply the original expression of the physical value by the fraction, called a conversion factor, to obtain the same physical value expressed in terms of a different unit. Note: since valid conversion factors are dimensionless and have a numerical value of one, multiplying any physical quantity by such a conversion factor (which is 1) does not change that physical quantity.
52.8\,\frac{\mathrm{ft}}{\mathrm{s}} =
52.8\,\frac{\mathrm{ft}}{\mathrm{s}}
\frac{1\,\mathrm{mi}}{5280\,\mathrm{ft}}
\frac{3600\,\mathrm{s}}{1\,\mathrm{h}} \frac {52.8 \times 3600}{5280}\,\mathrm{mi/h} 36\,\mathrm{mi/h}
}}
Or as an example using the metric system, you have a value of fuel economy in the unit litres per 100 kilometres and you want it in terms of the unit microlitres per metre:
\mathrm{\frac{9\,\rm{L}}{100\,\rm{km}}} =
\mathrm{\frac{9\,\rm{L}}{100\,\rm{km}}}
\mathrm{\frac{1000000\,\rm{\mu L}}{1\,\rm{L}}}
\mathrm{\frac{1\,\rm{km}}{1000\,\rm{m}}} \frac {9 \times 1000000}{100 \times 1000}\,\mathrm{\mu L/m}
90\,\mathrm{\mu L/m}
Calculation involving non-SI Units
In the cases where non-SI units are used, the numerical calculation of a formula can be done by first working out the factor, and then plug in the numerical values of the given/known quantities.
For example, in the study of Bose–Einstein condensate, atomic mass is usually given in daltons, instead of kilograms, and chemical potential is often given in the Boltzmann constant times nanokelvin. The condensate's healing length is given by:
\xi=\frac{\hbar}{\sqrt{2m\mu}}\,.
For a 23Na condensate with chemical potential of (the Boltzmann constant times) 128 nK, the calculation of healing length (in micrometres) can be done in two steps:
Calculate the factor
Assume that , this gives
\xi\frac{\hbar}{\sqrt{2m\mu}} 15.574 \,\mathrm{\mu m}\,,
which is our factor.
Calculate the numbers
Now, make use of the fact that . With , .
This method is especially useful for programming and/or making a worksheet, where input quantities are taking multiple different values; For example, with the factor calculated above, it is very easy to see that the healing length of 174Yb with chemical potential 20.3 nK is
.
Software tools
There are many conversion tools. They are found in the function libraries of applications such as spreadsheets databases, in calculators, and in macro packages and plugins for many other applications such as the mathematical, scientific and technical applications.
There are many standalone applications that offer the thousands of the various units with conversions. For example, the free software movement offers a command line utility GNU units for GNU and Windows. The Unified Code for Units of Measure is also a popular option.
See also
Conversion of units of temperature
Dimensional analysis
English units
Imperial units
International System of Units
List of conversion factors
List of metric units
Mesures usuelles
Metric prefix
Metric system
Metrication
Natural units
United States customary units
Unit of length
Units of measurement
Notes and references
Notes
External links
NIST Guide to SI Units Many conversion factors listed.
The Unified Code for Units of Measure
Units, Symbols, and Conversions XML Dictionary
"Instruction sur les poids et mesures républicaines – déduites de la grandeur de la terre, uniformes pour toute la République, et sur les calculs relatifs à leur division décimale"
Math Skills Review
Chapter 11: Behavior of Gases Chemistry: Concepts and Applications, Denton independent school District
Category:Metrication
Category:Conversion of units of measurement
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_of_units
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City
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A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations, and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution.
Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability. Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas—creating numerous commuters traveling toward city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying globalization, all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues, such as sustainable development, climate change, and global health. Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11. Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption, dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change. However, this concentration can also have some significant harmful effects, such as forming urban heat islands, concentrating pollution, and stressing water supplies and other resources. Meaning represents the city's symbolic role of devotion to the Jain temples.]]
A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status, which may be conferred by a central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there and can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory.
National censuses use a variety of definitions – invoking factors such as population, population density, number of dwellings, economic function, and infrastructure – to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. In the United Kingdom, city status is awarded by the Crown and then remains permanent. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of a cathedral, resulting in some very small cities such as Wells, with a population of 12,000 , and St Davids, with a population of 1,841 .) According to the "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas.
The presence of a literate elite is often associated with cities because of the cultural diversities present in a city. A typical city has professional administrators, regulations, and some form of taxation (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support the government workers. (This arrangement contrasts with the more typically horizontal relationships in a tribe or village accomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or the leadership of a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or a combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations.
The degree of urbanization is a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)". This metric was "devised over years by the European Commission, OECD, World Bank and others, and endorsed in March [2021] by the United Nations ... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison". Etymology The word city and the related civilization come from the Latin root , originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond with , meaning 'city' in a more physical sense. The Roman civitas was closely linked with the Greek —another common root appearing in English words such as metropolis.
In toponymic terminology, names of individual cities and towns are called astionyms (from Ancient Greek 'city or town' and 'name').GeographyUrban geography deals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure. Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of the land surface of the Earth. Site
at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, which flow into the Ohio River]]
Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent of rail transport in the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river.
Urban areas as a rule cannot produce their own food and therefore must develop some relationship with a hinterland that sustains them. Only in special cases such as mining towns which play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them. Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would, in theory, favor the creation of marketplaces in optimal mutually reachable locations. These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its wider sphere of influence. Today cities have a city center or downtown, sometimes coincident with a central business district.
Public space
, a public meeting place in central London ]]
Cities typically have public spaces where anyone can go. These include privately owned spaces open to the public as well as forms of public land such as public domain and the commons. Western philosophy since the time of the Greek agora has considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolic public sphere. Public art adorns (or disfigures) public spaces. Parks and other natural sites within cities provide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typical built environments. Urban green spaces are another component of public space that provides the benefit of mitigating the urban heat island effect, especially in cities that are in warmer climates. These spaces prevent carbon imbalances, extreme habitat losses, electricity and water consumption, and human health risks. Internal structure
for Washington, D.C. combines a utilitarian grid pattern with diagonal avenues and a symbolic focus on monumental architecture.]]
The urban structure generally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. The physical environment generally constrains the form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structures may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape. Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or to city planning.
In a radial structure, main roads converge on a central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces of town walls and citadels marking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by ring roads moving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem are structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such as Moscow, this pattern is still clearly visible.
A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as the grid plan, has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Indus Valley Civilization built Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described by Kautilya, and aligned with the compass points. The ancient Greek city of Priene exemplifies a grid plan with specialized districts used across the Hellenistic Mediterranean.
Urban areas
The urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the city proper in a form of development sometimes described critically as urban sprawl. Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of the term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary.
History
from the ancient Sumerian city Ur, which flourished in the third millennium BC, can be seen at present-day Tell el-Mukayyar in Iraq.]]
, a city of the Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan, which was rebuilt six or more times, using bricks of standard size, and adhering to the same grid layout—also in the third millennium BC]]
showing the Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, and the processional avenue serving as the spine of the city's street system]]
The emergence of cities from proto-urban settlements, such as Çatalhöyük, is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of early urbanization.
The cities of Jericho, Aleppo, Byblos, Faiyum, Yerevan, Athens, Matera, Damascus, and Argos are among those laying claim to the longest continual inhabitation.
Cities, characterized by population density, symbolic function, and urban planning, have existed for thousands of years. In the conventional view, civilization and the city were both followed by the development of agriculture, which enabled the production of surplus food and thus a social division of labor (with concomitant social stratification) and trade. Early cities often featured granaries, sometimes within a temple. A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing), to use as communal seasonal shelters, to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization, or to their inherent economic function. Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such as Alexander the Great founded and created them with zeal. Ancient times
, the first city in the world to reach one million inhabitants]]
Jericho and Çatalhöyük, dated to the eighth millennium BC, are among the earliest proto-cities known to archaeologists. However, the Mesopotamian city of Uruk from the mid-fourth millennium BC (ancient Iraq) is considered by most archaeologists to be the first true city, innovating many characteristics for cities to follow, with its name attributed to the Uruk period.
In the fourth and third millennium BC, complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, India, China, and Egypt. Excavations in these areas have found the ruins of cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large, dense populations, but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations.
Among the early Old World cities, Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan, existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a sophisticated sanitation system. China's planned cities were constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestial microcosms.
The Ancient Egyptian cities known physically by archaeologists are not extensive.
In Mesopotamia, the civilization of Sumer, followed by Assyria and Babylon, gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostered multiple languages written in cuneiform. The Phoenician trading empire, flourishing around the turn of the first millennium BC, encompassed numerous cities extending from Tyre, Cydon, and Byblos to Carthage and Cádiz.
In the following centuries, independent city-states of Greece, especially Athens, developed the polis, an association of male landowning citizens who collectively constituted the city. The agora, meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of the athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the polis. Rome was the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority of its empire, Rome transformed and founded many cities (), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society.
In the ancient Americas, early urban traditions developed in the Andes and Mesoamerica. In the Andes, the first urban centers developed in the Norte Chico civilization, Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari, Chimu, and Inca cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru. It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between the 30th and 18th centuries BC. Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with the Olmec and spreading to the Preclassic Maya, the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the Aztec, Andean civilizations, Mayan, Mississippians, and Pueblo peoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such as Mexico City, in the same location as Tenochtitlan; while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas in New Mexico, such as Acoma Pueblo near the Albuquerque metropolitan area and Taos Pueblo near Taos; while others like Lima are located nearby ancient Peruvian sites such as Pachacamac.
From 1600 BC, Dhar Tichitt, in the south of present-day Mauritania, presented characteristics suggestive of an incipient form of urbanism. The second place to show urban characteristics in West Africa was Dia, in present-day Mali, from 800 BC.
More recently, scholars have concluded that the civilization of Djenne-Djenno was likely established by the Mande progenitors of the Bozo people. Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE. Archaeological evidence from Jenné-Jeno, specifically the presence of non-West African glass beads dated from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE, indicates that pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa.
Additionally, other early urban centers in West Africa, dated to around 500 CE, include Awdaghust, Kumbi Saleh, the ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda, a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao.
Middle Ages
in Leningrad Oblast has existed since the 13th century.]]
, Netherlands]]
of the Holy Roman Empire in 1648]]
in the Netherlands, created around 1550, shows the city completely surrounded by a city wall and defensive canal, with its square shape inspired by the shape of Jerusalem.]]
The dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West was connected with profound changes in urban fabric of western Europe. In places where Roman administration quickly weakened urbanism went through a profound crisis, even if it continued to remain an important symbolic factor. In regions like Italy or Spain cities diminished in size but nevertheless continued to play a key role in both the economy and government. Late antique cities in the East were also undergoing intense transformations, with increased political participation of the crowds and demographical fluctuations. Christian communities and their doctrinal differences increasingly shaped the urban fabric. The locus of power shifted to Constantinople and to the ascendant Islamic civilization with its major cities Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba. From the 9th through the end of the 12th century, Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million. The Ottoman Empire gradually gained control over many cities in the Mediterranean area, including Constantinople in 1453.
In the Holy Roman Empire, beginning in the 12th century, free imperial cities such as Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Basel, Zürich, and Nijmegen became a privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lord or having been granted self-governance by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire, became part of the Imperial Estates governing the empire with the emperor through the Imperial Diet.
By the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities had become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy, medieval communes developed into city-states including the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa. In Northern Europe, cities including Lübeck and Bruges formed the Hanseatic League for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later challenged and eclipsed by the Dutch commercial cities of Ghent, Ypres, and Amsterdam. Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai, which enjoyed considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.
In the first millennium AD, the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia grew into the most extensive preindustrial settlement in the world by area, covering over and possibly supporting up to one million people.
West Africa already had cities before the Common Era, but the consolidation of Trans-Saharan trade in the Middle Ages multiplied the number of cities in the region, as well as making some of them very populous, notably Gao (72,000 inhabitants in 800 AD), Oyo-Ile (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD, and may have reached up to 140,000 inhabitants in the 18th century), Ile-Ifẹ̀ (70,000 to 105,000 inhabitants in the 14th and 15th centuries), Niani (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD) and Timbuktu (100,000 inhabitants in 1450 AD).Early modernIn the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following the Peace of Westphalia in the seventeenth century. Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following the emergence of an Atlantic trade. However, most towns remained small.
During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories and were bound to several laws regarding administration, finances, and urbanism.
Industrial age
The growth of the modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. England led the way as London became the capital of a world empire and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for manufacturing. In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the introduction of railroads reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas.
Some industrialized cities were confronted with health challenges associated with overcrowding, occupational hazards of industry, contaminated water and air, poor sanitation, and communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Factories and slums emerged as regular features of the urban landscape.
Post-industrial age
In the second half of the 20th century, deindustrialization (or "economic restructuring") in the West led to poverty, homelessness, and urban decay in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a "Rust Belt" and cities such as Detroit, Michigan, and Gary, Indiana began to shrink, contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion. Such cities have shifted with varying success into the service economy and public-private partnerships, with concomitant gentrification, uneven revitalization efforts, and selective cultural development. Under the Great Leap Forward and subsequent five-year plans continuing today, China has undergone concomitant urbanization and industrialization and become the world's leading manufacturer.
Amidst these economic changes, high technology and instantaneous telecommunication enable select cities to become centers of the knowledge economy. A new smart city paradigm, supported by institutions such as the RAND Corporation and IBM, is bringing computerized surveillance, data analysis, and governance to bear on cities and city dwellers. Some companies are building brand-new master-planned cities from scratch on greenfield sites.
Urbanization
Urbanization is the process of migration from rural to urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until the 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuring markets and small-scale manufacturing. With the agricultural and industrial revolutions, urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration and demographic expansion. In England, the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. In 1900, 15% of the world's population lived in cities. The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents.
Latin America is the most urban continent, with four-fifths of its population living in cities, including one-fifth of the population said to live in shantytowns (favelas, poblaciones callampas, etc.). Batam, Indonesia, Mogadishu, Somalia, Xiamen, China, and Niamey, Niger, are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%. In general, the more developed countries of the "Global North" remain more urbanized than the less developed countries of the "Global South"—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting.
Megacities, cities with populations in the multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreign capital arrange for rapid industrialization, as well as the relocation of major businesses from Europe and North America, attracting immigrants from near and far. A deep gulf divides the rich and poor in these cities, which usually contain a super-wealthy elite living in gated communities and large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions.
Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground.
Urbanization can create rapid demand for water resources management, as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and the volume of sewage begins to exceed manageable levels. municipio in Spain and Portugal, and, along with municipalidad, in most former parts of the Spanish and Portuguese empires) and the commune (in France and Chile; or comune in Italy).
The chief official of the city is very often called the "mayor". Whatever their true degree of political authority, the mayor typically acts as the figurehead or personification of their city.
Legal conflicts and issues arise more frequently in cities than elsewhere due to the bare fact of their greater density. Modern city governments thoroughly regulate everyday life in many dimensions, including public and personal health, transport, burial, resource use and extraction, recreation, and the nature and use of buildings. Technologies, techniques, and laws governing these areas—developed in cities—have become ubiquitous in many areas.
Municipal officials may be appointed from a higher level of government or elected locally.
Municipal services
in Dublin, Ireland, extinguishing a severe fire at a hardware store in 1970]]
Cities typically provide municipal services such as education, through school systems; policing, through police departments; and firefighting, through fire departments; as well as the city's basic infrastructure. These are provided more or less routinely, in a more or less equal fashion. Responsibility for administration usually falls on the city government, but some services may be operated by a higher level of government, while others may be privately run. Armies may assume responsibility for policing cities in states of domestic turmoil such as America's King assassination riots of 1968. Finance The traditional basis for municipal finance is local property tax levied on real estate within the city. Local government can also collect revenue for services, or by leasing land that it owns. City governments have also begun to use tax increment financing, in which a development project is financed by loans based on future tax revenues which it is expected to yield. Under these circumstances, creditors and consequently city governments place a high importance on city credit ratings. Governance
, the headquarters of Greater Chennai Corporation in Chennai, is one of the oldest city governing corporations in Asia. ]]
Governance includes government but refers to a wider domain of social control functions implemented by many actors including non-governmental organizations. The impact of globalization and the role of multinational corporations in local governments worldwide have led to a shift in perspective on urban governance, away from the "urban regime theory" in which a coalition of local interests functionally govern, toward a theory of outside economic control, widely associated in academics with the philosophy of neoliberalism. In the neoliberal model of governance, public utilities are privatized, the industry is deregulated, and corporations gain the status of governing actors—as indicated by the power they wield in public-private partnerships and over business improvement districts, and in the expectation of self-regulation through corporate social responsibility. The biggest investors and real estate developers act as the city's de facto urban planners.
The related concept of good governance places more emphasis on the state, with the purpose of assessing urban governments for their suitability for development assistance. The concepts of governance and good governance are especially invoked in emergent megacities, where international organizations consider existing governments inadequate for their large populations. Urban planning
in Argentina is based on a perfect square with 5196-meter sides, and was designed in the 1880s as the new capital of Buenos Aires Province.]]
Urban planning, the application of forethought to city design, involves optimizing land use, transportation, utilities, and other basic systems in order to achieve certain objectives. Urban planners and scholars have proposed overlapping theories as ideals of how plans should be formed. Planning tools, beyond the original design of the city itself, include public capital investment in infrastructure and land-use controls such as zoning. The continuous process of comprehensive planning involves identifying general objectives as well as collecting data to evaluate progress and inform future decisions. Planning often involves tradeoffs—decisions in which some stand to gain and some to lose—and thus is closely connected to the prevailing political situation.
The history of urban planning dates back to some of the earliest known cities, especially in the Indus Valley and Mesoamerican civilizations, which built their cities on grids and apparently zoned different areas for different purposes. The effects of planning, ubiquitous in today's world, can be seen most clearly in the layout of planned communities, fully designed prior to construction, often with consideration for interlocking physical, economic, and cultural systems. Society Social structure Urban society is typically stratified. Spatially, cities are formally or informally segregated along ethnic, economic, and racial lines. People living relatively close together may live, work, and play in separate areas, and associate with different people, forming ethnic or lifestyle enclaves or, in areas of concentrated poverty, ghettoes. While in the US and elsewhere poverty became associated with the inner city, in France it has become associated with the banlieues, areas of urban development that surround the city proper. Meanwhile, across Europe and North America, the racially white majority is empirically the most segregated group. Suburbs in the West, and, increasingly, gated communities and other forms of "privatopia" around the world, allow local elites to self-segregate into secure and exclusive neighborhoods.
Landless urban workers, contrasted with peasants and known as the proletariat, form a growing stratum of society in the age of urbanization. In Marxist doctrine, the proletariat will inevitably revolt against the bourgeoisie as their ranks swell with disenfranchised and disaffected people lacking all stake in the status quo. The global urban proletariat of today, however, generally lacks the status of factory workers which in the nineteenth century provided access to the means of production.
Economics
, the centre of commerce and finance of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan]]
Historically, cities rely on rural areas for intensive farming to yield surplus crops, in exchange for which they provide money, political administration, manufactured goods, and culture.
As hubs of trade, cities have long been home to retail commerce and consumption through the interface of shopping. In the 20th century, department stores using new techniques of advertising, public relations, decoration, and design, transformed urban shopping areas into fantasy worlds encouraging self-expression and escape through consumerism.
In general, the density of cities expedites commerce and facilitates knowledge spillovers, helping people and firms exchange information and generate new ideas. A thicker labor market allows for better skill matching between firms and individuals. Population density also enables sharing of common infrastructure and production facilities; however, in very dense cities, increased crowding and waiting times may lead to some negative effects.
Although manufacturing fueled the growth of cities, many now rely on a tertiary or service economy. The services in question range from tourism, hospitality, entertainment, and housekeeping to grey-collar work in law, financial consulting, and administration.
According to a scientific model of cities by Professor Geoffrey West, with the doubling of a city's size, salaries per capita will generally increase by 15%.
Culture and communications
is one of the best-known cities in the world.]]
ese dancers at Edmonton Heritage Festival, in Alberta, Canada, an example of the cultural diversity of a city]]
Cities are typically hubs for education and the arts, supporting universities, museums, temples, and other cultural institutions. By virtue of their status as centers of culture and literacy, cities can be described as the locus of civilization, human history, and social change.
Density makes for effective mass communication and transmission of news, through heralds, printed proclamations, newspapers, and digital media. These communication networks, though still using cities as hubs, penetrate extensively into all populated areas. In the age of rapid communication and transportation, commentators have described urban culture as nearly ubiquitous or as no longer meaningful.
Today, a city's promotion of its cultural activities dovetails with place branding and city marketing, public diplomacy techniques used to inform development strategy; attract businesses, investors, residents, and tourists; and create shared identity and sense of place within the metropolitan area. Physical inscriptions, plaques, and monuments on display physically transmit a historical context for urban places. Some cities, such as Jerusalem, Mecca, and Rome have indelible religious status and for hundreds of years have attracted pilgrims. Patriotic tourists visit Agra to see the Taj Mahal, or New York City to visit the World Trade Center. Elvis lovers visit Memphis to pay their respects at Graceland. Place brands (which include place satisfaction and place loyalty) have great economic value (comparable to the value of commodity brands) because of their influence on the decision-making process of people thinking about doing business in—"purchasing" (the brand of)—a city. Sports also play a major role in city branding and local identity formation. Cities go to considerable lengths in competing to host the Olympic Games, which bring global attention and tourism. Paris, a city known for its cultural history, was the site of the most recent Olympics in the summer of 2024. Warfare
of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 devastated the city and led to Imperial Japan's surrender and the end of World War II.]]
Cities play a crucial strategic role in warfare due to their economic, demographic, symbolic, and political centrality. For the same reasons, they are targets in asymmetric warfare. Many cities throughout history were founded under military auspices, a great many have incorporated fortifications, and military principles continue to influence urban design. Indeed, war may have served as the social rationale and economic basis for the very earliest cities. While occupying the Philippines, the US Army ordered local people to concentrate in cities and towns, in order to isolate committed insurgents and battle freely against them in the countryside.
During World War II, national governments on occasion declared certain cities open, effectively surrendering them to an advancing enemy in order to avoid damage and bloodshed. Urban warfare proved decisive, however, in the Battle of Stalingrad, where Soviet forces repulsed German occupiers, with extreme casualties and destruction. In an era of low-intensity conflict and rapid urbanization, cities have become sites of long-term conflict waged both by foreign occupiers and by local governments against insurgency. Such warfare, known as counterinsurgency, involves techniques of surveillance and psychological warfare as well as close combat, and functionally extends modern urban crime prevention, which already uses concepts such as defensible space.
Although capture is the more common objective, warfare has in some cases spelled complete destruction for a city. Mesopotamian tablets and ruins attest to such destruction, as does the Latin motto Carthago delenda est. Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and throughout the Cold War, nuclear strategists continued to contemplate the use of "counter-value" targeting: crippling an enemy by annihilating its valuable cities, rather than aiming primarily at its military forces.
Climate change
Infrastructure
in Indonesia]]
Urban infrastructure involves various physical networks and spaces necessary for transportation, water use, energy, recreation, and public functions. Infrastructure carries a high initial cost in fixed capital but lower marginal costs and thus positive economies of scale. Because of the higher barriers to entry, these networks have been classified as natural monopolies, meaning that economic logic favors control of each network by a single organization, public or private. The particulars of a city's infrastructure systems have historical path dependence because new development must build from what exists already.
Urban infrastructure ideally serves all residents equally but in practice may prove uneven—with, in some cities, clear first-class and second-class alternatives.
Sanitation, necessary for good health in crowded conditions, requires water supply and waste management as well as individual hygiene. Urban water systems include principally a water supply network and a network (sewerage system) for sewage and stormwater. Historically, either local governments or private companies have administered urban water supply, with a tendency toward government water supply in the 20th century and a tendency toward private operation at the turn of the twenty-first.}} The market for private water services is dominated by two French companies, Veolia Water (formerly Vivendi) and Engie (formerly Suez), said to hold 70% of all water contracts worldwide.
Modern urban life relies heavily on the energy transmitted through electricity for the operation of electric machines (from household appliances to industrial machines to now-ubiquitous electronic systems used in communications, business, and government) and for traffic lights, street lights, and indoor lighting. Cities rely to a lesser extent on hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline and natural gas for transportation, heating, and cooking. Telecommunications infrastructure such as telephone lines and coaxial cables also traverse cities, forming dense networks for mass and point-to-point communications. Transportation
at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg]]
in Indonesia is the longest bus rapid transit system in the world.]]
, a shared-path rail trail in Helsinki]]
Because cities rely on specialization and an economic system based on wage labor, their inhabitants must have the ability to regularly travel between home, work, commerce, and entertainment. City dwellers travel by foot or by wheel on roads and walkways, or use special rapid transit systems based on underground, overground, and elevated rail. Cities also rely on long-distance transportation (truck, rail, and airplane) for economic connections with other cities and rural areas.
City streets historically were the domain of horses and their riders and pedestrians, who only sometimes had sidewalks and special walking areas reserved for them. In the West, bicycles or (velocipedes), efficient human-powered machines for short- and medium-distance travel, enjoyed a period of popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century before the rise of automobiles. Soon after, they gained a more lasting foothold in Asian and African cities under European influence. In Western cities, industrializing, electrifying, and expanding public transit systems, especially streetcars, enabled urban expansion as new residential neighborhoods sprang up along transit lines and workers rode to and from work downtown.
Since the mid-20th century, cities have relied heavily on motor vehicle transportation, with major implications for their layout, environment, and aesthetics. (This transformation occurred most dramatically in the US—where corporate and governmental policies favored automobile transport systems—and to a lesser extent in Europe.) However, severe traffic jams still occur regularly in cities around the world, as private car ownership and urbanization continue to increase, overwhelming existing urban street networks.
The urban bus system, the world's most common form of public transport, uses a network of scheduled routes to move people through the city, alongside cars, on the roads. The economic function itself also became more decentralized as concentration became impractical and employers relocated to more car-friendly locations (including edge cities). Many big American cities still operate conventional public transit by rail, as exemplified by the ever-popular New York City Subway system. Rapid transit is widely used in Europe and has increased in Latin America and Asia. Techniques such as road space rationing and road use charges have been introduced to limit urban car traffic.
Homeownership represents status and a modicum of economic security, compared to renting which may consume much of the income of low-wage urban workers. Homelessness, or lack of housing, is a challenge currently faced by millions of people in countries rich and poor. Because cities generally have higher population densities than rural areas, city dwellers are more likely to reside in apartments and less likely to live in a single-family home.
Ecology
featuring a few plants growing amidst solid waste and rubble behind some houses]]
]]
, an urban park in Dublin, Ireland]]
Urban ecosystems, influenced as they are by the density of human buildings and activities, differ considerably from those of their rural surroundings. Anthropogenic buildings and waste, as well as cultivation in gardens, create physical and chemical environments which have no equivalents in the wilderness, in some cases enabling exceptional biodiversity. They provide homes not only for immigrant humans but also for immigrant plants, bringing about interactions between species that never previously encountered each other. They introduce frequent disturbances (construction, walking) to plant and animal habitats, creating opportunities for recolonization and thus favoring young ecosystems with r-selected species dominant. On the whole, urban ecosystems are less complex and productive than others, due to the diminished absolute amount of biological interactions.
Typical urban fauna includes insects (especially ants), rodents (mice, rats), and birds, as well as cats and dogs (domesticated and feral). Large predators are scarce.
Cities generate considerable ecological footprints, locally and at longer distances, due to concentrated populations and technological activities. From one perspective, cities are not ecologically sustainable due to their resource needs. From another, proper management may be able to ameliorate a city's ill effects. Air pollution arises from various forms of combustion, including fireplaces, wood or coal-burning stoves, other heating systems, and internal combustion engines. Industrialized cities, and today third-world megacities, are notorious for veils of smog (industrial haze) that envelop them, posing a chronic threat to the health of their millions of inhabitants. Urban soil contains higher concentrations of heavy metals (especially lead, copper, and nickel) and has lower pH than soil in the comparable wilderness. Aerial particulates increase rainfall by 5–10%. Thus, urban areas experience unique climates, with earlier flowering and later leaf dropping than in nearby countries.
One of the main methods of improving the urban ecology is including in the cities more urban green spaces: parks, gardens, lawns, and trees. These areas improve the health and well-being of the human, animal, and plant populations of the cities. Well-maintained urban trees can provide many social, ecological, and physical benefits to the residents of the city.
A study published in Scientific Reports in 2019 found that people who spent at least two hours per week in nature were 23 percent more likely to be satisfied with their life and were 59 percent more likely to be in good health than those who had zero exposure. The study used data from almost 20,000 people in the UK. Benefits increased for up to 300 minutes of exposure. The benefits are applied to men and women of all ages, as well as across different ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and even those with long-term illnesses and disabilities. People who did not get at least two hours – even if they surpassed an hour per week – did not get the benefits. The study is the latest addition to a compelling body of evidence for the health benefits of nature. Many doctors already give nature prescriptions to their patients. The study did not count time spent in a person's own yard or garden as time in nature, but the majority of nature visits in the study took place within two miles of home. "Even visiting local urban green spaces seems to be a good thing," Dr. White said in a press release. "Two hours a week is hopefully a realistic target for many people, especially given that it can be spread over an entire week to get the benefit."
World city system
As the world becomes more closely linked through economics, politics, technology, and culture (a process called globalization), cities have come to play a leading role in transnational affairs, exceeding the limitations of international relations conducted by national governments. This phenomenon, resurgent today, can be traced back to the Silk Road, Phoenicia, and the Greek city-states, through the Hanseatic League and other alliances of cities. Today the information economy based on high-speed internet infrastructure enables instantaneous telecommunication around the world, effectively eliminating the distance between cities for the purposes of the international markets and other high-level elements of the world economy, as well as personal communications and mass media. Global city
s, characteristic features of the top global cities, are interconnected hubs for capital. Here, a delegation from Australia visits the London Stock Exchange.]]
A global city, also known as a world city, is a prominent centre of trade, banking, finance, innovation, and markets. Saskia Sassen used the term "global city" in her 1991 work, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo to refer to a city's power, status, and cosmopolitanism, rather than to its size. Following this view of cities, it is possible to rank the world's cities hierarchically. Global cities form the capstone of the global hierarchy, exerting command and control through their economic and political influence. Global cities may have reached their status due to early transition to post-industrialism or through inertia which has enabled them to maintain their dominance from the industrial era. This type of ranking exemplifies an emerging discourse in which cities, considered variations on the same ideal type, must compete with each other globally to achieve prosperity.
Multinational corporations and banks make their headquarters in global cities and conduct much of their business within this context. American firms dominate the international markets for law and engineering and maintain branches in the biggest foreign global cities.
Large cities have a great divide between populations of both ends of the financial spectrum. Regulations on immigration promote the exploitation of low- and high-skilled immigrant workers from poor areas. During employment, migrant workers may be subject to unfair working conditions, including working overtime, low wages, and lack of safety in workplaces.
|align-capcenter}} Transnational activity Cities increasingly participate in world political activities independently of their enclosing nation-states. Early examples of this phenomenon are the sister city relationship and the promotion of multi-level governance within the European Union as a technique for European integration. Cities including Hamburg, Prague, Amsterdam, The Hague, and City of London maintain their own embassies to the European Union at Brussels.
New urban dwellers are increasingly transmigrants, keeping one foot each (through telecommunications if not travel) in their old and their new homes. Global governance Cities participate in global governance by various means including membership in global networks which transmit norms and regulations. At the general, global level, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a significant umbrella organization for cities; regionally and nationally, Eurocities, Asian Network of Major Cities 21, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities the National League of Cities, and the United States Conference of Mayors play similar roles. UCLG took responsibility for creating Agenda 21 for culture, a program for cultural policies promoting sustainable development, and has organized various conferences and reports for its furtherance.
Networks have become especially prevalent in the arena of environmentalism and specifically climate change following the adoption of Agenda 21. Environmental city networks include the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme, the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA), the Covenant of Mayors and the Compact of Mayors, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and the Transition Towns network. United Nations System
headquarters in Washington, D.C.]]
conference in Quito]]
The United Nations System has been involved in a series of events and declarations dealing with the development of cities during this period of rapid urbanization.
* The Habitat I conference in 1976 adopted the "Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements" which identifies urban management as a fundamental aspect of development and establishes various principles for maintaining urban habitats.
* Citing the Vancouver Declaration, the UN General Assembly in December 1977 authorized the United Nations Commission Human Settlements and the HABITAT Centre for Human Settlements, intended to coordinate UN activities related to housing and settlements.
* The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro resulted in a set of international agreements including Agenda 21 which establishes principles and plans for sustainable development.
* The Habitat II conference in 1996 called for cities to play a leading role in this program, which subsequently advanced the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals. Just before this conference, the European Union concurrently approved an "Urban Agenda for the European Union" known as the Pact of Amsterdam.
UN-Habitat coordinates the U.N. urban agenda, working with the UN Environmental Programme, the UN Development Programme, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank. The bank's structural adjustment programs contributed to urbanization in the Third World by creating incentives to move to cities. The World Bank and UN-Habitat in 1999 jointly established the Cities Alliance (based at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.) to guide policymaking, knowledge sharing, and grant distribution around the issue of urban poverty. (UN-Habitat plays an advisory role in evaluating the quality of a locality's governance.)
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has increasingly focused on cities as key sites for influencing cultural governance. It has developed various city networks including the International Coalition of Cities against Racism and the Creative Cities Network. UNESCO's capacity to select World Heritage Sites gives the organization significant influence over cultural capital, tourism, and historic preservation funding. Cain and Nimrod are the first city builders in the Book of Genesis. In Sumerian mythology Gilgamesh built the walls of Uruk.
Cities can be perceived in terms of extremes or opposites: at once liberating and oppressive, wealthy and poor, organized and chaotic. The name anti-urbanism refers to various types of ideological opposition to cities, whether because of their culture or their political relationship with the country. Such opposition may result from identification of cities with oppression and the ruling elite. This and other political ideologies strongly influence narratives and themes in discourse about cities.
Writers, painters, and filmmakers have produced innumerable works of art concerning the urban experience. Classical and medieval literature includes a genre of descriptiones which treat of city features and history. Modern authors such as Charles Dickens and James Joyce are famous for evocative descriptions of their home cities. Fritz Lang conceived the idea for his influential 1927 film Metropolis while visiting Times Square and marveling at the nighttime neon lighting. Other early cinematic representations of cities in the twentieth century generally depicted them as technologically efficient spaces with smoothly functioning systems of automobile transport. By the 1960s, however, traffic congestion began to appear in such films as The Fast Lady (1962) and Playtime (1967). and visions of a single world-encompassing ecumenopolis.
Gallery
See also
* Lists of cities
* List of adjectivals and demonyms for cities
* Compact city
* Eco-cities
* Lost city
* Megacity
* Metropolis
* Settlement hierarchy
* Urbanization
* Walking city
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Abrahamson, Mark (2004). Global Cities. Oxford University Press.
* Ashworth, G.J. War and the City. London & New York: Routledge, 1991. .
*
* Bridge, Gary, and Sophie Watson, eds. (2000). A Companion to the City. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2000/2003.
* Brighenti, Andrea Mubi, ed. (2013). Urban Interstices: The Aesthetics and the Politics of the In-between. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. .
* Carter, Harold (1995). The Study of Urban Geography. 4th ed. London: Arnold.
* Clark, Peter (ed.) (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History. Oxford University Press.
* Curtis, Simon (2016). Global Cities and Global Order. Oxford University Press.
* Ellul, Jacques (1970). The Meaning of the City. Translated by Dennis Pardee. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1970. ; French original (written earlier, published later as): Sans feu ni lieu : Signification biblique de la Grande Ville; Paris: Gallimard, 1975. Republished 2003 with
* Gupta, Joyetta, Karin Pfeffer, Hebe Verrest, & Mirjam Ros-Tonen, eds. (2015). Geographies of Urban Governance: Advanced Theories, Methods and Practices. Springer, 2015. .
* Hahn, Harlan, & Charles Levine (1980). Urban Politics: Past, Present, & Future. New York & London: Longman.
* Hanson, Royce (ed.). [https://www.nap.edu/read/561/chapter/1 Perspectives on Urban Infrastructure]. Committee on National Urban Policy, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council. Washington: National Academy Press, 1984.
* Herrschel, Tassilo & Peter Newman (2017). Cities as International Actors: Urban and Regional Governance Beyond the Nation State. Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature).
*
* Grava, Sigurd (2003). Urban Transportation Systems: Choices for Communities. McGraw Hill, e-book.
*
* Kaplan, David H.; James O. Wheeler; Steven R. Holloway; & Thomas W. Hodler, cartographer (2004). Urban Geography. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
* Kavaratzis, Mihalis, Gary Warnaby, & Gregory J. Ashworth, eds. (2015). Rethinking Place Branding: Comprehensive Brand Development for Cities and Regions. Springer. .
* Kraas, Frauke, Surinder Aggarwal, Martin Coy, & Günter Mertins, eds. (2014). Megacities: Our Global Urban Future. United Nations "International Year of Planet Earth" book series. Springer. .
*
* Leach, William (1993). Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture. New York: Vintage Books (Random House), 1994. .
* Levy, John M. (2017). Contemporary Urban Planning. 11th ed. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis).
* Magnusson, Warren. Politics of Urbanism: Seeing like a city. London & New York: Routledge, 2011. .
* Marshall, John U. (1989). The Structure of Urban Systems. University of Toronto Press. .
* Marzluff, John M., Eric Schulenberger, Wilfried Endlicher, Marina Alberti, Gordon Bradley, Clre Ryan, Craig ZumBrunne, & Ute Simon (2008). Urban Ecology: An International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature. New York: Springer Science+Business Media. .
* McQuillan, Eugene. The Law of Municipal Corporations, 3rd ed. 1987 revised volume by Charles R.P. Keating, Esq. Wilmette, Illinois: Callaghan & Company.
* Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl (1968). Matrix of Man: An Illustrated History of Urban Environment. New York: Frederick A Praeger.
* Mumford, Lewis (1961). The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects''. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
*
*
* Paddison, Ronan, ed. (2001). Handbook of Urban Studies. London; Thousand Oaks, California; and New Delhi: Sage Publications. .
*
*
* Rybczynski, W., City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World, (1995)
* Smith, Michael E. (2002) [http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-02-EarlyCities.pdf The Earliest Cities. In Urban Life: Readings in Urban Anthropology, edited by George Gmelch and Walter Zenner], pp. 3–19. 4th ed. Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL.
* Southall, Aidan (1998). The City in Time and Space. Cambridge University Press.
* Wellman, Kath & Marcus Spiller, eds. (2012). Urban Infrastructure: Finance and Management. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. .
Further reading
*
* Chandler, T. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987.
* Geddes, Patrick, City Development (1904)
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Robson, W.A., and Regan, D.E., ed., Great Cities of the World, (3d ed., 2 vol., 1972)
*
*
* Thernstrom, S., and Sennett, R., ed., Nineteenth-Century Cities (1969)
* Toynbee, Arnold J. (ed), Cities of Destiny, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. Pan historical/geographical essays, many images. Starts with "Athens", ends with "The Coming World City-Ecumenopolis".
* Weber, Max, The City, 1921. (tr. 1958)
External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170710184532/https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/index.htm World Urbanization Prospects], Website of the United Nations Population Division (archived 10 July 2017)
* [http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS Urban population (% of total)] – World Bank website based on UN data.
* [https://www.statista.com/statistics/270860/urbanization-by-continent/ Degree of urbanization (percentage of urban population in total population) by continent in 2016] – Statista, based on Population Reference Bureau data.
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Chervil
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Chervil (; Anthriscus cerefolium), sometimes called French parsley or garden chervil (to distinguish it from similar plants also called chervil), is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. It was formerly called myrhis due to its volatile oil with an aroma similar to the resinous substance myrrh. It is commonly used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture .
Name
The name chervil is from Anglo-Norman, from Latin or , meaning "leaves of joy"; the Latin is formed, as from an Ancient Greek word ().DescriptionThe plants grow to , with tripinnate leaves that may be curly. The small white flowers form small umbels, across. The fruit is about 1 cm long, oblong-ovoid with a slender, ridged beak. It is also grown frequently in the United States, where it sometimes escapes cultivation. Such escape can be recognized, however, as garden chervil is distinguished from all other Anthriscus species growing in North America (i.e., A. caucalis and A. sylvestris) by its having lanceolate-linear bracteoles and a fruit with a relatively long beak. Cultivation Transplanting chervil can be difficult, due to the long taproot.
Chervil grows to a height of , and a width of . It is used by some cooks as a garnish.
Chervil is one of the four traditional French , along with tarragon, chives, and parsley, which are essential to French cooking. Unlike the more pungent, robust herbs such as thyme and rosemary, which can take prolonged cooking, the are added at the last minute, to salads, omelettes, and soups.
Chemical constituents
Essential oil obtained via water distillation of wild Turkish Anthriscus cerefolium was analyzed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry identifying 4 compounds: methyl chavicol (83.10%), 1-allyl-2,4-dimethoxybenzene (15.15%), undecane (1.75%) and β-pinene (<0.01%).HorticultureAccording to some, slugs are attracted to chervil and the plant is sometimes used to bait them.HealthChervil has had various uses in folk medicine. It was claimed to be useful as a digestive aid, for lowering high blood pressure, and, infused with vinegar, for curing hiccups. Besides its digestive properties, it is used as a mild stimulant.ReferencesFurther reading*
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Category:Apioideae
Category:Edible Apiaceae
Category:Herbs
Category:Medicinal plants of Asia
Category:Medicinal plants of Europe
Category:Root vegetables
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Chives
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long and broad, and grow in dense clusters from the roots. The scapes (or stems) are hollow and tubular, up to long and across, with a soft texture, although, prior to the emergence of a flower, they may appear stiffer than usual. The grass-like leaves,
Chives are the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds. Sometimes, the plants found in North America are classified as A. schoenoprasum var. sibiricum, although this is disputed. Differences between specimens are significant. One example was found in northern Maine growing solitary, instead of in clumps, also exhibiting dingy grey flowers.
Similar species
Close relatives of chives include common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and Chinese onion.
The terete hollow leaves distinguish the plant from Allium tuberosum (garlic chives).
Taxonomy
It was formally described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication Species Plantarum in 1753.
The name of the species derives from the Greek σχοίνος, skhoínos (sedge or rush) and πράσον, práson (leek). Its English name, chives, derives from the French word cive, from cepa, the Latin word for onion. In the Middle Ages, it was known as 'rush leek'.
*Allium schoenoprasum subsp. latiorifolium <small>(Pau) Rivas Mart., Fern.Gonz. & Sánchez Mata</small>
Varieties have also been proposed, including A. schoenoprasum var. sibiricum. The Flora of North America notes that the species is very variable, and considers recognition of varieties as "unsound".Distribution and habitatChives are native to temperate areas of Europe, Asia and North America.
Range
Chives have a wide natural range across much of the Northern Hemisphere.
In Asia it is native from the Ural Mountains in Russia to Kamchatka in the far east. Likewise its natural range in China only extends to Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, though it is also found in adjacent Mongolia. It is native to all the nations of the Caucasus. However, in Central Asia it is only found in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. To the south its range also extends to Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Western Himalayas in India.
In other areas of the Americas chives grow as an introduced plant in Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Trinidad, Colombia, Bolivia, and the southern part of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego.
The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 10 for most nectar production (nectar per unit cover per year) in a United Kingdom plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. Cultivation
'' (1804)]]
Chives have been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages (from the fifth until the 15th centuries), although their usage dates back 5,000 years.
Chives thrive in well-drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6–7 and full sun. They can be grown from seed and mature in summer, or early the following spring. Typically, chives need to be germinated at a temperature of and kept moist. They can also be planted under a cloche or germinated indoors in cooler climates, then planted out later. After at least four weeks, the young shoots should be ready to be planted out. They are also easily propagated by division.
In cold regions, chives die back to the underground bulbs in winter, with the new leaves appearing in early spring. Chives starting to look old can be cut back to about 2–5 cm. When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base.
Uses
Culinary arts
Chives are grown for their scapes and leaves, which are used for culinary purposes as a flavoring herb, and provide a somewhat milder onion-like flavor than those of other Allium species. The edible flowers are used in salads, or used to make blossom vinegars. Both the scapes and the unopened, immature flower buds are diced and used as an ingredient for omelettes, fish, potatoes, soups, and many other dishes.
Chives have a wide variety of culinary uses, such as in traditional dishes in France, Sweden, and elsewhere. In his 1806 book Attempt at a Flora (Försök til en flora), Anders Jahan Retzius describes how chives are used with pancakes, soups, fish, and sandwiches.
In Poland and Germany, chives are served with quark. Chives are one of the fines herbes of French cuisine, the others being tarragon, chervil and parsley. Chives can be found fresh at most markets year-round, making them readily available; they can also be dry-frozen without much impairment to the taste, giving home growers the opportunity to store large quantities harvested from their own gardens. The growing plant repels unwanted insect life, and the juice of the leaves can be used for the same purpose, as well as fighting fungal infections, mildew, and scab.
In culture
In Europe, chives were sometimes referred to as "rush leeks".
It was mentioned in 80 A.D. by Marcus Valerius Martialis in his "Epigrams".
External links
*
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061016183933/http://www.foodgenius.com/index.cgi?ndb_no11156&actionnutrition Nutritional Information]
*
* [http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/chives65.html Mrs. Grieve's "A Modern Herbal" @ Botanical.com]
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Category:Allium
Category:Flora of temperate Asia
Category:Flora of Europe
Category:Flora of Northern America
Category:Garden plants
Category:Herbs
Category:Medicinal plants of Asia
Category:Medicinal plants of Europe
Category:Medicinal plants of North America
Category:Plants described in 1753
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Chris Morris (satirist)
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| birth_place = Colchester, Essex, England
| occupation =
| yearsactive = 1986–present
| children = 2
| spouse = Jo Unwin
| relatives = Tom Morris (brother)
}}
Christopher J. Morris (born 15 June 1962) is an English comedian, radio presenter, actor and filmmaker. Known for his deadpan, dark humour, surrealism and controversial subject matter, he has been praised by the British Film Institute for his "uncompromising, moralistic drive".
Morris teamed up with his radio producer Armando Iannucci in the early 1990s to create On the Hour, a satire of news programmes. A television spin off, The Day Today, launched the career of comedian Steve Coogan and was hailed as one of the most important satirical shows of the 1990s. Morris further developed the satirical news format with Brass Eye, which lampooned celebrities whilst focusing on themes such as crime and drugs. For some, the apotheosis of Morris's career was a Brass Eye special dealing with the moral panic surrounding paedophilia. It became one of the most complained-about programmes in British television history, leading the Daily Mail to describe him as "the most loathed man on TV".
Morris's similarly controversial postmodern sketch comedy and ambient music radio show Blue Jam gained a cult following. It was adapted into the TV series Jam, hailed as "the most radical and original television programme broadcast in years", and Morris won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film after expanding a Blue Jam sketch into My Wrongs 8245–8249 & 117 starring Paddy Considine. Nathan Barley, a sitcom written in collaboration with then little-known Charlie Brooker that satirised hipsters, had low ratings but success with its DVD release. Morris joined the cast of sitcom The IT Crowd, his first project in which he did not have writing or producing input.
In 2010, Morris directed his feature-length film, Four Lions, which satirised Islamic terrorism through its portrayal of a group of inept British Muslims. Reception was largely positive, earning Morris his second BAFTA Film Award, this time for Outstanding Debut. He has directed four episodes of Iannucci's political comedy Veep and appeared onscreen in The Double and ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle also serving as script-editor for the latter. His second feature-length film, The Day Shall Come'', was released in 2019.
Early life
Christopher J. Morris was born on 15 June 1962 in Colchester, Essex, and Paul Michael Morris. His father was a GP. Morris has a large red birthmark almost completely covering the left side of his face and neck, which he disguises with makeup when acting. He grew up in a Victorian farmhouse in the village of Buckden, Cambridgeshire, which he described as "very dull". He has two younger brothers, including theatre director Tom Morris. From an early age, he was a prankster and had a passion for radio. From the age of 10, he was educated at the independent Jesuit boarding school Stonyhurst College in Stonyhurst, Lancashire. He went to study zoology at the University of Bristol, where he gained a 2:1.CareerRadioOn graduating, Morris pursued a career as a musician in various bands, for which he played the bass guitar. He then went to work for Radio West, a local radio station in Bristol. He then took up a news traineeship with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, where he took advantage of access to editing and recording equipment to create elaborate spoofs and parodies. He also spent time in early 1987 hosting a 2–4pm afternoon show and finally ended up presenting Saturday morning show I.T.
In July 1987, he moved on to BBC Radio Bristol to present his own show, No Known Cure, broadcast on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The show was surreal and satirical, with odd interviews conducted with unsuspecting members of the public. He was fired from Bristol in 1990 after "talking over the news bulletins and making silly noises". In 1988 he also joined, from its launch, Greater London Radio (GLR). He presented The Chris Morris Show on GLR until 1993, when one show got suspended after a sketch was broadcast involving a child "outing" celebrities.
In 1991, Morris joined Armando Iannucci's spoof news project On the Hour. Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it saw him work alongside Iannucci, Steve Coogan, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and Rebecca Front.
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In 1994, a BBC Two television series based on On the Hour was broadcast under the name The Day Today. The Day Today made a star of Morris, and marked the television debut of Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge character. The programme ended on a high after just one series, with Morris winning the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer for his lead role as the Paxmanesque news anchor.
In 1996, Morris appeared on the daytime programme The Time, The Place, posing as an academic, Thurston Lowe, in a discussion entitled "Are British Men Lousy Lovers?", but was found out when a producer alerted the show's host, John Stapleton. The second episode of Brass Eye, for example, satirised drugs and the political rhetoric surrounding them. To help convey the satire, Morris invented a fictional drug by the name of "cake". In the episode, British celebrities and politicians describe the supposed symptoms in detail; David Amess mentioned the fictional drug at Parliament. In 2001, Morris satirised the moral panic regarding paedophilia in the most controversial episode of Brass Eye, "Paedogeddon". Channel 4 apologised for the episode after receiving criticism from tabloids and around 3,000 complaints from viewers, which, at the time, was the most for an episode of British television.). Co-written by Brooker and Morris, the series was broadcast on Channel 4 in early 2005.
The IT Crowd and Comedy Vehicle
Morris appeared in The IT Crowd, a Channel 4 sitcom which focuses on the information technology department of the fictional company Reynholm Industries. The series was written and directed by Graham Linehan (with whom Morris collaborated on The Day Today, Brass Eye and Jam) and produced by Ash Atalla. Morris played Denholm Reynholm, the eccentric managing director of the company. This marked the first time Morris had acted in a substantial role in a project which he has not developed himself. Morris's character was killed off during episode two of the second series. His character made a brief return in the first episode of the third series.
In November 2007, Morris wrote an article for The Observer in response to Ronan Bennett's article published six days earlier in The Guardian. Bennett's article, "Shame on us", accused the novelist Martin Amis of racism. Morris's response, "The absurd world of Martin Amis", was also highly critical of Amis; although he did not accede to Bennett's accusation of racism, Morris likened Amis to the Muslim cleric Abu Hamza (who was jailed for inciting racial hatred in 2006), suggesting that both men employ "mock erudition, vitriol and decontextualised quotes from the Qu'ran" to incite hatred.
Morris served as script editor for the 2009 series ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, working with former colleagues Stewart Lee, Kevin Eldon and Armando Iannucci. He maintained this role for the second (2011) and third series (2014), also appearing as a mock interviewer dubbed the "hostile interrogator" in the third and fourth series.
Four Lions, Veep'', and other appearances
Morris completed his debut feature film Four Lions in late 2009, a satire based on a group of Islamist terrorists in Sheffield.
It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010 and was short-listed for the festival's World Cinema Narrative prize. The film (working title Boilerhouse) was picked up by Film Four. Morris told The Sunday Times that the film sought to do for Islamic terrorism what ''Dad's Army'', the classic BBC comedy, did for the Nazis by showing them as "scary but also ridiculous".
In 2012, Morris directed the seventh and penultimate episode of the first season of Veep, an Armando Iannucci-devised American version of The Thick of It. In 2013, he returned to direct two episodes for the second season of Veep, and a further episode for season three in 2014.
In 2013, Morris appeared briefly in Richard Ayoade's The Double, a black comedy film based on the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novella of the same name. Morris had previously worked with Ayoade on Nathan Barley and The IT Crowd.
In February 2014, Morris made a surprise appearance at the beginning of a Stewart Lee live show, introducing the comedian with fictional anecdotes about their work together. The following month, Morris appeared in the third series of ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' as a "hostile interrogator", a role previously occupied by Armando Iannucci.
In December 2014, it was announced that a short radio collaboration with Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade would be broadcast on BBC Radio 6. According to Fielding, the work had been in progress since around 2006. However, in January 2015 it was decided, 'in consultation with [Morris]', that the project was not yet complete, and so the intended broadcast did not go ahead.
The Day Shall Come
A statement released by Film4 in February 2016 made reference to funding what would be Morris's second feature film. In November 2017 it was reported that Morris had shot the movie, starring Anna Kendrick, in the Dominican Republic but the title was not made public. It was later reported in January 2018 that Jim Gaffigan and Rupert Friend had joined the cast of the still-untitled film, and that the plot would revolve around an FBI hostage situation gone wrong. The completed film, titled The Day Shall Come, had its world premiere at South by Southwest on 11 March 2019.
Music
Morris often co-writes and performs incidental music for his television shows, notably with Jam and the 'extended remix' version, Jaaaaam. In the early 1990s Morris contributed a Pixies parody track entitled "Motherbanger" to a flexi-disc given away with an edition of Select music magazine. Morris supplied sketches for British band Saint Etienne's 1993 single "You're in a Bad Way" (the sketch 'Spongbake' appears at the end of the 4th track on the CD single).
In 2000, Morris collaborated by mail with Amon Tobin to create the track "Bad Sex", which was released as a B-side on the Tobin single "Slowly".
Anglo-French band Stereolab's song "Nothing to Do with Me" from their 2001 album Sound-Dust featured various lines from Chris Morris sketches as lyrics.
Style
Ramsey Ess of Vulture described Morris's comedy style as "crass" and "shocking", but noted an "underlying morality" and integrity, as well as the humour being Morris's priority. In 2005, Channel 4 aired a show called ''The Comedian's Comedian'' in which foremost writers and performers of comedy ranked their 50 favourite acts. Morris was at number eleven. Morris won the BAFTA for outstanding debut with his film Four Lions. Adeel Akhtar and Nigel Lindsay collected the award in his absence. Lindsay stated that Morris had sent him a text message before they collected the award reading, 'Doused in petrol, Zippo at the ready'. In June 2012 Morris was placed at number 16 in the Top 100 People in UK Comedy.
In 2010, a biography, Disgusting Bliss: The Brass Eye of Chris Morris, was published. Written by Lucian Randall, the book depicted Morris as "brilliant but uncompromising", and a "frantic-minded perfectionist".
In November 2014, BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast a three-hour retrospective of Morris's radio career called 'Raw Meat Radio', which was presented by Mary Anne Hobbs and featured interviews with Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham, Paul Garner, and others.Awards
Morris won the Best TV Comedy Newcomer award from the British Comedy Awards in 1994 for his performance in The Day Today. He has won two BAFTA awards: the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film in 2002 for My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117, and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British director, writer or producer in 2011 for Four Lions.Personal lifeMorris and his wife, actress-turned-literary agent Jo Unwin, live in the Brixton district of London. The pair met in 1984 at the Edinburgh Festival, when he was playing bass guitar for the Cambridge Footlights Revue and she was in a comedy troupe called the Millies.<ref nameautogenerated2 /> They have two sons.<ref nameautogenerated2 />WorksFilm{| class"wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="margin-right: 0;"
|-
! rowspan"2" scope"col" | Title
! rowspan"2" scope"col" | Year
! colspan"5" scope"col" | Functioned as
! rowspan"2" scope"col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
! scope="col" | Director
! scope="col" | Writer
! scope="col" | Producer
! scope="col" | Appeared
! scope="col" | Role
|-
! scope="row"| My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117
| 2002
|
|
|
|
| Rothko (voice)
| Short film; also composer and sound designer
|-
! scope="row"| Four Lions
| 2010
|
|
|
|
| Commentator on end credits (voice)
|
|-
! scope="row"| The Double
| 2013
|
|
|
|
| Workers' Services Executive
|
|-
! scope="row"| The Day Shall Come
| 2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|}
Television
{| class"wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style"margin-right: 0;"
|-
! rowspan"2" scope"col" | Title
! rowspan"2" scope"col" | Year
! colspan"5" scope"col" | Functioned as
! rowspan"2" scope"col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
! scope="col" | Director
! scope="col" | Writer
! scope="col" | Producer
! scope="col" | Appeared
! scope="col" | Role
|-
! scope="row"| Spitting Image
| 1984
|
|
|
|
|
| Episode: "#1.11"
|-
! scope="row"| Up Yer News
| 1990
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! scope="row"| The Day Today
| 1994
|
|
|
|
| Christopher Morris / Ted Maul / Various characters
| 6 episodes; also creator and composer
|-
! scope="row"| ''I'm Alan Partridge
| 1997
|
|
|
|
| Peter Baxendale Thomas
| Episode: "Watership Alan"
|-
! scope="row"| Brass Eye
| 1997, 2001
|
|
|
|
| Christopher Morris / Ted Maul / Various characters
| 7 episodes; also creator and composer
|-
! scope="row"| Big Train
| 1998
|
|
|
|
| Narrator of Jockey Doco (voice)
| Episode: "Episode #1.2"
|-
! scope="row"| Jam
| 2000
|
|
|
|
| Chris / Various characters
| 6 episodes; also creator and composer
|-
! scope="row"| Nathan Barley
| 2005
|
|
|
|
| Place VO (voice)
| 6 episodes; also creator and composer
|-
! scope="row"| The IT Crowd
| 2006–2008
|
|
|
|
| Denholm Reynholm
| 7 episodes
|-
! scope="row"| Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
| 2009–2016
|
|
|
|
| Interviewer
| Script editor
|-
! scope="row"| Veep
| 2012–2014
|
|
|
|
| Newsreader (voice)
| Directed four episodes, appeared in episode: "Full Disclosure"
|-
|}
Other
* Various works at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (1986–1987) (presenter)
* No Known Cure (July 1987 – March 1990, BBC Radio Bristol) (presenter)
* Chris Morris (1988–1993, BBC GLR) (presenter)
* Morning Edition (July 1990, BBC Radio 5) (guest presenter)
* The Chris Morris Christmas Show (25 December 1990, BBC Radio 1)
* On the Hour (1991–1992, BBC Radio 4) (co-writer, performer)
* It's Only TV (September 1992, LWT) (unbroadcast pilot)
* Why Bother? (1994, BBC Radio 3) (performer, editor)
* The Chris Morris Music Show (1994, BBC Radio 1) (presenter)
* Blue Jam (1997–1999, BBC Radio 1) (writer, director, performer, editor)
* Second Class Male/Time To Go (1999, satirical newspaper column for The Observer)
* The Smokehammer (2002, website)
* Absolute Atrocity Special (2002, newspaper pullout for The Observer'')
References
External links
*
*
*
Category:1962 births
Category:Living people
Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol
Category:Comedians from Essex
Category:English film directors
Category:English male comedians
Category:English male screenwriters
Category:English male television actors
Category:English radio DJs
Category:English radio writers
Category:English satirists
Category:English screenwriters
Category:Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer BAFTA Award winners
Category:People educated at Stonyhurst College
Category:People from Buckden, Cambridgeshire
Category:People from Colchester
Category:Television show creators
Category:English columnists
Category:British satirical columnists
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_(satirist)
|
2025-04-05T18:27:11.307552
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5399
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Colorado
|
5,957,493
| population_rank = 21st <!-- 2022 -->
| population_density_rank = 37th <!-- 2022 -->
| 2020Density 21.72 <!-- Population/LandArea --> <!-- 2022 -->
| 2020DensityUS 56.25 <!-- Population/LandAreaUS --> <!-- 2022 -->
| MedianHouseholdIncome $ (2<span>0</span>23)
| IncomeRank = 9th
| AdmittanceOrder = 38th
| AdmittanceDate
| elevation_max_m = 4401.2
| elevation_max_ft = 14,440
| elevation_m = 2070
| elevation_ft = 6,800
| elevation_min_point Arikaree River other variants; }} is a state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, and Oklahoma to the southeast. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth-largest U.S. state by area and the 21st by population. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population of Colorado to be 5,957,493 as of July 1, 2024, a 3.2% increase from the 2020 United States census.
The region has been inhabited by Native Americans and their ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly much longer. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route for early peoples who spread throughout the Americas. In 1848, much of the Nuevo México region was annexed to the United States with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1858–1862 created an influx of settlers. On February 28, 1861, U.S. President James Buchanan signed an act creating the Territory of Colorado, Major parts of the economy include government and defense, mining, agriculture, tourism, and increasingly other kinds of manufacturing. With increasing temperatures and decreasing water availability, Colorado's agriculture forestry and tourism economies are expected to be heavily affected by climate change.History
of Mesa Verde, photographed by Gustaf Nordenskiöld in 1891]]
on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail.]]
The region that is today the State of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Lindenmeier site in Larimer County contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE. The Ancient Pueblo peoples lived in the valleys and mesas of the Colorado Plateau in far southwestern Colorado. The Ute Nation inhabited the mountain valleys of the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Western Rocky Mountains, even as far east as the Front Range of the present day. The Apache and the Comanche also inhabited the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the state. In the 17th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne moved west from the Great Lakes region to hunt across the High Plains of Colorado and Wyoming.
The Spanish Empire claimed Colorado as part of Nuevo México. The U.S. acquired the territorial claim to the eastern Rocky Mountains with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. This U.S. claim conflicted with the claim by Spain to the upper Arkansas River Basin. In 1806, Zebulon Pike led a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition into the disputed region. Colonel Pike and his troops were arrested by Spanish cavalrymen in the San Luis Valley the following February, taken to Chihuahua, and expelled from Mexico the following July.
The U.S. relinquished its claim to all land south and west of the Arkansas River and south of 42nd parallel north and west of the 100th meridian west as part of its purchase of Florida from Spain with the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. The treaty took effect on February 22, 1821. Having settled its border with Spain, the U.S. admitted the southeastern portion of the Territory of Missouri to the Union as the state of Missouri on August 10, 1821. The remainder of Missouri Territory, including what would become northeastern Colorado, became an unorganized territory and remained so for 33 years over the question of slavery. After 11 years of war, Spain finally recognized the independence of Mexico with the Treaty of Córdoba signed on August 24, 1821. Mexico eventually ratified the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1831. The Texian Revolt of 1835–36 fomented a dispute between the U.S. and Mexico which eventually erupted into the Mexican–American War in 1846. Mexico surrendered its northern territory to the U.S. with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the war in 1848; this included much of the western and southern areas of Colorado.
, with the white representing the territory the United States received from Mexico (plus land ceded to the Republic of Texas) after the Mexican–American War. Well over half of Colorado was received from this treaty.]]
Most American settlers first traveled to Colorado through the Santa Fe Trail, which connected the U.S. to Santa Fe and the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro southward. Others were traveling overland west to the Oregon Country, the new goldfields of California, or the new Mormon settlements of the State of Deseret in the Salt Lake Valley, avoided the rugged Southern Rocky Mountains, and instead followed the North Platte River and Sweetwater River to South Pass (Wyoming), the lowest crossing of the Continental Divide between the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Central Rocky Mountains. In 1849, the Mormons of the Salt Lake Valley organized the extralegal State of Deseret, claiming the entire Great Basin and all lands drained by the rivers Green, Grand, and Colorado. The federal government of the U.S. flatly refused to recognize the new Mormon government because it was theocratic and sanctioned plural marriage. Instead, the Compromise of 1850 divided the Mexican Cession and the northwestern claims of Texas into a new state and two new territories, the state of California, the Territory of New Mexico, and the Territory of Utah. On April 9, 1851, Hispano settlers from the area of Taos settled the village of San Luis, then in the New Mexico Territory, as Colorado's first permanent Euro-American settlement, further cementing the traditions of New Mexican cuisine and New Mexico music in the developing Southern Rocky Mountain Front.
In 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas persuaded the U.S. Congress to divide the unorganized territory east of the Continental Divide into two new organized territories, the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, and an unorganized southern region known as the Indian Territory. Each new territory was to decide the fate of slavery within its boundaries, but this compromise merely served to fuel animosity between free soil and pro-slavery factions.
The gold seekers organized the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson on August 24, 1859, but this new territory failed to secure approval from the Congress of the United States embroiled in the debate over slavery. The election of Abraham Lincoln for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the secession of nine southern slave states and the threat of civil war among the states. Seeking to augment the political power of the Union states, the Republican Party-dominated Congress quickly admitted the eastern portion of the Territory of Kansas into the Union as the free State of Kansas on January 29, 1861, leaving the western portion of the Kansas Territory, and its gold-mining areas, as unorganized territory.
Territory act
, Utah, Kansas, and Nebraska before the creation of the Territory of Colorado]]
Thirty days later on February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an Act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado. In 1859, a U.S. Army topographic expedition led by Captain John Macomb located the confluence of the Green River with the Grand River in what is now Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The Macomb party designated the confluence as the source of the Colorado River.
On April 12, 1861, South Carolina artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter to start the American Civil War. While many gold seekers held sympathies for the Confederacy, the vast majority remained fiercely loyal to the Union cause.
In 1862, a force of Texas cavalry invaded the Territory of New Mexico and captured Santa Fe on March 10. The object of this Western Campaign was to seize or disrupt Colorado and California's gold fields and seize Pacific Ocean ports for the Confederacy. A hastily organized force of Colorado volunteers force-marched from Denver City, Colorado Territory, to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory, in an attempt to block the Texans. On March 28, the Coloradans and local New Mexico volunteers stopped the Texans at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, destroyed their cannon and supply wagons, and dispersed 500 of their horses and mules. The Texans were forced to retreat to Santa Fe. Having lost the supplies for their campaign and finding little support in New Mexico, the Texans abandoned Santa Fe and returned to San Antonio in defeat. The Confederacy made no further attempts to seize the Southwestern United States.
, photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1874]]
In 1864, Territorial Governor John Evans appointed the Reverend John Chivington as Colonel of the Colorado Volunteers with orders to protect white settlers from Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors who were accused of stealing cattle. Colonel Chivington ordered his troops to attack a band of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped along Sand Creek. Chivington reported that his troops killed more than 500 warriors. The militia returned to Denver City in triumph, but several officers reported that the so-called battle was a blatant massacre of Indians at peace, that most of the dead were women and children, and that the bodies of the dead had been hideously mutilated and desecrated. Three U.S. Army inquiries condemned the action, and incoming President Andrew Johnson asked Governor Evans for his resignation, but none of the perpetrators was ever punished. This event is now known as the Sand Creek massacre.
In the midst and aftermath of the Civil War, many discouraged prospectors returned to their homes, but a few stayed and developed mines, mills, farms, ranches, roads, and towns in Colorado Territory. On September 14, 1864, James Huff discovered silver near Argentine Pass, the first of many silver strikes. In 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad laid its tracks west to Weir, now Julesburg, in the northeast corner of the Territory. The Union Pacific linked up with the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, to form the First transcontinental railroad. The Denver Pacific Railway reached Denver in June of the following year, and the Kansas Pacific arrived two months later to forge the second line across the continent. In 1872, rich veins of silver were discovered in the San Juan Mountains on the Ute Indian reservation in southwestern Colorado. The Ute people were removed from the San Juan Mountains the following year.
Statehood
of the Colorado Central Railroad as photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1899]]
The United States Congress passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying the requirements for the Territory of Colorado to become a state. On August 1, 1876 (four weeks after the Centennial of the United States), U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker "Centennial State".
The discovery of a major silver lode near Leadville in 1878 triggered the Colorado Silver Boom. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 invigorated silver mining, and Colorado's last, but greatest, gold strike at Cripple Creek a few months later lured a new generation of gold seekers. Colorado women were granted the right to vote on November 7, 1893, making Colorado the second state to grant universal suffrage and the first one by a popular vote (of Colorado men). The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 led to a staggering collapse of the mining and agricultural economy of Colorado, but the state slowly and steadily recovered. Between the 1880s and 1930s, Denver's floriculture industry developed into a major industry in Colorado. This period became known locally as the Carnation Gold Rush.
Twentieth and twenty-first centuries
in the aftermath of the 1914 massacre.]]
Poor labor conditions and discontent among miners resulted in several major clashes between strikers and the Colorado National Guard, including the 1903–1904 Western Federation of Miners Strike and Colorado Coalfield War, the latter of which included the Ludlow massacre that killed a dozen women and children. Both the 1913–1914 Coalfield War and the Denver streetcar strike of 1920 resulted in federal troops intervening to end the violence. In 1927, the 1927-28 Colorado coal strike occurred and was ultimately successful in winning a dollar a day increase in wages. During it however the Columbine Mine massacre resulted in six dead strikers following a confrontation with Colorado Rangers. In a separate incident in Trinidad the mayor was accused of deputizing members of the KKK against the striking workers. More than 5,000 Colorado miners—many immigrants—are estimated to have died in accidents since records were first formally collected following an 1884 accident in Crested Butte that killed 59.
In 1924, the Ku Klux Klan Colorado Realm achieved dominance in Colorado politics. With peak membership levels, the Second Klan levied significant control over both the local and state Democrat and Republican parties, particularly in the governor's office and city governments of Denver, Cañon City, and Durango. A particularly strong element of the Klan controlled the Denver Police. Cross burnings became semi-regular occurrences in cities such as Florence and Pueblo. The Klan targeted African-Americans, Catholics, Eastern European immigrants, and other non-White Protestant groups. Efforts by non-Klan lawmen and lawyers including Philip Van Cise led to a rapid decline in the organization's power, with membership waning significantly by the end of the 1920s.
in 1961]]
From the 1940s and 1970s, many protest movements gained momentum in Colorado, predominantly in Denver. This included the Chicano Movement, a civil rights, and social movement of Mexican Americans emphasizing a Chicano identity that is widely considered to have begun in Denver. The National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference was held in Colorado in March 1969.
In 1967, Colorado was the first state to loosen restrictions on abortion when governor John Love signed a law allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the woman's mental or physical health. Many states followed Colorado's lead in loosening abortion laws in the 1960s and 1970s.
Since the late 1990s, Colorado has been the site of multiple major mass shootings, including the infamous Columbine High School massacre in 1999 which made international news, where two gunmen killed 12 students and one teacher, before committing suicide. The incident has spawned many copycat incidents. On July 20, 2012, a gunman killed 12 people in a movie theater in Aurora. The state responded with tighter restrictions on firearms, including introducing a limit on magazine capacity. On March 22, 2021, a gunman killed 10 people, including a police officer, in a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder. In an instance of anti-LGBT violence, a gunman killed 5 people at a nightclub in Colorado Springs during the night of November 19–20, 2022.
Four warships of the U.S. Navy have been named the USS Colorado. The first USS Colorado was named for the Colorado River and served in the Civil War and later the Asiatic Squadron, where it was attacked during the 1871 Korean Expedition. The later three ships were named in honor of the state, including an armored cruiser and the battleship USS Colorado, the latter of which was the lead ship of her class and served in World War II in the Pacific beginning in 1941. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleship USS Colorado was located at the naval base in San Diego, California, and thus went unscathed. The most recent vessel to bear the name USS Colorado is Virginia-class submarine USS Colorado (SSN-788), which was commissioned in 2018.
Geography
Colorado is notable for its diverse geography, which includes alpine mountains, high plains, deserts with huge sand dunes, and deep canyons. In 1861, the United States Congress defined the boundaries of the new Territory of Colorado exclusively by lines of latitude and longitude, stretching from 37°N to 41°N latitude, and from 102°02′48″W to 109°02′48″W longitude (25°W to 32°W from the Washington Meridian). After years of government surveys, the borders of Colorado were officially defined by 697 boundary markers and 697 straight boundary lines. Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah are the only states that have their borders defined solely by straight boundary lines with no natural features. The southwest corner of Colorado is the Four Corners Monument at 36°59′56″N, 109°2′43″W. southeast of the 37°N, 109°02′48″W location Congress originally designated.}} The Four Corners Monument, located at the place where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet, is the only place in the United States where four states meet. The Colorado plains are mostly prairies but also include deciduous forests, buttes, and canyons. Precipitation averages annually.
Eastern Colorado is presently mainly farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages and towns. Corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops. Most villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from both surface and subterranean sources. Surface water sources include the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams. Subterranean water is generally accessed through artesian wells. Heavy usage of these wells for irrigation purposes caused underground water reserves to decline in the region. Eastern Colorado also hosts a considerable amount and range of livestock, such as cattle ranches and hog farms.Front Range
Peaks west of Denver]]
Roughly 70% of Colorado's population resides along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is partially protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The "Front Range" includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Castle Rock, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley, and other townships and municipalities in between. On the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in western Colorado (which is known as "The Western Slope") are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose.
Mountains
at is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains and Colorado.]]
To the west of the Great Plains of Colorado rises the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Notable peaks of the Rocky Mountains include Longs Peak, Mount Blue Sky, Pikes Peak, and the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg, in southern Colorado. This area drains to the east and the southeast, ultimately either via the Mississippi River or the Rio Grande into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Rocky Mountains within Colorado contain 53 true peaks and 58 named peaks that are or higher in elevation above sea level, known as fourteeners. These mountains are largely covered with trees such as conifers and aspens up to the tree line, at an elevation of about in southern Colorado to about in northern Colorado. Above this tree line, only alpine vegetation grows.
Much of the alpine snow melts by mid-August except for a few snow-capped peaks and a few small glaciers. The Colorado Mineral Belt, stretching from the San Juan Mountains in the southwest to Boulder and Central City on the front range, contains most of the historic gold- and silver-mining districts of Colorado. The 30 highest major summits of the Rocky Mountains of North America are all within the state.
The summit of Mount Elbert at elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains of North America. Colorado is the only U.S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado, and into Cheyenne County, Kansas, is the lowest in Colorado at elevation. This point, which is the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia.Continental Divide, at , is the highest point on the Continental Divide in North America.]]
The Continental Divide of the Americas extends along the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The area of Colorado to the west of the Continental Divide is called the Western Slope of Colorado. West of the Continental Divide, water flows to the southwest via the Colorado River and the Green River towards the Gulf of California.
Within the interior of the Rocky Mountains are several large parks which are high broad basins. In the north, on the east side of the Continental Divide is the North Park of Colorado. The North Park is drained by the North Platte River, which flows north into Wyoming and Nebraska. Just to the south of North Park, but on the western side of the Continental Divide, is the Middle Park of Colorado, which is drained by the Colorado River. The South Park of Colorado is the region of the headwaters of the South Platte River.
South Central region
In south-central Colorado is the large San Luis Valley, where the headwaters of the Rio Grande are located. The northern part of the valley is the San Luis Closed Basin, an endorheic basin that helped created the Great Sand Dunes. The valley sits between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and San Juan Mountains. The Rio Grande drains due south into New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. Across the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east of the San Luis Valley lies the Wet Mountain Valley. These basins, particularly the San Luis Valley, lie along the Rio Grande rift, a major geological formation of the Rocky Mountains, and its branches.
Western Slope
, at , is part of White River National Forest and a tourist destination]]
The Western Slope of Colorado includes the western face of the Rocky Mountains and all of the area to the western border. This area includes several terrains and climates from alpine mountains to arid deserts. The Western Slope includes many ski resort towns in the Rocky Mountains and towns west to Utah. It is less populous than the Front Range but includes a large number of national parks and monuments.
The northwestern corner of Colorado is a sparsely populated region, and it contains part of the noted Dinosaur National Monument, which not only is a paleontological area, but is also a scenic area of rocky hills, canyons, arid desert, and streambeds. Here, the Green River briefly crosses over into Colorado.
The Western Slope of Colorado is drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries (primarily the Gunnison River, Green River, and the San Juan River). The Colorado River flows through Glenwood Canyon, and then through an arid valley made up of desert from Rifle to Parachute, through the desert canyon of De Beque Canyon, and into the arid desert of Grand Valley, where the city of Grand Junction is located.
Also prominent is the Grand Mesa, which lies to the southeast of Grand Junction; the high San Juan Mountains, a rugged mountain range; and to the north and west of the San Juan Mountains, the Colorado Plateau.
Grand Junction, Colorado, at the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers, is the largest city on the Western Slope. Grand Junction and Durango are the only major centers of television broadcasting west of the Continental Divide in Colorado, though most mountain resort communities publish daily newspapers. Grand Junction is located at the juncture of Interstate 70 and US 50, the only major highways in western Colorado. Grand Junction is also along the major railroad of the Western Slope, the Union Pacific. This railroad also provides the tracks for Amtrak's California Zephyr passenger train, which crosses the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Grand Junction.
The Western Slope includes multiple notable destinations in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, including Glenwood Springs, with its resort hot springs, and the ski resorts of Aspen, Breckenridge, Vail, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, and Telluride.
Higher education in and near the Western Slope can be found at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Fort Lewis College in Durango, and Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs and Steamboat Springs.
The Four Corners Monument in the southwest corner of Colorado marks the common boundary of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah; the only such place in the United States.
Climate
of Colorado, using 1991–2020 climate normals]]
The climate of Colorado is more complex than states outside of the Mountain States region. Unlike most other states, southern Colorado is not always warmer than northern Colorado. Most of Colorado is made up of mountains, foothills, high plains, and desert lands. Mountains and surrounding valleys greatly affect the local climate. Northeast, east, and southeast Colorado are mostly the high plains, while Northern Colorado is a mix of high plains, foothills, and mountains. Northwest and west Colorado are predominantly mountainous, with some desert lands mixed in. Southwest and southern Colorado are a complex mixture of desert and mountain areas.
Eastern Plains
The climate of the Eastern Plains is semi-arid (Köppen climate classification: BSk) with low humidity and moderate precipitation, usually from annually, although many areas near the rivers are semi-humid climate. The area is known for its abundant sunshine and cool, clear nights, which give this area a great average diurnal temperature range. The difference between the highs of the days and the lows of the nights can be considerable as warmth dissipates to space during clear nights, the heat radiation not being trapped by clouds. The Front Range urban corridor, where most of the population of Colorado resides, lies in a pronounced precipitation shadow as a result of being on the lee side of the Rocky Mountains.
In summer, this area can have many days above and often . On the plains, the winter lows usually range from . About 75% of the precipitation falls within the growing season, from April to September, but this area is very prone to droughts. Most of the precipitation comes from thunderstorms, which can be severe, and from major snowstorms that occur in the winter and early spring. Otherwise, winters tend to be mostly dry and cold.
In much of the region, March is the snowiest month. April and May are normally the rainiest months, while April is the wettest month overall. The Front Range cities closer to the mountains tend to be warmer in the winter due to Chinook winds which warms the area, sometimes bringing temperatures of or higher in the winter.Extreme weatherExtreme weather changes are common in Colorado, although a significant portion of the extreme weather occurs in the least populated areas of the state. Thunderstorms are common east of the Continental Divide in the spring and summer, yet are usually brief. Hail is a common sight in the mountains east of the Divide and across the eastern Plains, especially the northeast part of the state. Hail is the most commonly reported warm-season severe weather hazard, and occasionally causes human injuries, as well as significant property damage. The eastern Plains are subject to some of the biggest hail storms in North America. and May 8, 2017, the latter being the costliest ever in the state.
The Eastern Plains are part of the extreme western portion of Tornado Alley; some damaging tornadoes in the Eastern Plains include the 1990 Limon F3 tornado and the 2008 Windsor EF3 tornado, which devastated a small town. Portions of the eastern Plains see especially frequent tornadoes, both those spawned from mesocyclones in supercell thunderstorms and from less intense landspouts, such as within the Denver convergence vorticity zone (DCVZ). the Big Thompson River flooding of 1976 and the 2013 Colorado floods. Hot weather is common during summers in Denver. The city's record in 1901 for the number of consecutive days above was broken during the summer of 2008. The new record of 24 consecutive days surpassed the previous record by almost a week.
Much of Colorado is very dry, with the state averaging only of precipitation per year statewide. The state rarely experiences a time when some portion is not in some degree of drought. The lack of precipitation contributes to the severity of wildfires in the state, such as the Hayman Fire of 2002. Other notable fires include the Fourmile Canyon Fire of 2010, the Waldo Canyon Fire and High Park Fire of June 2012, and the Black Forest Fire of June 2013. Even these fires were exceeded in severity by the Pine Gulch Fire, Cameron Peak Fire, and East Troublesome Fire in 2020, all being the three largest fires in Colorado history (see 2020 Colorado wildfires). And the Marshall Fire which started on December 30, 2021, while not the largest in state history, was the most destructive ever in terms of property loss (see Marshall Fire).
However, some of the mountainous regions of Colorado receive a huge amount of moisture from winter snowfalls. The spring melts of these snows often cause great waterflows in the Yampa River, the Colorado River, the Rio Grande, the Arkansas River, the North Platte River, and the South Platte River.
Water flowing out of the Colorado Rocky Mountains is a very significant source of water for the farms, towns, and cities of the southwest states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, as well as the Midwest, such as Nebraska and Kansas, and the southern states of Oklahoma and Texas. A significant amount of water is also diverted for use in California; occasionally (formerly naturally and consistently), the flow of water reaches northern Mexico.
Climate change
RecordsThe highest official ambient air temperature ever recorded in Colorado was on July 20, 2019, at John Martin Dam. The lowest official air temperature was on February 1, 1985, at Maybell.
{| class="wikitable" "text-align:center; font-size:90%; margin: 1em auto;"|
|+ Monthly normal high and low temperatures for various Colorado cities
|+<span style"color:#c00;">(°F)</span> <span style"color:#008800">(°C)</span>
|-
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000; height:17px;"| City
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Jan
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Feb
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Mar
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Apr
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| May
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Jun
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Jul
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Aug
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Sep
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Oct
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Nov
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:#000;"| Dec
|-
! style="background:#f8f3ca; color:#000; height:16px; text-align:left;"| Alamosa
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 34/−2<br /><span style"color:#008800">2/−19</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 40/6<br /><span style"color:#008800">4/−14</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 50/17<br /><span style"color:#008800">10/−8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 59/24<br /><span style"color:#008800">15/−4</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 69/33<br /><span style"color:#008800">21/1</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 79/41<br /><span style"color:#008800">26/5</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 82/47<br /><span style"color:#008800">28/8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 80/46<br /><span style"color:#008800">27/8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 73/40<br /><span style"color:#008800">23/4</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 62/25<br /><span style"color:#008800">17/−4</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 47/12<br /><span style"color:#008800">8/−11</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 35/1<br /><span style"color:#008800">2/−17</span>
|-
! style="background:#c5dfe1; color:#000; height:16px; text-align:left;"| Colorado Springs
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 43/18<br /><span style"color:#008800">6/−8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 45/20<br /><span style"color:#008800">7/−7</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 52/26<br /><span style"color:#008800">11/−3</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 60/33<br /><span style"color:#008800">16/1</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 69/43<br /><span style"color:#008800">21/6</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 79/51<br /><span style"color:#008800">26/11</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 85/57<br /><span style"color:#008800">29/14</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 82/56<br /><span style"color:#008800">28/13</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 75/47<br /><span style"color:#008800">24/8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 63/36<br /><span style"color:#008800">17/2</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 51/25<br /><span style"color:#008800">11/−4</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 42/18<br /><span style"color:#008800">6/−8</span>
|-
! style="background:#f8f3ca; color:#000; height:16px; text-align:left;"| Denver
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 49/20<br /><span style"color:#008800">9/−7</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 49/21<br /><span style"color:#008800">9/−6</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 56/29<br /><span style"color:#008800">13/−2</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 64/35<br /><span style"color:#008800">18/2</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 73/46<br /><span style"color:#008800">23/8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 84/54<br /><span style"color:#008800">29/12</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 92/61<br /><span style"color:#008800">33/16</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 89/60<br /><span style"color:#008800">32/16</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 81/50<br /><span style"color:#008800">27/10</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 68/37<br /><span style"color:#008800">20/3</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 55/26<br /><span style"color:#008800">13/−3</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 47/18<br /><span style"color:#008800">8/−8</span>
|-
! style="background:#c5dfe1; color:#000; height:16px; text-align:left;"| Grand Junction
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 38/17<br /><span style"color:#008800">3/−8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 45/24<br /><span style"color:#008800">7/−4</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 57/31<br /><span style"color:#008800">14/-1</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 65/38<br /><span style"color:#008800">18/3</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 76/47<br /><span style"color:#008800">24/8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 88/56<br /><span style"color:#008800">31/13</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 93/63<br /><span style"color:#008800">34/17</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 90/61<br /><span style"color:#008800">32/16</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 80/52<br /><span style"color:#008800">27/11</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 66/40<br /><span style"color:#008800">19/4</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 51/28<br /><span style"color:#008800">11/−2</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:#C00;"| 39/19<br /><span style"color:#008800">4/−7</span>
|-
! style="background:#f8f3ca; color:#000; height:16px; text-align:left;"| Pueblo
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 47/14<br /><span style"color:#008800">8/−10</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 51/17<br /><span style"color:#008800">11/−8</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 59/26<br /><span style"color:#008800">15/−3</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 67/34<br /><span style"color:#008800">19/1</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 77/44<br /><span style"color:#008800">25/7</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 87/53<br /><span style"color:#008800">31/12</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 93/59<br /><span style"color:#008800">34/15</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 90/58<br /><span style"color:#008800">32/14</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 82/48<br /><span style"color:#008800">28/9</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 69/34<br /><span style"color:#008800">21/1</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 56/23<br /><span style"color:#008800">13/−5</span>
| style"text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:#C00;"| 46/14<br /><span style"color:#008800">8/−10</span>
|}
Extreme temperatures
Earthquakes
Despite its mountainous terrain, Colorado experiences less seismic activity than states like California and Alaska. There are over 90 potentially active faults, and since 1867, Colorado has experienced 700 recorded earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or higher. The U.S. National Earthquake Information Center is located in Golden.
On August 22, 2011, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake occurred west-southwest of the city of Trinidad. There were no casualties and only a small amount of damage was reported. It was the second-largest earthquake in Colorado's history, the largest being a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, recorded in 1882. Four minor earthquakes rattled Colorado on August 24, 2018, ranging from magnitude 2.9 to 4.3. , there were 525 recorded earthquakes in Colorado since 1973, a majority of which range 2 to 3.5 on the Richter scale.Fauna
with a mounted gray wolf killed in the Colorado Rockies, 1890–1900|alt=Photo of Breckenridge naturalist Edwin Carter standing next to a taxidermied gray wolf killed in the Colorado Rockies, c. 1890–1900]]
A process of extirpation by trapping and poisoning of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) from Colorado in the 1930s saw the last wild wolf in the state shot in 1945. A wolf pack recolonized Moffat County, Colorado in northwestern Colorado in 2019. Cattle farmers have expressed concern that a returning wolf population potentially threatens their herds.
While there is fossil evidence of Harrington's mountain goat in Colorado between at least 800,000 years ago and its extinction with megafauna roughly 11,000 years ago, the mountain goat is not native to Colorado but was instead introduced to the state over time during the interval between 1947 and 1972. Despite being an artificially-introduced species, the state declared mountain goats a native species in 1993. In 2013, 2014, and 2019, an unknown illness killed nearly all mountain goat kids, leading to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife investigation.
The native population of pronghorn in Colorado has varied wildly over the last century, reaching a low of only 15,000 individuals during the 1960s. However, conservation efforts succeeded in bringing the stable population back up to roughly 66,000 by 2013. The population was estimated to have reached 85,000 by 2019 and had increasingly more run-ins with the increased suburban housing along the eastern Front Range. State wildlife officials suggested that landowners would need to modify fencing to allow the greater number of pronghorns to move unabated through the newly developed land. Pronghorns are most readily found in the northern and eastern portions of the state, with some populations also in the western San Juan Mountains.
Common wildlife found in the mountains of Colorado include mule deer, southwestern red squirrel, golden-mantled ground squirrel, yellow-bellied marmot, moose, American pika, and red fox, all at exceptionally high numbers, though moose are not native to the state. The foothills include deer, fox squirrel, desert cottontail, mountain cottontail, and coyote. The prairies are home to black-tailed prairie dog, the endangered swift fox, American badger, and white-tailed jackrabbit.GovernmentState government{| class"wikitable floatright"
|-
! colspan="6" | State Executive Officers
|-
!| Office
! Name
! Party
|-
| Governor
| Jared Polis
| | Democratic
|-
| Lieutenant Governor
| Dianne Primavera
| | Democratic
|-
| Secretary of State
| Jena Griswold
| | Democratic
|-
| Attorney General
| Phil Weiser
| | Democratic
|-
| Treasurer
| Dave Young
| | Democratic
|}
Like the federal government and all other U.S. states, Colorado's state constitution provides for three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches.
The Governor of Colorado heads the state's executive branch. The current governor is Jared Polis, a Democrat. Colorado's other statewide elected executive officers are the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado (elected on a ticket with the Governor), Secretary of State of Colorado, Colorado State Treasurer, and Attorney General of Colorado, all of whom serve four-year terms.
The seven-member Colorado Supreme Court is the state's highest court. The Colorado Court of Appeals, with 22 judges, sits in divisions of three judges each. Colorado is divided into 23 judicial districts, each of which has a district court and a county court with limited jurisdiction. The state also has specialized water courts, which sit in seven distinct divisions around the state and which decide matters relating to water rights and the use and administration of water.
The state legislative body is the Colorado General Assembly, which is made up of two houses – the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House has 65 members and the Senate has 35. , the Democratic Party holds a 23 to 12 majority in the Senate and a 46 to 19 majority in the House.
Most Coloradans are native to other states (nearly 60% according to the 2000 census), and this is illustrated by the fact that the state did not have a native-born governor from 1975 (when John David Vanderhoof left office) until 2007, when Bill Ritter took office; his election the previous year marked the first electoral victory for a native-born Coloradan in a gubernatorial race since 1958 (Vanderhoof had ascended from the Lieutenant Governorship when John Arthur Love was given a position in Richard Nixon's administration in 1973).
Tax is collected by the Colorado Department of Revenue.
Politics
{| class="wikitable floatright"
! colspan"6" | Colorado registered voters
|-
! colspan="2" | Party
! Number of voters
! Percentage
|-
|
| Unaffiliated
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,968,318
| style="text-align:center;" | 48.59%
|-
|
| Democratic
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,045,526
| style="text-align:center;" | 25.81%
|-
|
| Republican
| style="text-align:center;" | 943,267
| style="text-align:center;" | 23.28%
|-
|
| Libertarian
| style="text-align:center;" | 37,119
| style="text-align:center;" |0.92%
|-
|
| American Constitution
| style="text-align:center;" | 11,605
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.29%
|-
|
| Green
| style="text-align:center;" | 8,639
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.21%
|-
|
| Approval Voting
| style="text-align:center;" | 4,990
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.12%
|-
|
| Unity
| style="text-align:center;" | 3,101
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.08%
|-
|
| No Labels
| style="text-align:center;" | 24,665
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.61%
|-
|
| Center
| style="text-align:center;" | 3,539
| style="text-align:center;" | 0.09%
|-
! colspan="2" | Total
! style="text-align:center;" | 4,051,074
! style="text-align:center;" | 100.00%
|}
Colorado was once considered a swing state, but has become a relatively safe blue state in both state and federal elections since the late 2010s. In presidential elections, it had not been won until 2020 by double digits since 1984 and has backed the winning candidate in 9 of the last 11 elections. Coloradans have elected 17 Democrats and 12 Republicans to the governorship in the last 100 years.
In presidential politics, Colorado was considered a reliably Republican state during the post-World War II era, voting for the Democratic candidate only in 1948, 1964, and 1992. However, it became a competitive swing state in the 1990s. Since the mid-2000s, it has swung heavily to the Democrats, voting for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Kamala Harris in 2024.
Colorado politics exhibits a contrast between conservative cities such as Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, and liberal cities such as Boulder and Denver. Democrats are strongest in metropolitan Denver, the college towns of Fort Collins and Boulder, southern Colorado (including Pueblo), and several western ski resort counties. The Republicans are strongest in the Eastern Plains, Colorado Springs, Greeley, and far Western Colorado near Grand Junction.
Colorado is represented by two members of the United States Senate:
* Class 2, John Hickenlooper (Democratic), since 2021
* Class 3, Michael Bennet (Democratic), since 2009
Colorado is represented by eight members of the United States House of Representatives:
* 1st district: Diana DeGette (Democratic), since 1997
* 2nd district: Joe Neguse (Democratic), since 2019
* 3rd district: Jeff Hurd (Republican), since 2025
* 4th district: Lauren Boebert (Republican), since 2021
* 5th district: Jeff Crank (Republican), since 2025
* 6th district: Jason Crow (Democratic), since 2019
* 7th district: Brittany Pettersen (Democratic), since 2023
* 8th district: Gabe Evans (Republican), since 2025
In a 2020 study, Colorado was ranked as the seventh easiest state for citizens to vote in.Significant initiatives and legislation enacted in ColoradoColorado was the first state in the union to enact, by voter referendum, a law extending suffrage to women. That initiative was approved by the state's voters on November 7, 1893.
On the November 8, 1932, ballot, Colorado approved the repeal of alcohol prohibition more than a year before the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified.
Colorado has banned, via C.R.S. section 12-6-302, the sale of motor vehicles on Sunday since at least 1953.
In 1972, Colorado voters rejected a referendum proposal to fund the 1976 Winter Olympics, which had been scheduled to be held in the state. Denver had been chosen by the International Olympic Committee as the host city on May 12, 1970.
In 1992, by a margin of 53 to 47 percent, Colorado voters approved an amendment to the state constitution (Amendment 2) that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to recognize homosexuals or bisexuals as a protected class. In 1996, in a 6–3 ruling in Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court found that preventing protected status based upon homosexuality or bisexuality did not satisfy the Equal Protection Clause.
In 2006, voters passed Amendment 43, which banned same-sex marriage in Colorado. That initiative was nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2024, Colorado residents voted to establish an explicit right to abortion in Colorado's state constitution and to repeal Amendment 43's defunct marriage ban.
In 2012, voters amended the state constitution protecting the "personal use" of marijuana for adults, establishing a framework to regulate cannabis like alcohol. The first recreational marijuana shops in Colorado, and by extension the United States, opened their doors on January 1, 2014. The state-issued digital identifications will be considered valid when Real ID enforcement begins in 2025, in line with the Real ID Act of 2005. By November 2022 The Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology announced that the myColorado app had over 1 million users.
On December 19, 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump was disqualified from the 2024 United States presidential election in part due to his alleged incitement of the January 6 United States Capitol attack. On March 4, 2024, the United States Supreme Court overruled the Colorado decision.Counties
The State of Colorado is divided into 64 counties. Two of these counties, the City and County of Broomfield and the City and County of Denver, have consolidated city and county governments. Counties are important units of government in Colorado since there are no civil townships or other minor civil divisions.
The most populous county in Colorado is El Paso County, the home of the City of Colorado Springs. The second most populous county is the City and County of Denver, the state capital. Five of the 64 counties now have more than 500,000 residents, while 12 have fewer than 5,000 residents. The ten most populous Colorado counties are all located in the Front Range Urban Corridor. Mesa County is the most populous county on the Colorado Western Slope.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+<big>The 16 most populous Colorado counties</big><br/>
|-
!scopecol|2023 rank
!scope=col|County
!scope=col|County seat
!scope=col|Most populous city
!scopecol|2023 population
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|1
|El Paso County
|Colorado Springs
|Colorado Springs
|align=right|744,215
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|2
|colspan3 data-sort-valueDenver|City and County of Denver<!-- |Denver -->
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+<big>The 25 most populous Colorado municipalities</big><br/><br/>
|-
!scopecol|2023 rank
!scope=col|Municipality
!scope=col|County
!scopecol|2023 population
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|1
|colspan2 data-sort-value"Denver"|City and County of Denver
<!-- |City and County of Denver -->
|align=right|716,577
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|2
|data-sort-value="Colorado Springs"|City of Colorado Springs
|El Paso County
|align=right|488,664
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|3
|data-sort-value="Aurora"|City of Aurora
|Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties
|align=right|395,052
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|4
|data-sort-value="Fort Collins"|City of Fort Collins
|Larimer County
|align=right|170,376
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|5
|data-sort-value="Lakewood"|City of Lakewood
|Jefferson County
|align=right|155,961
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|6
|data-sort-value="Thornton"|City of Thornton
|Adams and Weld counties
|align=right|144,922
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|7
|data-sort-value="Arvada"|City of Arvada
|Jefferson and Adams counties
|align=right|121,414
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|8
|data-sort-value="Westminster"|City of Westminster
|Adams and Jefferson counties
|align=right|114,875
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|9
|data-sort-value="Greeley"|City of Greeley
|Weld County
|align=right|112,609
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|10
|data-sort-value="Pueblo"|City of Pueblo
|Pueblo County
|align=right|111,077
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|11
|data-sort-value="Centennial"|City of Centennial
|Arapahoe County
|align=right|106,883
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|12
|data-sort-value="Boulder"|City of Boulder
|Boulder County
|align=right|105,898
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|13
|data-sort-value="Longmont"|City of Longmont
|Boulder and Weld counties
|align=right|98,630
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|14
|data-sort-value="Castle Rock"|Town of Castle Rock
|Douglas County
|align=right|81,415
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|15
|data-sort-value="Loveland"|City of Loveland
|Larimer County
|align=right|79,352
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|16
|colspan2 data-sort-value"Broomfield"|City and County of Broomfield
<!-- |City and County of Broomfield -->
|align=right|76,860
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|17
|data-sort-value="Grand Junction"|City of Grand Junction
|Mesa County
|align=right|69,412
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|18
|data-sort-value="Commerce City"|City of Commerce City
|Adams County
|align=right|68,245
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|19
|data-sort-value="Parker"|Town of Parker
|Douglas County
|align=right|62,743
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|20
|data-sort-value="Littleton"|City of Littleton
|Arapahoe, Jefferson, and Douglas counties
|align=right|44,451
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|21
|data-sort-value="Brighton"|City of Brighton
|Adams and Weld counties
|align=right|42,477
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|22
|data-sort-value="Windsor"|Town of Windsor
|Weld and Larimer counties
|align=right|40,349
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|23
|data-sort-value="Northglenn"|City of Northglenn
|Adams and Weld counties
|align=right|38,164
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|24
|data-sort-value="Erie"|Town of Erie
|Weld and Boulder counties
|align=right|35,269
|-
!scoperow aligncenter|25
|data-sort-value="Englewood"|City of Englewood
|Arapahoe County
|align=right|34,275
|}
Unincorporated communities
.]]
In addition to its 272 municipalities, Colorado has 210 unincorporated census-designated places (CDPs) and many other small communities. The most populous unincorporated community in Colorado is Highlands Ranch south of Denver. The seven most populous CDPs are located in the Front Range Urban Corridor. The Clifton CDP is the most populous CDP on the Colorado Western Slope.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+<big>The ten most populous census-designated places in Colorado</big><br/><br/>
|-
!scopecol|2020 rank
The most populous of the seven metropolitan statistical areas in Colorado is the 10-county Denver–Aurora–Centennial, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area with a population of 2,963,821 at the 2020 United States census, an increase of +15.29% since the 2010 census.
| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census
}}
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:90%" |Ethnic composition as of the 2020 census
|-
! Race and ethnicity
! colspan"2" data-sort-typenumber |Non-Hispanic
! colspan"2" data-sort-typenumber |Total
|-
| White
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Hispanic or Latino
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Black
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Asian
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Native American
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Pacific Islander
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Other
|align=right|
|align=right|
|}
{| class"wikitable sortable collapsible" style"font-size: 90%;"
|+ Colorado historical racial demographics
|-
! Racial composition !! 1970!! 2000!! 2010!! 2020
|-
| White (includes White Hispanics)
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|-
| Black
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|-
| Asian
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|-
| Native
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|-
| Native Hawaiian and<br />other Pacific Islander
|align=right| –<!-- for sorting purposes; not an official statistic -->
|align=right| –<!-- for sorting purposes; not an official statistic -->
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|-
| Other race
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|-
| Two or more races
|align=right| –<!-- for sorting purposes; not an official statistic -->
|align=right| –<!-- for sorting purposes; not an official statistic -->
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|align=right| %
|}
thumb|Map of counties in Colorado by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White
Hispanic or Latino
}}
Coloradan Hispanics and Latinos (of any race and heritage) made up 20.7% of the population. According to the 2000 census, the largest ancestry groups in Colorado are German (22%), Mexican (18%), Irish (12%), and English (12%). Persons reporting German ancestry are especially numerous in the Front Range, the Rockies (west-central counties), and Eastern parts/High Plains.
Colorado has a high proportion of Hispanic, mostly Mexican-American, citizens in Metropolitan Denver, Colorado Springs, as well as the smaller cities of Greeley and Pueblo, and elsewhere. Southern, Southwestern, and Southeastern Colorado have a large number of Hispanos, the descendants of the early settlers of colonial Spanish origin. In 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Colorado's population as 8.2% Hispanic and 90.3% non-Hispanic White. The Hispanic population of Colorado has continued to grow quickly over the past decades. By 2019, Hispanics made up 22% of Colorado's population, and Non-Hispanic Whites made up 70%. Spoken English in Colorado has many Spanish idioms.
Colorado also has some large African-American communities located in Denver, in the neighborhoods of Montbello, Five Points, Whittier, and many other East Denver areas. The state has sizable numbers of Asian-Americans of Mongolian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Southeast Asian, and Japanese descent. The highest population of Asian Americans can be found on the south and southeast side of Denver, as well as some on Denver's southwest side. The Denver metropolitan area is considered more liberal and diverse than much of the state when it comes to political issues and environmental concerns.
The population of Native Americans in the state is small. Native Americans are concentrated in metropolitan Denver and the southwestern corner of Colorado, where there are two Ute reservations.
The majority of Colorado's immigrants are from Mexico, India, China, Vietnam, Korea, Germany and Canada.
There were a total of 70,331 births in Colorado in 2006. (Birth rate of 14.6 per thousand.) In 2007, non-Hispanic Whites were involved in 59.1% of all births. Some 14.06% of those births involved a non-Hispanic White person and someone of a different race, most often with a couple including one Hispanic. A birth where at least one Hispanic person was involved counted for 43% of the births in Colorado. As of the 2010 census, Colorado has the seventh highest percentage of Hispanics (20.7%) in the U.S. behind New Mexico (46.3%), California (37.6%), Texas (37.6%), Arizona (29.6%), Nevada (26.5%), and Florida (22.5%). Per the 2000 census, the Hispanic population is estimated to be 918,899, or approximately 20% of the state's total population. Colorado has the 5th-largest population of Mexican-Americans, behind California, Texas, Arizona, and Illinois. In percentages, Colorado has the 6th-highest percentage of Mexican-Americans, behind New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.Birth dataIn 2011, 46% of Colorado's population younger than the age of one were minorities, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic White.
Note: Births in table do not add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Live births by single race/ethnicity of mother
|-
!scope="col"| Race
!scope"col"| 2013
!scope"col"| 2014
!scope"col"| 2015
!scope"col"| 2016
!scope"col"| 2017
!scope="col"| 2018
!scope="col"| 2019
!scope="col"| 2020
!scope="col"| 2021
!scope="col"| 2022
|-
|scope="row"| White:
| 57,491 (88.4%)
| 58,117 (88.3%)
| 58,756 (88.2%)
| ...
| ...
| ...
| ...
| ...
| ...
| ...
|-
|scope="row"| > Non-Hispanic White
| 39,872 (61.3%)
| 40,629 (61.7%)
| 40,878 (61.4%)
| 39,617 (59.5%)
| 37,516 (58.3%)
| 36,466 (58.0%)
| 36,022 (57.3%)
| 34,924 (56.8%)
| 36,334 (57.7%)
| 35,076 (56.2%)
|-
|scope="row"| Black
| 3,760 (5.8%)
| 3,926 (6.0%)
| 4,049 (6.1%)
| 3,004 (4.5%)
| 3,110 (4.8%)
| 3,032 (4.8%)
| 3,044 (4.8%)
| 3,146 (5.1%)
| 2,988 (4.7%)
| 2,981 (4.8%)
|-
|scope="row"| Asian
| 2,863 (4.4%)
| 3,010 (4.6%)
| 2,973 (4.5%)
| 2,617 (3.9%)
| 2,611 (4.1%)
| 2,496 (4.0%)
| 2,540 (4.0%)
| 2,519 (4.1%)
| 2,490 (4.0%)
| 2,450 (3.9%)
|-
|scope="row"| American Indian
| 793 (1.2%)
| 777 (1.2%)
| 803 (1.2%)
| 412 (0.6%)
| 421 (0.7%)
| 352 (0.6%)
| 365 (0.6%)
| 338 (0.5%)
| 323 (0.5%)
| 336 (0.5%)
|-
|scope="row"| Pacific Islander
| ...
| ...
| ...
| 145 (0.2%)
| 145 (0.2%)
| 155 (0.2%)
| 168 (0.3%)
| 169 (0.3%)
| 202 (0.3%)
| 203 (0.3%)
|-
|scope="row"| Hispanic (of any race)
| 17,821 (27.4%)
| 17,665 (26.8%)
| 18,139 (27.2%)
| 18,513 (27.8%)
| 18,125 (28.2%)
| 17,817 (28.3%)
| 18,205 (29.0%)
| 18,111 (29.4%)
| 18,362 (29.2%)
| 18,982 (30.4%)
|-
|scope="row"| Total Colorado
| 65,007 (100%)
| 65,830 (100%)
| 66,581 (100%)
| 66,613 (100%)
| 64,382 (100%)
| 62,885 (100%)
| 62,869 (100%)
| 61,494 (100%)
| 62,949 (100%)
| 62,383 (100%)
|}
* Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
In 2017, Colorado recorded the second-lowest fertility rate in the United States outside of New England, after Oregon, at 1.63 children per woman.Language
The English language, the official language of the state, is the most commonly spoken language in Colorado. The second most commonly spoken language in the state is the Spanish language. The Colorado River Numic language, also known as the Ute dialect, is still spoken in Colorado.
Religion
Major religious affiliations of the people of Colorado as of 2014 were 64% Christian, of whom there are 44% Protestant, 16% Roman Catholic, 3% Mormon, and 1% Eastern Orthodox. Other religious breakdowns according to the Pew Research Center were 1% Judaism, 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, and 4% other. Secular Coloradans made up 29% of the population. In 2020, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, Christianity was 66% of the population. Judaism was also reported to have increased in this separate study, forming 2% of the religious landscape, while the religiously unaffiliated were reported to form 28% of the population in this separate study. In 2022, the same organization reported 61% was Christian (39% Protestant, 19% Catholic, 2% Mormon, 1% Eastern Orthodox), 2% New Age, 1% Jewish, 1% Hindu, and 34% religiously unaffiliated.
According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the largest Christian denominations by the number of adherents in 2010 were the Catholic Church with 811,630; multi-denominational Evangelical Protestants with 229,981; and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 151,433. In 2020, the Association of Religion Data Archives determined the largest Christian denominations were Catholics (873,236), non/multi/inter-denominational Protestants (406,798), and Mormons (150,509). Throughout its non-Christian population, there were 12,500 Hindus, 7,101 Hindu Yogis, and 17,369 Buddhists at the 2020 study.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church was the first permanent Catholic parish in modern-day Colorado and was constructed by Spanish colonists from New Mexico in modern-day Conejos. Latin Church Catholics are served by three dioceses: the Archdiocese of Denver and the Dioceses of Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
The first permanent settlement by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado arrived from Mississippi and initially camped along the Arkansas River just east of the present-day site of Pueblo. Health Colorado is generally considered among the healthiest states by behavioral and healthcare researchers. Among the positive contributing factors is the state's well-known outdoor recreation opportunities and initiatives. However, there is a stratification of health metrics with wealthier counties such as Douglas and Pitkin performing significantly better relative to southern, less wealthy counties such as Huerfano and Las Animas.
Obesity
According to several studies, Coloradans have the lowest rates of obesity of any state in the US. , 24% of the population was considered medically obese, and while the lowest in the nation, the percentage had increased from 17% in 2004.
Life expectancy
According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, residents of Colorado had a 2014 life expectancy of 80.21 years, the longest of any U.S. state. Homelessness According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 10,397 homeless people in Colorado. Economy
"]]
growing in Larimer County]]
In 2019 the total employment was 2,473,192. The number of employer establishments is 174,258.
The total state product in 2015 was $318.6 billion. Median Annual Household Income in 2016 was $70,666, 8th in the nation. Per capita personal income in 2010 was $51,940, ranking Colorado 11th in the nation. The state's economy broadened from its mid-19th-century roots in mining when irrigated agriculture developed, and by the late 19th century, raising livestock had become important. Early industry was based on the extraction and processing of minerals and agricultural products. Current agricultural products are cattle, wheat, dairy products, corn, and hay.
The federal government operates several federal facilities in the state, including NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), United States Air Force Academy, Schriever Air Force Base located approximately east of Peterson Air Force Base, and Fort Carson, both located in Colorado Springs within El Paso County; NOAA, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder; U.S. Geological Survey and other government agencies at the Denver Federal Center near Lakewood; the Denver Mint, Buckley Space Force Base, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Denver; and a federal Supermax Prison and other federal prisons near Cañon City. In addition to these and other federal agencies, Colorado has abundant National Forest land and four National Parks that contribute to federal ownership of of land in Colorado, or 37% of the total area of the state.
In the second half of the 20th century, the industrial and service sectors expanded greatly. The state's economy is diversified and is notable for its concentration on scientific research and high-technology industries. Other industries include food processing, transportation equipment, machinery, chemical products, the extraction of metals such as gold (see Gold mining in Colorado), silver, and molybdenum. Colorado now also has the largest annual production of beer in any state. Denver is an important financial center.
The state's diverse geography and majestic mountains attract millions of tourists every year, including 85.2 million in 2018. Tourism contributes greatly to Colorado's economy, with tourists generating $22.3 billion in 2018.
Several nationally known brand names have originated in Colorado factories and laboratories. From Denver came the forerunner of telecommunications giant Qwest in 1879, Samsonite luggage in 1910, Gates belts and hoses in 1911, and Russell Stover Candies in 1923. Kuner canned vegetables began in Brighton in 1864. From Golden came Coors beer in 1873, CoorsTek industrial ceramics in 1920, and Jolly Rancher candy in 1949. CF&I railroad rails, wire, nails, and pipe debuted in Pueblo in 1892. Holly Sugar was first milled from beets in Holly in 1905, and later moved its headquarters to Colorado Springs. The present-day Swift packed meat of Greeley evolved from Monfort of Colorado, Inc., established in 1930. Estes model rockets were launched in Penrose in 1958. Fort Collins has been the home of Woodward Governor Company's motor controllers (governors) since 1870, and Waterpik dental water jets and showerheads since 1962. Celestial Seasonings herbal teas have been made in Boulder since 1969. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory made its first candy in Durango in 1981.
Colorado has a flat 4.63% income tax, regardless of income level. On 3 November 2020 voters authorized an initiative to lower that income tax rate to 4.55 percent. Unlike most states, which calculate taxes based on federal adjusted gross income, Colorado taxes are based on taxable income—income after federal exemptions and federal itemized (or standard) deductions. Colorado's state sales tax is 2.9% on retail sales. When state revenues exceed state constitutional limits, according to Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights legislation, full-year Colorado residents can claim a sales tax refund on their individual state income tax return. Many counties and cities charge their own rates, in addition to the base state rate. There are also certain county and special district taxes that may apply.
Real estate and personal business property are taxable in Colorado. The state's senior property tax exemption was temporarily suspended by the Colorado Legislature in 2003. The tax break was scheduled to return for the assessment year 2006, payable in 2007.
, the state's unemployment rate was 4.2%.
The West Virginia teachers' strike in 2018 inspired teachers in other states, including Colorado, to take similar action.
Agriculture
Corn is grown in the Eastern Plains of Colorado. Arid conditions and drought negatively impacted yields in 2020 and 2022.
Natural resources
in western Colorado]]
Colorado has significant hydrocarbon resources. According to the Energy Information Administration, Colorado hosts seven of the largest natural gas fields in the United States, and two of the largest oil fields. Conventional and unconventional natural gas output from several Colorado basins typically accounts for more than five percent of annual U.S. natural gas production. Colorado's oil shale deposits hold an estimated of oil—nearly as much oil as the entire world's proven oil reserves. Substantial deposits of bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite coal are found in the state.
Uranium mining in Colorado goes back to 1872, when pitchblende ore was taken from gold mines near Central City, Colorado. Not counting byproduct uranium from phosphate, Colorado is considered to have the third-largest uranium reserves of any U.S. state, behind Wyoming and New Mexico. When Colorado and Utah dominated radium mining from 1910 to 1922, uranium and vanadium were the byproducts (giving towns like present-day Superfund site Uravan their names). Uranium price increases from 2001 to 2007 prompted several companies to revive uranium mining in Colorado. During the 1940s certain communities–including Naturita and Paradox–earned the moniker of "yellowcake towns" from their relationship with uranium mining. Price drops and financing problems in late 2008 forced these companies to cancel or scale back the uranium-mining project. As of 2016, there were no major uranium mining operations in the state, though plans existed to restart production.Electricity generation
Colorado's high Rocky Mountain ridges and eastern plains offer wind power potential, and geologic activity in the mountain areas provides the potential for geothermal power development. Much of the state is sunny and could produce solar power. Major rivers flowing from the Rocky Mountains offer hydroelectric power resources.
Culture
in Denver]]
Arts and film
* List of museums in Colorado
* List of theaters in Colorado
* Music of Colorado
Several film productions have been shot on location in Colorado, especially prominent Westerns like True Grit, The Searchers, City Slickers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and My Life With the Walter Boys. Several historic military forts, railways with trains still operating, and mining ghost towns have been used and transformed for historical accuracy in well-known films. There are also several scenic highways and mountain passes that helped to feature the open road in films such as Vanishing Point, Bingo and Starman. Some Colorado landmarks have been featured in films, such as The Stanley Hotel in Dumb and Dumber and The Shining and the Sculptured House in Sleeper. In 2015, Furious 7 was to film driving sequences on Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado. The TV adult-animated series South Park takes place in central Colorado in the titular town. Additionally, The TV series Good Luck Charlie was set, but not filmed, in Denver, Colorado. The Colorado Office of Film and Television has noted that more than 400 films have been shot in Colorado.
There are also several established film festivals in Colorado, including Aspen Filmfest and Aspen Shortsfest, Boulder International Film Festival, Castle Rock Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, Festivus Film Festival, Mile High Horror Film Festival, Moondance International Film Festival, Mountainfilm in Telluride, Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival, and Telluride Film Festival. On March 27, 2025, it was announced Sundance Film Festival would move to Boulder starting in 2027 after reaching a deal for a ten-year duration.
Many notable writers have lived or spent extended periods in Colorado. Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady lived in and around Denver for several years each. Irish playwright Oscar Wilde visited Colorado on his tour of the United States in 1882, writing in his 1906 Impressions of America that Leadville was "the richest city in the world. It has also got the reputation of being the roughest, and every man carries a revolver."Cuisine
Colorado is known for its Southwest and Rocky Mountain cuisine, with Mexican restaurants found throughout the state.
Boulder was named America's Foodiest Town 2010 by Bon Appétit. Boulder, and Colorado in general, is home to several national food and beverage companies, top-tier restaurants and farmers' markets. Boulder also has more Master Sommeliers per capita than any other city, including San Francisco and New York. Denver is known for steak, but now has a diverse culinary scene with many restaurants.
Polidori Sausage is a brand of pork products available in supermarkets, which originated in Colorado, in the early 20th century.
The Food & Wine Classic is held annually each June in Aspen. Aspen also has a reputation as the culinary capital of the Rocky Mountain region.
Wine and beer
Colorado wines include varietals that have attracted favorable notice from outside the state. With wines made from traditional Vitis vinifera grapes along with wines made from cherries, peaches, plums, and honey, Colorado wines have won top national and international awards for their quality. Colorado's grape growing regions contain the highest elevation vineyards in the United States, with most viticulture in the state practiced between above sea level. The mountain climate ensures warm summer days and cool nights. Colorado is home to two designated American Viticultural Areas of the Grand Valley AVA and the West Elks AVA, where most of the vineyards in the state are located. However, an increasing number of wineries are located along the Front Range. In 2018, Wine Enthusiast Magazine named Colorado's Grand Valley AVA in Mesa County, Colorado, as one of the Top Ten wine travel destinations in the world.
Colorado is home to many nationally praised microbreweries, including New Belgium Brewing Company, Odell Brewing Company,and Great Divide Brewing Company. The area of northern Colorado near and between the cities of Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins is known as the "Napa Valley of Beer" due to its high density of craft breweries.Marijuana and hempColorado is open to cannabis (marijuana) tourism. With the adoption of the 64th state amendment in 2012, Colorado became the first state in the union to legalize marijuana for medicinal (2000), industrial (referring to hemp, 2012), and recreational (2012) use. Colorado's marijuana industry sold $1.31 billion worth of marijuana in 2016 and $1.26 billion in the first three-quarters of 2017. The state generated tax, fee, and license revenue of $194 million in 2016 on legal marijuana sales. Colorado regulates hemp as any part of the plant with less than 0.3% THC.
On April 4, 2014, Senate Bill 14–184 addressing oversight of Colorado's industrial hemp program was first introduced, ultimately being signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper on May 31, 2014.Medicinal useOn November 7, 2000, 54% of Colorado voters passed Amendment 20, which amends the Colorado State constitution to allow the medical use of marijuana. A patient's medical use of marijuana, within the following limits, is lawful:
* (I) No more than of a usable form of marijuana; and
* (II) No more than twelve marijuana plants, with six or fewer being mature, flowering plants that are producing a usable form of marijuana.
Currently, Colorado has listed "eight medical conditions for which patients can use marijuana—cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, muscle spasms, seizures, severe pain, severe nausea and cachexia, or dramatic weight loss and muscle atrophy". While governor, John Hickenlooper allocated about half of the state's $13 million "Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund" to medical research in the 2014 budget. By 2018, the Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund was the "largest pool of pot money in the state" and was used to fund programs including research into pediatric applications for controlling autism symptoms.
Recreational use
On November 6, 2012, voters amended the state constitution to protect "personal use" of marijuana for adults, establishing a framework to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. The first recreational marijuana shops in Colorado, and by extension the United States, opened their doors on January 1, 2014.
Transportation
Colorado's primary mode of transportation (in terms of passengers) is its highway system. Interstate 25 (I-25) is the primary north–south highway in the state, connecting Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver, and Fort Collins, and extending north to Wyoming and south to New Mexico. I-70 is the primary east–west corridor. It connects Grand Junction and the mountain communities with Denver and enters Utah and Kansas. The state is home to a network of US and Colorado highways that provide access to all principal areas of the state. Many smaller communities are connected to this network only via county roads.
.]]
Denver International Airport (DIA) is the third-busiest domestic U.S. and international airport in the world by passenger traffic. DIA handles by far the largest volume of commercial air traffic in Colorado and is the busiest U.S. hub airport between Chicago and the Pacific coast, making Denver the most important airport for connecting passenger traffic in the western United States.
Public transportation bus services are offered both intra-city and inter-city—including the Denver metro area's RTD services. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) operates the popular RTD Bus & Rail transit system in the Denver Metropolitan Area. the RTD rail system had 170 light-rail vehicles, serving of track. In addition to local public transit, intercity bus service is provided by Burlington Trailways, Bustang and Greyhound Lines.
s meet in the Glenwood Canyon.]]
Amtrak operates two passenger rail lines in Colorado, the California Zephyr and Southwest Chief''. Colorado's contribution to world railroad history was forged principally by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad which began in 1870 and wrote the book on mountain railroading. In 1988 the "Rio Grande" was acquired, but was merged into, the Southern Pacific Railroad by their joint owner Philip Anschutz. On September 11, 1996, Anschutz sold the combined company to the Union Pacific Railroad, creating the largest railroad network in the United States. The Anschutz sale was partly in response to the earlier merger of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe which formed the large Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), Union Pacific's principal competitor in western U.S. railroading. Both Union Pacific and BNSF have extensive freight operations in Colorado.
Colorado's freight railroad network consists of 2,688 miles of Class I trackage. It is integral to the U.S. economy, being a critical artery for the movement of energy, agriculture, mining, and industrial commodities as well as general freight and manufactured products between the East and Midwest and the Pacific coast states.
In August 2014, Colorado began to issue driver licenses to aliens not lawfully in the United States who lived in Colorado. In September 2014, KCNC reported that 524 non-citizens were issued Colorado driver licenses that are normally issued to U.S. citizens living in Colorado.
Education
The first institution of higher education in the Colorado Territory was the Colorado Seminary, opened on November 16, 1864, by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The seminary closed in 1867 but reopened in 1880 as the University of Denver. In 1870, the Bishop George Maxwell Randall of the Episcopal Church's Missionary District of Colorado and Parts Adjacent opened the first of what become the Colorado University Schools which would include the Territorial School of Mines opened in 1873 and sold to the Colorado Territory in 1874. These schools were initially run by the Episcopal Church. An 1861 territorial act called for the creation of a public university in Boulder, though it would not be until 1876 that the University of Colorado was founded. The 1876 act also renamed Territorial School of Mines as the Colorado School of Mines. An 1870 territorial act created the Agricultural College of Colorado which opened in 1879. The college was renamed the Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in 1935, and became Colorado State University in 1957.
The first Catholic college in Colorado was the Jesuit Sacred Heart College, which was founded in New Mexico in 1877, moved to Morrison in 1884, and to Denver in 1887. The college was renamed Regis College in 1921 and Regis University in 1991. On April 1, 1924, armed students patrolled the campus after a burning cross was found, the climax of tensions between Regis College and the locally-powerful Ku Klux Klan.
Following a 1950 assessment by the Service Academy Board, it was determined that there was a need to supplement the U.S. Military and Naval Academies with a third school that would provide commissioned officers for the newly independent Air Force. On April 1, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that moved for the creation of a U.S. Air Force Academy. Later that year, Colorado Springs was selected to host the new institution. From its establishment in 1955, until the construction of appropriate facilities in Colorado Springs was completed and opened in 1958, the Air Force Academy operated out of Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. With the opening of the Colorado Springs facility, the cadets moved to the new campus, though not in the full-kit march that some urban and campus legends suggest. The first class of Space Force officers from the Air Force Academy commissioned on April 18, 2020.
Indigenous People
:See Indigenous People of Colorado
The two Native American reservations remaining in Colorado are the Southern Ute Indian Reservation (1873; Ute dialect: Kapuuta-wa Moghwachi Núuchi-u) and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation (1940; Ute dialect: Wʉgama Núuchi).
The two abolished Indian reservations in Colorado were the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Reservation (1851–1870) and Ute Indian Reservation (1855–1873).
Military installations
]]
]]
]]
The major military installations in Colorado include:
* Buckley Space Force Base (1938–)
** Air Reserve Personnel Center (1953–)
* Fort Carson (U.S. Army 1942–)
** Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site (1983–)
* Peterson Space Force Base (1942–)
** Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station (1961–)
* Schriever Space Force Base (1983–)
* United States Air Force Academy (1954–)
Former military posts in Colorado include:
* Spanish Fort (Spanish Army 1819–1821)
* Fort Massachusetts (U.S. Army 1852–1858)
* Fort Garland (U.S. Army 1858–1883)
* Camp Collins (U.S. Army 1862–1870)
* Fort Logan (U.S. Army 1887–1946)
* Colorado National Guard Armory (1913–1933)
* Fitzsimons Army Hospital (U.S. Army 1918–1999)
* Denver Medical Depot (U.S. Army 1925–1949)
* Lowry Air Force Base (1938–1994)
* Pueblo Army Air Base (1941–1948)
* Rocky Mountain Arsenal (U.S. Army 1942–1992)
* Pueblo Chemical Depot (U.S. Army 1942–2024)
* Camp Hale (U.S. Army 1942–1945)
* La Junta Army Air Field (1942–1946)
* Leadville Army Air Field (1943–1944)
Protected areas
in Rocky Mountain National Park.]]
Colorado is home to:
Sports
baseball club at Coors Field|172x172px]]
in Denver, home field of the Denver Broncos and the Denver Outlaws|172x172px]]
, home of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Colorado Mammoth|172x172px]]
, home of the Colorado Rapids|172x172px]]
in Colorado Springs, home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC|172x172px]]
Colorado has five major professional sports leagues, all based in the Denver metropolitan area. Colorado is the least populous state with a franchise in each of the major professional sports leagues.
The Colorado Springs Snow Sox professional baseball team is based in Colorado Springs. The team is a member of the Pecos League, an independent baseball league which is not affiliated with Major or Minor League Baseball.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a major hill climbing motor race held on the Pikes Peak Highway.
The Cherry Hills Country Club has hosted several professional golf tournaments, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Women's Open, PGA Championship and BMW Championship.
Professional sports teams
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Team
!Home
!First game
!Sport
!League
|-
|Colorado Avalanche
|Denver
|align=right|
|Ice hockey
|National Hockey League
|-
|Colorado Eagles
|Loveland
|align=right|
|Ice hockey
|American Hockey League
|-
|Colorado Mammoth
|Denver
|align=right|
|Lacrosse
|National Lacrosse League
|-
|Colorado Rapids
|Commerce City
|align=right|
|Soccer
|Major League Soccer
|-
|Colorado Rapids 2
|Denver
|align=right|
|Soccer
|MLS Next Pro
|-
|Colorado Rockies
|Denver
|align=right|
|Baseball
|Major League Baseball
|-
|Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
|Colorado Springs
|align=right|
|Soccer
|USL Championship
|-
|Denver Barbarians
|Denver
|alignright|Spring 1967
|Rugby union
|Pacific Rugby Premiership
|-
|Denver Broncos
|Denver
|align=right|
|American football
|National Football League
|-
|Denver Nuggets
|Denver
|align=right|
|Basketball
|National Basketball Association
|-
|Glendale Raptors
|Glendale
|alignright|Fall 2006
|Rugby union
|Major League Rugby
|-
|Grand Junction Rockies
|Grand Junction
|align=right|
|Baseball
|Pioneer League
|-
|Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC
|Windsor
|align=right|
|Soccer
|USL League One
|-
|Northern Colorado Owlz
|Windsor
|align=right|
|Baseball
|Pioneer League
|-
|Rocky Mountain Vibes
|Colorado Springs
|align=right|
|Baseball
|Pioneer League
|}
College athletics
The following universities and colleges participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I.
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|+NCAA Division I athletic programs in Colorado<br />
! Team !! School !! City !! Conference
|-
| Air Force Falcons || United States Air Force Academy || Colorado Springs || Mountain West
|-
| Colorado Buffaloes || University of Colorado Boulder || Boulder || Big 12
|-
| Colorado State Rams || Colorado State University || Fort Collins || Mountain West
|-
| Denver Pioneers || University of Denver || Denver || NCHC / Summit
|-
| Northern Colorado Bears || University of Northern Colorado || Greeley || Big Sky
|-
|Colorado College Tigers
|Colorado College
|Colorado Springs
|NCHC / Mountain West
|}
See also
*Bibliography of Colorado
*Geography of Colorado
*History of Colorado
*Index of Colorado-related articles
*List of Colorado-related lists
*Outline of Colorado
Footnotes
References
Further reading
* ''Explore Colorado, A Naturalist's Handbook, The Denver Museum of Natural History and Westcliff Publishers, 1995, for an excellent guide to the ecological regions of Colorado.
* The Archeology of Colorado, Revised Edition, E. Steve Cassells, Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado, 1997, trade paperback, .
* Chokecherry Places, Essays from the High Plains, Merrill Gilfillan, Johnson Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, .
*
* The Tie That Binds, Kent Haruf, 1984, hardcover, , a fictional account of farming in Colorado.
* Railroads of Colorado: Your Guide to Colorado's Historic Trains and Railway Sites'', Claude Wiatrowski, Voyageur Press, 2002, hardcover, 160 pages,
*
External links
State government
*[https://www.colorado.gov/ State of Colorado]
**[https://www.colorado.com/other-tourism-organizations/colorado-tourism-office Colorado Tourism Office]
**[https://www.historycolorado.org/ History Colorado]
***[https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ Colorado Encyclopedia] (partly sponsored by History Colorado)
Federal government
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080516020504/http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=CO Energy & Environmental Data for Colorado]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070218175148/http://www.usgs.gov/state/state.asp?State=CO USGS Colorado state facts, real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Colorado]
* [https://www.census.gov/ United States Census Bureau]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20150512074548/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08000.html Colorado QuickFacts]
** [http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/demographic_profile/Colorado/2kh08.pdf 2000 Census of Population and Housing for Colorado]
* [http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets/state-data.aspx?StateFIPS08&StateNameColorado USDA ERS Colorado state facts]
* [https://guides.loc.gov/colorado-state-guide Colorado State Guide, from the Library of Congress]
Other
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120212023536/http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/Colorado List of searchable databases produced by Colorado state agencies] hosted by the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070205102713/http://www.stanwyck.com/cogenweb/cocounties.html Colorado County Evolution]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100725045834/http://www.askcolorado.org/ Ask Colorado]
* [https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/ Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (CHNC)]
* [http://swcoloradowildflowers.com/ Mountain and Desert Plants of Colorado and the Southwest],
* [http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/COLORADO.htm Climate of Colorado]
*
* [http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn328010&vtabBackground Holocene Volcano in Colorado (Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program)]
Category:Contiguous United States
Category:Former Spanish colonies
Colorado, Territory of
Colorado, State of
Category:States of the United States
Category:Western United States
Category:1861 establishments in Colorado Territory
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado
|
2025-04-05T18:27:11.470451
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|
Carboniferous
|
Carboniferous (album)}}
| lower_gssp_location = La Serre, Montagne Noire, France
| lower_gssp_coords
| lower_gssp_accept_date = 1990
| upper_boundary_def = FAD of the Conodont Streptognathodus isolatus within the morphotype Streptognathodus wabaunsensis chronocline
| upper_gssp_location = Aidaralash, Ural Mountains, Kazakhstan
| upper_gssp_coords
| upper_gssp_accept_date = 1996
<!--Atmospheric and Climatic Data-->
| sea_level = Falling from 120 m to present-day level throughout the Mississippian, then rising steadily to about 80 m at end of period
}}The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Permian Period, Ma. It is the fifth and penultimate period of the Paleozoic era and the fifth period of the Phanerozoic eon. In North America, the Carboniferous is often treated as two separate geological periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later Pennsylvanian.
The name Carboniferous means "coal-bearing", from the Latin ("coal") and ("bear, carry"), and refers to the many coal beds formed globally during that time. The first of the modern "system" names, it was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, based on a study of the British rock succession.
Carboniferous is the period during which both terrestrial animal and land plant life was well established. Stegocephalia (four-limbed vertebrates including true tetrapods), whose forerunners (tetrapodomorphs) had evolved from lobe-finned fish during the preceding Devonian period, became pentadactylous during the Carboniferous. The period is sometimes called the Age of Amphibians because of the diversification of early amphibians such as the temnospondyls, which became dominant land vertebrates, as well as the first appearance of amniotes including synapsids (the clade to which modern mammals belong) and sauropsids (which include modern reptiles and birds) during the late Carboniferous. Land arthropods such as arachnids (e.g. trigonotarbids and Pulmonoscorpius), myriapods (e.g. Arthropleura) and especially insects (particularly flying insects) also underwent a major evolutionary radiation during the late Carboniferous. Vast swaths of forests and swamps covered the land, which eventually became the coal beds characteristic of the Carboniferous stratigraphy evident today.
The later half of the period experienced glaciations, low sea level, and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea. A minor marine and terrestrial extinction event, the Carboniferous rainforest collapse, occurred at the end of the period, caused by climate change. Atmospheric oxygen levels, originally thought to be consistently higher than today throughout the Carboniferous, have been shown to be more variable, increasing from low levels at the beginning of the Period to highs of 25–30%.
The similarity in successions between the British Isles and Western Europe led to the development of a common European timescale with the Carboniferous System divided into the lower Dinantian, dominated by carbonate deposition and the upper Silesian with mainly siliciclastic deposition. The Dinantian was divided into the Tournaisian and Viséan stages. The Silesian was divided into the Namurian, Westphalian and Stephanian stages. The Tournaisian is the same length as the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) stage, but the Viséan is longer, extending into the lower Serpukhovian. In Russia, in the 1840s British and Russian geologists divided the Carboniferous into the Lower, Middle and Upper series based on Russian sequences. In the 1890s these became the Dinantian, Moscovian and Uralian stages. The Serpukivian was proposed as part of the Lower Carboniferous, and the Upper Carboniferous was divided into the Moscovian and Gzhelian. The Bashkirian was added in 1934.
{|
|Series/epoch
|
|Stage/age
|Lower boundary
|-
| colspan"2" style"background-color: ;" |Permian
| style="background-color: ;" |Asselian
|298.9 ±0.15 Ma
|-
| rowspan"4" style"background-color: ;" |Pennsylvanian
| rowspan"2" style"background-color: ;" |Upper
| style="background-color: ;" |Gzhelian
|303.7 ±0.1 Ma
|-
| style="background-color: ;" |Kasimovian
|307.0 ±0.1 Ma
|-
| style="background-color: ;" |Middle
| style="background-color: ;" |Moscovian
|315.2 ±0.2 Ma
|-
| style="background-color: ;" |Lower
| style="background-color: ;" |Bashkirian
|323.2 ±0.4 Ma
|-
| rowspan"3" style"background-color: ;" |Mississippian
| style="background-color: ;" |Upper
| style="background-color: ;" |Serpukhovian
|330.9 ±0.2 Ma
|-
| style="background-color: ;" |Middle
| style="background-color: ;" |Visean
|346.7 ±0.4 Ma
|-
| style="background-color: ;" |Lower
| style="background-color: ;" |Tournaisian
|358.9 ±0.4 Ma
|}
Mississippian
The Mississippian was proposed by Alexander Winchell in 1870 named after the extensive exposure of lower Carboniferous limestone in the upper Mississippi River valley.The Viséan Stage was introduced by André Dumont in 1832 and is named after the city of Visé, Liège Province, Belgium. In 1967, the base of the Visean was officially defined as the first black limestone in the Leffe facies at the Bastion Section in the Dinant Basin. These changes are now thought to be ecologically driven rather than caused by evolutionary change, and so this has not been used as the location for the GSSP. Instead, the GSSP for the base of the Visean is located in Bed 83 of the sequence of dark grey limestones and shales at the Pengchong section, Guangxi, southern China. It is defined by the first appearance of the fusulinid Eoparastaffella simplex in the evolutionary lineage Eoparastaffella ovalis – Eoparastaffella simplex and was ratified in 2009.
Cyclothems
A cyclothem is a succession of non-marine and marine sedimentary rocks, deposited during a single sedimentary cycle, with an erosional surface at its base. Whilst individual cyclothems are often only metres to a few tens of metres thick, cyclothem sequences can be many hundreds to thousands of metres thick and contain tens to hundreds of individual cyclothems.
. A marine limestone at the base of the cliff is overlain by an orange-coloured fluvial sandstone. Subaerial exposure of the limestone during a period of falling sea level resulted in the formation of a karstic surface, which has then been infilled by the river sands. A thin, estuarine silty mudstone overlays the sandstone, which in turn is overlain by a second marine limestone.]]
The main period of cyclothem deposition occurred during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age from the Late Mississippian to early Permian, when the waxing and waning of ice sheets led to rapid changes in eustatic sea level.
During the Pennsylvanian, vast amounts of organic debris accumulated in the peat mires that formed across the low-lying, humid equatorial wetlands of the foreland basins of the Central Pangean Mountains in Laurussia, and around the margins of the North and South China cratons. However, significant Mesozoic and Cenozoic coal deposits formed after lignin-digesting fungi had become well established, and fungal degradation of lignin may have already evolved by the end of the Devonian, even if the specific enzymes used by basidiomycetes had not. Variscan-Alleghanian-Ouachita orogeny The Central Pangean Mountains were formed during the Variscan-Alleghanian-Ouachita orogeny. Today their remains stretch over 10,000 km from the Gulf of Mexico in the west to Turkey in the east. The orogeny was caused by a series of continental collisions between Laurussia, Gondwana and the Armorican terrane assemblage (much of modern-day Central and Western Europe including Iberia) as the Rheic Ocean closed and Pangea formed. This mountain building process began in the Middle Devonian and continued into the early Permian.
The Armorican terranes rifted away from Gondwana during the Late Ordovician. As they drifted northwards the Rheic Ocean closed in front of them, and they began to collide with southeastern Laurussia in the Middle Devonian. The Uralian orogeny began in the Late Devonian and continued, with some hiatuses, into the Jurassic. From the Late Devonian to early Carboniferous, the Magnitogorsk island arc, which lay between Kazakhstania and Laurussia in the Ural Ocean, collided with the passive margin of northeastern Laurussia (Baltica craton). The suture zone between the former island arc complex and the continental margin formed the Main Uralian Fault, a major structure that runs for more than 2,000 km along the orogen. Accretion of the island arc was complete by the Tournaisian, but subduction of the Ural Ocean between Kazakhstania and Laurussia continued until the Bashkirian when the ocean finally closed and continental collision began.
Subduction of the Panthalassic oceanic plate along its western margin resulted in the Antler orogeny in the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian. Further north along the margin, slab roll-back, beginning in the Early Mississippian, led to the rifting of the Yukon–Tanana terrane and the opening of the Slide Mountain Ocean. Along the northern margin of Laurussia, orogenic collapse of the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian Innuitian orogeny led to the development of the Sverdrup Basin. The northern to northeastern margin of Gondwana (northeast Africa, Arabia, India and northeastern West Australia) was a passive margin along the southern edge of the Paleo-Tethys with cyclothem deposition including, during more temperate intervals, coal swamps in Western Australia. By the late Carboniferous, all these complexes had accreted to the Siberian craton as shown by the intrusion of post-orogenic granites across the region. As Kazakhstania had already accreted to Laurussia, Siberia was effectively part of Pangea by 310 Ma, although major strike-slip movements continued between it and Laurussia into the Permian. A continental magmatic arc above a south-dipping subduction zone lay along the northern North China margin, consuming the Paleoasian Ocean.
Warmer periods with reduced ice volume within the Bashkirian, the late Moscovian and the latest Kasimovian to mid-Gzhelian are inferred from the disappearance of glacial sediments, the appearance of deglaciation deposits and rises in sea levels. This ended suddenly as a rapid increase in CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations to c. 600 ppm resulted in a warmer climate. This rapid rise in CO<sub>2</sub> may have been due to a peak in pyroclastic volcanism and/or a reduction in burial of terrestrial organic matter. Depending on the preservation of source material, some techniques represent moments in time (e.g. halite gas inclusions), whilst others have a wider time range (e.g. the charcoal record and pyrite). Results from these different methods for the Carboniferous vary.
Effects of climate on sedimentation
The changing climate was reflected in regional-scale changes in sedimentation patterns. In the relatively warm waters of the Early to Middle Mississippian, carbonate production occurred to depth across the gently dipping continental slopes of Laurussia and North and South China (carbonate ramp architecture)
Effects of climate on biodiversity
The main phase of the LPIA was considered a crisis for marine biodiversity with the loss of many genera, followed by low biodiversity. However, recent studies of marine life suggest the rapid climate and environmental changes that accompanied the onset of the main glacial phase resulted in an adaptive radiation with a rapid increase in the number of species. There was a major restructuring of wetland forests during the Kasimovian glacial interval, with the loss of arborescent (tree-like) lycopisids and other wetland groups, and a general decline in biodiversity. These events are attributed to the drop in CO<sub>2</sub> levels below 400 ppm. whilst the distribution of continents across the paleo-tropics meant vast areas of land were available for the spread of tropical rainforests. These variations reflect the changing influence of weathering and sediment supply to the oceans of the growing Central Pangean Mountains. By the Serpukhovian basement rocks, such as granite, had been uplifted and exposed to weathering. The decline towards the end of the Carboniferous is interpreted as a decrease in continental weathering due to the more arid conditions. Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in seawater Unlike Mg<sup>2+</sup>/Ca<sup>2+</sup> and <sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr isotope ratios, which are consistent across the world's oceans at any one time, δ<sup>18</sup>O and δ<sup>13</sup>C preserved in the fossil record can be affected by regional factors. For the first time foraminifera took a prominent part in the marine faunas. The large spindle-shaped genus Fusulina and its relatives were abundant in what is now Russia, China, Japan, North America; other important genera include Valvulina, Endothyra, Archaediscus, and Saccammina (the latter common in Britain and Belgium). Some Carboniferous genera are still extant. The first true priapulids appeared during this period.
The microscopic shells of radiolarians are found in cherts of this age in the Culm of Devon and Cornwall, and in Russia, Germany and elsewhere. Sponges are known from spicules and anchor ropes, and include various forms such as the Calcispongea Cotyliscus and Girtycoelia, the demosponge Chaetetes, and the genus of unusual colonial glass sponges Titusvillia. Both reef-building and solitary corals diversify and flourish; these include both rugose (for example, Caninia, Corwenia, Neozaphrentis), heterocorals, and tabulate (for example, Chladochonus, Michelinia) forms. Conularids were well represented by Conularia
Bryozoa are abundant in some regions; the fenestellids including Fenestella, Polypora, and Archimedes, so named because it is in the shape of an Archimedean screw. Brachiopods are also abundant; they include productids, some of which reached very large for brachiopods size and had very thick shells (for example, the -wide Gigantoproductus), while others like Chonetes were more conservative in form. Athyridids, spiriferids, rhynchonellids, and terebratulids are also very common. Inarticulate forms include Discina and Crania. Some species and genera had a very wide distribution with only minor variations.
Annelids such as Serpulites are common fossils in some horizons. Among the mollusca, the bivalves continue to increase in numbers and importance. Typical genera include Aviculopecten, Posidonomya, Nucula, Carbonicola, Edmondia, and Modiola. Gastropods are also numerous, including the genera Murchisonia, Euomphalus, Naticopsis. Nautiloid cephalopods are represented by tightly coiled nautilids, with straight-shelled and curved-shelled forms becoming increasingly rare. Goniatite ammonoids such as Aenigmatoceras are common.
Trilobites are rarer than in previous periods, on a steady trend towards extinction, represented only by the proetid group. Ostracoda, a class of crustaceans, were abundant as representatives of the meiobenthos; genera included Amphissites, Bairdia, Beyrichiopsis, Cavellina, Coryellina, Cribroconcha, Hollinella, Kirkbya, Knoxiella, and Libumella. Crinoids were highly numerous during the Carboniferous, though they suffered a gradual decline in diversity during the Middle Mississippian. Dense submarine thickets of long-stemmed crinoids appear to have flourished in shallow seas, and their remains were consolidated into thick beds of rock. Prominent genera include Cyathocrinus, Woodocrinus, and Actinocrinus. Echinoids such as Archaeocidaris and Palaeechinus were also present. The blastoids, which included the Pentreinitidae and Codasteridae and superficially resembled crinoids in the possession of long stalks attached to the seabed, attain their maximum development at this time.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Aviculopecten subcardiformis01.JPG|Aviculopecten subcardiformis; a bivalve from the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio (external mold)
File:LoganFauna011312.jpg|Bivalves (Aviculopecten) and brachiopods (Syringothyris) in the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) in Wooster, Ohio
File:Syringothyris01.JPG|Syringothyris sp.; a spiriferid brachiopod from the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio (internal mold)
File:Palaeophycus01.JPG|Palaeophycus ichnosp.; a trace fossil from the Logan Formation (lower Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio
File:PlatyceratidMississippian.JPG|Crinoid calyx from the lower Carboniferous of Ohio with a conical platyceratid gastropod (Palaeocapulus acutirostre) attached
File:Conulariid03.jpg|Conulariid from the lower Carboniferous of Indiana
File:Syringoporid.jpg|Tabulate coral (a syringoporid); Boone Limestone (lower Carboniferous) near Hiwasse, Arkansas
File:Typhloesus interpretation 2022.jpg|Typhloesus was a bizarre invertebrate that lived in Montana. It is possibly a mollusk related to gastropods.
File:Essexella asherae.JPG|Essexella was a cnidarian that lived in Northern Illinois. It was long considered a scyphozoan, but is now regarded as a Sea anemone
File:Concavicaris georgeorum.png|Concavicaris was a long lasting genus of thylacocephalan arthropod that lived from the Devonian to the Carboniferous.
File:Triproetus bonbon cropped.jpg|Triproetus was a genus of proetid trilobite, which were the only order that survived the end-Devonian extinction
File:Daidal.png|Daidal was a basal species of Mantis shrimp (stomatopoda)
File:Jeletzkya douglassae.jpg|Jeletzkya was an early genus of coleoid cephalopod from northern Illinois
File:Syllipsimopodi bideni.webp|Syllipsimopodi was the earliest known vampyropod cephalopod, originating from Carboniferous rocks of Montana.
</gallery>
Freshwater and lagoonal invertebrates
Freshwater Carboniferous invertebrates include various bivalve molluscs that lived in brackish or fresh water, such as Anthraconaia, Naiadites, and Carbonicola; diverse crustaceans such as Candona, Carbonita, Darwinula, Estheria, Acanthocaris, Dithyrocaris, and Anthrapalaemon. The eurypterids were also diverse, and are represented by such genera as Adelophthalmus, Megarachne (originally misinterpreted as a giant spider, hence its name) and the specialised very large Hibbertopterus. Many of these were amphibious. Frequently a temporary return of marine conditions resulted in marine or brackish water genera such as Lingula, Orbiculoidea, and Productus being found in the thin beds known as marine bands.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"180">
File:20210116 Megarachne hypothetical reconstruction.png|Megarachne was a large freshwater eurypterid from South America that was originally misidentified as a spider
File:Adelophthalmus irinae.png|Adelophthalmus was the only genus of eurypterine eurypterid that survived past the Devonian
File:Hibbertopterus scouleri.jpg|Due to its large and compact shell, Hibbertopterus was one of if not the heaviest eurypterid in the fossil record
</gallery>
Terrestrial invertebrates
Fossil remains of air-breathing insects, myriapods, and arachnids are known from the Carboniferous. Their diversity when they do appear, however, shows that these arthropods were both well-developed and numerous. Some arthropods grew to large sizes with the up to millipede-like Arthropleura being the largest-known land invertebrate of all time. In the mid-Mississippian the oldest known winged insects appears,
followed by the huge predatory Protodonata (griffinflies), which includes Meganeura, a giant dragonfly-like insect and with a wingspan of ca. —the largest flying insect ever to roam the planet. Further groups are the Syntonopterodea (relatives of present-day mayflies), the abundant and often large sap-sucking Palaeodictyopteroidea, the diverse herbivorous Protorthoptera, and numerous basal Dictyoptera (ancestors of cockroaches).
Many insects have been obtained from the coalfields of Saarbrücken and Commentry, and from the hollow trunks of fossil trees in Nova Scotia. Some British coalfields have yielded good specimens: Archaeoptilus, from the Derbyshire coalfield, had a large wing with preserved part, and some specimens (Brodia) still exhibit traces of brilliant wing colors. In the Nova Scotian tree trunks land snails (Archaeozonites, Dendropupa) have been found.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Meganeura.png|The late Carboniferous giant dragonfly-like insect Meganeura grew to wingspans over .
File:20210116 Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis.png|The gigantic Pulmonoscorpius from the early Carboniferous reached a length of up to .
File:Arthropleura Reconstruction.jpg|Arthropleura was a giant millipede that fed on the Carboniferous plants. At long, it was the largest terrestrial arthropod that ever lived.
File:Homaloneura ligeia.jpg|Homaloneura, a palaeodictyopteran insect which have two winglets on thorax in addition to four wings.
File:Helenodora inopinata.jpg|Helenodora inopinata, a stem-group onychophoran known from Indiana
File:Blattoidae - Fossil.JPG|A roachoid insect found in Carboniferous rocks of France
File:20201202 Maiocercus celticus.png|Maiocercus was a trigonotarbid arachnid that lived in the United Kingdom around 310 million years ago.
</gallery>
Fish
Many fish inhabited the Carboniferous seas; predominantly Elasmobranchs (sharks and their relatives). These included some, like Psammodus, with crushing pavement-like teeth adapted for grinding the shells of brachiopods, crustaceans, and other marine organisms. Other groups of elasmobranchs, like the ctenacanthiformes grew to large sizes, with some genera like Saivodus reaching around . Other fish had piercing teeth, such as the Symmoriida; some, the petalodonts, had peculiar cycloid cutting teeth. Most of the other cartilaginous fish were marine, but others like the Xenacanthida, and several genera like Bandringa invaded fresh waters of the coal swamps. Among the bony fish, the Palaeonisciformes found in coastal waters also appear to have migrated to rivers. Sarcopterygian fish were also prominent, and one group, the Rhizodonts, reached very large size.
Most species of Carboniferous marine fish have been described largely from teeth, fin spines and dermal ossicles, with smaller freshwater fish preserved whole. Freshwater fish were abundant, and include the genera Ctenodus, Uronemus, Acanthodes, Cheirodus, and Gyracanthus. Chondrichthyes (especially holocephalans like the Stethacanthids) underwent a major evolutionary radiation during the Carboniferous. It is believed that this evolutionary radiation occurred because the decline of the placoderms at the end of the Devonian caused many environmental niches to become unoccupied and allowed new organisms to evolve and fill these niches. As a result of the evolutionary radiation Carboniferous holocephalans assumed a wide variety of bizarre shapes including Stethacanthus which possessed a flat brush-like dorsal fin with a patch of denticles on its top. Stethacanthus unusual fin may have been used in mating rituals.
Other groups like the eugeneodonts filled in the niches left by large predatory placoderms. These fish were unique as they only possessed one row of teeth in their upper or lower jaws in the form of elaborate tooth whorls. The first members of the helicoprionidae, a family eugeneodonts that were characterized by the presence of one circular tooth whorl in the lower jaw, appeared during the early Carboniferous. Perhaps the most bizarre radiation of holocephalans at this time was that of the iniopterygiformes, an order of holocephalans that greatly resembled modern day flying fish that could have also "flown" in the water with their massive, elongated pectoral fins. They were further characterized by their large eye sockets, club-like structures on their tails, and spines on the tips of their fins.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Stethacanthus BW.jpg|Akmonistion of the Holocephali order Symmoriida roamed the oceans of the early Carboniferous.
File:Falcatus.jpg|Falcatus was a Carboniferous holocephalan, with a high degree of sexual dimorphism.
File:Dracopristis hoffmanorum.png|Dracopristis was a Ctenacanthiform elasmobranch from the late Carboniferous of New Mexico.
File:Ornithoprion hertwigi.png|Ornithoprion was a small-sized Eugeneodont holocephalan that had an elongated lower jaw.
File:Allenypterus montanus (Restoration) (cropped).jpg|Allenypterus was a Coelacanth fish known from the Bear Gulch Limestone in Montana.
File:†Phanerosteon phonax Carboniferous Bear Gulch.jpg|Phanerosteon was a Bony fish belonging to the extinct order Palaeonisciformes.
File:Edestus recon.png|Edestus was a large eugeneodontid fish that possessed two tooth whorls in its mouth
File:Rhizodus.jpg|Rhizodus was a large freshwater Rhizodont sarcopterygian from Europe and North America.
File:Squatinactis NT small.jpg|Squatinactis, a genus of elasmobranch fish from Montana that possessed enlarged pectoral fins similar to modern angel sharks
File:Bandringa SW.png|Bandringa is a bizarre elasmobranch fish that lived in Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania during the Moscovian stage. It superficially resembled a paddlefish, with an elongated upper rostrum.
File:Iniopteryxrushlaui.JPG|Iniopteryx was a holocephalan that lived in North America. This fish belonged to a group called the Iniopterygiformes, that possibly lived like flying fish.
File:Strigilodus tollesonae-novataxa 2023-Hodnett Toomey Olson.jpg|Restoration of Strigilodus, a petalodont holocephalan from the upper Carboniferous of Kentucky.
</gallery>
Tetrapods
Carboniferous amphibians were diverse and common by the middle of the period, more so than they are today; some were as long as 6 meters, and those fully terrestrial as adults had scaly skin. They included basal tetrapod groups classified in early books under the Labyrinthodontia. These had a long body, a head covered with bony plates, and generally weak or undeveloped limbs. The largest were over 2 meters long. They were accompanied by an assemblage of smaller amphibians included under the Lepospondyli, often only about long. Some Carboniferous amphibians were aquatic and lived in rivers (Loxomma, Eogyrinus, Proterogyrinus); others may have been semi-aquatic (Ophiderpeton, Amphibamus, Hyloplesion) or terrestrial (Dendrerpeton, Tuditanus, Anthracosaurus).
The Carboniferous rainforest collapse slowed the evolution of amphibians who could not survive as well in the cooler, drier conditions. Amniotes, however, prospered because of specific key adaptations. One of the greatest evolutionary innovations of the Carboniferous was the amniote egg, which allowed the laying of eggs in a dry environment, as well as keratinized scales and claws, allowing for the further exploitation of the land by certain tetrapods. These included the earliest sauropsid reptiles (Hylonomus), and the earliest known synapsid (Archaeothyris). Synapsids quickly became huge and diversified in the Permian, only for their dominance to stop during the Mesozoic. Sauropsids (reptiles, and also, later, birds) also diversified but remained small until the Mesozoic, during which they dominated the land, as well as the water and sky, only for their dominance to stop during the Cenozoic.
Reptiles underwent a major evolutionary radiation in response to the drier climate that preceded the rainforest collapse. By the end of the Carboniferous amniotes had already diversified into a number of groups, including several families of synapsid pelycosaurs, protorothyridids, captorhinids, saurians and araeoscelids.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Pederpes2223DB.jpg|The amphibian-like Pederpes, the most primitive tetrapod found in the Mississippian, and known from Scotland.
File:Hylonomus BW.jpg|Hylonomus, the earliest sauropsid reptile, appeared in the Pennsylvanian, and is known from the Joggins Formation in Nova Scotia, and possibly New Brunswick.
File:Petrolacosaurus BW.jpg|Petrolacosaurus, the earliest known diapsid reptile, lived during the late Carboniferous.
File:Archaeothyris BW.jpg|Archaeothyris is the oldest known synapsid, and is found in rocks from Nova Scotia.
File:Coloraderpeton.jpg|Coloraderpeton was a snake-like aïstopod tetrapodomorph from the late Carboniferous of Colorado.
File:Crassigyrinus BW.jpg|Crassigyrinus was a carnivorous stem-tetrapod from the early Carboniferous of Scotland.
File:Microbrachis pelikani.png|Microbrachis was a lepospondyl amphibian known from the Czech Republic.
File:Amphibamus BW.jpg|Amphibamus was a dissorophoid temnospondyl from the late Carboniferous of Illinois.
</gallery>
Fungi
As plants and animals were growing in size and abundance in this time, land fungi diversified further. Marine fungi still occupied the oceans. All modern classes of fungi were present in the late Carboniferous.
Extinction events
Romer's gap
The first 15 million years of the Carboniferous had very limited terrestrial fossils. While it has long been debated whether the gap is a result of fossilisation or relates to an actual event, recent work indicates there was a drop in atmospheric oxygen levels, indicating some sort of ecological collapse. The gap saw the demise of the Devonian fish-like ichthyostegalian labyrinthodonts and the rise of the more advanced temnospondylian and reptiliomorphan amphibians that so typify the Carboniferous terrestrial vertebrate fauna.
Carboniferous rainforest collapse
Before the end of the Carboniferous, an extinction event occurred. On land this event is referred to as the Carboniferous rainforest collapse. Vast tropical rainforests collapsed suddenly as the climate changed from hot and humid to cool and arid. This was likely caused by intense glaciation and a drop in sea levels. The new climatic conditions were not favorable to the growth of rainforest and the animals within them. Rainforests shrank into isolated islands, surrounded by seasonally dry habitats. Towering lycopsid forests with a heterogeneous mixture of vegetation were replaced by much less diverse tree fern dominated flora.
Amphibians, the dominant vertebrates at the time, fared poorly through this event with large losses in biodiversity; reptiles continued to diversify through key adaptations that let them survive in the drier habitat, specifically the hard-shelled egg and scales, both of which retain water better than their amphibian counterparts.
See also
* List of Carboniferous tetrapods
* Important Carboniferous Lagerstätten
** Granton Shrimp Bed; 359 mya; Edinburgh, Scotland
** East Kirkton Quarry; c. 350 mya; Bathgate, Scotland
** Bear Gulch Limestone; 324 mya; Montana, US
** Mazon Creek; 309 mya; Illinois, US
** Hamilton Quarry; 300 mya; Kansas, US
* List of fossil sites
References
Sources
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* ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research |firstR. Aidan |lastMartin |url-statuslive |archive-urlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20080522113202/http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/evolution/golden_age.htm |archive-date2008-05-22 |ref}}
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*Rainer Zangerl and Gerard Ramon Case: Iniopterygia: a new order of Chondrichthyan fishes from the Pennsylvanian of North America. Fieldiana Geology Memoirs, v. 6, Field Museum of Natural History, 1973 [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/25090 Biodiversity Heritage Library] (Volltext, engl.)
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External links
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* [http://www.geo-lieven.com/erdzeitalter/karbon/karbon.htm Examples of Carboniferous Fossils]
*[http://www.foraminifera.eu/querydb.php?&periodCarboniferous&aktionsuche 60+ images of Carboniferous Foraminifera]
*[https://ghkclass.com/ghkC.html?carboniferous Carboniferous (Chronostratography scale)]
Category:Geological periods
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous
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Comoros
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|||<small></small>}}
| image_flag = Flag of the Comoros.svg
| flag_type = Flag
| image_coat = Seal of the Comoros.svg
| symbol_type = Seal
| image_map = File:Comoros (orthographic projection).svg
| map_caption = Location of the Comoros (circled)
| image_map2 | national_motto | |"Unity – Solidarity – Development"}}
| national_anthem Udzima wa ya Masiwa(Comorian)<br />The Unity of the Great Islands<div style"padding-top:0.5em;"></div>
| official_languages =
| ethnic_groups = <!--The following is sourced (see ethnic_groups_year above), so please do not change it without also replacing that source:-->
| demonym =
| capital = Moroni
| coordinates =
| largest_city = capital
| ethnic_groups_ref
| ethnic_groups_year = 2000
| religion | government_type Unitary presidential republic
| leader_title1 = President
| leader_name1 = Azali Assoumani
| leader_title2 = President of the Assembly
| leader_name2 = Moustadroine Abdou
| legislature =
| area_rank = 170th <!-- Should match List of countries and dependencies by area -->
| area_km2 2,235
| area_sq_mi = 719 <!--Do not remove per WP:MOSNUM-->
| percent_water = negligible
| population_estimate 883,075
| population_estimate_year = 2024
| population_estimate_rank = 160th <!-- Should match List of countries and dependencies by area -->
| population_census | population_census_year
| population_density_km2 = 457
| population_density_sq_mi = 1,184
| population_densitymi³ = <!--Do not remove per WP:MOSNUM-->
| population_density_rank = 27th
| GDP_PPP_year = 2023
| GDP_PPP $3.432 billion
| GDP_PPP_per_capita $3,463
| HDI_year = 2022<!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
| HDI_change = increase <!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| HDI = 0.586 <!--number only-->
| HDI_ref
| HDI_rank = 152nd
| sovereignty_type = Formation
| established_event1 = A part of Kilwa Sultanate
| established_date1 = 957-1513
| established_event2 = French colony of Mayotte
| established_date2 = 25 April 1841
| established_event3 = Province of French Madagascar
| established_date3 = 31 March 1914
| established_event4 = French Overseas Territory
| established_date4 = 27 October 1946
| established_event5 = Internal autonomy
| established_date5 = 22 December 1961
| established_event6 = Independence from France
| established_date6 = 6 July 1975
| established_event7 = Federal Islamic Republic
| established_date7 1 October 1978
| established_event8 = Union
| established_date8 = 23 December 2001
| currency = Comorian franc
| currency_code = KMF
| time_zone = EAT
| utc_offset = +3
| time_zone_DST | utc_offset_DST
| drives_on = Right
| calling_code = +269
| cctld = .km
| today | religion_ref
}}
The Comoros, ; , ; , Qamar}}; }} officially the Union of the Comoros,; ; Qamarī}}}} is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni. The religion of the majority of the population, and the official state religion, is Sunni Islam. Comoros proclaimed its independence from France on 6 July 1975. The Comoros is the only country of the Arab League which is entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a member state of the African Union, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, and the Indian Ocean Commission. The country has three official languages: Shikomori, French and Arabic.
At , the Comoros is the third-smallest African country by area. In 2019, its population was estimated to be 850,886. The sovereign state consists of three major islands and numerous smaller islands, all of the volcanic Comoro Islands with the exception of Mayotte. Mayotte voted against independence from France in a referendum in 1974, and continues to be administered by France as an overseas department. France has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have affirmed Comorian sovereignty over the island. Mayotte became an overseas department and a region of France in 2011 following a referendum which was passed overwhelmingly.
The Comoros were likely first settled by Austronesian/Malagasy peoples, Bantu speakers from East Africa, and seafaring Arab traders. From 1500 the Sultanate of Anjouan dominated the islands, with Grande Comore split between several sultans. It became part of the French colonial empire during the 19th century, before its independence in 1975. It has experienced more than 20 coups or attempted coups, with various heads of state assassinated. Along with this constant political instability, it has one of the highest levels of income inequality of any nation, and ranks in the medium quartile on the Human Development Index. Between 2009 and 2014, about 19% of the population lived below the international poverty line of US$1.90 a day by purchasing power parity.
Etymology
The name "Comoros" derives from the Arabic word qamar ("moon"). History Settlement
with lateen sail rigs]]
plantation]]
According to mythology, a jinni dropped a jewel, which formed a great circular inferno. This became the Karthala volcano, which created the island of Ngazidja (Grande Comore). King Solomon is also said to have visited the island accompanied by his queen Bilqis.
The first attested human inhabitants of the Comoro Islands are now thought to have been Austronesian settlers travelling by boat from islands in Southeast Asia. These people arrived in the area no later than the eighth century AD, the date of the earliest known archaeological site, found on Mayotte, although settlement beginning in the first century has been postulated.
Subsequent settlers came from the east coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf, the Malay Archipelago, and Madagascar. Bantu-speaking settlers were present on the islands from the beginnings of settlement , probably brought to the islands as slaves.
Development of the Comoros is divided into phases. The earliest reliably recorded phase is the Dembeni phase (eighth to tenth centuries), during which there were several small settlements on each island. From the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, trade with the island of Madagascar and merchants from the Swahili coast and the Middle East flourished, more villages were founded and existing villages grew. Settlers from the Arabian peninsula, particularly Hadhramaut, arrived during this period.
Medieval Comoros
According to legend, in 632, upon hearing of Islam, islanders are said to have dispatched an emissary, Mtswa-Mwindza, to Mecca—but by the time he arrived there, the Islamic prophet Muhammad had died. Nonetheless, after a stay in Mecca, he returned to Ngazidja, where he built a mosque in his home town of Ntsaweni, and led the gradual conversion of the islanders to Islam.
In 933, the Comoros was referred to by Omani sailors as the Perfume Islands.
Among the earliest accounts of East Africa, the works of Al-Masudi describe early Islamic trade routes, and how the coast and islands were frequently visited by Muslims including Persian and Arab merchants and sailors in search of coral, ambergris, ivory, tortoiseshell, gold and slaves for the Arabic slave trade. They also brought Islam to the people of the Zanj including the Comoros. As the importance of the Comoros grew along the East African coast, both small and large mosques were constructed. The Comoros are part of the Swahili cultural and economic complex and the islands became a major hub of trade and an important location in a network of trading towns that included Kilwa, in present-day Tanzania, Sofala (an outlet for Zimbabwean gold), in Mozambique, and Mombasa in Kenya. For much of the 16th century the islands provided provisions to the Portuguese fort at Mozambique and although there was no formal attempt by the Portuguese crown to take possession, a number of Portuguese traders settled and married local women.
By the end of the 16th century local rulers on the African mainland were beginning to push back and, with the support of the Omani Sultan Saif bin Sultan they began to defeat the Dutch and the Portuguese. One of his successors, Said bin Sultan, increased Omani Arab influence in the region, moving his administration to nearby Zanzibar, which came under Omani rule. Nevertheless, the Comoros remained independent, and although the three smaller islands were usually politically unified, the largest island, Ngazidja, was divided into a number of autonomous kingdoms (ntsi).
The islands were well placed to meet the needs of Europeans, initially supplying the Portuguese in Mozambique, then ships, particularly the English, on the route to India, and, later, slaves to the plantation islands in the Mascarenes. The islands were repopulated by slaves from the mainland, who were traded to the French in Mayotte and the Mascarenes. On the Comoros, it was estimated in 1865 that as much as 40% of the population consisted of slaves.
France first established colonial rule in the Comoros by taking possession of Mayotte in 1841 when the Sakalava usurper sultan (also known as Tsy Levalo) signed the Treaty of April 1841, which ceded the island to the French authorities. After its annexation, France attempted to convert Mayotte into a sugar plantation colony.
Meanwhile, Ndzwani (or Johanna as it was known to the British) continued to serve as a way station for English merchants sailing to India and the Far East, as well as American whalers, although the British gradually abandoned it following their possession of Mauritius in 1814, and by the time the Suez Canal opened in 1869 there was no longer any significant supply trade at Ndzwani. Local commodities exported by the Comoros were, in addition to slaves, coconuts, timber, cattle and tortoiseshell. British and American settlers, as well as the island's sultan, established a plantation-based economy that used about one-third of the land for export crops. In addition to sugar on Mayotte, ylang-ylang and other perfume plants, vanilla, cloves, coffee, cocoa beans, and sisal were introduced.
In 1886, Mwali was placed under French protection by its Sultan Mardjani Abdou Cheikh. That same year, Sultan Said Ali of Bambao, one of the sultanates on Ngazidja, placed the island under French protection in exchange for French support of his claim to the entire island, which he retained until his abdication in 1910. In 1908 the four islands were unified under a single administration (Colonie de Mayotte et dépendances) and placed under the authority of the French colonial Governor-General of Madagascar. In 1909, Sultan Said Muhamed of Ndzwani abdicated in favour of French rule and in 1912 the protectorates were abolished and the islands administered as a single colony. Two years later the colony was abolished and the islands became a province of the colony of Madagascar.
The population of Mayotte voted against independence from France in three referendums during this period. The first, held on all the islands on 22 December 1974, won 63.8% support for maintaining ties with France on Mayotte; the second, held in February 1976, confirmed that vote with an overwhelming 99.4%, while the third, in April 1976, confirmed that the people of Mayotte wished to remain a French territory. The three remaining islands, ruled by President Soilihi, instituted a number of socialist and isolationist policies that soon strained relations with France. On 13 May 1978, Bob Denard, once again commissioned by the French intelligence service (SDECE), returned to overthrow President Soilihi and reinstate Abdallah with the support of the French, Rhodesian and South African governments. Ali Soilihi was captured and executed a few weeks later.
In contrast to Soilihi, Abdallah's presidency was marked by authoritarian rule and increased adherence to traditional Islam and the country was renamed the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros (République Fédérale Islamique des Comores; جمهورية القمر الإتحادية الإسلامية). Bob Denard served as Abdallah's first advisor; nicknamed the "Viceroy of the Comoros," he was sometimes considered the real strongman of the regime. Very close to South Africa, which financed his "presidential guard," he allowed Paris to circumvent the international embargo on the apartheid regime via Moroni. He also set up from the archipelago a permanent mercenary corps, called upon to intervene at the request of Paris or Pretoria in conflicts in Africa. Abdallah continued as president until 1989 when, fearing a probable coup, he signed a decree ordering the Presidential Guard, led by Bob Denard, to disarm the armed forces. Shortly after the signing of the decree, Abdallah was allegedly shot dead in his office by a disgruntled military officer, though later sources claim an antitank missile was launched into his bedroom and killed him. Although Denard was also injured, it is suspected that Abdallah's killer was a soldier under his command.
A few days later, Bob Denard was evacuated to South Africa by French paratroopers. Said Mohamed Djohar, Soilihi's older half-brother, then became president, and served until September 1995, when Bob Denard returned and attempted another coup. This time France intervened with paratroopers and forced Denard to surrender. The French removed Djohar to Reunion, and the Paris-backed Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim became president by election. He led the country from 1996, during a time of labour crises, government suppression, and secessionist conflicts, until his death in November 1998. He was succeeded by Interim President Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde.
The islands of Ndzwani and Mwali declared their independence from the Comoros in 1997, in an attempt to restore French rule. But France rejected their request, leading to bloody confrontations between federal troops and rebels. In April 1999, Colonel Azali Assoumani, Army Chief of Staff, seized power in a bloodless coup, overthrowing the Interim President Massounde, citing weak leadership in the face of the crisis. This was the Comoros' 18th coup, or attempted coup d'état since independence in 1975.
Assoumani failed to consolidate power and reestablish control over the islands, which was the subject of international criticism. The African Union, under the auspices of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, imposed sanctions on Ndzwani to help broker negotiations and effect reconciliation. Under the terms of the Fomboni Accords, signed in December 2001 by the leaders of all three islands, the official name of the country was changed to the Union of the Comoros; the new state was to be highly decentralised and the central union government would devolve most powers to the new island governments, each led by a president. The Union president, although elected by national elections, would be chosen in rotation from each of the islands every five years.
Assoumani stepped down in 2002 to run in the democratic election of the President of the Comoros, which he won. Under ongoing international pressure, as a military ruler who had originally come to power by force, and was not always democratic while in office, Assoumani led the Comoros through constitutional changes that enabled new elections. A Loi des compétences law was passed in early 2005 that defines the responsibilities of each governmental body, and is in the process of implementation. The elections in 2006 were won by Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, a Sunni Muslim cleric nicknamed the "Ayatollah" for his time spent studying Islam in Iran. Assoumani honoured the election results, thus allowing the first peaceful and democratic exchange of power for the archipelago.
Colonel Mohammed Bacar, a French-trained former gendarme elected President of Ndzwani in 2001, refused to step down at the end of his five-year mandate. He staged a vote in June 2007 to confirm his leadership that was rejected as illegal by the Comoros federal government and the African Union. On 25 March 2008 hundreds of soldiers from the African Union and the Comoros seized rebel-held Ndzwani, generally welcomed by the population: there have been reports of hundreds, if not thousands, of people tortured during Bacar's tenure.
Some rebels were killed and injured, but there are no official figures. At least 11 civilians were wounded. Some officials were imprisoned. Bacar fled in a speedboat to Mayotte to seek asylum. Anti-French protests followed in the Comoros (see 2008 invasion of Anjouan). Bacar was eventually granted asylum in Benin.
Since independence from France, the Comoros experienced more than 20 coups or attempted coups.
Following elections in late 2010, former Vice-president Ikililou Dhoinine was inaugurated as president on 26 May 2011. Dhoinine is the first President of the Comoros from the island of Mwali. Following the 2016 elections, Azali Assoumani, from Ngazidja, became president for a third term. In 2018 Assoumani held a referendum on constitutional reform that would permit a president to serve two terms. The amendments passed, although the vote was widely contested and boycotted by the opposition, and in April 2019, and to widespread opposition, Assoumani was re-elected president to serve the first of potentially two five-year terms. In January 2020, the legislative elections in Comoros were dominated by President Azali Assoumani's party, the Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros, CRC. It took an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
In 2021, Comoros signed and ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, making it a nuclear-weapon-free state. and in 2023, Comoros was invited as a non-member guest to the G7 summit in Hiroshima. On 18 February 2023 the Comoros assumed the presidency of the African Union.
In January 2024, President Azali Assoumani was re-elected with 63% of the vote in the disputed presidential election. In January 2025, the ruling party of president Azali Assoumani won parliamentary election, taking 28 out of 33 parliamentary seats. The opposition parties rejected the results.
Geography
The Comoros is formed by Ngazidja (Grande Comore), Mwali (Mohéli) and Ndzwani (Anjouan), three major islands in the Comoros Archipelago, as well as many minor islets. The islands are officially known by their Comorian language names, though international sources still use their French names (given in parentheses above). The capital and largest city, Moroni, is located on Ngazidja and the most densely populated city is Anjouan. The archipelago is situated in the Indian Ocean, in the Mozambique Channel, between the African coast (nearest to Mozambique and Tanzania) and Madagascar, with no land borders.
At , it is one of the smallest countries in the world. The Comoros also has claim to of territorial seas. The interiors of the islands vary from steep mountains to low hills.
The areas and populations (at the 2017 Census) of the main islands are as follows:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Name || Area <br />km<sup>2</sup>|| Population<br />census 2017 The islands are rarely subject to cyclones.
Biodiversity
The Comoros constitute an ecoregion in their own right, Comoros forests. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.69/10, ranking it 33rd globally out of 172 countries.
In December 1952 a specimen of the West Indian Ocean coelacanth fish was re-discovered off the Comoros coast. The 66 million-year-old species was thought to have been long extinct until its first recorded appearance in 1938 off the South African coast. Between 1938 and 1975, 84 specimens were caught and recorded.
Protected areas
There are six national parks in the Comoros – Karthala, Coelacanth, and Mitsamiouli Ndroudi on Grande Comore, Mount Ntringui and Shisiwani on Anjouan, and Mohéli National Park on Mohéli. Karthala and Mount Ntrigui national parks cover the highest peaks on the respective islands, and Coelacanth, Mitsamiouli Ndroudi, and Shisiwani are marine national parks that protect the island's coastal waters and fringing reefs. Mohéli National Park includes both terrestrial and marine areas.
Government
, capital of the Comoros, with the port and Badjanani Mosque]]
Politics of the Comoros takes place in a framework of a unitary presidential republic, whereby the President of the Comoros is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The Constitution of the Union of the Comoros was ratified by referendum on 23 December 2001, and the islands' constitutions and executives were elected in the following months. It had previously been considered a military dictatorship, and the transfer of power from Azali Assoumani to Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi in May 2006 was a watershed moment as it was the first peaceful transfer in Comorian history.
Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The preamble of the constitution guarantees an Islamic inspiration in governance, a commitment to human rights, and several specific enumerated rights, democracy, "a common destiny" for all Comorians. Each of the islands (according to Title II of the Constitution) has a great amount of autonomy in the Union, including having their own constitutions (or Fundamental Law), president, and Parliament. The presidency and Assembly of the Union are distinct from each of the islands' governments. Up to a referendum on 30.7.2018 (62.7% participation, 92.34% for the amendment according to the Comorian government) the presidency of the Union rotated between the islands. Legal system The Comorian legal system rests on Islamic law, an inherited French (Napoleonic Code) legal code, and customary law (mila na ntsi). Village elders, kadis or civilian courts settle most disputes. The judiciary is independent of the legislative and the executive. The Supreme Court acts as a Constitutional Council in resolving constitutional questions and supervising presidential elections. As High Court of Justice, the Supreme Court also arbitrates in cases where the government is accused of malpractice. The Supreme Court consists of two members selected by the president, two elected by the Federal Assembly, and one by the council of each island. A referendum took place on 16 May 2009 to decide whether to cut down the government's unwieldy political bureaucracy. 52.7% of those eligible voted, and 93.8% of votes were cast in approval of the referendum. Following the implementation of the changes, each island's president became a governor and the ministers became councillors. Foreign relations
In November 1975, the Comoros became the 143rd member of the United Nations. The new nation was defined as comprising the entire archipelago, although the citizens of Mayotte chose to become French citizens and keep their island as a French territory.
The Comoros has repeatedly pressed its claim to Mayotte before the United Nations General Assembly, which adopted a series of resolutions under the caption "Question of the Comorian Island of Mayotte", opining that Mayotte belongs to the Comoros under the principle that the territorial integrity of colonial territories should be preserved upon independence. As a practical matter, however, these resolutions have little effect and there is no foreseeable likelihood that Mayotte will become de facto part of the Comoros without its people's consent. More recently, the Assembly has maintained this item on its agenda but deferred it from year to year without taking action. Other bodies, including the Organisation of African Unity, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, have similarly questioned French sovereignty over Mayotte. To close the debate and to avoid being integrated by force in the Union of the Comoros, the population of Mayotte overwhelmingly chose to become an overseas department and a region of France in a 2009 referendum. The new status was effective on 31 March 2011 and Mayotte has been recognised as an outermost region by the European Union on 1 January 2014. This decision legally integrates Mayotte in the French Republic.
The Comoros is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Indian Ocean Commission and the African Development Bank. On 10 April 2008, the Comoros became the 179th nation to accept the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Comoros signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros and Chair of the African Union, attended the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit in Saint Petersburg.
In May 2013 the Union of the Comoros became known for filing a referral to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the events of "the 31 May 2010 Israeli raid on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for [the] Gaza Strip". In November 2014 the ICC Prosecutor eventually decided that the events did constitute war crimes but did not meet the gravity standards of bringing the case before ICC.
The emigration rate of skilled workers was about 21.2% in 2000.
Military
The military resources of the Comoros consist of a small standing army and a 500-member police force, as well as a 500-member defence force. A defence treaty with France provides naval resources for protection of territorial waters, training of Comorian military personnel, and air surveillance. France maintains the presence of a few senior officers in the Comoros at government request, as well as a small maritime base and a Foreign Legion Detachment (DLEM) on Mayotte.
Once the new government was installed in May–June 2011, an expert mission from UNREC (Lomé) came to the Comoros and produced guidelines for the elaboration of a national security policy, which were discussed by different actors, notably the national defence authorities and civil society. By the end of the programme in end March 2012, a normative framework agreed upon by all entities involved in SSR will have been established. This will then have to be adopted by Parliament and implemented by the authorities. Human rights
Both male and female same-sex sexual acts are illegal in Comoros. Such acts are punished with up to five years' imprisonment.
Economy
The level of poverty in the Comoros is high, but "judging by the international poverty threshold of $1.9 per person per day, only two out of every ten Comorians could be classified as poor, a rate that places the Comoros ahead of other low-income countries and 30 percentage points ahead of other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa." Poverty declined by about 10% between 2014 and 2018, and living conditions generally improved. and have contributed to decreases in poverty and increases in living standards. An October 2005 paper by the Comoros Ministry of Planning and Regional Development, however, reported that "registered unemployment rate is 14.3 percent, distributed very unevenly among and within the islands, but with marked incidence in urban areas."
In 2019, more than 56% of the labor force was employed in agriculture, with 29% employed in industry and 14% employed in services. The islands' agricultural sector is based on the export of spices, including vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves, and thus susceptible to price fluctuations in the volatile world commodity market for these goods.
High population densities, as much as 1000 per square kilometre in the densest agricultural zones, for what is still a mostly rural, agricultural economy may lead to an environmental crisis in the near future, especially considering the high rate of population growth. In 2004 the Comoros' real GDP growth was a low 1.9% and real GDP per capita continued to decline. These declines are explained by factors including declining investment, drops in consumption, rising inflation, and an increase in trade imbalance due in part to lowered cash crop prices, especially vanilla.
The Comoros has an inadequate transportation system, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources. The low educational level of the labour force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical assistance. Agriculture contributes 40% to GDP and provides most of the exports.
The government is struggling to upgrade education and technical training, to privatise commercial and industrial enterprises, to improve health services, to diversify exports, to promote tourism, and to reduce the high population growth rate.
The Comoros is a member of the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).
Demographics
Island
| city_1 Moroni, ComorosMoroni| div_1 Grande Comore| pop_1 111,329| img_1 Moroni harbour (2).jpg
| city_2 Mutsamudu | div_2 Anjouan| pop_2 30,000| img_2 Citadel of Mutsamudu (9983241846).jpg
| city_3 Ouani| div_3Anjouan| pop_3 22,501| img_3Stade De ouani anjouan.JPG
| city_4 Mandza | div_4Grande Comore| pop_4 21,000| img_4
| city_5 Fomboni| div_5 Mohéli| pop_5 = 18,277
| city_6 Domoni| div_6 Anjouan| pop_6 = 16,276
| city_7 Adda-Douéni| div_7 Anjouan | pop_7 = 10,858
| city_8 Kourani| div_8 Grande Comore| pop_8 = 10,000
| city_9 Bazimini| div_9 Anjouan | pop_9 = 8,952
| city_10 Mkazi| div_10 Grande Comore| pop_10 = 8,438
}}
With about 850,000 residents, the Comoros is one of the least populous countries in the world, but its population density is high, with an average of . In 2001, 34% of the population was considered urban, but the urban population has since grown; in recent years rural population growth has been negative, while overall population growth is still relatively high. In 1958 the population was 183,133.
In 2009, almost half the population of the Comoros was under the age of 15. Major urban centres include Moroni, Mitsamihuli, Foumbouni, Mutsamudu, Domoni, and Fomboni. There are between 200,000 and 350,000 Comorians in France.
Ethnic groups
The islands of the Comoros are 97.1% ethnically Comorian, which is a mixture of Bantu, Malagasy, and Arab people.
Languages
The most common languages in the Comoros are the Comorian languages, collectively known as Shikomori. They are related to Swahili, and the four different variants (Shingazidja, Shimwali, Shindzwani and Shimaore) are spoken on each of the four islands. Arabic and Latin scripts are both used, Arabic being the more widely used, and an official orthography has recently been developed for the Latin script.
Arabic and French are also official languages, along with Comorian. Arabic is widely known as a second language, being the language of Quranic teaching. French is the administrative language and the language of most non-Quranic formal education.
Religion
including mosque]]
Sunni Islam is the dominant religion, followed by as much as 99% of the population. Comoros is the only Muslim-majority country in Southern Africa and one of the three southernmost Muslim-majority territories, along with Mayotte and the Australian territory of Cocos Islands.
A minority of the population of the Comoros are Christian, both Catholic and Protestant denominations are represented, and most Malagasy residents are also Christian. Immigrants from metropolitan France are mostly Catholic. Health
There are 15 physicians per 100,000 people. The fertility rate was 4.7 per adult woman in 2004. Life expectancy at birth is 67 for females and 62 for males.
In the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Comoros ranks 81st out of 127 countries with sufficient data, with a score of 18.8, which indicates a moderate level of hunger. Education
Almost all children attend Quran Religious schools, usually before, although increasingly in tandem with regular schooling. Children are taught about the Qur'an, and memorise it, and learn the Arabic script.:
Most parents prefer their children to attend Koran Religious schools before moving on to the French- English based schooling system. Although the state sector is plagued by a lack of resources, and the teachers by unpaid salaries, there are numerous private and community schools of relatively good standard. The national curriculum, apart from a few years during the revolutionary period immediately post-independence, has been very much based on the French system, both because resources are French and most Comorans hope to go on to further education in France, Spain and Italy. There have recently been moves to Comorianise the syllabus and integrate the two systems, the formal and the Quran Religious Schools, into one, thus moving away from the secular educational system inherited from France.
Pre-colonisation education systems in Comoros focused on necessary skills such as agriculture, caring for livestock and completing household tasks. Religious education also taught Islam. The education system underwent a transformation during colonisation in the early 1900s which brought secular education based on the French system. This was mainly for children of the elite. After Comoros gained independence in 1975, the education system changed again. Funding for teachers' salaries was lost, and many went on strike. Thus, the public education system was not functioning between 1997 and 2001. Since gaining independence, the education system has also undergone a democratisation and options exist for those other than the elite. Enrollment has also grown.
In 2000, 44.2% of children aged 5 to 14 years were attending school. There is a general lack of facilities, equipment, qualified teachers, textbooks and other resources. Salaries for teachers are often so far in arrears that many refuse to work.
Prior to 2000, students seeking a university education had to attend school outside of the country In Europe and Americas especially: France, United Kingdom.:
However, in the early 2000s a university was created in the country. This served to help economic growth and to fight the "flight" of many educated people who were not returning to the islands to work.
Comorian has no native script, but both the Arabic and Latin alphabets are used. In 2004, about 57 percent of the population was literate in the Latin script while more than 90 percent were literate in the Arabic script.
Culture
Traditionally, women on Ndzwani wear red and white patterned garments called shiromani, while on Ngazidja and Mwali colourful shawls called leso are worn. Many women apply a paste of ground sandalwood and coral called msindzano to their faces. Traditional male clothing is a long white shirt known as a nkandu, and a bonnet called a kofia.
Marriage
There are two types of marriages in Comoros, the little marriage (known as Mna daho on Ngazidja) and the customary marriage (known as ada on Ngazidja, harusi on the other islands). The little marriage is a simple legal marriage. It is small, intimate, and inexpensive, and the bride's dowry is nominal. A man may undertake a number of Mna daho marriages in his lifetime, often at the same time, a woman fewer; but both men and women will usually only undertake one ada, or grand marriage, and this must generally be within the village. The hallmarks of the grand marriage are dazzling gold jewelry, two weeks of celebration and an enormous bridal dowry. Although the expenses are shared between both families as well as with a wider social circle, an ada wedding on Ngazidja can cost up to €50,000. Many couples take a lifetime to save for their ada, and it is not uncommon for a marriage to be attended by a couple's adult children.
The ada marriage marks a man's transition in the Ngazidja age system from youth to elder. His status in the social hierarchy greatly increases, and he will henceforth be entitled to speak in public and participate in the political process, both in his village and more widely across the island. He will be entitled to display his status by wearing a mharuma, a type of shawl, across his shoulders, and he can enter the mosque by the door reserved for elders, and sit at the front. A woman's status also changes, although less formally, as she becomes a "mother" and moves into her own house. The system is less formalised on the other islands, but the marriage is nevertheless a significant and costly event across the archipelago. The ada is often criticized because of its great expense, but at the same time it is a source of social cohesion and the main reason why migrants in France and elsewhere continue to send money home. Increasingly, marriages are also being taxed for the purposes of village development. Kinship and social structure Comorian society has a bilateral descent system. Lineage membership and inheritance of immovable goods (land, housing) is matrilineal, passed in the maternal line, similar to many Bantu peoples who are also matrilineal, while other goods and patronymics are passed in the male line. However, there are differences between the islands, the matrilineal element being stronger on Ngazidja. Media
There are two daily national newspapers published in the Comoros, the government-owned Al-Watwan, and the privately owned La Gazette des Comores, both published in Moroni. There are a number of smaller newsletters published on an irregular basis as well as a variety of news websites. The government-owned ORTC (Office de Radio et Télévision des Comores) provides national radio and television service. There is a TV station run by the Anjouan regional government, and regional governments on the islands of Grande Comore and Anjouan each operate a radio station. There are also a few independent and small community radio stations that operate on the islands of Grande Comore and Mohéli, and these two islands have access to Mayotte Radio and French TV. See also
*Index of Comoros-related articles
*Outline of the Comoros
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*This article incorporates text from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which is in the public domain.
External links
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101210081335/http://www.beit-salam.km/ Union des Comores] – Official government website
*
*[https://go2comoros.com/ Tourism website]
*[http://www.embassy.org/embassies/km.html Embassy des Comores] – The Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros in New York, United States
*
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13229685 Comoros] from the BBC News
*[http://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_CountryProfile.aspx?Country=KM Key Development Forecasts for Comoros] from International Futures
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Category:Countries in Africa
Category:1975 establishments in Africa
Category:Countries and territories where Arabic is an official language
Category:Comoros archipelago
Category:East African countries
Category:Former federations
Category:French-speaking countries and territories
Category:Island countries of the Indian Ocean
Category:Island countries
Category:Least developed countries
Category:Member states of the African Union
Category:Member states of the Arab League
Category:Member states of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
Category:Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Category:Member states of the United Nations
Category:Small Island Developing States
Category:States and territories established in 1503
Category:States and territories established in 1975
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Critical philosophy
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Critical philosophy () is a movement inaugurated by Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). It is dedicated to the self-examination of reason with the aim of exposing its inherent limitations, that is, to defining the possibilities of knowledge as a prerequisite to advancing to knowledge itself. According to Kant, only after such self-criticism does it become possible to develop metaphysics in a non-dogmatic way.
The three critical texts of the Kantian corpus are the Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason and Critique of Judgement, published between 1781 and 1790 and primarily concerned, respectively, with metaphysics, morality, and teleology.
Contemporaries of Kant such as Johann Georg Hamann and Johann Gottfried Herder rejected the notion of "pure" reason upon which this project depends. They claim that reason depends upon language, which always introduces historical contingencies.
See also
Critical idealism
Critical thinking
Charles Bernard Renouvier
Léon Brunschvicg
References
Sources
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Immanuel Kant
Category:Concepts in metaphilosophy
Category:Kantianism
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China
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<br> (pinyin)
| image_flag = Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg
| image_coat = National Emblem of the People's Republic of China (2).svg
| symbol_type = Emblem
| national_anthem = "March of the Volunteers"
| image_map = CHN orthographic.svg
| map_width = 250px
| map_caption =
| capital = Beijing
| coordinates =
| largest_settlement = Shanghai
| largest_settlement_type = city
|admin_center_type = Largest city
|admin_center Chongqing
| official_languages Standard Chinese
| languages_type = Official script
| languages_sub = yes
| languages = Simplified characters
| religion
| religion_ref
| religion_year = 2023
| ethnic_groups
| ethnic_groups_year = 2020
| ethnic_groups_ref
| demonym = Chinese
|<!-- Do not change this without consensus; see the past discussions on the talk page. In 2018, the Chinese government added the CCP's leadership to the constitution, which makes China a de jure one-party state. -->government_type = Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic
| leader_title1 = CCP General Secretary and President
| leader_name1 = Xi Jinping
| leader_title2 = Premier
| leader_name2 = Li Qiang
| leader_title3 = Congress Chairman
| leader_name3 = Zhao Leji
| leader_title4 = CPPCC Chairman
| leader_name4 = Wang Huning
| leader_title5 = Vice President
| leader_name5 = Han Zheng
| legislature = National People's Congress
| sovereignty_type = Formation
| established_event1 = First pre-imperial dynasty
| established_date1 =
| established_event2 = First imperial dynasty
| established_date2 = 221 BCE
| established_event3 = Establishment of the Republic of China
| established_date3 = 1 January 1912
| established_event4 = Proclamation of the People's Republic
| established_date4 = 1 October 1949
| area_km2 = 9,596,961
| p1 | area_footnote ), Aksai Chin () and other territories in dispute with India. The total area of China is listed as by the Encyclopædia Britannica.}}
| area_rank = 3rd/4th
| area_sq_mi = 3,705,407 <!-- per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers -->
| percent_water 2.8
| population_estimate_year = 2024
| population_estimate_rank = 2nd
| population_census_year = 2020
| population_census_rank = 2nd
| population_density_km2 =
| population_density_sq_mi = <!-- per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers -->
| population_density_rank = 83rd
| GDP_PPP $39.438 trillion
| GDP_PPP_year = 2025
| GDP_PPP_rank = 1st
| GDP_PPP_per_capita $28,008
| HDI = 0.788 <!-- number only -->
| HDI_year = 2022 <!-- The year of the data, not the publication year -->
| HDI_change = increase
| HDI_ref
| HDI_rank = 75th
| currency = Renminbi (元/¥)
| currency_code = CNY
| time_zone = CST
| utc_offset = +8
| calling_code =
| cctld =
}}
China,}} officially the '''People's Republic of China (PRC'''),}} is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land across an area of nearly , making it the second-largest country by land area.,
# The CIA World Factbook lists China as the fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada and the United States) with a total area of 9,596,960 km,
Both sources exclude both Taiwan and coastal and territorial waters from the area of China. However, the CIA World Factbook includes the United States coastal and territorial waters, while Encyclopædia Britannica excludes them.
<br/>
Notably, the Encyclopædia Britannica specifies the United States' area (excluding coastal and territorial waters) as 9,525,067 km, which is less than either source's figure given for China's area. "China" appears in Richard Eden's 1555 translationNext into this, is found the great China, whose king is thought to be the greatest prince in the world, and is named Santoa Raia".}} of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.The Very Great Kingdom of China". (O Grande Reino da China...}}).}} The origin of the Sanskrit word is a matter of debate. In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state.
The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (|pZhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó|t=}}).<!--Do NOT remove Traditional. Simplified is the official script in China but Traditional is found in Xiandai Hanyu Cidian,
Table of General Standard Chinese Characters, and other important CCP documents, as well as being the official script in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Traditional characters are an important though secondary part of mainland China's script system.--> The shorter form is "China" (|t|pZhōngguó|labelsno}}), from ('central') and ('state'), a term which developed under the Western Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne.).}} It was used in official documents as an synonym for the state under the Qing. The name Zhongguo is also translated as in English. China is sometimes referred to as "mainland China" or "the Mainland" when distinguishing it from the Republic of China or the PRC's Special Administrative Regions. The hominid fossils of Peking Man, a Homo erectus who used fire, have been dated to between 680,000 and 780,000 years ago. The fossilized teeth of Homo sapiens (dated to 125,000–80,000 years ago) have been discovered in Fuyan Cave. Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 6600 BCE, at Damaidi around 6000 BCE, Dadiwan from 5800 to 5400 BCE, and Banpo dating from the 5th millennium BCE. Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (7th millennium BCE) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system. The Shang dynasty that traditionally succeeded the Xia is the earliest for which there are both contemporary written records and undisputed archaeological evidence. The Shang ruled much of the Yellow River valley until the 11th century BCE, with the earliest hard evidence dated . The oracle bone script, attested from but generally assumed to be considerably older, represents the oldest known form of written Chinese, and is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters.
The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou, who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries BCE, though the centralized authority of Son of Heaven was slowly eroded by fengjian lords. Some principalities eventually emerged from the weakened Zhou and continually waged war with each other during the 300-year Spring and Autumn period. By the time of the Warring States period of the 5th–3rd centuries BCE, there were seven major powerful states left.
Imperial China
Qin and Han
during the 2nd century BCE|thumb|upright=1.1]]
The Warring States period ended in 221 BCE after the state of Qin conquered the other six states, reunited China and established the dominant order of autocracy. King Zheng of Qin proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Qin dynasty, becoming the first emperor of a unified China. He enacted Qin's legalist reforms, notably the standardization of Chinese characters, measurements, road widths, and currency. His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi, Guangdong, and Northern Vietnam. The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor's death.
Following widespread revolts during which the imperial library was burned, the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE, creating a cultural identity among its populace still remembered in the ethnonym of the modern Han Chinese. Despite the Han's initial decentralization and the official abandonment of the Qin philosophy of Legalism in favor of Confucianism, Qin's legalist institutions and policies continued to be employed by the Han government and its successors. Three Kingdoms, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties After the end of the Han dynasty, a period of strife known as Three Kingdoms followed, at the end of which Wei was swiftly overthrown by the Jin dynasty. The Jin fell to civil war upon the ascension of a developmentally disabled emperor; the Five Barbarians then rebelled and ruled northern China as the Sixteen States. The Xianbei unified them as the Northern Wei, whose Emperor Xiaowen reversed his predecessors' apartheid policies and enforced a drastic sinification on his subjects. In the south, the general Liu Yu secured the abdication of the Jin in favor of the Liu Song. The various successors of these states became known as the Northern and Southern dynasties, with the two areas finally reunited by the Sui in 581.
Sui, Tang and Song
The Sui restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture, economy and imperial examination system, constructed the Grand Canal, and patronized Buddhism. However, they fell quickly when their conscription for public works and a failed war in northern Korea provoked widespread unrest.
Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese economy, technology, and culture entered a golden age. The Tang dynasty retained control of the Western Regions and the Silk Road, which brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa, and made the capital Chang'an a cosmopolitan urban center. However, it was devastated and weakened by the An Lushan rebellion in the 8th century. In 907, the Tang disintegrated completely when the local military governors became ungovernable. The Song dynasty ended the separatist situation in 960, leading to a balance of power between the Song and the Liao dynasty. The Song was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along with the sea trade.
Between the 10th and 11th century CE, the population of China doubled to around 100 million people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. The Song dynasty also saw a revival of Confucianism, in response to the growth of Buddhism during the Tang, and a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and porcelain were brought to new levels of complexity. However, the military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jin dynasty. In 1127, Emperor Emeritus Huizong, Emperor Qinzong of Song and the capital Bianjing were captured during the Jin–Song wars. The remnants of the Song retreated to southern China and reestablished the Song at Jiankang.
Yuan
, is famed for having united the Warring States' walls to form the Great Wall of China. Most of the present structure dates to the Ming dynasty.|thumb|upright=1.1]]
The Mongol conquest of China began in 1205 with the campaigns against Western Xia by Genghis Khan, who also invaded Jin territories. In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty, which conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in 1300. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor. Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that admiral Zheng He led the Ming treasure voyages throughout the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa.
Ming
In the early Ming dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. With the budding of capitalism, philosophers such as Wang Yangming critiqued and expanded Neo-Confucianism with concepts of individualism and equality of four occupations. The scholar-official stratum became a supporting force of industry and commerce in the tax boycott movements, which, together with the famines and defense against Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and Later Jin incursions led to an exhausted treasury. In 1644, Beijing was captured by a coalition of peasant rebel forces led by Li Zicheng. The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing dynasty, then allied with Ming dynasty general Wu Sangui, overthrew Li's short-lived Shun dynasty and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. Qing and expansion of the empire|thumb|upright1.1]]
The Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of China. The Ming-Qing transition (1618–1683) cost 25 million lives, but the Qing appeared to have restored China's imperial power and inaugurated another flowering of the arts. After the Southern Ming ended, the further conquest of the Dzungar Khanate added Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang to the empire. Meanwhile, China's population growth resumed and shortly began to accelerate. It is commonly agreed that pre-modern China's population experienced two growth spurts, one during the Northern Song period (960–1127), and other during the Qing period (around 1700–1830). By the High Qing era China was possibly the most commercialized country in the world, and imperial China experienced a second commercial revolution by the end of the 18th century. On the other hand, the centralized autocracy was strengthened in part to suppress anti-Qing sentiment with the policy of valuing agriculture and restraining commerce, like the Haijin during the early Qing period and ideological control as represented by the literary inquisition, causing some social and technological stagnation.
Fall of the Qing dynasty
invaded China to defeat the anti-foreign Boxers and their Qing backers. The image shows a celebration ceremony inside the Chinese imperial palace, the Forbidden City after the signing of the Boxer Protocol in 1901.]]
In the mid-19th century, the Opium Wars with Britain and France forced China to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to the British under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, the first of what have been termed as the "unequal treaties". The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) resulted in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula, as well as the cession of Taiwan to Japan. The Qing dynasty also began experiencing internal unrest in which tens of millions of people died, especially in the White Lotus Rebellion, the failed Taiping Rebellion that ravaged southern China in the 1850s and 1860s and the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in the northwest. The initial success of the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s was frustrated by a series of military defeats in the 1880s and 1890s.
In the 19th century, the great Chinese diaspora began. Losses due to emigration were added to by conflicts and catastrophes such as the Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879, in which between 9 and 13 million people died. The Guangxu Emperor drafted a reform plan in 1898 to establish a modern constitutional monarchy, but these plans were thwarted by the Empress Dowager Cixi. The ill-fated anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 further weakened the dynasty. Although Cixi sponsored a program of reforms known as the late Qing reforms, the Xinhai Revolution of 1911–1912 ended the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China. Puyi, the last Emperor, abdicated in 1912. Establishment of the Republic and World War II
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT) was proclaimed provisional president. In March 1912, the presidency was given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who in 1915 proclaimed himself Emperor of China. In the face of popular condemnation and opposition from his own Beiyang Army, he was forced to abdicate and re-establish the republic in 1916. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented. Its Beijing-based government was internationally recognized but virtually powerless; regional warlords controlled most of its territory. During this period, China participated in World War I and saw a far-reaching popular uprising (the May Fourth Movement).
and Mao Zedong toasting together in 1945 following the end of World War II]]In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft military and political maneuverings known collectively as the Northern Expedition. The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People program for transforming China into a modern democratic state. The Kuomintang briefly allied with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Northern Expedition, though the alliance broke down in 1927 after Chiang violently suppressed the CCP and other leftists in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the Chinese Civil War. The CCP declared areas of the country as the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet) in November 1931 in Ruijin, Jiangxi. The Jiangxi Soviet was wiped out by the KMT armies in 1934, leading the CCP to initiate the Long March and relocate to Yan'an in Shaanxi. It would be the base of the communists before major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949.
In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), a theater of World War II. The war forced an uneasy alliance between the Kuomintang and the CCP. Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population; as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died. An estimated 40,000 to 300,000 Chinese were massacred in Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation. China, along with the UK, the United States, and the Soviet Union, were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in the Declaration by United Nations. Along with the other three great powers, China was one of the four major Allies of World War II, and was later considered one of the primary victors in the war. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Taiwan, along with the Penghu, were handed over to Chinese control; however, the validity of this handover is controversial. People's Republic
was held at 3:00 pm on 1 October 1949. The picture above shows Mao Zedong's announcement of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square.]]
China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China. In 1950, the PRC captured Hainan from the ROC and annexed Tibet. However, remaining Kuomintang forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s. The CCP consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the Land Reform Movement, which included the state-tolerated executions of between 1 and 2 million landlords by peasants and former tenants. Though the PRC initially allied closely with the Soviet Union, the relations between the two communist nations gradually deteriorated, leading China to develop an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons.
The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974. However, the Great Leap Forward, an idealistic massive industrialization project, resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths between 1959 and 1961, mostly from starvation. In 1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council. Reforms and contemporary history
was ended by a military-led massacre.]]
After Mao's death, the Gang of Four were arrested by Hua Guofeng and held responsible for the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was rebuked, with millions rehabilitated. Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978, and instituted large-scale political and economic reforms, together with the "Eight Elders", most senior and influential members of the party. The government loosened its control and the communes were gradually disbanded. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized. While foreign trade became a major focus, special economic zones (SEZs) were created. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and some closed. This marked China's transition away from planned economy. China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982.
In 1989, there were protests such those in Tiananmen Square, and then throughout the entire nation. Jiang Zemin was elevated to become the CCP general secretary, becoming the paramount leader. Jiang continued economic reforms, closing many SOEs and trimming down "iron rice bowl" (life-tenure positions). China's economy grew sevenfold during this time. However, the growth also severely impacted the country's resources and environment, and caused major social displacement. Xi Jinping succeeded Hu as paramount leader at the 18th CCP National Congress in 2012. Shortly after his ascension to power, Xi launched a vast anti-corruption crackdown, that prosecuted more than 2 million officials by 2022. During his tenure, Xi has consolidated power unseen since the initiation of economic and political reforms. Geography
of China]]
China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to the subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China connects through the Kazakh border to the Eurasian Steppe.
The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes 73° and 135° E. The geographical center of China is marked by the Center of the Country Monument at . China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast territory. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains, while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848 m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154 m) in the Turpan Depression.
Climate
map for mainland China]]
China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist.
A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert. Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Japan and Korea. Water quality, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in the Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people. According to academics, in order to limit climate change in China to electricity generation from coal in China without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045. With current policies, the GHG emissions of China will probably peak in 2025, and by 2030 they will return to 2022 levels. However, such pathway still leads to three-degree temperature rise.
Official government statistics about Chinese agricultural productivity are considered unreliable, due to exaggeration of production at subsidiary government levels. Much of China has a climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops. In 2021, 12 percent of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland.
Biodiversity
, China's most famous endangered and endemic species, at the Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan]]
China is one of 17 megadiverse countries, lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms: the Palearctic and the Indomalayan. By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia. The country is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity; its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was received by the convention in 2010.
China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest in the world), 1,221 species of birds (eighth), 424 species of reptiles (seventh) and 333 species of amphibians (seventh). Wildlife in China shares habitat with, and bears acute pressure from, one of the world's largest population of humans. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger of local extinction, due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution and poaching for food, fur and traditional Chinese medicine. Endangered wildlife is protected by law, and , the country has over 2,349 nature reserves, covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares, 15 percent of China's total land area. Most wild animals have been eliminated from the core agricultural regions of east and central China, but they have fared better in the mountainous south and west. The Baiji was confirmed extinct on 12 December 2006.
China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants, and is home to a variety of forest types. Cold coniferous forests predominate in the north of the country, supporting animal species such as moose and Asian black bear, along with over 120 bird species. China has over 10,000 recorded species of fungi. Environment
is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.]]
In the early 2000s, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization. Regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, though they are poorly enforced, frequently disregarded in favor of rapid economic development. China has the second-highest death toll because of air pollution, after India, with approximately 1 million deaths. Although China ranks as the highest CO emitting country, it only emits 8 tons of CO per capita, significantly lower than developed countries such as the United States (16.1), Australia (16.8) and South Korea (13.6). Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest.
China has prioritized clamping down on pollution, bringing a significant decrease in air pollution in the 2010s. In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement, which, according to Climate Action Tracker, would lower the expected rise in global temperature by 0.2–0.3 degrees – "the biggest single reduction ever estimated by the Climate Action Tracker".
China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization, with $546 billion invested in 2022; it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects. In 2023, 60.5% of China's electricity came from coal (largest producer in the world), 13.2% from hydroelectric power (largest), 9.4% from wind (largest), 6.2% from solar energy (largest), 4.6% from nuclear energy (second-largest), 3.3% from natural gas (fifth-largest), and 2.2% from bioenergy (largest); in total, 31% of China's energy came from renewable energy sources. Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets and next to India, has been the largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022.
Political geography
China is the third-largest country in the world by land area after Russia, and the third- or fourth-largest country in the world by total area., is slightly smaller than that of China. Meanwhile, the CIA World Factbook states that China's total area was greater than that of the United States until the coastal waters of the Great Lakes was added to the United States' total area in 1996. From 1989 through 1996, the total area of US was listed as (land area plus inland water only). The listed total area changed to in 1997 (with the Great Lakes areas and the coastal waters added), to in 2004, to in 2006, and to in 2007 (territorial waters added).}} China's total area is generally stated as being approximately . Specific area figures range from according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,.]]China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring and its coastline covers approximately from the mouth of the Yalu River (Amnok River) to the Gulf of Tonkin.
China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them. China currently has a disputed land border with India and Bhutan. China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over territory in the East and South China Seas, such as the Senkaku Islands and the entirety of South China Sea Islands.
Government and politics
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The People's Republic of China is a one-party state governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP is officially guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics, which is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances. The Chinese constitution states that the PRC "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants", that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism", and that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party."
The PRC officially terms itself as a democracy, using terms such as "whole-process people's democracy". with among the heaviest restrictions worldwide in many areas, most notably against freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, free formation of social organizations, freedom of religion and free access to the Internet. China has consistently been ranked amongst the lowest as an "authoritarian regime" by the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, ranking at 145th out of 167 countries in 2024. Other sources suggest that terming China as "authoritarian" does not sufficiently account for the multiple consultation mechanisms that exist in Chinese government. Chinese Communist Party
is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China.]]
According to the CCP constitution, its highest body is the National Congress held every five years. The National Congress elects the Central Committee, who then elects the party's Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee and the general secretary (party leader), the top leadership of the country. The current general secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012. At the local level, the secretary of the CCP committee of a subdivision outranks the local government level; CCP committee secretary of a provincial division outranks the governor while the CCP committee secretary of a city outranks the mayor.
Government
The government in China is under the sole control of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members. The NPC meets annually, while the NPC Standing Committee, around 150 members elected from NPC delegates, meets every couple of months. The NPC is dominated by the CCP, with another eight minor parties having nominal representation under the condition of upholding CCP leadership.
The president is elected by the NPC. The presidency is the ceremonial state representative, but not the constitutional head of state. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the CCP and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him China's paramount leader and supreme commander of the Armed Forces. The premier is the head of government, with Li Qiang being the incumbent. The premier is officially nominated by the president and then elected by the NPC, and has generally been either the second- or third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). The premier presides over the State Council, China's cabinet, composed of four vice premiers, state councilors, and the heads of ministries and commissions.
The governance of China is characterized by a high degree of political centralization but significant economic decentralization. Policy instruments or processes are often tested locally before being applied more widely, resulting in a policy that involves experimentation and feedback. Generally, central government leadership refrains from drafting specific policies, instead using the informal networks and site visits to affirm or suggest changes to the direction of local policy experiments or pilot programs. The typical approach is that central government leadership begins drafting formal policies, law, or regulations after policy has been developed at local levels. The PRC regards the island of Taiwan as its Taiwan Province, Kinmen and Matsu as a part of Fujian Province and islands the ROC controls in the South China Sea as a part of Hainan Province and Guangdong Province, although all these territories are governed by the Republic of China (ROC). Geographically, all 31 provincial divisions of mainland China can be grouped into six regions: North China, East China, Southwestern China, Northwestern China, South Central China, and Northeast China.
Foreign relations
The PRC has diplomatic relations with 179 United Nation members states and maintains embassies in 174. , China has one of the largest diplomatic networks of any country in the world. In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It is a member of intergovernmental organizations including the G20, the SCO, the BRICS, the East Asia Summit, and the APEC. China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries.
The PRC officially maintains the one-China principle, which holds the view that there is only one sovereign state in the name of China, represented by the PRC, and that Taiwan is part of that China. The unique status of Taiwan has led to countries recognizing the PRC to maintain unique "one-China policies" that differ from each other; some countries explicitly recognize the PRC's claim over Taiwan, while others, including the U.S. and Japan, only acknowledge the claim. especially in the matter of armament sales. Most countries have switched recognition from the ROC to the PRC since the latter replaced the former in the UN in 1971.
Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Premier Zhou Enlai's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences. This policy may have led China to support or maintain close ties with states that are regarded as dangerous and repressive by Western nations, such as Sudan, North Korea and Iran. China's close relationship with Myanmar has involved support for its ruling governments as well as for its ethnic rebel groups, including the Arakan Army. China has a close political, economic and military relationship with Russia, and the two states often vote in unison in the UN Security Council. China's relationship with the United States is complex, and includes deep trade ties but significant political differences.
Since the early 2000s, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation. It maintains extensive and highly diversified trade links with the European Union, and became its largest trading partner for goods. China is increasing its influence in Central Asia and South Pacific. The country has strong trade ties with ASEAN countries and major South American economies, and is the largest trading partner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, and several others.
In 2013, China initiated the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a large global infrastructure building initiative with funding on the order of $50–100 billion per year. BRI could be one of the largest development plans in modern history. It expanded significantly over the next six years and, , included 138 countries and 30 international organizations. In addition to intensifying foreign policy relations, the focus is particularly on building efficient transport routes, especially the maritime Silk Road with its connections to East Africa and Europe. However many loans made under the program are unsustainable and China has faced a number of calls for debt relief from debtor nations. Military
5th generation stealth fighter]]
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is considered one of the world's most powerful militaries and has rapidly modernized in the recent decades. Since 2024, it consists of four services: the Ground Force (PLAGF), the Navy (PLAN), the Air Force (PLAAF) and the Rocket Force (PLARF). It also has four independent arms: the Aerospace Force, the Cyberspace Force, the Information Support Force, and the Joint Logistics Support Force, the first three of which were split from the disbanded Strategic Support Force (PLASSF). Its nearly 2.2 million active duty personnel is the largest in the world. The PLA holds the world's third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, and the world's second-largest navy by tonnage. China's official military budget for 2023 totalled US$224 billion (1.55 trillion Yuan), the second-largest in the world, though SIPRI estimates that its real expenditure that year was US$296 billion, making up 12% of global military spending and accounting for 1.7% of the country's GDP. According to SIPRI, its military spending from 2012 to 2021 averaged US$215 billion per year or 1.7 per cent of GDP, behind only the United States at US$734 billion per year or 3.6 per cent of GDP. The PLA is commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the party and the state; though officially two separate organizations, the two CMCs have identical membership except during leadership transition periods and effectively function as one organization. The chairman of the CMC is the commander-in-chief of the PLA.
Sociopolitical issues and human rights
The situation of human rights in China has attracted significant criticism from foreign governments, foreign press agencies, and non-governmental organizations, alleging widespread civil rights violations such as detention without trial, forced confessions, torture, restrictions of fundamental rights, and excessive use of the death penalty. Since its inception, Freedom House has ranked China as "not free" in its Freedom in the World survey, China has limited protections regarding LGBT rights.
, China has been accused of committing genocide against Uyghurs and detaining more than one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in camps.]]Although some criticisms of government policies and the ruling CCP are tolerated, censorship of political speech and information are amongst the harshest in the world and routinely used to prevent collective action. China also has the most comprehensive and sophisticated Internet censorship regime in the world, with numerous websites being blocked. The government suppresses popular protests and demonstrations that it considers a potential threat to "social stability". China additionally uses a massive surveillance network of cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, and surveillance of personal technology as a means of social control of persons living in the country. where significant numbers of ethnic minorities reside, including violent police crackdowns and religious suppression. Since 2017, the Chinese government has been engaged in a harsh crackdown in Xinjiang, with around one million Uyghurs and other ethnic and religion minorities being detained in internment camps aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities, and their religious beliefs. According to Western reports, political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, and forced labor are common in these facilities. According to a 2020 Foreign Policy report, China's treatment of Uyghurs meets the UN definition of genocide, while a separate UN Human Rights Office report said they could potentially meet the definitions for crimes against humanity. The Chinese authorities have also cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong, especially after the passage of a national security law in 2020.
In 2017 and 2020, the Pew Research Center ranked the severity of Chinese government restrictions on religion as being among the world's highest, despite ranking religious-related social hostilities in China as low in severity. The Global Slavery Index estimated that in 2016 more than 3.8 million people (0.25% of the population) were living in "conditions of modern slavery", including victims of human trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, child labor, and state-imposed forced labor. The state-imposed re-education through labor (laojiao) system was formally abolished in 2013, but it is not clear to what extent its practices have stopped. The much larger reform through labor (laogai) system includes labor prison factories, detention centers, and re-education camps; the Laogai Research Foundation has estimated in June 2008 that there were nearly 1,422 of these facilities, though it cautioned that this number was likely an underestimate.
Public views of government
Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor and government corruption. Nonetheless, international surveys show the Chinese public have a high level of satisfaction with their government. Economy
China has the world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, and the world's largest in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). , China accounts for around 18% of the global economy by nominal GDP. China is one of the world's fastest-growing major economies, with its economic growth having been almost consistently above 6 percent since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in 1978. According to the World Bank, China's GDP grew from $150 billion in 1978 to $17.96 trillion by 2022. It ranks 64th by nominal GDP per capita, making it an upper-middle income country. Of the world's 500 largest companies, 135 are headquartered in China. As of at least 2024, China has the world's second-largest equity markets and futures markets, as well as the third-largest bond market.
China was one of the world's foremost economic powers throughout the arc of East Asian and global history. The country had one of the largest economies in the world for most of the past two millennia, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since economic reforms began in 1978, China has developed into a highly diversified economy and one of the most consequential players in international trade. Major sectors of competitive strength include manufacturing, retail, mining, steel, textiles, automobiles, energy generation, green energy, banking, electronics, telecommunications, real estate, e-commerce, and tourism. China has three out of the ten largest stock exchanges in the world—Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen—that together have a market capitalization of over $15.9 trillion, . China has three out of the world's ten most competitive financial centers according to the 2024 Global Financial Centres Index—Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen.
, 1990–2013. The rapid economic growth of China (blue) is readily apparent.]]
Modern-day China is often described as an example of state capitalism or party-state capitalism. The state dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008. According to official statistics, privately owned companies constitute more than 60% of China's GDP.
China has been the world's largest manufacturing nation since 2010, after overtaking the U.S., which had been the largest for the previous hundred years. China has also been the second-largest in high-tech manufacturing country since 2012, according to US National Science Foundation. China is the second-largest retail market after the United States. China leads the world in e-commerce, accounting for over 37% of the global market share in 2021. China is the world's leader in electric vehicle consumption and production, manufacturing and buying half of all the plug-in electric cars (BEV and PHEV) in the world . China is also the leading producer of batteries for electric vehicles as well as several key raw materials for batteries. Tourism
China received 65.7 million international visitors in 2019, and in 2018 was the fourth-most-visited country in the world. China hosts the world's second-largest number of World Heritage Sites (56) after Italy, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations (first in the Asia-Pacific). Wealth
in Shanghai]]
China accounted for 18.6% of the world's total wealth in 2022, second highest in the world after the U.S. China brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history—between 1978 and 2018, China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million.
From 1978 to 2018, the average standard of living multiplied by a factor of twenty-six. Wages in China have grown significantly in the last 40 years—real (inflation-adjusted) wages grew seven-fold from 1978 to 2007. Per capita incomes have also risen significantly – when the PRC was founded in 1949, per capita income in China was one-fifth of the world average; per capita incomes now equal the world average itself. It has a high level of economic inequality, which has increased quickly since the economic reforms. Income inequality decreased in the 2010s, and China's Gini coefficient was 0.357 in 2021. and 6.2 million millionaires. China had 85 female billionaires , two-thirds of the global total. China has had the world's largest middle-class population since 2015; the middle-class grew to 500 million by 2024.
China in the global economy
China has been a member of the WTO since 2001 and is the world's largest trading power. By 2016, China was the largest trading partner of 124 countries. China became the world's largest trading nation in 2013 by the sum of imports and exports, as well as the world's largest commodity importer, accounting for roughly 45% of maritime's dry-bulk market.
China's foreign exchange reserves reached US$3.246 trillion , making its reserves by far the world's largest. In 2022, China was amongst the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $180 billion, though most of these were speculated to be from Hong Kong. In 2021, China's foreign exchange remittances were $US53 billion making it the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world. China also invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $147.9 billion in 2023, and a number of major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies.
Economists have argued that the renminbi is undervalued, due to currency intervention from the Chinese government, giving China an unfair trade advantage. China has also been widely criticized for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods. The U.S. government has also alleged that China does not respect intellectual property (IP) rights and steals IP through espionage operations. In 2020, Harvard University's Economic Complexity Index ranked complexity of China's exports 17th in the world, up from 24th in 2010.
The Chinese government has promoted the internationalization of the renminbi in order to wean itself off its dependence on the U.S. dollar as a result of perceived weaknesses of the international monetary system. The renminbi is a component of the IMF's special drawing rights and the world's fourth-most traded currency . However, partly due to capital controls that make the renminbi fall short of being a fully convertible currency, it remains far behind the Euro, the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese Yen in international trade volumes.
Science and technology
Historical
, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 CE]]
China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming dynasty. Ancient and medieval Chinese discoveries and inventions, such as papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder (the Four Great Inventions), became widespread across East Asia, the Middle East and later Europe. Chinese mathematicians were the first to use negative numbers. By the 17th century, the Western World surpassed China in scientific and technological advancement. The causes of this early modern Great Divergence continue to be debated by scholars.
After repeated military defeats by the European colonial powers and Imperial Japan in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the Self-Strengthening Movement. After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the Soviet Union, in which scientific research was part of central planning. After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology were promoted as one of the Four Modernizations, and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed. Modern era Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research and is quickly catching up with the U.S. in R&D spending. China officially spent around 2.7% of its GDP on R&D in 2024, totaling to around $496 billion. According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators, China received more applications than the U.S. did in 2018 and 2019 and ranked first globally in patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports in 2021. It was ranked 11th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024, a considerable improvement from its rank of 35th in 2013. Chinese supercomputers ranked among the fastest in the world. Its efforts to develop the most advanced semiconductors and jet engines have seen delays and setbacks.
China is developing its education system with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Its academic publication apparatus became the world's largest publisher of scientific papers in 2016. In 2022, China overtook the US in the Nature Index, which measures the share of published articles in leading scientific journals.
Space program
by a Long March 2F rocket. China is one of the only three countries with independent human spaceflight capability.]]
The Chinese space program started in 1958 with some technology transfers from the Soviet Union. However, it did not launch the nation's first satellite until 1970 with the Dong Fang Hong I, which made China the fifth country to do so independently.
In 2003, China became the third country in the world to independently send humans into space with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5. As of 2023, eighteen Chinese nationals have journeyed into space, including two women. In 2011, China launched its first space station testbed, Tiangong-1. In 2013, a Chinese robotic rover Yutu successfully touched down on the lunar surface as part of the Chang'e 3 mission.
In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the far side of the Moon. In 2020, Chang'e 5 successfully returned Moon samples to the Earth, making China the third country to do so independently. In 2021, China became the third country to land a spacecraft on Mars and the second one to deploy a rover (Zhurong) on Mars. China completed its own modular space station, the Tiangong, in low Earth orbit on 3 November 2022. On 29 November 2022, China performed its first in-orbit crew handover aboard the Tiangong.
In May 2023, China announced a plan to land humans on the Moon by 2030. To that end, China has been developing a lunar-capable super-heavy launcher, the Long March 10, a new crewed spacecraft, and a crewed lunar lander.
China sent Chang'e 6 on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon. This is China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side 4 years ago. It also carried a Chinese rover called Jinchan to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface. The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing on 1 June 2024, at 22:23 UTC. It landed on the Moon's surface on 1 June 2024. The ascender was launched back to lunar orbit on 3 June 2024, at 23:38 UTC, carrying samples collected by the lander, which later completed another robotic rendezvous, before docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which landed on Inner Mongolia in June 2024, completing China's far side extraterrestrial sample return mission. Infrastructure After a decades-long infrastructural boom, China has produced numerous world-leading infrastructural projects: it has the largest high-speed rail network, the most supertall skyscrapers, the largest power plant (the Three Gorges Dam), the most extensive ultra-high-voltage transmission network and innovation infrastructure, and a global satellite navigation system with the largest number of satellites.
Telecommunications
and Southeast Asia, 1995–2012]]
China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country, with over 1.7 billion subscribers, . It has the largest number of internet and broadband users, with over 1.1 billion Internet users —equivalent to around 78.6% of its population. By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total. China is making rapid advances in 5G—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials. , China had over 810 million 5G users and 3.38 million base stations installed.
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, are the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile, the largest of them all, had 925 million users, . Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China. Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military.
China has developed its own satellite navigation system, dubbed BeiDou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012 as well as global services by the end of 2018. Beidou followed GPS and GLONASS as the third completed global navigation satellite.
Transport
is the highest bridge in the world.]]
high-speed train running near the Beijing CBD]]
Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of national highways and expressways. In 2022, China's highways had reached a total length of , making it the longest highway system in the world. China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. The country is the world's largest exporter of cars by number as of 2023. A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents. In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – , there are approximately 200 million bicycles in China.
China's railways, which are operated by the state-owned China State Railway Group Company, are among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks in 2006. , the country had of railways, the second-longest network in the world. The railways strain to meet enormous demand particularly during the Chinese New Year holiday, when the world's largest annual human migration takes place. China's high-speed rail (HSR) system started construction in the early 2000s. By the end of 2023, high speed rail in China had reached of dedicated lines alone, making it the longest HSR network in the world. Services on the Beijing–Shanghai, Beijing–Tianjin, and Chengdu–Chongqing lines reach up to , making them the fastest conventional high speed railway services in the world. With an annual ridership of over 2.3 billion passengers in 2019, it is the world's busiest. The network includes the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway, the single longest HSR line in the world, and the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway, which has three of longest railroad bridges in the world. The Shanghai maglev train, which reaches , is the fastest commercial train service in the world. Since 2000, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has accelerated. , 55 Chinese cities have urban mass transit systems in operation. , China boasts the five longest metro systems in the world with the networks in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen being the largest.
The civil aviation industry in China is mostly state-dominated, with the Chinese government retaining a majority stake in the majority of Chinese airlines. The top three airlines in China are Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines, which collectively made up 71% of the market in 2018, are all state-owned. Air travel has expanded rapidly in the last decades, with the number of passengers increasing from 16.6 million in 1990 to 551.2 million in 2017. China had approximately 259 airports in 2024.
China has over 2,000 river and seaports, about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping. Of the fifty busiest container ports, 15 are located in China, of which the busiest is the Port of Shanghai, also the busiest port in the world. The country's inland waterways are the world's sixth-longest, and total .
Water supply and sanitation
Water supply and sanitation infrastructure in China is facing challenges such as rapid urbanization, as well as water scarcity, contamination, and pollution. According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation, 93% of rural households had access to basic sanitation in 2022 (up from 77% in 2015). The ongoing South–North Water Transfer Project intends to abate water shortage in the north. Demographics
The 2020 Chinese census recorded the population as approximately 1,411,778,724. About 17.95% were 14 years old or younger, 63.35% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 18.7% were over 60 years old. Between 2010 and 2020, the average population growth rate was 0.53%. The next major loosening of the policy was enacted in December 2013, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child. In 2016, the one-child policy was replaced in favor of a two-child policy. A three-child policy was announced on 31 May 2021, due to population aging, In 2023, the total fertility rate was reported to be 1.09, ranking among the lowest in the world. In 2023, National Bureau of Statistics estimated that the population fell 850,000 from 2021 to 2022, the first decline since 1961.
According to one group of scholars, one-child limits had little effect on population growth or total population size. However, these scholars have been challenged. The policy, along with traditional preference for boys, may have contributed to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth. The 2020 census found that males accounted for 51.2% of the total population. However, China's sex ratio is more balanced than it was in 1953, when males accounted for 51.8% of the population. Urbanization
in China (2010)]]
China has urbanized significantly in recent decades. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1980 to over 67% in 2024. China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million, including the 18 megacities (cities with a population of over 10 million) of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi'an, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Linyi, Shijiazhuang, Dongguan, Qingdao, Changsha and Hefei. The total permanent population of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu is above 20 million. Shanghai is China's most populous urban area while Chongqing is its largest city proper, the only city in China with a permanent population of over 30 million. The figures in the table below are from the 2020 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists for total municipal populations. The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult; the figures below include only long-term residents.
Ethnic groups
China legally recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, who comprise the Zhonghua minzu. The largest of these nationalities are the Han Chinese, who constitute more than 91% of the total population. – outnumber other ethnic groups in every place excluding Tibet, Xinjiang, Linxia, and autonomous prefectures like Xishuangbanna. Ethnic minorities account for less than 10% of the population of China, according to the 2020 census.
Languages
, Yunnan, written in Hani using the Latin alphabet, Nisu using the Yi script, and Chinese.]]
There are as many as 292 living languages in China. The languages most commonly spoken belong to the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which contains Mandarin (spoken by 80% of the population), and other varieties of Chinese language: Jin, Wu, Min, Hakka, Yue, Xiang, Gan, Hui, Ping and unclassified Tuhua (Shaozhou Tuhua and Xiangnan Tuhua). Languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch, including Tibetan, Qiang, Naxi and Yi, are spoken across the Tibetan and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Other ethnic minority languages in southwestern China include Zhuang, Thai, Dong and Sui of the Tai-Kadai family, Miao and Yao of the Hmong–Mien family, and Wa of the Austroasiatic family. Across northeastern and northwestern China, local ethnic groups speak Altaic languages including Manchu, Mongolian and several Turkic languages: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Salar and Western Yugur. Korean is spoken natively along the border with North Korea. Sarikoli, the language of Tajiks in western Xinjiang, is an Indo-European language. Taiwanese indigenous peoples, including a small population on the mainland, speak Austronesian languages.
Standard Chinese, a variety based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, is the national language of China, having de facto official status. In the autonomous regions of China, other languages may also serve as a lingua franca, such as Uyghur in Xinjiang, where governmental services in Uyghur are constitutionally guaranteed.
Religion
(including Confucianism, Taoism, and groups of Chinese Buddhism)<br/> Buddhism tout court<br/> Islam<br/> Ethnic minorities' indigenous religions<br/> Mongolian folk religion<br/> Northeast China folk religion influenced by Tungus and Manchu shamanism; widespread Shanrendao]]
Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious organizations that lack official approval can be subject to state persecution.
Over the millennia, the Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. The "three doctrines" of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism have historically shaped Chinese culture, enriching a theological and spiritual framework of traditional religion which harks back to the early Shang and Zhou dynasty. Chinese folk religion, which is framed by the three doctrines and by other traditions, consists in allegiance to the shen, who can be deities of the surrounding nature or ancestral principles of human groups, concepts of civility, culture heroes, many of whom feature in Chinese mythology and history. Amongst the most popular cults of folk religion are those of the Yellow Emperor, embodiment of the God of Heaven and one of the two divine patriarchs of the Chinese people, of Mazu (goddess of the seas), and often reconstructing them into forms of "highly curated" civil religion—as well as in a national and international promotion of Buddhism. China is home to many of the world's tallest religious statues, representing either deities of Chinese folk religion or enlightened beings of Buddhism; the tallest of all is the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan.
Statistics on religious affiliation in China are difficult to gather due to complex and varying definitions of religion and the diffusive nature of Chinese religious traditions. Scholars note that in China there is no clear boundary between the three doctrines and local folk religious practices. According to studies published in 2023, compiling demographic analyses conducted throughout the 2010s and the early 2020s, 70% of the Chinese population believed in or practiced Chinese folk religion—among them, with an approach of non-exclusivity, 33.4% may be identified as Buddhists, 19.6% as Taoists, and 17.7% as adherents of other types of folk religion. There are also ethnic minorities in China who maintain their own indigenous religions, while major religions characteristic of specific ethnic groups include Tibetan Buddhism among Tibetans, Mongols and Yugurs, and Islam among the Hui, Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz peoples, and other ethnicities in the northern and northwestern regions of the country. Education
, one of the top-ranked universities in China]]
Compulsory education in China comprises primary and junior secondary school, which together last for nine years from the age of 6 and 15. The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions. Vocational education is available to students at the secondary and tertiary level. More than 10 million Chinese students graduated from vocational colleges every year. In 2023, about 91.8 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school, while 60.2 percent of secondary school graduates were enrolled in higher education.
China has the largest education system in the world, with about 291 million students and 18.92 million full-time teachers in over 498,300 schools in 2023. However, there remains an inequality in education spending. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces, it only totalled ¥3,204. China's literacy rate has grown dramatically, from only 20% in 1949 and 65.5% in 1979, to 97% of the population over age 15 in 2020.
, China has over 3,074 universities, with over 47.6 million students enrolled in mainland China, giving China the largest higher education system in the world. , China had the world's highest number of top universities. Currently, China trails only the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of representation on lists of the top 200 universities according to the 2023 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities, a composite ranking system of three world-most followed university rankings (ARWU+QS+THE). China is home to two of the highest-ranking universities (Tsinghua University and Peking University) in Asia and emerging economies, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities. These universities are members of the C9 League, an alliance of elite Chinese universities offering comprehensive and leading education. Health
from 1970 to 2010]]
The National Health Commission, together with its counterparts in the local commissions, oversees the health needs of the population. An emphasis on public health and preventive medicine has characterized Chinese health policy since the early 1950s. The Communist Party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as treating and preventing several diseases. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by the campaign.
After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. In 2009, the government began a three-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$124 billion. By 2011, the campaign resulted in 95% of China's population having basic health insurance coverage. By 2022, China had established itself as a key producer and exporter of pharmaceuticals, producing around 40 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients in 2017.
, the life expectancy at birth exceeds 78 years. , the infant mortality rate is 5 per thousand. Both have improved significantly since the 1950s. Rates of stunting, a condition caused by malnutrition, have declined from 33.1% in 1990 to 9.9% in 2010. Despite significant improvements in health and the construction of advanced medical facilities, China has several emerging public health problems, such as respiratory illnesses caused by widespread air pollution, hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers, and an increase in obesity among urban youths. In 2010, air pollution caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China. Chinese mental health services are inadequate. China's large population and densely populated cities have led to serious disease outbreaks, such as SARS in 2003, although this has since been largely contained. The COVID-19 pandemic was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019; pandemic led the government to enforce strict public health measures intended to completely eradicate the virus, a goal that was eventually abandoned in December 2022 after protests against the policy.
Culture and society
in a Chinese garden]]
Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. Chinese culture, in turn, has heavily influenced East Asia and Southeast Asia. For much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han dynasty. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today.
, an ancient town that harbors many architectural remains of Ming and Qing styles]]
Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as being integral to Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese nationalism and the end of the Cultural Revolution, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival, and folk and variety art in particular have sparked interest nationally and even worldwide. Access to foreign media remains heavily restricted. Architecture
Chinese architecture has developed over millennia in China and has remained a vestigial source of perennial influence on the development of East Asian architecture, including in Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. and minor influences on the architecture of Southeast and South Asia including the countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Chinese architecture is characterized by bilateral symmetry, use of enclosed open spaces, feng shui (e.g. directional hierarchies), a horizontal emphasis, and an allusion to various cosmological, mythological or in general symbolic elements. Chinese architecture traditionally classifies structures according to type, ranging from pagodas to palaces.
Literature
'' are common themes in Peking opera.]]
Chinese literature has its roots in the Zhou dynasty's literary tradition. The classical texts of China encompass a wide range of thoughts and subjects, such as the calendar, military, astrology, herbology, and geography, as well as many others. Among the most significant early works are the I Ching and the Shujing, which are part of the Four Books and Five Classics. These texts were the cornerstone of the Confucian curriculum sponsored by the state throughout the dynastic periods. Inherited from the Classic of Poetry, classical Chinese poetry developed to its floruit during the Tang dynasty. Li Bai and Du Fu opened the forking ways for the poetic circles through romanticism and realism respectively. Chinese historiography began with the Shiji, the overall scope of the historiographical tradition in China is termed the Twenty-Four Histories, which set a vast stage for Chinese fictions along with Chinese mythology and folklore. Pushed by a burgeoning citizen class in the Ming dynasty, Chinese classical fiction rose to a boom of the historical, town and gods and demons fictions as represented by the Four Great Classical Novels which include Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber. Along with the wuxia fictions of Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng, it remains an enduring source of popular culture in the Chinese sphere of influence.
In the wake of the New Culture Movement after the end of the Qing dynasty, Chinese literature embarked on a new era with written vernacular Chinese for ordinary citizens. Hu Shih and Lu Xun were pioneers in modern literature. Various literary genres, such as misty poetry, scar literature, young adult fiction and the xungen literature, which is influenced by magic realism, emerged following the Cultural Revolution. Mo Yan, a xungen literature author, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. Music
Chinese music covers a highly diverse range of music from traditional music to modern music. Chinese music dates back before the pre-imperial times. Traditional Chinese musical instruments were traditionally grouped into eight categories known as bayin (八音). Traditional Chinese opera is a form of musical theatre in China originating thousands of years and has regional style forms such as Beijing and Cantonese opera. Chinese pop (C-Pop) includes mandopop and cantopop. Chinese hip hop and Hong Kong hip hop have become popular. Fashion
Hanfu is the historical clothing of the Han people in China. The qipao or cheongsam is a popular Chinese female dress. The hanfu movement has been popular in contemporary times and seeks to revitalize Hanfu clothing. China Fashion Week is the country's only national-level fashion festival.
Cinema
Cinema was first introduced to China in 1896 and the first Chinese film, Dingjun Mountain, was released in 1905. China has the largest number of movie screens in the world since 2016; China became the largest cinema market in 2020. The top three highest-grossing films in China were The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021), Wolf Warrior 2 (2017), and Hi, Mom (2021).
Cuisine
Chinese cuisine is highly diverse, drawing on several millennia of culinary history and geographical variety, in which the most influential are known as the "Eight Major Cuisines", including Sichuan, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian, Hunan, Anhui, and Zhejiang cuisines. Chinese cuisine is known for its breadth of cooking methods and ingredients. China's staple food is rice in the northeast and south, and wheat-based breads and noodles in the north. Bean products such as tofu and soy milk remain a popular source of protein. Pork is now the most popular meat in China, accounting for about three-fourths of the country's total meat consumption. There is also the vegetarian Buddhist cuisine and the pork-free Chinese Islamic cuisine. Chinese cuisine, due to the area's proximity to the ocean and milder climate, has a wide variety of seafood and vegetables. Offshoots of Chinese food, such as Hong Kong cuisine and American Chinese cuisine, have emerged in the Chinese diaspora. Sports
is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent, and which was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago.]]
China has one of the oldest sporting cultures. There is evidence that archery (shèjiàn) was practiced during the Western Zhou dynasty. Swordplay (jiànshù) and cuju, a sport loosely related to association football date back to China's early dynasties as well.
Physical fitness is widely emphasized in Chinese culture, with morning exercises such as qigong and tai chi widely practiced, and commercial gyms and private fitness clubs are gaining popularity. Basketball is the most popular spectator sport in China. The Chinese Basketball Association and the American National Basketball Association also have a huge national following amongst the Chinese populace, with native-born and NBA-bound Chinese players and well-known national household names such as Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian being held in high esteem. China's professional football league, known as Chinese Super League, is the largest football market in East Asia. Other popular sports include martial arts, table tennis, badminton, swimming and snooker. China is home to a huge number of cyclists, with an estimated 470 million bicycles . China has the world's largest esports market. Many more traditional sports, such as dragon boat racing, Mongolian-style wrestling and horse racing are also popular.
China has participated in the Olympic Games since 1932, although it has only participated as the PRC since 1952. China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where its athletes received 48 gold medals – the highest number of any participating nation that year. China also won the most medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, with 231 overall, including 95 gold. In 2011, Shenzhen hosted the 2011 Summer Universiade. China hosted the 2013 East Asian Games in Tianjin and the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, the first country to host both regular and Youth Olympics. Beijing and its nearby city Zhangjiakou collaboratively hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics, making Beijing the first dual Olympic city by holding both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. China hosted the Asian Games in 1990 (Beijing), 2010 (Guangzhou), and 2023 (Hangzhou).
See also
* Outline of China
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
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Government * [http://english.gov.cn/ The Central People's Government of People's Republic of China] General information
* [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/china/home.html China at a Glance] from ''People's Daily
*
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13017877 Country profile – China] at BBC News
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/china/ China]. The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120609183901/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/china.htm China, People's Republic of (archived 2012)] from UCB Libraries GovPubs
Maps
* [https://maps.google.com/maps?qChina&ll30.600094,103.710938&spn64.10009,177.1875&om1 Google Maps—China]
*
*
}}
China
People's Republic of China
Category:Atheist states
Category:BRICS nations
Category:Countries and territories where Chinese is an official language
Category:Communist states
Category:Countries in Asia
Category:Cradle of civilization
Category:East Asian countries
Category:G20 members
Category:Member states of the United Nations
Category:Northeast Asian countries
Category:One-party states
Category:Republics
Category:States and territories established in 1949
Category:States with limited recognition
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China
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California
|
| image_map = California in United States.svg
| OfficialLang = English
| Languages = * English: 56.1%
* Spanish: 28.3%
* Others: 15.6%
| population_demonym = Californian<br />Californio (archaic Spanish)<br />Californiano (Spanish)
| LargestCity = Los Angeles
| seat = Sacramento
| LargestMetro = Greater Los Angeles
| area_rank = 3rd
| area_total_sq_mi = 163,696
| area_total_km2 = 423,970
| width_mi = 250
| width_km = 400
| length_mi = 760
| length_km = 1,220
| area_water_percent = 4.7
| Latitude = 32°32′ N to 42° N
| Longitude = 114°8′ W to 124°26′ W
| population_rank = 1st
| population_as_of = 2024
| 2010Pop 39,431,263
| MedianHouseholdIncome $ (2<span>0</span>23)
| 2000DensityUS = 251.3
| 2000Density = 97
| population_density_rank = 11th
| IncomeRank = 5th
| elevation_max_point Mount Whitney
| elevation_min_m = −85.0
| elevation_min_ft = −279
| Former = Mexican Cession unorganized territory
| AdmittanceDate =
| AdmittanceOrder = 31st
| Governor =
| Lieutenant Governor =
| Legislature = State Legislature
| Upperhouse = State Senate
| Lowerhouse = State Assembly
| Judiciary = Supreme Court of California
| Senators = Alex Padilla (D) <br /> Adam Schiff (D)
| Representative =
| timezone1 = PST
| utc_offset1 = −08:00
| timezone1_DST = PDT
| utc_offset1_DST = −07:00
| iso_code = US-CA
| postal_code = CA
| TradAbbreviation = Calif., Cal., Cali.
| website = https://ca.gov
| area_land_km2 = 403,932
| area_land_sq_mi = 155,959
| area_water_km2 = 20,047
| area_water_sq_mi = 7,737
| Capital = Sacramento
| Representatives =
}}
| dance = West Coast Swing
| fish =
| flower = California poppy
| folk_dance = Square dance
| fossil = Sabre-toothed cat
| gemstone = Benitoite
| grass = Purple needlegrass
| insect = California dogface butterfly
| mineral = Native gold
| image_quarter = 2005 CA Proof.png
| quarter_release_date = 2005
| reptile = Desert tortoise
| tree Coast redwood & giant sequoia
| rock = Serpentine
| soil = San Joaquin
| sport = Surfing
| tartan = California state tartan
| image_route = California 1.svg
| butterfly | fruit Avocado
| vegetable = Artichoke
| dinosaur = Augustynolophus
| color = Blue & Gold
| ship = Californian
| mushroom = California Golden Chanterelle
|crustacean=Dungeness crab}}
California () is a state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With over 39million residents across an area of , it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest by area, and the most populated subnational entity in North America.
Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization by the Spanish Empire. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California gold rush started in 1848 and led to social and demographic changes, including depopulation of Indigenous tribes.
The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state in 1850, as a free state, following the Compromise of 1850.
The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 19 million and 10 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most; California's capital is Sacramento. Part of the Californias region of North America, the state's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the nation's earthquake risk lies in California. The Central Valley, a fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains. Droughts and wildfires are an ongoing issue, while simultaneously, atmospheric rivers are turning increasingly prevalent and leading to intense flooding events—especially in the winter.
The economy of California is the largest of any U.S. state, with an estimated 2024 gross state product of $4.132 trillion as of Q3 2024. It is the world's largest sub-national economy; by most estimations, if it were a country on its own, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world (putting it, as of 2025, behind Japan and ahead of India) when ranked by nominal GDP. The state's agricultural industry also leads the nation in agricultural output, led by its production of dairy, almonds, and grapes. With the busiest port in the country (Los Angeles), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of goods imported to the US. Notable contributions to popular culture, ranging from entertainment, sports, music, and fashion, have their origins in California. California is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. The San Francisco Bay's Silicon Valley and the Greater Los Angeles area are seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively.
Etymology
, originate in the 1510 epic Las Sergas de Esplandián, written by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.]]
The Spaniards gave the name to the peninsula of Baja California (in modern-day Mexico). As Spanish explorers and settlers moved north and inland, the region known as California, or Las Californias, grew. Eventually it included lands north of the peninsula, Alta California, part of which became the present-day U.S. state of California.
A 2017 state legislative document states, "Numerous theories exist as to the origin and meaning of the word 'California, and that all anyone knows is the name was added to a map by 1541 "presumably by a Spanish navigator."
The name most likely derived from the mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia, as recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons, as well as griffins and other strange beasts.
Abbreviations of the state's name include CA, Cal., Calif., Califas, and US-CA.
History
tribes and languages at the time of European contact.]]
Indigenous tribes
California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments ranging from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests.
Living in these diverse geographic areas, the indigenous peoples developed complex forms of ecosystem management, including forest gardening to ensure the regular availability of food and medicinal plants. This was a form of sustainable agriculture. To mitigate destructive large wildfires from ravaging the natural environment, indigenous peoples developed a practice of controlled burning. This practice was recognized for its benefits by the California government in 2022.
Men and women generally had different roles in society. Women were often responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men for hunting and other forms of physical labor. Most societies also had roles for people whom the Spanish referred to as joyas, who they saw as "men who dressed as women". Joyas were responsible for death, burial, and mourning rituals, and they performed women's social roles.
Spanish period
claiming California for the Spanish Empire in 1542]]
The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. The first Asians to set foot on what would be the United States occurred in 1587, when Filipino sailors arrived in Spanish ships at Morro Bay. Coincidentally the descendants of the Muslim Caliph Hasan ibn Ali in formerly Islamic Manila and had converted, then mixed Christianity with Islam, upon Spanish conquest, transited through California (Named after a Caliph) on their way to Guerrero, Mexico where they played a future role in the wars of independence. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.
The Portolá expedition of 1769–70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.
conducting the first Mass in Monterey Bay in 1770]]
After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the California coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), and Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.
Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.
in 1776, the third to be established of California's missions.]]
During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.
During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited local trade prospects. Following Mexican independence, California ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent Mexican rule.
Mexican period
leader Juan Bautista Alvarado's 1836 California independence movement]]
In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials. After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. At the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles, he convinced each side that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.U.S. conquest and the California Republic
declared the California Republic and prefaced the American conquest of California.]]
In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide, who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.
The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).
Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.Early American period
, signed in 1847 by Californio Andrés Pico and American John C. Frémont, was a ceasefire that ended the U.S. conquest of California.]]
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.
In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Middle Easterns, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California gold rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.
| image2 = SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg
| caption2 = San Francisco harbor,
| image3 = Mining_on_the_American_River_near_Sacramento,_circa_1852.jpg
| caption3 = Mining near Sacramento,
}}
The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.
In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento.
Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September9 a state holiday.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army, such as the "California 100 Company", were unofficially associated with the state of California due to a majority of their members being from California.
At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.
Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
California genocide
, known as the California genocide. At least 9,456 were killed with estimates as high as 100,000 deaths. Under its new American administration, California's first governor Peter Hardeman Burnett instituted policies that have been described as a state-sanctioned policy of elimination of California's indigenous people. Burnett announced in 1851 in his Second Annual Message to the Legislature: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert."
As in other American states, indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their lands by American settlers, like miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians", were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. One of these de facto slave auctions was approved by the Los Angeles City Council and occurred for nearly twenty years. There were many massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed by settlers for their land.
Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias with the stated purpose of protecting settlers, however these militias perpetrated numerous massacres of indigenous people. As a result, settler colonialism was a calamity for indigenous people. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide, as well as the 40th governor of California Gavin Newsom. Benjamin Madley estimates that from 1846 to 1873, between 9,492 and 16,092 indigenous people were killed, including between 1,680 and 3,741 killed by the U.S. Army. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps; in 2020, California apologized.
Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of transcontinental highways like the Route 66. From 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 90% non-Hispanic white.
To meet the population's needs, engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. The state government adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop an efficient system of public education.
, like Paramount Pictures, helped transform Hollywood into the world capital of film and helped solidify Los Angeles as a global economic hub.]]
Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 9% of US armaments produced during World War II, ranking third behind New York and Michigan. California easily ranked first in production of military ships at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Due to the hiring opportunities California offered during the conflict, the population multiplied from the immigration it received due to the work in its war factories, military bases, and training facilities. After World War II, California's economy expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region, now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of this, California is a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the US center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world.
In the mid and late twentieth century, race-related incidents occurred. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to riots, such as the 1992 Rodney King riots. California was the hub of the Black Panther Party, known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice. Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 70s.
, flanked by Brown Berets, at a 1971 rally during the Chicano movement]]
During the 20th century, two great disasters happened: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.
Although air pollution has been reduced, health problems associated with pollution continue. Brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust. An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.
Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses, expecting to make a huge profit in months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as people assumed prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as prices began to crash. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared, as financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.
by Apple founder Steve Jobs in Silicon Valley, the largest tech hub in the world]]
In the 21st century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive.
One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States occurred in California on January 26, 2020. A state of emergency was declared in the state on March 4, 2020, and remained in effect until Governor Gavin Newsom ended it in February 2023. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, which was ended in January 2021.
Cultural and language revitalization efforts among indigenous Californians have progressed among tribes as of 2022. Some land returns to indigenous stewardship have occurred. In 2022, the largest dam removal and river restoration project in US history was announced for the Klamath River, as a win for California tribes.
In February 2025, a satirical petition of Denmark wanting to buy California and renaming it 'New Denmark', was published, with the goal of reaching 1 million votes. This comes after president Donald Trump unveiled a bill at the start of the month to rename Greenland Red, White, and Blueland.
Geography
of California]]
Covering an area of , California is the third-largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas. California is one of the most geographically diverse states in the union and is often geographically bisected into two regions, Southern California, comprising the ten southernmost counties, and Northern California, comprising the 48 northernmost counties. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and northeast, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south (with which it makes up part of The Californias region of North America, alongside Baja California Sur).
In the middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and by the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's productive agricultural heartland.
Divided in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as the watershed of the Sacramento River, while the southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley is the watershed for the San Joaquin River. Both valleys derive their names from the rivers that flow through them. With dredging, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained deep enough for several inland cities to be seaports.
, on the Central Coast]]
, in the Sierra Nevada]]
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a critical water supply hub for the state. Water is diverted from the delta and through an extensive network of pumps and canals that traverse nearly the length of the state, to the Central Valley and the State Water Projects and other needs. Water from the Delta provides drinking water for nearly 23million people, almost two-thirds of the state's population as well as water for farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
Suisun Bay lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The water is drained by the Carquinez Strait, which flows into San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of San Francisco Bay, which then connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait.
The Channel Islands are located off the Southern coast, while the Farallon Islands lie west of San Francisco.
The Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snowy range") includes the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, at . The range embraces Yosemite Valley, famous for its glacially carved domes, and Sequoia National Park, home to the giant sequoia trees, the largest living organisms on Earth, and the deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume.
To the east of the Sierra Nevada are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential migratory bird habitat. In the western part of the state is Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake by area entirely in California. Although Lake Tahoe is larger, it is divided by the California/Nevada border. The Sierra Nevada falls to Arctic temperatures in winter and has several dozen small glaciers, including Palisade Glacier, the southernmost glacier in the United States.
, in the Mojave Desert]]
, in the Channel Islands]]
The Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up by the early 20th century after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses.
About 45 percent of the state's total surface area is covered by forests, and California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Many of the trees in the California White Mountains are the oldest in the world; an individual bristlecone pine is over 5,000 years old.
In the south is a large inland salt lake, the Salton Sea. The south-central desert is called the Mojave; to the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest and hottest place in North America, the Badwater Basin at . Among Americans at risk of serious harm from a major earthquake, two-thirds of that population are residents of California.
affect the state yearly. In the south, the Santa Ana winds often expand fires and spread smoke over hundreds of miles.]]
Northern parts of the state have more rain than the south. California's mountain ranges also influence the climate: some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes. Coastal northwestern California has a temperate climate, and the Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes than the coast. The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, have an alpine climate with snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer.
California's mountains produce rain shadows on the eastern side, creating extensive deserts. The higher elevation deserts of eastern California have hot summers and cold winters, while the low deserts east of the Southern California mountains have hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters. Death Valley, a desert with large expanses below sea level, is considered the hottest location in the world; the highest temperature in the world, , was recorded there on July 10, 1913. The lowest temperature in California was on January 20, 1937, in Boca.
The table below lists average temperatures for January and August in a selection of places throughout the state; some highly populated and some not. This includes the relatively cool summers of the Humboldt Bay region around Eureka, the extreme heat of Death Valley, and the mountain climate of Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada.
{|class"wikitable sortable" style"margin:auto;"
|+Average temperatures and precipitation for selected communities in California
|-
!Location
! August(°F)
! August(°C)
! January(°F)
! January(°C)
! Annualprecipitation(mm/in)
|-
|Los Angeles ||83/64 ||29/18 ||66/48 ||20/8 ||377/15
|-
|LAX/LA Beaches ||75/64 ||23/18 ||65/49 ||18/9 ||326/13
|-
|San Diego ||76/67 ||24/19 ||65/49 ||18/9 ||262/10
|-
|San Jose ||82/58 ||27/14 ||58/42 ||14/5 ||401/16
|-
|San Francisco ||67/54 ||20/12 ||56/46 ||14/8 ||538/21
|-
|Fresno ||97/66 ||34/19 ||55/38 ||12/3 ||292/11
|-
|Sacramento ||91/58 ||33/14 ||54/39 ||12/3 ||469/18
|-
|Oakland ||73/58 ||23/14 ||58/44 ||14/7 ||588/23
|-
|Bakersfield ||96/69 ||36/21 ||56/39 ||13/3 ||165/7
|-
|Riverside ||94/60 ||35/18 ||67/39 ||19/4 ||260/10
|-
|Eureka ||62/53 ||16/11 ||54/41 ||12/5 ||960/38
|-
|Death Valley ||115/86 ||46/30 ||67/40 ||19/4 ||60/2
|-
|Mammoth Lakes ||77/45 ||25/7 ||40/15 ||4/ −9 ||583/23
|}
The wide range of climates leads to a high demand for water. Over time, droughts have been increasing due to climate change and overextraction, becoming less seasonal and more year-round, further straining California's electricity supply and water security and having an impact on California business, industry, and agriculture.
In 2022, a new state program was created in collaboration with indigenous peoples of California to revive the practice of controlled burns as a way of clearing excessive forest debris and making landscapes more resilient to wildfires. Native American use of fire in ecosystem management was outlawed in 1911, yet has now been recognized.
California's large number of endemic species includes relict species, which have died out elsewhere, such as the Catalina ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus). Many other endemics originated through differentiation or adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species develop from a common ancestor to take advantage of diverse ecological conditions such as the California lilac (Ceanothus). Many California endemics have become endangered, as urbanization, logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species have encroached on their habitat.Flora and fauna
, native to California, are the largest trees in the world. Shown is the Grizzly Giant in Yosemite.]]
California boasts several superlatives in its collection of flora: the largest trees, the tallest trees, and the oldest trees. California's native grasses are perennial plants, and there are close to hundred succulent species native to the state. After European contact, these were generally replaced by invasive species of European annual grasses; and, in modern times, California's hills turn a characteristic golden-brown in summer.
Because California has the greatest diversity of climate and terrain, the state has six life zones which are the lower Sonoran Desert; upper Sonoran (foothill regions and some coastal lands), transition (coastal areas and moist northeastern counties); and the Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic Zones, comprising the state's highest elevations.
Plant life in the dry climate of the lower Sonoran zone contains a diversity of native cactus, mesquite, and paloverde. The Joshua tree is found in the Mojave Desert. Flowering plants include the dwarf desert poppy and a variety of asters. Fremont cottonwood and valley oak thrive in the Central Valley. The upper Sonoran zone includes the chaparral belt, characterized by forests of small shrubs, stunted trees, and herbaceous plants. Nemophila, mint, Phacelia, Viola, and the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica, the state flower) also flourish in this zone, along with the lupine, more species of which occur here than anywhere else in the world.
in La Jolla]]
The high elevations of the Canadian zone allow the Jeffrey pine, red fir, and lodgepole pine to thrive. Brushy areas are abundant with dwarf manzanita and ceanothus; the unique Sierra puffball is also found here. Right below the timberline, in the Hudsonian zone, the whitebark, foxtail, and silver pines grow. At about , begins the Arctic zone, a treeless region whose flora include a number of wildflowers, including Sierra primrose, yellow columbine, alpine buttercup, and alpine shooting star.
Palm trees are a well-known feature of California, particularly in Southern California and Los Angeles; many species have been imported, though the Washington filifera (commonly known as the California fan palm) is native to the state, mainly growing in the Colorado Desert oases. Other common plants that have been introduced to the state include the eucalyptus, acacia, pepper tree, geranium, and Scotch broom. The species that are federally classified as endangered are the Contra Costa wallflower, Antioch Dunes evening primrose, Solano grass, San Clemente Island larkspur, salt marsh bird's beak, McDonald's rock-cress, and Santa Barbara Island liveforever. , 85 plant species were listed as threatened or endangered.
In the transition zone, there are Colombian black-tailed deer, black bears, gray foxes, cougars, bobcats, and Roosevelt elk. Reptiles such as the garter snakes and rattlesnakes inhabit the zone. In addition, amphibians such as the water puppy and redwood salamander are common too. Birds such as the kingfisher, chickadee, towhee, and hummingbird thrive here as well.
The Canadian zone mammals include the mountain weasel, snowshoe hare, and several species of chipmunks. Conspicuous birds include the blue-fronted jay, mountain chickadee, hermit thrush, American dipper, and Townsend's solitaire. As one ascends into the Hudsonian zone, birds become scarcer. While the gray-crowned rosy finch is the only bird native to the high Arctic region, other bird species such as Anna's hummingbird and Clark's nutcracker. Principal mammals found in this region include the Sierra coney, white-tailed jackrabbit, and the bighorn sheep. , the bighorn sheep was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fauna found throughout several zones are the mule deer, coyote, mountain lion, northern flicker, and several species of hawk and sparrow. and two that are threatened are on the federal list. Among threatened animals are the coastal California gnatcatcher, Paiute cutthroat trout, southern sea otter, and northern spotted owl. California has a total of of National Wildlife Refuges. Also, , 178 species of California plants were listed either as endangered or threatened on this federal list.
Sacramento became California's first incorporated city on February 27, 1850. San Jose, San Diego, and Benicia tied for California's second incorporated city, each receiving incorporation on March 27, 1850. Mountain House became the state's most recent and 483rd incorporated municipality on July 1, 2024.
The majority of these cities and towns are within one of five metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Riverside-San Bernardino Area, the San Diego metropolitan area, or the Sacramento metropolitan area.
County
|city_1=Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles
|div_1=Los Angeles County, CaliforniaLos Angeles
|pop_1=3,898,747
|img_1=Los Angeles with Mount Baldy.jpg
|city_2=San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego
|div_2=San Diego County, CaliforniaSan Diego
|pop_2=1,386,932
|img_2=San Diego skyline 18 (2).jpg
|city_3=San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose
|div_3=Santa Clara County, CaliforniaSanta Clara
|pop_3=1,013,240
|img_3=SJPan (cropped).jpg
|city_4=San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco
|div_4=San Francisco County, CaliforniaSan Francisco
|pop_4=873,965
|img_4=San Francisco from the Marin Headlands in August 2022 (cropped).jpg
|city_5=Fresno, CaliforniaFresno
|div_5=Fresno County, CaliforniaFresno
|pop_5=542,107
|city_6=Sacramento, CaliforniaSacramento
|div_6=Sacramento County, CaliforniaSacramento
|pop_6=524,943
|city_7=Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach
|div_7=Los Angeles County, CaliforniaLos Angeles
|pop_7=466,742
|city_8=Oakland, CaliforniaOakland
|div_8=Alameda County, CaliforniaAlameda
|pop_8=440,646
|city_9=Bakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield
|div_9=Kern County, CaliforniaKern
|pop_9=403,455
|city_10=Anaheim, CaliforniaAnaheim
|div_10=Orange County, CaliforniaOrange
|pop_10=346,824
|city_11=Stockton, CaliforniaStockton
|div_11=San Joaquin County, CaliforniaSan Joaquin
|pop_11=320,804
|city_12=Riverside, CaliforniaRiverside
|div_12=Riverside County, CaliforniaRiverside
|pop_12=314,998
|city_13=Santa Ana, CaliforniaSanta Ana
|div_13=Orange County, CaliforniaOrange
|pop_13=310,227
|city_14=Irvine, CaliforniaIrvine
|div_14=Orange County, CaliforniaOrange
|pop_14=307,670
|city_15=Chula Vista, CaliforniaChula Vista
|div_15=San Diego County, CaliforniaSan Diego
|pop_15=275,487
|city_16=Fremont, CaliforniaFremont
|div_16=Alameda County, CaliforniaAlameda
|pop_16=230,504
|city_17=Santa Clarita, CaliforniaSanta Clarita
|div_17=Los Angeles County, CaliforniaLos Angeles
|pop_17=228,673
|city_18=San Bernardino, CaliforniaSan Bernardino
|div_18=San Bernardino County, CaliforniaSan Bernardino
|pop_18=222,101
|city_19=Modesto, CaliforniaModesto
|div_19=Stanislaus County, CaliforniaStanislaus
|pop_19=218,464
|city_20=Moreno Valley, CaliforniaMoreno Valley
|div_20=Riverside County, CaliforniaRiverside
|pop_20=208,634
}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Largest metropolitan statistical areas in California
|-
| CA rank
| U.S. rank
!Metropolitan statistical area
!2020 censusChart does not include indigenous population figures.Studies indicate that the Native Americanpopulation in California in 1850 was close to 150,000before declining to 15,000 by 1900.
}}
Presently, close to one out of every nine United States residents live in California. The United States Census Bureau reported that the population of California was 39.54 million on April 1, 2020, a 6.13% increase since the 2010 census. Then in 2020, the state began to experience population declines continuing every year, attributable mostly to moves out of state but also due to declining birth rates, COVID-19 pandemic deaths, and less internal migration from other states to California. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2021 and 2022, 818,000 California residents moved out of state with emigrants listing high cost of living, high taxes, and a difficult business environment as the motivation. San Francisco is the most densely-populated city in California and one of the most densely populated cities in the U.S.. Four of the top 20 most populous cities in the U.S. are in California: Los Angeles (2nd), San Diego (8th), San Jose (13th), and San Francisco (17th). The center of population of California is located four miles west-southwest of the city of Shafter, Kern County..
|group="note"}}
As of 2020, California ranked fourth among states by life expectancy, with a life expectancy of 79.0 years.
Starting in the year 2010, for the first time since the California Gold Rush, California-born residents made up the majority of the state's population. Along with the rest of the United States, California's immigration pattern has also shifted over the course of the late 2000s to early 2010s. Immigration from Latin American countries has dropped significantly with most immigrants now coming from Asia. Net immigration from Mexico, previously the most common country of origin for new immigrants, has dropped to zero / less than zero since more Mexican nationals are departing for their home country than immigrating. The number of migrants arrested attempting to cross the Mexican border in the Southwest decreased from a high of 1.1million in 2005 to 367,000 in 2011. Despite these recent trends, illegal aliens constituted an estimated 7.3 percent of the state's population, the third highest percentage of any state in the country, totaling nearly 2.6million. In particular, illegal immigrants tended to be concentrated in Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, Imperial, and Napa Counties—the latter four of which have significant agricultural industries that depend on manual labor. More than half of illegal immigrants originate from Mexico. have adopted sanctuary policies.
According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 171,521 homeless people in California.
Race and ethnicity
make up the state's largest ethnic group. The map displays California's counties by percentage of Hispanics and Latinos in the 2020 census:<br />]]
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:120%" |Racial and ethnic composition as of the 2020 census
|-
! Race and ethnicity
! colspan"2" data-sort-typenumber |Alone
! colspan"2" data-sort-typenumber |Total
|-
| Hispanic or Latino
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| White (non-Hispanic)
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Asian (non-Hispanic)
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| African American (non-Hispanic)
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Native American (non-Hispanic)
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic)
|align=right|
|align=right|
|-
| Other (non-Hispanic)
|align=right|
|align=right|
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+California Racial Breakdown of Population
!Racial composition
!1950
!1960
!2010
!2020
|-
|White
|93.7%
|92%
|89%
|76.2%
|69%
|59.6%
|57.6%
|41.2%
|-
|Black
|4.4%
|5.6%
|7%
|7.7%
|7.4%
|6.7%
|6.2%
|5.6%
|-
|Asian
|1.7%
|2%
|2.8%
|5.3%
|9.6%
|10.9%
|13%
|15.4%
|-
|Native
|0.2%
|0.2%
|0.5%
|0.9%
|0.8%
|1%
|1%
|1.6%
|-
|Native Hawaiian and
other Pacific Islander
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|0.4%
|0.4%
|0.4%
|-
|Other race
|—
|0.1%
|0.7%
|10%
|13.2%
|16.8%
|17%
|21.2%
|-
|Two or more races
|—
|—
|—
|—
|—
|4.8%
|4.9%
|14.6%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino
|—
|—
|13.7%
|19.2%
|25.8%
|32.4%
|37.6%
|39.4%
|-
|Non-Hispanic white
|—
|—
|76.3%
|66.6%
|57.2%
|46.7%
|40.2%
|34.7%
|}
According to the United States Census Bureau in 2022 the population self-identified as (alone or in combination): 56.5% White (including Hispanic Whites), 33.7% non-Hispanic white, 18.1% Asian, 7.3% Black or African American, 3.2% Native American and Alaska Native, 0.9% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 34.3% some other race. These numbers add up to more than 100% because respondents can select multiple racial identities. 19% of Californians identified as two or more races in 2022, although excluding respondents who selected "some other race", only 5% identified as two or more races.
By ethnicity, in 2018 the population was 60.7% non-Hispanic (of any race) and 39.3% Hispanic or Latino (of any race). Hispanics are the largest single ethnic group in California. Non-Hispanic whites constituted 36.8% of the state's population. However, they make up only a small part of California's Hispanic population today, estimated at 500,000. California has the largest Mexican, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan population, together making up over 90% of the state's Latino population.
According to 2022 estimates from the American Community Survey, 32.4% of the population had Mexican ancestry, 6.6% had German ancestry, 6.1% had English ancestry, 5.6% had Irish ancestry, 4.9% had Chinese ancestry, 4.3% had Filipino ancestry, 4% had Central American ancestry (Mostly Salvadoran and Guatemalan), 3.4% had Italian ancestry, 2.8% listed themselves as American, and 2.5% had Indian ancestry.
, 75.1% of California's population younger than age 1 were minorities, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white (white Hispanics are counted as minorities).
In terms of total numbers, California has the largest population of White Americans in the United States, an estimated 22,200,000 residents including people identifying as white in combination with any other race. The state has the 5th largest population of African Americans in the United States, an estimated 2,250,000 residents. California's Asian American population is estimated at 7.1million, constituting a third of the nation's total. California's Native American population of 504,000 is the most of any state, with 103,030 identifying as Non-Hispanic and belonging mostly to the Indigenous peoples of California. Most of the state's Native American population identifies as Hispanic and belongs to Indigenous Mexican or Central American ethnic groups, including 185,200 identifying as Mexican American Indian and 67,904 identifying as Central American Indian.
According to estimates from 2011, California has the largest minority population in the United States by numbers, making up 60% of the state population. Over the past 25 years, the population of non-Hispanic whites has declined, while Hispanic and Asian populations have grown. Between 1970 and 2011, non-Hispanic whites declined from 80% of the state's population to 40%, while Hispanics grew from 32% in 2000 to 38% in 2011. It is currently projected that Hispanics will rise to 49% of the population by 2060, primarily due to domestic births rather than immigration. With the decline of immigration from Latin America, Asian Americans now constitute the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in California; this growth is primarily driven by immigration from China, India, and the Philippines, respectively.
<!-- please test on mobile and iPad resolutions (on mobile site) when changing - this has broken before -->
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Most of California's immigrant population are born in Mexico (3.9 million), the Philippines (825,200), China (768,400), India (556,500), and Vietnam (502,600).
California has the largest multiracial population in the United States. Mexican is the most common ancestry in California, followed by English, German, and Irish.Languages
{|class"wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-open" style"margin-left:1em; float:right"
|+ Languages spoken in California by more than 100,000 persons
|-
! Language !! Population<small>()</small> !! %
|-
|English
|20,763,638
|
|-
|Spanish
|10,434,308
|
|-
|Chinese
|1,244,445
|
|-
|Tagalog
|757,488
|
|-
|Vietnamese
|544,046
|
|-
|Korean
|356,901
|
|-
|Arabic
|231,612
|
|-
|Persian
|221,650
|
|-
|Armenian
|211,614
|
|-
|Hindi
|208,148
|
|-
|Russian
|178,176
|
|-
|Punjabi
|156,763
|
|-
|Japanese
|135,992
|
|-
|French
|126,371
|
|}
English serves as California's de jure and de facto official language. According to the 2021 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, 56.08% (20,763,638) of California residents age5 and older spoke only English at home, while 43.92% spoke another language at home. 60.35% of people who speak a language other than English at home are able to speak English "well" or "very well", with this figure varying significantly across the different linguistic groups.
Spanish is the most commonly spoken language in California, behind English, spoken by 28.18% (10,434,308) of the population (in 2021). Spanish was the official administrative language of California through the Spanish and Mexican eras, until 1848. Following the U.S. Conquest of California and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the U.S. Government guaranteed the rights of Spanish-speaking Californians. The first Constitution of California was written in both languages at the Monterey Constitutional Convention of 1849 and protected the rights of Spanish speakers to use their language in government proceedings and mandating that all government documents be published in both English and Spanish.
Despite the initial recognition of Spanish by early American governments in California, the revised 1879 constitution stripped the rights of Spanish speakers and the official status of Spanish. The growth of the English-only movement by the mid-20th century led to the passage of 1986 California Proposition 63, which enshrined English as the only official language in California and ended Spanish language instruction in schools. 2016 California Proposition 58 reversed the prohibition on bilingual education, though there are still many barriers to the proliferation of Spanish bilingual education, including a shortage of teachers and lack of funding. The government of California has since made efforts to promote Spanish language access and bilingual education, as have private educational institutions in California. Many businesses in California promote the usage of Spanish by their employees, to better serve both California's Hispanic population and the larger Spanish-speaking world.
California has historically been one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world, with more than 70 indigenous languages derived from 64 root languages in six language families. A survey conducted between 2007 and 2009 identified 23 different indigenous languages among California farmworkers. All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization. California has the highest concentration nationwide of Chinese, Vietnamese and Punjabi speakers.
As a result of the state's increasing diversity and migration from other areas across the country and around the globe, linguists began noticing a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of spoken American English in California since the late 20th century. This variety, known as California English, has a vowel shift and several other phonological processes that are different from varieties of American English used in other regions of the United States. Religion
The largest religious denominations by number of adherents as a percentage of California's population in 2014 were the Catholic Church with 28 percent, Evangelical Protestants with 20 percent, and Mainline Protestants with 10 percent. Together, all kinds of Protestants accounted for 32 percent. Those unaffiliated with any religion represented 27 percent of the population. The breakdown of other religions is 1% Muslim, 2% Hindu and 2% Buddhist. This is a change from 2008, when the population identified their religion with the Catholic Church with 31 percent; Evangelical Protestants with 18 percent; and Mainline Protestants with 14 percent. In 2008, those unaffiliated with any religion represented 21 percent of the population. The breakdown of other religions in 2008 was 0.5% Muslim, 1% Hindu and 2% Buddhist. The American Jewish Year Book placed the total Jewish population of California at about 1,194,190 in 2006. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) the largest denominations by adherents in 2010 were the Catholic Church with 10,233,334; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 763,818; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 489,953.
in Monterey, built 1791–94, is the oldest parish in California.|left]]
California has a large Catholic population due to the large numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans living within its borders. California has twelve dioceses and two archdioceses, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the former being the largest archdiocese in the United States.
A Pew Research Center survey revealed that California is somewhat less religious than the rest of the states: 62 percent of Californians say they are "absolutely certain" of their belief in God, while in the nation 71 percent say so. The survey also revealed 48 percent of Californians say religion is "very important", compared to 56 percent nationally.
Culture
in Los Angeles]]
The culture of California is a Western culture and has its modern roots in the culture of the United States, but also, historically, many Hispanic Californio and Mexican influences. As a border and coastal state, California culture has been greatly influenced by several large immigrant populations, especially those from Latin America and Asia.
California has long been a subject of interest in the public mind and has often been promoted by its boosters as a kind of paradise. In the early 20th century, fueled by the efforts of state, the building projects during the Great Depression and local boosters, many Americans saw the Golden State as an ideal resort destination, sunny and dry all year round with easy access to the ocean and mountains. In the 1960s, popular music groups such as the Beach Boys promoted the image of Californians as laid-back, tanned beach-goers.
Media and entertainment
, headquartered in Burbank, is one of the world's largest media and entertainment companies.]]
Hollywood and the rest of the Los Angeles area is a major global center for entertainment, with the U.S. film industry's "Big Five" major film studios (Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros.) as well as many minor film studios being based in or around the area. Many animation studios are also headquartered in the state.
bought this steam engine in 1938 for the scrap price, restored it, and built the Grizzly Flats Railroad on which to operate it on a small strip of land behind his home in San Gabriel, California. He later donated this engine, another steam engine and rolling stock, and the funds to build a car barn to house it, to the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California.]]
The four major American television commercial broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) as well as other networks all have production facilities and offices in the state. All the four major commercial broadcast networks, plus the two major Spanish-language networks (Telemundo and Univision) each have at least three owned-and-operated TV stations in California, including at least one in Los Angeles and at least one in San Francisco.
, headquartered in San Francisco, is one of the largest social media networks in the world.]]
is held annually during the summer at Cal Expo in northeastern Sacramento.]]
One of the oldest radio stations in the United States still in existence, KCBS (AM) in the San Francisco Bay Area, was founded in 1909. Universal Music Group, one of the "Big Four" record labels, is based in Santa Monica, while Warner Records is based in Los Angeles. Many independent record labels, such as Mind of a Genius Records, are also headquartered in the state. California is also the birthplace of several international music genres, including the Bakersfield sound, Bay Area thrash metal, alternative rock, g-funk, nu metal, glam metal, thrash metal, psychedelic rock, stoner rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, metalcore, pop punk, surf music, third wave ska, west coast hip hop, west coast jazz, jazz rap, and many other genres. Other genres such as pop rock, indie rock, hard rock, hip hop, pop, rock, rockabilly, country, heavy metal, grunge, new wave and disco were popularized in the state. In addition, many British bands, such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and the Rolling Stones settled in the state after becoming internationally famous.
As the home of Silicon Valley, the Bay Area is the headquarters of several prominent internet media, social media, and other technology companies. Three of the "Big Five" technology companies (Apple, Meta, and Google) are based in the area as well as other services such as Netflix, Pandora Radio, Twitter, Yahoo!, and YouTube. Other prominent companies that are headquartered here include HP inc. and Intel. Microsoft and Amazon also have offices in the area.
California, particularly Southern California, is considered the birthplace of modern car culture.
Several fast food, fast casual, and casual dining chains were also founded California, including some that have since expanded internationally like California Pizza Kitchen, Denny's, IHOP, McDonald's, Panda Express, and Taco Bell.
Sports
, one of the best ranked golf courses in the world]]
is the longest running major street race in North America.]]
California has 18 major professional sports league franchises, far more than any other state. The San Francisco Bay Area has five major league teams, while the Greater Los Angeles Area is home to ten. San Diego has two major league teams and Sacramento has one. The NFL Super Bowl has been hosted in California 12 times at five different stadiums: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Rose Bowl, Stanford Stadium, Levi's Stadium, and San Diego Stadium. A thirteenth, Super Bowl LVI, was held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on February 13, 2022.
California has long had many respected collegiate sports programs. California is home to the oldest college bowl game, the annual Rose Bowl, among others.
The NFL has three teams in the state: the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, and San Francisco 49ers.
MLB has four teams in the state: the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, and San Diego Padres.
The NBA has four teams in the state: the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacramento Kings. Additionally, the WNBA also has one team in the state: the Los Angeles Sparks.
The NHL has three teams in the state: the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks.
MLS has four teams in the state: the Los Angeles Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles FC, and San Diego FC.
MLR has one team in the state: the San Diego Legion.
California is the only U.S. state to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The 1932 and 1984 summer games were held in Los Angeles. Squaw Valley Ski Resort (now Palisades Tahoe) in the Lake Tahoe region hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, marking the fourth time that California will have hosted the Olympic Games. Multiple games during the 1994 FIFA World Cup took place in California, with the Rose Bowl hosting eight matches (including the final), while Stanford Stadium hosted six matches.
In addition to the Olympic games, California also hosts the California State Games.
Many sports, such as surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding, were invented in California, while others like volleyball, beach soccer, and skiing were popularized in the state.
Other sports that are big in the state include golf, rodeo, tennis, mountain climbing, marathon running, horse racing, bowling, mixed martial arts, boxing, and motorsports, especially NASCAR and Formula One.
hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, and will also host in 2028.]]
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Team
! Sport
! League
|-
|Los Angeles Rams
|American football
|National Football League (NFL)
|-
|Los Angeles Chargers
|American football
|National Football League
|-
|San Francisco 49ers
|American football
|National Football League
|-
|Los Angeles Dodgers
|Baseball
|Major League Baseball (MLB)
|-
|Los Angeles Angels
|Baseball
|Major League Baseball
|-
|San Diego Padres
|Baseball
|Major League Baseball
|-
|San Francisco Giants
|Baseball
|Major League Baseball
|-
|Golden State Warriors
|Basketball
|National Basketball Association (NBA)
|-
|Los Angeles Clippers
|Basketball
|National Basketball Association
|-
|Los Angeles Lakers
|Basketball
|National Basketball Association
|-
|Sacramento Kings
|Basketball
|National Basketball Association
|-
|Los Angeles Sparks
|Basketball
|Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
|-
|Anaheim Ducks
|Ice hockey
|National Hockey League (NHL)
|-
|Los Angeles Kings
|Ice hockey
|National Hockey League
|-
|San Jose Sharks
|Ice hockey
|National Hockey League
|-
|Los Angeles Galaxy
|Soccer
|Major League Soccer (MLS)
|-
|San Jose Earthquakes
|Soccer
|Major League Soccer
|-
|Los Angeles FC
|Soccer
|Major League Soccer
|-
|San Diego FC
|Soccer
|Major League Soccer
|-
|Angel City FC
|Soccer
|National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
|-
|San Diego Wave FC
|Soccer
|National Women's Soccer League
|-
|San Diego Legion
|Rugby union
|Major League Rugby
|}
Education
, one of the oldest high schools in continuous use in Southern California]]
California has the most school students in the country, with over 6.2 million in the 2005–06 school year, giving California more students in school than 36 states have in total population and one of the highest projected enrollments in the country.
Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages, and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires a minimum annual funding level for grades K–12 and community colleges that grows with the economy and student enrollment figures.
In 2016, California's K–12 public school per-pupil spending was ranked 22nd in the nation ($11,500 per student vs. $11,800 for the U.S. average).
For 2012, California's K–12 public schools ranked 48th in the number of employees per student, at 0.102 (the U.S. average was 0.137), while paying the 7th most per employee, $49,000 (the U.S. average was $39,000).
Higher education
is the oldest campus of the University of California, and the state's flagship public university.]]
is a private university that is one of the top-ranked universities in the world.]]
California public postsecondary education is organized into three separate systems:
* The state's public research university system is the University of California (UC). As of fall 2011, the University of California had a combined student body of 234,464 students. There are ten UC campuses; nine are general campuses offering both undergraduate and graduate programs which culminate in the award of bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctorates; there is one specialized campus, UC San Francisco, which is entirely dedicated to graduate education in health care, and is home to the UCSF Medical Center, the highest-ranked hospital in California. The system was originally intended to accept the top one-eighth of California high school students, but several of the campuses have become even more selective. The UC system historically held exclusive authority to award the doctorate, but this has since changed and CSU now has limited statutory authorization to award a handful of types of doctoral degrees independently of UC.
* The California State University (CSU) system has almost 430,000 students. The CSU (which takes the definite article in its abbreviated form, while UC does not) was originally intended to accept the top one-third of California high school students, but several of the campuses have become much more selective. The CSU was originally authorized to award only bachelor's and master's degrees, and could award the doctorate only as part of joint programs with UC or private universities. Since then, CSU has been granted the authority to independently award several doctoral degrees (in specific academic fields that do not intrude upon UC's traditional jurisdiction).
* The California Community Colleges system provides lower-division coursework culminating in the associate degree, as well as basic skills and workforce training culminating in various kinds of certificates. (Fifteen California community colleges now award four-year bachelor's degrees in disciplines which are in high demand in their geographical area.) It is the largest network of higher education in the U.S., composed of 112 colleges serving a student population of over 2.6million.
California is also home to notable private universities such as Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Southern California, the Claremont Colleges, Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount University, the University of San Diego, the University of San Francisco, Chapman University, Pepperdine University, Occidental College, and University of the Pacific, among numerous other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. California has a particularly high density of arts colleges, including the California College of the Arts, California Institute of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, Art Center College of Design, and Academy of Art University, among others.
Economy
is the largest tech hub in the world and home to Big Tech companies like Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, Intel, HP, Netflix, Inc., Uber, and many more.]]
California's economy ranks among the largest in the world. , the gross state product (GSP) is $4.0trillion ($102,500 per capita), the largest of any U.S. state. California is responsible for one seventh of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). , California's nominal GDP is larger than all but four countries. In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), it is larger than all but eight countries. California's economy is larger than Africa and Australia and is almost as large as South America. The state recorded total, non-farm employment of 16,677,800 As of 2024, California is home to 57 of the Fortune 500 companies, the highest number of any U.S. state.
-Port of Long Beach is the largest port in the U.S. by import volume and one of the busiest ports in the world.]]
As the largest and second-largest U.S. ports respectively, the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern California collectively play a pivotal role in the global supply chain, together hauling in about 40% of all imports to the United States by TEU volume.
The five largest sectors of employment in California are trade, transportation, and utilities; government; professional and business services; education and health services; and leisure and hospitality. In output, the five largest sectors are financial services, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities; education and health services; government; and manufacturing. California has an unemployment rate of 3.9% .
California's economy is dependent on trade and international related commerce accounts for about one-quarter of the state's economy, and representing 7% of their GDP; California's biggest trade partner is Mexico. In 2008, California exported $144billion worth of goods, up from $134billion in 2007 and $127billion in 2006. Vehicles, computers and electronic products are California's top exports, accounting for 42 percent of all the state's exports in 2008; over 50 car companies operate in California, such as Tesla and Mazda. This increase has occurred despite a 15 percent decline in acreage devoted to farming during the period, and water supply suffering from chronic instability. Factors contributing to the growth in sales-per-acre include more intensive use of active farmlands and technological improvements in crop production. In 2011, that number grew to $43.5billion products revenue. The agriculture sector accounts for two percent of the state's GDP and employs around three percent of its total workforce. Income
in Anaheim is a major tourist destination, with 16.9 million annual visits in 2022.]]
Per capita GDP in 2021 was $85,546, ranking fourth in the nation. Per capita income varies widely by geographic region and profession. The Central Valley is the most impoverished, with migrant farm workers making less than minimum wage. According to a 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, the San Joaquin Valley was characterized as one of the most economically depressed regions in the United States, on par with the region of Appalachia.
Using the supplemental poverty measure, California has a poverty rate of 23.5%, the highest of any state in the country. However, using the official measure the poverty rate was only 13.3% as of 2017. Many coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the United States. The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, have emerged from the economic downturn caused by the dot-com bust.
In 2019, there were 1,042,027 millionaire households in the state, more than any other state in the nation. In 2010, California residents were ranked first among the states with the best average credit score of 754.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"200">
File:USA-World Nominal GDP.PNG|If California was an independent country, its gross domestic product (nominal) would rank fifth in the world (2022).
File:California counties by GDP 2021.png|California counties by GDP (2021)
</gallery>
State finances
]]
State spending increased from $56billion in 1998 to $127billion in 2011. California has the third highest per capita spending on welfare among the states, as well as the highest spending on welfare at $6.67billion. In January 2011, California's total debt was at least $265billion. On June 27, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed a balanced budget (no deficit) for the state, its first in decades; however, the state's debt remains at $132billion.
With the passage of Proposition 30 in 2012 and Proposition 55 in 2016, California now levies a 13.3% maximum marginal income tax rate with ten tax brackets, ranging from 1% at the bottom tax bracket of $0 annual individual income to 13.3% for annual individual income over $1,000,000 (though the top brackets are only temporary until Proposition 55 expires at the end of 2030). While Proposition 30 also enacted a minimum state sales tax of 7.5%, this sales tax increase was not extended by Proposition 55 and reverted to a previous minimum state sales tax rate of 7.25% in 2017. Local governments can and do levy additional sales taxes in addition to this minimum rate.
All real property is taxable annually. Property tax increases are capped at 2% annually or the rate of inflation (whichever is lower), per Proposition 13.
Energy
, located on the coast of Monterey Bay]]
Because it is the most populous state in the United States, California is one of the country's largest users of energy. The state has extensive hydro-electric energy generation facilities, however, moving water is the single largest energy use in the state. Also, due to high energy rates, conservation mandates, mild weather in the largest population centers and strong environmental movement, its per capita energy use is one of the smallest of any state in the United States. Due to the high electricity demand, California imports more electricity than any other state, primarily hydroelectric power from states in the Pacific Northwest (via Path 15 and Path 66) and coal- and natural gas-fired production from the desert Southwest via Path 46.
The state's crude oil and natural gas deposits are located in the Central Valley and along the coast, including the large Midway-Sunset Oil Field. Natural gas-fired power plants typically account for more than one-half of state electricity generation.
, located in the Mojave Desert]]
As a result of the state's strong environmental movement, California has some of the most aggressive renewable energy goals in the United States. The Clean Energy, Jobs and Affordability Act of 2022 commits the state to running its operations on clean, renewable energy resources by 2035, and SB 1203 also requires the state to achieve net-zero operations for all agencies. Currently, several solar power plants such as the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility are located in the Mojave Desert. California's wind farms include Altamont Pass, San Gorgonio Pass, and Tehachapi Pass. The Tehachapi area is also where the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project is located. Several dams across the state provide hydro-electric power. It would be possible to convert the total supply to 100% renewable energy, including heating, cooling and mobility, by 2050.
California has one major nuclear power plant (Diablo Canyon) in operation. The San Onofre nuclear plant was shut down in 2013. More than 1,700tons of radioactive waste are stored at San Onofre, and sit on the coast where there is a record of past tsunamis. Voters banned the approval of new nuclear power plants since the late 1970s because of concerns over radioactive waste disposal. Several cities such as Oakland, Berkeley and Davis have declared themselves as nuclear-free zones.Transportation
in the San Francisco Bay Area, is one of the most famous bridges in the world.]]
Highways
California's vast terrain is connected by an extensive system of controlled-access highways ('freeways'), limited-access roads ('expressways'), and highways. California is known for its car culture, giving California's cities a reputation for severe traffic congestion. Construction and maintenance of state roads and statewide transportation planning are primarily the responsibility of the California Department of Transportation, nicknamed "Caltrans". The rapidly growing population of the state is straining all of its transportation networks, and California has some of the worst roads in the United States. The Reason Foundation's 19th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems ranked California's highways the third-worst of any state, with Alaska second, and Rhode Island first.
is a public water taxi system in the Bay Area.]]
The state has been a pioneer in road construction. One of the state's more visible landmarks, the Golden Gate Bridge, was the longest suspension bridge main span in the world at between 1937 (when it opened) and 1964. With its orange paint and panoramic views of the bay, this highway bridge is a popular tourist attraction and also accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (often abbreviated the "Bay Bridge"), completed in 1936, transports about 280,000 vehicles per day on two-decks. Its two sections meet at Yerba Buena Island through the world's largest diameter transportation bore tunnel, at wide by high. The Arroyo Seco Parkway, connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, opened in 1940 as the first freeway in the Western United States. It was later extended south to the Four Level Interchange in downtown Los Angeles, regarded as the first stack interchange ever built.
The California Highway Patrol is the largest statewide police agency in the United States in employment with more than 10,000 employees. They are responsible for providing any police-sanctioned service to anyone on California's state-maintained highways and on state property.
By the end of 2021, 30,610,058 people in California held a California Department of Motor Vehicles-issued driver's licenses or state identification card, and there were 36,229,205 registered vehicles, including 25,643,076 automobiles, 853,368 motorcycles, 8,981,787 trucks and trailers, and 121,716 miscellaneous vehicles (including historical vehicles and farm equipment).Air travel
(LAX) is the 4th busiest airport in the world.]]
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the 4th busiest airport in the world in 2018, and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the 25th busiest airport in the world in 2018, are major hubs for trans-Pacific and transcontinental traffic. There are about a dozen important commercial airports and many more general aviation airports throughout the state.
Railroads
's Pacific Surfliner in San Clemente, on the Orange Coast]]
Inter-city rail travel is provided by Amtrak California; the three routes, the Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner, and San Joaquin, are funded by Caltrans. These services are the busiest intercity rail lines in the United States outside the Northeast Corridor and ridership is continuing to set records. The routes are becoming increasingly popular over flying, especially on the LAX-SFO route. Integrated subway and light rail networks are found in Los Angeles (Los Angeles Metro Rail) and San Francisco (Muni Metro). Light rail systems are also found in San Jose (VTA light rail), San Diego (San Diego Trolley), Sacramento (SacRT light rail), and Northern San Diego County (Sprinter). Furthermore, commuter rail networks serve the San Francisco Bay Area (Altamont Corridor Express, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Caltrain, Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit), Greater Los Angeles (Metrolink), and San Diego County (Coaster).
The California High-Speed Rail Authority was authorized in 1996 by the state legislature to plan a California High-Speed Rail system to put before the voters. The plan they devised, 2008 California Proposition 1A, connecting all the major population centers in the state, was approved by the voters at the November 2008 general election. The first phase of construction was begun in 2015, and the first segment long, is planned to be put into operation by the end of 2030. Planning and work on the rest of the system is continuing, with funding for completing it is an ongoing issue. California's 2023 integrated passenger rail master plan includes a high speed rail system.BussesNearly all counties operate bus lines, and many cities operate their own city bus lines as well. Intercity bus travel is provided by Greyhound, Megabus, and Amtrak Thruway.Water
, in the Shasta Cascade region, is California's largest reservoir.]]
California's interconnected water system is the world's largest, managing over of water per year, centered on six main systems of aqueducts and infrastructure projects. Water use and conservation in California is a politically divisive issue, as the state experiences periodic droughts and has to balance the demands of its large agricultural and urban sectors, especially in the arid southern portion of the state. The state's widespread redistribution of water also invites the frequent scorn of environmentalists.
The California Water Wars, a conflict between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley over water rights, is one of the most well-known examples of the struggle to secure adequate water supplies. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said: <blockquote>We've been in crisis for quite some time because we're now 38million people and not anymore 18million people like we were in the late 60s. So it developed into a battle between environmentalists and farmers and between the south and the north and between rural and urban. And everyone has been fighting for the last four decades about water.</blockquote>
Government and politics
in Sacramento, seat of the California government, hosts the California Legislature and the Governor of California.]]
State government
The capital city of California is Sacramento.
The state is organized into three branches of government—the executive branch consisting of the governor and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate; and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts. The state also allows ballot propositions: direct participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall, and ratification. Before the passage of Proposition 14 in 2010, California allowed each political party to choose whether to have a closed primary or a primary where only party members and independents vote. After June 8, 2010, when Proposition 14 was approved, excepting only the United States president and county central committee offices, all candidates in the primary elections are listed on the ballot with their preferred party affiliation, but they are not the official nominee of that party. At the primary election, the two candidates with the top votes will advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
The many California state agencies that are under the governor's cabinet are grouped together to form cabinet-level entities that are referred to by government officials as "superagencies". Those departments that are directly under the other independently elected officers work separately from these superagencies.
Legislative branch
The California State Legislature consists of a 40-member Senate and 80-member Assembly. Senators serve four-year terms and Assembly members two. Members of the Assembly are subject to term limits of six terms, and members of the Senate are subject to term limits of three terms.Judicial branch
primarily convenes at the Earl Warren Building in San Francisco (pictured), but also holds session in Sacramento and Los Angeles.]]
California's legal system is explicitly based upon English common law but carries many features from Spanish civil law, such as community property. California's prison population grew from 25,000 in 1980 to over 170,000 in 2007. Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country (though Oklahoma and Texas are far more active in carrying out executions). California has performed 13 executions since 1976, with the last being in 2006.
California's judiciary system is the largest in the United States with a total of 1,600 judges (the federal system has only about 840). At the apex is the seven-member Supreme Court of California, while the California Courts of Appeal serve as the primary appellate courts and the California Superior Courts serve as the primary trial courts. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the governor, but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years.
The administration of the state's court system is controlled by the Judicial Council, composed of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, 14 judicial officers, four representatives from the State Bar of California, and one member from each house of the state legislature.
In fiscal year 2020–2021, the state judiciary's 2,000 judicial officers and 18,000 judicial branch employees processed approximately 4.4 million cases.
Local government
is the seat of government of the consolidated City and County of San Francisco.]]
California has an extensive system of local government that manages public functions throughout the state. Like most states, California is divided into counties, of which there are 58 (including San Francisco) covering the entire state. Most urbanized areas are incorporated as cities. School districts, which are independent of cities and counties, handle public education. Many other functions, such as fire protection and water supply, especially in unincorporated areas, are handled by special districts.
Counties
California is divided into 58 counties. Per Article 11, Section 1, of the Constitution of California, they are the legal subdivisions of the state. The county government provides countywide services such as law enforcement, jails, elections and voter registration, vital records, property assessment and records, tax collection, public health, health care, social services, libraries, flood control, fire protection, animal control, agricultural regulations, building inspections, ambulance services, and education departments in charge of maintaining statewide standards. In addition, the county serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas. Each county is governed by an elected board of supervisors.
City and town governments
, seat of the Government of Los Angeles]]
Incorporated cities and towns in California are either charter or general-law municipalities.
There are about 3,400 special districts in California. A special district, defined by California Government Code § 16271(d) as "any agency of the state for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries", provides a limited range of services within a defined geographic area. The geographic area of a special district can spread across multiple cities or counties, or could consist of only a portion of one. Most of California's special districts are single-purpose districts, and provide one service.Federal representation
in 2020]]
The state of California sends 52 members to the House of Representatives, the nation's largest congressional state delegation. Consequently, California also has the largest number of electoral votes in national presidential elections, with 54. The former speaker of the House of Representatives is the representative of California's 20th district, Kevin McCarthy.
California is represented in the United States Senate by Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff.
Armed forces
at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego]]
In California, , the U.S. Department of Defense had a total of 117,806 active duty servicemembers of which 88,370 were Sailors or Marines, 18,339 were Airmen, and 11,097 were Soldiers, with 61,365 Department of Defense civilian employees. Additionally, there were a total of 57,792 Reservists and Guardsman in California.
In 2010, Los Angeles County was the largest origin of military recruits in the United States by county, with 1,437 individuals enlisting in the military. However, , Californians were relatively under-represented in the military as a proportion to its population.
In 2000, California, had 2,569,340 veterans of United States military service. , there were 1,942,775 veterans living in California, of which 1,457,875 served during a period of armed conflict, and just over four thousand served before World WarII (the largest population of this group of any state).
California's military forces consist of the Army and Air National Guard, the naval and state military reserve (militia), and the California Cadet Corps.
Politics
{|class="wikitable floatright"
|+California registered voters
|-
! colspan=2 |Party
! Number of voters
! Percentage
|rowspan"10" style"font-size:small" |
Party registration by county(October 2022):
|-
|
|Democratic
|style="text-align:center;" |10,355,081
|style="text-align:center;" |45.83%
|-
|
|Republican
|style="text-align:center;" |5,638,209
|style="text-align:center;" |24.95%
|-
|
|No Party Preference
|style="text-align:center;" |4,986,066
|style="text-align:center;" |22.07%
|-
|
|American Independent
|style="text-align:center;" |875,034
|style="text-align:center;" |3.87%
|-
|
|Libertarian
|style="text-align:center;" |234,978
|style="text-align:center;" |1.04%
|-
|
|Peace and Freedom
|style="text-align:center;" |141,805
|style="text-align:center;" |0.63%
|-
|
|Green
|style="text-align:center;" |107,929
|style="text-align:center;" |0.48%
|-
|colspan"2" style"text-align:left;" |Other
|style="text-align:center;" |256,557
|style="text-align:center;" |1.13%
|-
! colspan=2 |Total
! style="text-align:center;" |22,595,659
! style="text-align:center;" |100%
|}
California has an idiosyncratic political culture compared to the rest of the country, and is sometimes regarded as a trendsetter. In socio-cultural mores and national politics, Californians are perceived as more liberal than other Americans, especially those who live in the inland states. In the 2016 United States presidential election, California had the third highest percentage of Democratic votes behind the District of Columbia and Hawaii. In the 2020 United States presidential election, it had the 6th highest behind the District of Columbia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Hawaii. According to the Cook Political Report, California contains five of the 15 most Democratic congressional districts in the United States.
California was the second state to recall their state governor, the second state to legalize abortion, and the only state to ban marriage for gay couples twice by vote (including Proposition8 in 2008). Voters also passed Proposition 71 in 2004 to fund stem cell research, making California the second state to legalize stem cell research, and Proposition 14 in 2010 to completely change the state's primary election process. California has also experienced disputes over water rights; and a tax revolt, culminating with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, limiting state property taxes. California voters have rejected affirmative action on multiple occasions, most recently in November 2020.
The state's trend towards the Democratic Party and away from the Republican Party can be seen in state elections. From 1899 to 1939, California had exclusively Republican governors. Since 1990, California has generally elected Democratic candidates to federal, state and local offices, including current Governor Gavin Newsom; however, the state has elected Republican Governors, though many of its Republican Governors, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, tend to be considered moderate Republicans and more centrist than the national party.
protesters and pro-military counterprotesters in Berkeley (2008)]]
Several political movements have advocated for California independence. The California National Party and the California Freedom Coalition both advocate for California independence along the lines of progressivism and civic nationalism. The Yes California movement attempted to organize an independence referendum via ballot initiative for 2019, which was then postponed.
The Democrats also hold a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature. There are 62 Democrats and 18 Republicans in the Assembly; and 32 Democrats and eight Republicans in the Senate.
From 1952 through 1988, California was a Republican-leaning state, as the party carried the state's electoral votes in nine of ten elections, with 1964 as the sole exception. Southern California Republicans Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were both elected twice as the 37th and 40th U.S. Presidents, respectively. However, Democrats have won all of California's electoral votes for the last eight elections,<!--8 thru 2020--> starting in 1992.
In the United States House, the Democrats held a 34–19 edge in the California delegation of the 110th United States Congress in 2007. As the result of gerrymandering, the districts in California were usually dominated by one or the other party, and few districts were considered competitive. In 2008, Californians passed Proposition 20 to empower a 14-member independent citizen commission to redraw districts for both local politicians and Congress. After the 2012 elections, when the new system took effect, Democrats gained four seats and held a 38–15 majority in the delegation. Following the 2018 midterm House elections, Democrats won 46 out of 53 congressional house seats in California, leaving Republicans with seven.
movement (2011)]]
In general, Democratic strength is centered in the populous coastal regions of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the San Francisco Bay Area. Republican strength is still greatest in eastern parts of the state. Orange County had remained largely Republican until the 2016 and 2018 elections, in which a majority of the county's votes were cast for Democratic candidates. One study ranked Berkeley, Oakland, Inglewood and San Francisco in the top 20 most liberal American cities; and Bakersfield, Orange, Escondido, Garden Grove, and Simi Valley in the top 20 most conservative cities.
In October 2022, out of the 26,876,800 people eligible to vote, 21,940,274 people were registered to vote. Of the people registered, the three largest registered groups were Democrats (10,283,258), Republicans (5,232,094), and No Party Preference (4,943,696). Twinned regions
California has region twinning arrangements with:
* Catalonia, autonomous community of Spain
* Alberta, province of Canada
* Jeju Province of South Korea
* Guangdong, province of China
See also
* Index of California-related articles
* Outline of California
* List of people from California
* Proposed Danish acquisition of California
Notes
References
Citations
Works cited
* |titleGeopolitics of the World System |date2003 |publisherRowman & Littlefield |isbn978-0-8476-9907-0}}
*
* Further reading
*
*
*
* Matthews, Glenna. The Golden State in the Civil War: Thomas Starr King, the Republican Party, and the Birth of Modern California. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
*
* External links
* [http://www.ca.gov/ State of California]
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/states/california/index.html California State Guide, from the Library of Congress]
*
* [http://data.ca.gov/ data.ca.gov: open data portal from California state agencies]
* [http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets/state-data.aspx?StateFIPS06&StateNameCalifornia California State Facts from USDA]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150422235318/http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/in-the-news/california-drought-farm-and-food-impacts.aspx California Drought: Farm and Food Impacts from USDA, Economic Research Service]
* [http://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/188919 1973 documentary featuring aerial views of the California coastline from Mt. Shasta to Los Angeles]
* [http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1800s)_Page_1.html/ Early City Views (Los Angeles)]
The Golden State
|list=
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Category:States and territories established in 1850
Category:States of the United States
Category:States of the West Coast of the United States
Category:1850 establishments in California
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California
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Columbia River
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* (Sinixt)
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| name_other | name_etymology Captain Robert Gray's ship, Columbia Rediviva
| nickname = Big River, the River of the West, River Oregon
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
| image = Columbia River from Rowena Crest Viewpoint looking east.jpg
| image_caption = Columbia River from Rowena Crest with Interstate 84 on the right
| image_size = 280
| map = Columbiarivermap.png
| map_size = 280
| map_caption = Columbia River drainage basin
| pushpin_map | pushpin_map_size 280
| pushpin_map_caption | mapframe yes
| mapframe-zoom = 4
<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = Canada, United States
| subdivision_type2 = Province
| subdivision_name2 = British Columbia
| subdivision_type3 = State
| subdivision_name3 = Washington, Oregon
| subdivision_type4 | subdivision_name4
| subdivision_type5 = Cities
| subdivision_name5 = Revelstoke, BC, Castlegar, BC, Trail, BC, Wenatchee, WA, East Wenatchee, WA, Tri-Cities, WA, The Dalles, OR, Hood River, OR, Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, Longview, WA, Astoria, OR
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| length
| width_min | width_avg
| width_max | depth_min
| depth_avg | depth_max
| discharge1_location = Astoria (near mouth)
| discharge1_avg (Period: 1951–1980)
(Period: 1969–2023)
| discharge2_avg (Period: 1969–2023)
| discharge2_max(Year: 1996)
| discharge3_location = The Dalles
|discharge3_avg (Period: 1879–2023)
| discharge3_min (Year: 1968)
| discharge4_avg (1960–2023)
| discharge4_max (Year: 1961)
| discharge5_location = United States and Canada international boundary
| discharge5_min (Year: 1944)
| discharge5_avg (Period: 1938– 2023)
|discharge5_max(Year: 1948)
<!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| source1 = Columbia Lake
| source1_location = British Columbia, Canada
| source1_coordinates
| source1_elevation
| mouth = Pacific Ocean, at Clatsop County, Oregon / Pacific County, Washington
| mouth_location | mouth_coordinates
| mouth_elevation
| progression = Pacific Ocean
| river_system = Columbia River
| basin_size
| tributaries_left = Spillimacheen River, Beaver River, Illecillewaet River, Incomappleux River, Kootenay River, Pend Oreille River, Spokane River, Crab Creek, Snake River, John Day River, Deschutes River, Willamette River
| tributaries_right = Kicking Horse River, Blaeberry River, Canoe River, Kettle River, Sanpoil River, Okanogan River, Entiat River, Wenatchee River, Yakima River, Lewis River, Cowlitz River
| custom_label | custom_data
| extra =
}}
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: or ; Sahaptin: Nch’i-Wàna or Nchi wana; Sinixt dialect ) is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river forms in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven states of the United States and one Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by flow, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any river into the eastern Pacific.
The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups. The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the salmon species—provided the core subsistence for native peoples.
The first documented European discovery of the Columbia River occurred when Bruno de Heceta sighted the river's mouth in 1775. On May 11, 1792, a private American ship, Columbia Rediviva, under Captain Robert Gray from Boston became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river. Later in 1792, William Robert Broughton of the British Royal Navy commanding HMS Chatham as part of the Vancouver Expedition, navigated past the Oregon Coast Range and upriver to what is now Vancouver, Washington. In the following decades, fur-trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route. Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic, but treacherous Columbia River Gorge, and pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers. Steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade; the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links.
Since the late 19th century, public and private sectors have extensively developed the river. To aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and dredging has opened, maintained, and enlarged shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The 14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more than 44 percent of total U.S. hydroelectric generation. Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river. Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States. These developments have greatly altered river environments in the watershed, mainly through industrial pollution and barriers to fish migration.
Course
The Columbia begins its journey in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia (BC). Columbia Lake above sea level and the adjoining Columbia Wetlands form the river's headwaters. The trench is a broad, deep, and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC. For its first , the Columbia flows northwest along the trench through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, a region known in BC as the Columbia Valley, then northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. Rounding the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains, the river turns sharply south through a region known as the Big Bend Country, passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes. Revelstoke, the Big Bend, and the Columbia Valley combined are referred to in BC parlance as the Columbia Country. Below the Arrow Lakes, the Columbia passes the cities of Castlegar, located at the Columbia's confluence with the Kootenay River, and Trail, two major population centers of the West Kootenay region. The Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia about north of the United States–Canada border.
, in the United States. The maps show that the river, although flowing on average in a southwesterly direction from source to mouth, changes direction sharply from northwest to south at Big Bend in Canada, from south to west near Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, from west to south near Wenatchee, Washington, and from south to west near the Tri-Cities area in Washington.|Course of the Columbia River]]
The Columbia enters eastern Washington flowing south and turning to the west at the Spokane River confluence. It marks the southern and eastern borders of the Colville Indian Reservation and the western border of the Spokane Indian Reservation. The river turns south after the Okanogan River confluence, then southeasterly near the confluence with the Wenatchee River in central Washington. This C-shaped segment of the river is also known as the "Big Bend". During the Missoula Floods 1015,000 years ago, much of the floodwater took a more direct route south, forming the ancient river bed known as the Grand Coulee. After the floods, the river found its present course, and the Grand Coulee was left dry. The construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the mid-20th century impounded the river, forming Lake Roosevelt, from which water was pumped into the dry coulee, forming the reservoir of Banks Lake.
The river flows past The Gorge Amphitheatre, a prominent concert venue in the Northwest, then through Priest Rapids Dam, and then through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Entirely within the reservation is Hanford Reach, the only U.S. stretch of the river that is completely free-flowing, unimpeded by dams, and not a tidal estuary. The Snake River and Yakima River join the Columbia in the Tri-Cities population center. The Columbia makes a sharp bend to the west at the Washington–Oregon border. The river defines that border for the final of its journey.
facing east toward Beacon Rock]]
The Deschutes River joins the Columbia near The Dalles. Between The Dalles and Portland, the river cuts through the Cascade Range, forming the dramatic Columbia River Gorge. Via the gorge, the Columbia crosses the Cascades at a lower elevation than any other river. The gorge is known for its strong and steady winds, scenic beauty, and its role as an important transportation link. The river continues west, bending sharply to the north-northwest near Portland and Vancouver, Washington, at the Willamette River confluence. Here the river slows considerably, dropping sediment that might otherwise form a river delta at the Columbia's mouth. Near Longview, Washington and the Cowlitz River confluence, the river turns west again. The Columbia empties into the Pacific Ocean just west of Astoria, Oregon, over the Columbia Bar, a shifting sandbar that makes the river's mouth one of the most hazardous stretches of water to navigate in the world. Because of the danger and the many shipwrecks near the mouth, it acquired a reputation as the "Graveyard of Ships".
The Columbia drains an area of about . The Columbia is the twelfth-longest river and has the sixth-largest drainage basin in the United States. and the Canadian part of its basin ranks 13th in size among Canadian basins. <!--what's its ranking in BC?-->
The Columbia shares its name with nearby places, such as British Columbia, as well as with landforms and bodies of water.
Discharge
map of the mouth of the Columbia River]]
With an average flow at the mouth of about , the Columbia is the largest river by discharge flowing into the Pacific from the Americas and is the fourth-largest by volume in the U.S. The lowest flow recorded at The Dalles was on April 16, 1968, and was caused by the initial closure of the John Day Dam, upstream.
), 1992–2023:
| label_type = Year
| data_type = Average discharge (m<sup>3</sup>/s)
| bar_width = 18
| width_units = em
| data_max = 9,600
| label1 = 2023
| data1 = 5,165
| label2 = 2022
| data2 = 6,986
| label3 = 2021
| data3 = 5,397
| label4 = 2020
| data4 = 5,839
| label5 = 2019
| data5 = 5,386
| label6 = 2018
| data6 = 7,221
| label7 = 2017
| data7 = 8,795
| label8 = 2016
| data8 = 6,343
| label9 = 2015
| data9 = 5,862
| label10= 2014
| data10 =7,280
| label11= 2013
| data11 =6,963
| label12 =2012
| data12 =8,481
| label13 =2011
| data13 =8,852
| label14=2010
| data14=5,847
| label15=2009
| data15=5,998
| label16=2008
| data16=6,652
}}
<sup>*</sup>1858–1899: 6,280 m<sup>3</sup>/s
Geology
, part of the Channeled Scablands formed by the Missoula Floods]]
When the rifting of Pangaea, due to the process of plate tectonics, pushed North America away from Europe and Africa and into the Panthalassic Ocean (ancestor to the modern Pacific Ocean), the Pacific Northwest was not part of the continent. As the North American continent moved westward, the Farallon Plate subducted under its western margin. As the plate subducted, it carried along island arcs which were accreted to the North American continent, resulting in the creation of the Pacific Northwest between 150 and 90 million years ago. The general outline of the Columbia Basin was not complete until between 60 and 40 million years ago, but it lay under a large inland sea later subject to uplift. Between 50 and 20 million years ago, from the Eocene through the Miocene eras, tremendous volcanic eruptions frequently modified much of the landscape traversed by the Columbia. The lower reaches of the ancestral river passed through a valley near where Mount Hood later arose. Carrying sediments from erosion and erupting volcanoes, it built a thick delta that underlies the foothills on the east side of the Coast Range near Vernonia in northwestern Oregon. Between 17 million and 6 million years ago, huge outpourings of flood basalt lava covered the Columbia River Plateau and forced the lower Columbia into its present course. The modern Cascade Range began to uplift 5 to 4 million years ago. Cutting through the uplifting mountains, the Columbia River significantly deepened the Columbia River Gorge.
The river and its drainage basin experienced some of the world's greatest known catastrophic floods toward the end of the last ice age. The periodic rupturing of ice dams at Glacial Lake Missoula resulted in the Missoula Floods, with discharges exceeding the combined flow of all the other rivers in the world, dozens of times over thousands of years. Various studies have placed the date of the Bonneville Slide anywhere between 1060 and 1760 AD; the idea that the landslide debris present today was formed by more than one slide is relatively recent and may explain the large range of estimates. The pile of debris resulting from the Bonneville Slide blocked the river until rising water finally washed away the sediment. It is not known how long it took the river to break through the barrier; estimates range from several months to several years. Much of the landslide's debris remained, forcing the river about south of its previous channel and forming the Cascade Rapids. In 1938, the construction of Bonneville Dam inundated the rapids as well as the remaining trees that could be used to refine the estimated date of the landslide. Indigenous peoples
of the Nez Perce people]]
Humans have inhabited the Columbia's watershed for more than 15,000 years, with a transition to a sedentary lifestyle based mainly on salmon starting about 3,500 years ago. In 1962, archaeologists found evidence of human activity dating back 11,230 years at the Marmes Rockshelter, near the confluence of the Palouse and Snake rivers in eastern Washington. In 1996 the skeletal remains of a 9,000-year-old prehistoric man (dubbed Kennewick Man) were found near Kennewick, Washington. The discovery rekindled debate in the scientific community over the origins of human habitation in North America and sparked a protracted controversy over whether the scientific or Native American community was entitled to possess and/or study the remains.
Many different Native Americans and First Nations peoples have a historical and continuing presence on the Columbia. South of the Canada–US border, the Colville, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Yakama, Wanapum, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Palus, Umatilla, Cowlitz, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs live along the US stretch. Along the upper Snake River and Salmon River, the Shoshone Bannock tribes are present. The Sinixt or Lakes people lived on the lower stretch of the Canadian portion, while above that the Shuswap people (Secwepemc in their own language) reckon the whole of the upper Columbia east to the Rockies as part of their territory. The Canadian portion of the Columbia Basin outlines the traditional homelands of the Canadian Kootenay–Ktunaxa.
The Chinook tribe, which is not federally recognized, who live near the lower Columbia River, call it or in the Upper Chinook (Kiksht) language, and it is Nch’i-Wàna or Nchi wana to the Sahaptin (Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit)-speaking peoples of its middle course in present-day Washington. The river is known as '' by the Sinixt people, who live in the area of the Arrow Lakes in the river's upper reaches in Canada. All three terms essentially mean "the big river".
Oral histories describe the formation and destruction of the Bridge of the Gods, a land bridge that connected the Oregon and Washington sides of the river in the Columbia River Gorge. The bridge, which aligns with geological records of the Bonneville Slide, was described in some stories as the result of a battle between gods, represented by Mount Adams and Mount Hood, in their competition for the affection of a goddess, represented by Mount St. Helens. Native American stories about the bridge differ in their details but agree in general that the bridge permitted increased interaction between tribes on the north and south sides of the river.
Horses, originally acquired from Spanish New Mexico, spread widely via native trade networks, reaching the Shoshone of the Snake River Plain by 1700. The Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Flathead people acquired their first horses around 1730. Along with horses came aspects of the emerging plains culture, such as equestrian and horse training skills, greatly increased mobility, hunting efficiency, trade over long distances, intensified warfare, the linking of wealth and prestige to horses and war, and the rise of large and powerful tribal confederacies. The Nez Perce and Cayuse kept large herds and made annual long-distance trips to the Great Plains for bison hunting, adopted the plains culture to a significant degree, and became the main conduit through which horses and the plains culture diffused into the Columbia River region. Other peoples acquired horses and aspects of the plains culture unevenly. The Yakama, Umatilla, Palus, Spokane, and Coeur d'Alene maintained sizable herds of horses and adopted some of the plains cultural characteristics, but fishing and fish-related economies remained important. Less affected groups included the Molala, Klickitat, Wenatchi, Okanagan, and Sinkiuse-Columbia peoples, who owned small numbers of horses and adopted few plains culture features. Some groups remained essentially unaffected, such as the Sanpoil and Nespelem people, whose culture remained centered on fishing.
Natives of the region encountered foreigners at several times and places during the 18th and 19th centuries. European and American vessels explored the coastal area around the mouth of the river in the late 18th century, trading with local natives. The contact would prove devastating to the indigenous Chinookan speaking peoples; a large portion of their population was wiped out by a smallpox epidemic. Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie crossed what is now interior British Columbia in 1793. From 1805 to 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the Oregon Country along the Clearwater and Snake rivers, and encountered numerous small settlements of natives. Their records recount tales of hospitable traders who were not above stealing small items from the visitors. They also noted brass teakettles, a British musket, and other artifacts that had been obtained in trade with coastal tribes. From the earliest contact with westerners, the natives of the mid- and lower Columbia were not tribal, but instead congregated in social units no larger than a village, and more often at a family level; these units would shift with the season as people moved about, following the salmon catch up and down the river's tributaries.
Sparked by the 1847 Whitman Massacre, a number of violent battles were fought between American settlers and the region's natives. The subsequent wars over Northwest territory, especially the Yakima War, decimated the native population and removed much land from native control. As years progressed, the right of natives to fish along the Columbia became the central issue of contention with the states, commercial fishers, and private property owners. The US Supreme Court upheld fishing rights in landmark cases in 1905 and 1918, as well as the 1974 case United States v. Washington, commonly called the Boldt Decision.
Fish were central to the culture of the region's natives, both as sustenance and as part of their religious beliefs. Natives drew fish from the Columbia at several major sites, which also served as trading posts. Celilo Falls, located east of the modern city of The Dalles, was a vital hub for trade and the interaction of different cultural groups, being used for fishing and trading for 11,000 years. Prior to contact with westerners, villages along this stretch may have at times had a population as great as 10,000. The site drew traders from as far away as the Great Plains.
The Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River Gorge, and Kettle Falls and Priest Rapids in eastern Washington, were also major fishing and trading sites.
In prehistoric times the Columbia's salmon and steelhead runs numbered an estimated annual average of 10 to 16 million fish. In comparison, the largest run since 1938 was in 1986, with 3.2 million fish entering the Columbia. The annual catch by natives has been estimated at . The most important and productive native fishing site was located at Celilo Falls, which was perhaps the most productive inland fishing site in North America. The falls were located at the border between Chinookan- and Sahaptian-speaking peoples and served as the center of an extensive trading network across the Pacific Plateau. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent.
Salmon canneries established by white settlers beginning in 1866 had a strong negative impact on the salmon population, and in 1908 US president Theodore Roosevelt observed that the salmon runs were but a fraction of what they had been 25 years prior.
As river development continued in the 20th century, each of these major fishing sites was flooded by a dam, beginning with Cascades Rapids in 1938. The development was accompanied by extensive negotiations between natives and US government agencies. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, a coalition of various tribes, adopted a constitution and incorporated after the 1938 completion of the Bonneville Dam flooded Cascades Rapids; Still, in the 1930s, there were natives who lived along the river and fished year round, moving along with the fish's migration patterns throughout the seasons. The Yakama were slower to do so, organizing a formal government in 1944. In the 21st century, the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes all have treaty fishing rights along the Columbia and its tributaries.
In 1957 Celilo Falls was submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam, and the native fishing community was displaced. The affected tribes received a $26.8 million settlement for the loss of Celilo and other fishing sites submerged by The Dalles Dam. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs used part of its $4 million settlement to establish the Kah-Nee-Ta resort south of Mount Hood.
Shortly after the Salmon Scam, many Columbia River-based indigenous tribes received federally recognized status. The Siletz Tribe was the first to restore its federal recognition in 1977, followed by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe in 1982, the Grand Ronde Tribe in 1983, the Lower Umpqua Tribe, Siuslaw Tribe, and Coos Tribe in 1984, the Klamath Tribe in 1986, and the Coquille Tribe in 1989. While all the aforementioned tribes received federally recognized status, the Chinook Indian Nation had their federal recognition revoked in 2002 by the Bush administration, and are fighting to have it restored.
In 2023, members of the Yakama Nation expressed their dismay for the construction of a Goldendale-based pumped hydroelectric energy storage project. Jeremy Takala of the Yakama Nation embodies Yakama belief on the importance of Columbia River crops to food and medicine, stating "the [Goldendale] project being proposed here, it will definitely impact our life". The Goldendale-pumped hydro storage unit could allow for reused water use in reservoirs, which would be placed on mountainous terrain overlooking the Columbia River. The mountainous terrain where the unit would be placed in is Juniper Point, referred to by the Yakama as Pushpum. Pushpum has rock formations, as well as food and medicine capabilities that are essential to the Yakama. Members of the Yakama tribe wish for consent on the Goldendale project, as opposed to consultation.
New waves of explorers
, painted by James W. Alden, 1857]]
Some historians believe that Japanese or Chinese vessels blown off course reached the Northwest Coast long before Europeans—possibly as early as 219 BCE. Historian Derek Hayes claims that "It is a near certainty that Japanese or Chinese people arrived on the northwest coast long before any European." It is unknown whether they landed near the Columbia.
The Maris Pacifici map published in 1589 features on the west coast of North-America an intriguing resemblance of two major coastline features: the mouth of the Columbia River identified as "Rio Grande" and the delta of the Fraser River labeled "Baia de las isleas". These rivers may have been too sighted by European visitors long before official records would confirm nearly 200 years later. In spite of limited evidence of Francis Drake expedition 1579 whereabouts in the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Northwest BC history commentator Sam Bawlf posited that the Ortelius mapped coastal features were a proof that Drake sighted the mouth of the Columbia and the Fraser River delta. Evidence exists that Spanish castaways reached the shore in 1679 and traded with the Clatsop; if these were the first Europeans to see the Columbia, they failed to send word home to Spain.
In the 18th century, there was strong interest in discovering a Northwest Passage that would permit navigation between the Atlantic (or inland North America) and the Pacific Ocean. Many ships in the area, especially those under Spanish and British command, searched the northwest coast for a large river that might connect to Hudson Bay or the Missouri River. The first documented European discovery of the Columbia River was that of Bruno de Heceta, who in 1775 sighted the river's mouth. On the advice of his officers, he did not explore it, as he was short-staffed and the current was strong. He considered it a bay, and called it Ensenada de Asunción (Assumption Cove). Later Spanish maps, based on his sighting, showed a river, labeled Río de San Roque (The Saint Roch River), He named Cape Disappointment for the non-existent river, not realizing the cape marks the northern edge of the river's mouth.
What happened next would form the basis for decades of both cooperation and dispute between British and American exploration of, and ownership claim to, the region. Royal Navy commander George Vancouver sailed past the mouth in April 1792 and observed a change in the water's color, but he accepted Meares' report and continued on his journey northward. Gray's discovery of the Columbia River was later used by the United States to support its claim to the Oregon Country, which was also claimed by Russia, Great Britain, Spain and other nations.
In October 1792, Vancouver sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, his second-in-command, up the river. Broughton got as far as the Sandy River at the western end of the Columbia River Gorge, about upstream, sighting and naming Mount Hood. Broughton formally claimed the river, its drainage basin, and the nearby coast for Britain. In contrast, Gray had not made any formal claims on behalf of the United States.
(oil on canvas). Beacon Rock is visible on the left.]]
map. The Willamette River is shown as the "Multnomah", while the Snake River is "Lewis's River". (See complete map.)]]
Because the Columbia was at the same latitude as the headwaters of the Missouri River, there was some speculation that Gray and Vancouver had discovered the long-sought Northwest Passage. A 1798 British map showed a dotted line connecting the Columbia with the Missouri. When the American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark charted the vast, unmapped lands of the American West in their overland expedition (1803–1805), they found no passage between the rivers. After crossing the Rocky Mountains, Lewis and Clark built dugout canoes and paddled down the Snake River, reaching the Columbia near the present-day Tri-Cities, Washington. They explored a few miles upriver, as far as Bateman Island, before heading down the Columbia, concluding their journey at the river's mouth and establishing Fort Clatsop, a short-lived establishment that was occupied for less than three months.
Canadian explorer David Thompson, of the North West Company, spent the winter of 180708 at Kootanae House near the source of the Columbia at present-day Invermere, BC. Over the next few years he explored much of the river and its northern tributaries. In 1811 he traveled down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, arriving at the mouth just after John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company had founded Astoria. On his return to the north, Thompson explored the one remaining part of the river he had not yet seen, becoming the first Euro-descended person to travel the entire length of the river.
In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established Fort Vancouver on the bank of the Columbia, in what is now Vancouver, Washington, as the headquarters of the company's Columbia District, which encompassed everything west of the Rocky Mountains, north of California, and south of Russian-claimed Alaska. Chief Factor John McLoughlin, a physician who had been in the fur trade since 1804, was appointed superintendent of the Columbia District. The HBC reoriented its Columbia District operations toward the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia, which became the region's main trunk route. In the early 1840s Americans began to colonize the Oregon country in large numbers via the Oregon Trail, despite the HBC's efforts to discourage American settlement in the region. For many the final leg of the journey involved travel down the lower Columbia River to Fort Vancouver. This part of the Oregon Trail, the treacherous stretch from The Dalles to below the Cascades, could not be traversed by horses or wagons (only watercraft, at great risk). This prompted the 1846 construction of the Barlow Road.
In the Treaty of 1818 the United States and Britain agreed that both nations were to enjoy equal rights in Oregon Country for 10 years. By 1828, when the so-called "joint occupation" was renewed indefinitely, it seemed probable that the lower Columbia River would in time become the border between the two nations. For years the Hudson's Bay Company successfully maintained control of the Columbia River and American attempts to gain a foothold were fended off. In the 1830s, American religious missions were established at several locations in the lower Columbia River region. In the 1840s a mass migration of American settlers undermined British control. The Hudson's Bay Company tried to maintain dominance by shifting from the fur trade, which was in decline, to exporting other goods such as salmon and lumber. Colonization schemes were attempted, but failed to match the scale of American settlement. Americans generally settled south of the Columbia, mainly in the Willamette Valley. The Hudson's Bay Company tried to establish settlements north of the river, but nearly all the British colonists moved south to the Willamette Valley. The hope that the British colonists might dilute the American presence in the valley failed in the face of the overwhelming number of American settlers. These developments rekindled the issue of "joint occupation" and the boundary dispute. While some British interests, especially the Hudson's Bay Company, fought for a boundary along the Columbia River, the Oregon Treaty of 1846 set the boundary at the 49th parallel. As part of the treaty, the British retained all areas north of the line while the United States acquired the south. The Columbia River became much of the border between the U.S. territories of Oregon and Washington. Oregon became a U.S. state in 1859, while Washington later entered into the Union in 1889.
By the turn of the 20th century, the difficulty of navigating the Columbia was seen as an impediment to the economic development of the Inland Empire region east of the Cascades. The dredging and dam building that followed would permanently alter the river, disrupting its natural flow but also providing electricity, irrigation, navigability and other benefits to the region. Navigation
; ships must navigate the treacherous Columbia Bar (near horizon, not visible in this picture) to enter or exit the river.]]
'' runs the Cascades Rapids, May 26, 1888. The rapids are now submerged under the pool of the Bonneville Dam.]]
, containing an entire year's worth of logs from one timber camp, heads downriver in 1906]]
American captain Robert Gray and British captain George Vancouver, who explored the river in 1792, proved that it was possible to cross the Columbia Bar. Many of the challenges associated with that feat remain today; even with modern engineering alterations to the mouth of the river, the strong currents and shifting sandbar make it dangerous to pass between the river and the Pacific Ocean.
The use of steamboats along the river, beginning with the British Beaver in 1836 and followed by American vessels in 1850, contributed to the rapid settlement and economic development of the region. Steamboats operated in several distinct stretches of the river: on its lower reaches, from the Pacific Ocean to Cascades Rapids; from the Cascades to the Dalles-Celilo Falls; from Celilo to Priests Rapids; on the Wenatchee Reach of eastern Washington; on British Columbia's Arrow Lakes; and on tributaries like the Willamette, the Snake and Kootenay Lake. The boats, initially powered by burning wood, carried passengers and freight throughout the region for many years. Early railroads served to connect steamboat lines interrupted by waterfalls on the river's lower reaches. In the 1880s, railroads maintained by companies such as the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company began to supplement steamboat operations as the major transportation links along the river. Opening the passage to Lewiston As early as 1881, industrialists proposed altering the natural channel of the Columbia to improve navigation.
Cascade Locks and Canal were first constructed in 1896 around the Cascades Rapids, enabling boats to travel safely through the Columbia River Gorge. The Celilo Canal, bypassing Celilo Falls, opened to river traffic in 1915. In the mid-20th century, the construction of dams along the length of the river submerged the rapids beneath a series of reservoirs. An extensive system of locks allowed ships and barges to pass easily between reservoirs. A navigation channel reaching Lewiston, Idaho, along the Columbia and Snake rivers, was completed in 1975.
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens caused mudslides in the area, which reduced the Columbia's depth by for a stretch, disrupting Portland's economy.
Deeper shipping channel
Efforts to maintain and improve the navigation channel have continued to the present day. In 1990 a new round of studies examined the possibility of further dredging on the lower Columbia. The plans were controversial from the start because of economic and environmental concerns.
In 1999, Congress authorized deepening the channel between Portland and Astoria from , which will make it possible for large container and grain ships to reach Portland and Vancouver. The project has met opposition because of concerns about stirring up toxic sediment on the riverbed. Portland-based Northwest Environmental Advocates brought a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, but it was rejected by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2006. The project includes measures to mitigate environmental damage; for instance, the US Army Corps of Engineers must restore 12 times the area of wetland damaged by the project.
Work on the project began in 2005 and concluded in 2010. The project's cost is estimated at $150 million. The federal government is paying 65 percent, Oregon and Washington are paying $27 million each, and six local ports are also contributing to the cost.
Dams
; its reservoir forms the deadliest stretch of the river for young salmon.]]
and The Dalles, as seen from Rowena Crest]]
In 1902, the United States Bureau of Reclamation was established to aid in the economic development of arid western states. One of its major undertakings was building Grand Coulee Dam to provide irrigation for the of the Columbia Basin Project in central Washington. With the onset of World War II, the focus of dam construction shifted to production of hydroelectricity. Irrigation efforts resumed after the war.
River development occurred within the structure of the 1909 International Boundary Waters Treaty between the United States and Canada. The United States Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1925, which directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Power Commission to explore the development of the nation's rivers. This prompted agencies to conduct the first formal financial analysis of hydroelectric development; the reports produced by various agencies were presented in House Document 308. Those reports, and subsequent related reports, are referred to as 308 Reports.
The 308 Reports generated 176 publications across the United States. Of those 176 documents, thirteen of them were generated in the Pacific Northwest. In 1932, one of the thirteen reports was released on the Columbia River, titled The Columbia River and Minor Tributaries. The report was backed by many engineers and state politicians who believed that the creation of Dams along the Columbia River would be a strong candidate for generation of hydroelectric power. The report led to congressional action, where dams at Bonneville and Grand Coulee were authorized in 1933.
The report itself emphasized the economic values of dam creation. Additionally, the reports emphasized the importance of dams for river navigation. Furthermore, the reports emphasized the importance of hydropower, storage of water for irrigation techniques, and flood control. To ensure that the dams did not affect biodiversity, many engineers and state politicians regarded the importance of salmon within the region. Thus, dams were to be built at a low height that would permit salmon to pass over.
In the late 1920s, political forces in the Northwestern United States generally favored the private development of hydroelectric dams along the Columbia. But the overwhelming victories of gubernatorial candidate George W. Joseph in the 1930 Republican primary, and later his law partner Julius Meier, were understood to demonstrate strong public support for public ownership of dams. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill that enabled the construction of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams as public works projects. The legislation was attributed to the efforts of Oregon Senator Charles McNary, Washington Senator Clarence Dill, and Oregon Congressman Charles Martin, among others.
In 1948, floods swept through the Columbia watershed, destroying Vanport, then the second largest city in Oregon, and impacting cities as far north as Trail, BC. The flooding prompted the U.S. Congress to pass the Flood Control Act of 1950, authorizing the federal development of additional dams and other flood control mechanisms. By that time local communities had become wary of federal hydroelectric projects, and sought local control of new developments; a public utility district in Grant County, Washington, ultimately began construction of the dam at Priest Rapids.
In the 1960s, the United States and Canada signed the Columbia River Treaty, which focused on flood control and the maximization of downstream power generation. Canada's obligation was met by building three dams (two on the Columbia, and one on the Duncan River), the last of which was completed in 1973.
Today the main stem of the Columbia River has fourteen dams, of which three are in Canada and eleven in the United States. Four mainstem dams and four lower Snake River dams contain navigation locks to allow ship and barge passage from the ocean as far as Lewiston, Idaho. The river system as a whole has more than 400 dams for hydroelectricity and irrigation.
The installation of dams dramatically altered the landscape and ecosystem of the river. At one time, the Columbia was one of the top salmon-producing river systems in the world. Previously active fishing sites, such as Celilo Falls in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, have exhibited a sharp decline in fishing along the Columbia in the last century, and salmon populations have been dramatically reduced. Fish ladders have been installed at some dam sites to help the fish journey to spawning waters. Fish ladders have been seen as highly effective when configurations to fishway exits are properly configured, as reconstructing the Bradford Island fish ladder allowed Sockeye salmon to stray away from spillway zones, reducing fallback (the rate at which fish are found moving away from a dam post-migration) and mortality birthrates. However, improper construction of fish ladders can result in salmon populations exerting significantly more energy when breeding, which results in higher levels of fallback. Chief Joseph Dam has no fish ladders and completely blocks fish migration to the upper half of the Columbia River system.
In 2019, both the Yakama and Lummi Northwest Nations proposed to remove the Bonneville, John Day, and The Dalles dams due to their belief removal would strengthen salmon population. The former Chairman of the Lummi Nation, Jay Julius, stated in 2019 that the fate of salmon without dam removal for the Lummi Nation is a "horrifying reality". JoDe Goudy, a former Chairman of the Yakama Nation, coincides with beliefs of the Lummi Nation, stating "The Columbia River Dams were built on this false legal foundation, and decimated the Yakama Nation’s fisheries, traditional foods, and cultural sites.". Both Nations have worked with nonprofit advocacy organizations to further removal agendas.
Throughout 2021, the nonprofit organization Earthjustice represented 10 conservation and fishing organizations in negotiations with President Joe Biden over removal of dam operations on the Snake River. These negotiations culminated in a lawsuit, with Earthjustice requesting to completely halt operations due to their belief of Snake River Dam effects on salmon and steelhead fish runs. On December 15, 2021, the two parties agreed to settle the dispute and focus on a plan to mitigate fish extinction.
Proposed in December 2023, President Joe Biden agreed to a $1 billion mandate, which will attempt to reintroduce Columbia River salmon blockaded by dams. The mandate asked for the Bonneville Power Administration to supply US$300 million over a ten-year span starting in 2024, which includes habitat restoration and upgrades in fish hatcheries. Furthermore, the Biden administration has publicly stated it will examine the possibility of doubling fish and wildlife spending to meet tribal needs. As a benchmark for financial utilization, US$1 billion in backlogged projects have been identified in the Columbia River Basin. The mandate did not call for the removal of four dams on the Snake River.
Irrigation
thumb|alt=A map shows the locations of many river dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries. They extend from near the river mouth in Oregon and Washington up these rivers into Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and British Columbia.|Prominent dams of the Columbia River Basin. Color indicates dam ownership:
The Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project focused on the generally dry region of central Washington known as the Columbia Basin, which features rich loess soil. The project provides water to more than of fertile but arid land in central Washington, In 1992–1993, a lesser drought affected farmers, hydroelectric power producers, shippers, and wildlife managers. Hydroelectricity The Columbia's heavy flow and large elevation drop over a short distance, , give it tremendous capacity for hydroelectricity generation. In comparison, the Mississippi drops less than . The Columbia alone possesses one-third of the United States's hydroelectric potential. In 2012, the river and its tributaries accounted for 29 GW of hydroelectric generating capacity, contributing 44 percent of the total hydroelectric generation in the nation.
thumb|left|upright|alt=Half-length photo of a middle-aged man sitting in front of a closed door and playing a guitar and singing. His wavy black hair is partly covered by a black hat tipped at a rakish angle. He wears a striped flannel work shirt. His black guitar has a sign on it that says, "This machine kills fascists".|Roll on, Columbia, roll on, roll on, Columbia, roll on / Your power is turning our darkness to dawn / Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Lyrics from Woody Guthrie's 1941 song Roll on Columbia, written for the Bonneville Power Administration.
The largest of the 150 hydroelectric projects, the Grand Coulee Dam and Chief Joseph Dam are also the largest in the United States. As of 2017, Grand Coulee is the fifth largest hydroelectric plant in the world.
Inexpensive hydropower supported the location of a large aluminum industry in the region because its reduction from bauxite requires large amounts of electricity. Until 2000, the Northwestern United States produced up to 17 percent of the world's aluminum and 40 percent of the aluminum produced in the United States. The commoditization of power in the early 21st century, coupled with a drought that reduced the generation capacity of the river, damaged the industry and by 2001, Columbia River aluminum producers had idled 80 percent of its production capacity.
Power remains relatively inexpensive along the Columbia, and since the mid-2000 several global enterprises have moved server farm operations into the area to avail themselves of cheap power. Downriver of Grand Coulee, each dam's reservoir is closely regulated by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and various Washington public utility districts to ensure flow, flood control, and power generation objectives are met. Increasingly, hydro-power operations are required to meet standards under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and other agreements to manage operations to minimize impacts on salmon and other fish, and some conservation and fishing groups support removing four dams on the lower Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia.
In 1941, the BPA hired Oklahoma folksinger Woody Guthrie to write songs for a documentary film promoting the benefits of hydropower. In the month he spent traveling the region Guthrie wrote 26 songs, which have become an important part of the cultural history of the region.
Ecology and environment
Fish migration
salmon on the Columbia River, 1914]]
in Oregon, November 2007.]]
The Columbia supports several species of anadromous fish that migrate between the Pacific Ocean and freshwater tributaries of the river. Sockeye salmon, Coho and Chinook ("king") salmon, and steelhead, all of the genus Oncorhynchus, are ocean fish that migrate up the rivers at the end of their life cycles to spawn. White sturgeon, which take 15 to 25 years to mature, typically migrate between the ocean and the upstream habitat several times during their lives.
Salmon populations declined dramatically after the establishment of canneries in 1867. In 1879 it was reported that 545,450 salmon, with an average weight of were caught (in a recent season) and mainly canned for export to England. A can weighing could be sold for 8d or 9d. By 1908, there was widespread concern about the decline of salmon and sturgeon. In that year, the people of Oregon passed two laws under their newly instituted program of citizens' initiatives limiting fishing on the Columbia and other rivers. Then in 1948, another initiative banned the use of seine nets (devices already used by Native Americans, and refined by later settlers) altogether.
Dams interrupt the migration of anadromous fish. Salmon and steelhead return to the streams in which they were born to spawn; where dams prevent their return, entire populations of salmon die. Some of the Columbia and Snake River dams employ fish ladders, which are effective to varying degrees at allowing these fish to travel upstream. Another problem exists for the juvenile salmon headed downstream to the ocean. Previously, this journey would have taken two to three weeks. With river currents slowed by the dams, and the Columbia converted from a wild river to a series of slackwater pools, the journey can take several months, which increases the mortality rate. In some cases, the Army Corps of Engineers transports juvenile fish downstream by truck or river barge. The Chief Joseph Dam and several dams on the Columbia's tributaries entirely block migration, and there are no migrating fish on the river above these dams. Sturgeons have different migration habits and can survive without ever visiting the ocean. In many upstream areas cut off from the ocean by dams, sturgeon simply live upstream of the dam.
Not all fish have suffered from the modifications to the river; the northern pikeminnow (formerly known as the squawfish) thrives in the warmer, slower water created by the dams. Research in the mid-1980s found that juvenile salmon were suffering substantially from the predatory pikeminnow, and in 1990, in the interest of protecting salmon, a "bounty" program was established to reward anglers for catching pikeminnow.
In 1994, the salmon catch was smaller than usual in the rivers of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, causing concern among commercial fishermen, government agencies, and tribal leaders. US government intervention, to which the states of Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon objected, included an 11-day closure of an Alaska fishery. In April 1994 the Pacific Fisheries Management Council unanimously approved the strictest regulations in 18 years, banning all commercial salmon fishing for that year from Cape Falcon north to the Canada–US border. In the winter of 1994, the return of coho salmon far exceeded expectations, which was attributed in part to the fishing ban.
Also in 1994, United States Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt proposed the removal of several Pacific Northwest dams because of their impact on salmon spawning. The Northwest Power Planning Council approved a plan that provided more water for fish and less for electricity, irrigation, and transportation. Environmental advocates have called for the removal of certain dams in the Columbia system in the years since. Of the 227 major dams in the Columbia River drainage basin, the four Washington dams on the lower Snake River are often identified for removal, for example in an ongoing lawsuit concerning a Bush administration plan for salmon recovery. Historically, the Snake produced over 1.5 million spring and summer Chinook salmon, a number that has dwindled to several thousand in recent years. Idaho Power Company's Hells Canyon dams have no fish ladders (and do not pass juvenile salmon downstream), and thus allow no steelhead or salmon to migrate above Hells Canyon. In 2007, the destruction of the Marmot Dam on the Sandy River was the first dam removal in the system. Other Columbia Basin dams that have been removed include Condit Dam on Washington's White Salmon River, and the Milltown Dam on the Clark Fork in Montana. Pollution In southeastern Washington, a stretch of the river passes through the Hanford Site, established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project. The site served as a plutonium production complex, with nine nuclear reactors and related facilities along the banks of the river. From 1944 to 1971, pump systems drew cooling water from the river and, after treating this water for use by the reactors, returned it to the river. Before being released back into the river, the used water was held in large tanks known as retention basins for up to six hours. Longer-lived isotopes were not affected by this retention, and several terabecquerels entered the river every day. By 1957, the eight plutonium production reactors at Hanford dumped a daily average of 50,000 curies of radioactive material into the Columbia. These releases were kept secret by the federal government until the release of declassified documents in the late 1980s. Radiation was measured downstream as far west as the Washington and Oregon coasts.
along the river]]
The nuclear reactors were decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, and the Hanford site is the focus of one of the world's largest environmental cleanup, managed by the Department of Energy under the oversight of the Washington Department of Ecology and the Environmental Protection Agency. Nearby aquifers contain an estimated 270 billion US gallons (1 billion m<sup>3</sup>) of groundwater contaminated by high-level nuclear waste that has leaked out of Hanford's underground storage tanks. , 1 million US gallons (3,785 m<sup>3</sup>) of highly radioactive waste is traveling through groundwater toward the Columbia River. This waste is expected to reach the river in 12 to 50 years if cleanup does not proceed on schedule.
In addition to concerns about nuclear waste, numerous other pollutants are found in the river. These include chemical pesticides, bacteria, arsenic, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB).
Studies have also found significant levels of toxins in fish and the waters they inhabit within the basin. Accumulation of toxins in fish threatens the survival of fish species, and human consumption of these fish can lead to health problems. Water quality is also an important factor in the survival of other wildlife and plants that grow in the Columbia River drainage basin. The states, indigenous tribes, and federal government are all engaged in efforts to restore and improve the water, land, and air quality of the Columbia River drainage basin and have committed to work together to accomplish critical ecosystem restoration efforts. Several cleanup efforts are underway, including Superfund projects at Portland Harbor, Hanford, and Lake Roosevelt.
In early 2022, thousands of protestors demonstrated a demand for heightened cleanup efforts within the Hanford Nuclear Site. In June 2022, nearly 200 protestors attended the Hanford Journey Event, an educational tour which allowed those concerned about the Hanford Nuclear Site to learn about proposed cleanup efforts.The Hanford Journey Event was co-sponsored by the Yakama Nation. Davis Washines, a representative from the Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources, alluded to "[the Hanford cleanup] has a lot of meaning to us, to our people. And not just for us, our personal safety, but to this ground, to the water, because they were here before we were". Congress responded in 2022 by increasing the budget for the Hanford clean-up efforts, after thousands of comments were sent to federal authorities to prevent high-level waste storage at Hanford.
Starting between April and June 2025, the Hanford Nuclear Site is expected to melt radioactive wastes combined with glass flakes at a rate of 21 metric tons per day. The melters being utilized have a lifespan of five years, which requires their replacement in 2030. As of 2023, the Hanford site cleanup project is sixteen years behind schedule. One of the harmful chemicals located in the Hanford site, strontium-90, reached over 2,000 times the standard concentration for drinking water in August 2022.
Timber industry activity further contaminates river water, for example in the increased sediment runoff that results from clearcuts. The Northwest Forest Plan, a piece of federal legislation from 1994, mandated that timber companies consider the environmental impacts of their practices on rivers like the Columbia.
On July 1, 2003, Christopher Swain became the first person to swim the Columbia River's entire length, to raise public awareness about the river's environmental health.
Throughout 2019, a series of wildfires were ongoing in Oregon on indigenous land belonging to the Umpqua Tribe. The Umpqua Tribe lost possession to their former territory in 1853, which is now known as Elliott State Forest. Elliott State Forest has been the subject of many deforestation initiatives over past years. In December 2018, the Umpqua tribe settled in Oregon after purchasing land from the Bureau of Land Management. Michael Rondeau, a descendent of the Umpqua tribe, expressed his contradictory emotions on the acquisition, stating that he felt "sadness that my grandparents and great aunts and uncles and beyond that did not have a day of recognition". On July 14, 2019, in the Milepost 97 wildfires, 25% of the Umpqua's forest territory burned down.
On March 7, 2022, Columbia Riverkeeper, a climate advocacy group, sued Weyerhaeuser, a timber and forest products company, for possible contamination of the Columbia River. Columbia Riverkeeper accused Weyerhaeuser of releasing harmful levels of runoff through their Longview Mill into the Columbia River. Furthermore, Columbia Riverkeeper stated that runoff could result in harmful bacteria growth. As of May 6, 2022, Weyerhaeuser reached a settlement with Columbia Riverkeeper. Weyerhaeuser was determined to contribute US$600,000 for river restoration and proposed potential fines of up to US$5,000 for each subsequent act of pollution between 2023 and 2025.
Nutrient cycle
Both natural and anthropogenic processes are involved in the cycling of nutrients in the Columbia River basin. Natural processes in the system include estuarine mixing of fresh and ocean waters, and climate variability patterns such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the El Nino Southern Oscillation (both climatic cycles that affect the amount of regional snowpack and river discharge). Natural sources of nutrients in the Columbia River include weathering, leaf litter, salmon carcasses, runoff from its tributaries, and ocean estuary exchange. Major anthropogenic impacts on nutrients in the basin are due to fertilizers from agriculture, sewage systems, logging, and the construction of dams.
Nutrient dynamics vary in the river basin from the headwaters to the main river and dams, to finally reaching the Columbia River estuary and ocean. Upstream in the headwaters, salmon runs are the main source of nutrients. Dams along the river impact nutrient cycling by increasing residence time of nutrients, and reducing the transport of silicate to the estuary, which directly impacts diatoms, a type of phytoplankton. The dams are also a barrier to salmon migration and can increase the amount of methane locally produced. except for nitrogen, which is delivered into the estuary by ocean upwelling sources.
Watershed
in George, Washington]]
Most of the Columbia's drainage basin (which, at , is about the size of France) lies roughly between the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Mountains on the west. In the United States and Canada the term watershed is often used to mean drainage basin. The term Columbia Basin is used to refer not only to the entire drainage basin but also to subsets of the river's watershed, such as the relatively flat and unforested area in eastern Washington bounded by the Cascades, the Rocky Mountains, and the Blue Mountains. Within the watershed are diverse landforms including mountains, arid plateaus, river valleys, rolling uplands, and deep gorges. Grand Teton National Park lies in the watershed, as well as parts of Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, and North Cascades National Park. Canadian National Parks in the watershed include Kootenay National Park, Yoho National Park, Glacier National Park, and Mount Revelstoke National Park. Hells Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America,
In 2016, over eight million people lived within the Columbia's drainage basin. Of this total about 3.5 million people lived in Oregon, 2.1 million in Washington, 1.7 million in Idaho, half a million in British Columbia, and 0.4 million in Montana. Population in the watershed has been rising for many decades and is projected to rise to about 10 million by 2030. The highest population densities are found west of the Cascade Mountains along the I-5 corridor, especially in the Portland-Vancouver urban area. High densities are also found around Spokane, Washington, and Boise, Idaho. Although much of the watershed is rural and sparsely populated, areas with recreational and scenic values are growing rapidly. The central Oregon county of Deschutes is the fastest-growing in the state. Populations have also been growing just east of the Cascades in central Washington around the city of Yakima and the Tri-Cities area. Projections for the coming decades assume growth throughout the watershed. The Canadian part of the Okanagan subbasin is also growing rapidly.
Climate varies greatly within the watershed. Elevation ranges from sea level at the river mouth to more than in the mountains, and temperatures vary with elevation. The highest peak is Mount Rainier, at . High elevations have cold winters and short cool summers; interior regions are subject to great temperature variability and severe droughts. Over some of the watershed, especially west of the Cascade Mountains, precipitation maximums occur in winter, when Pacific storms come ashore. Atmospheric conditions block the flow of moisture in summer, which is generally dry except for occasional thunderstorms in the interior. Annual precipitation varies from more than a year in the Cascades to less than in the interior. Much of the watershed gets less than a year.
Further north along the Continental Divide, a short portion of the combined Continental and Laurentian divides separate the Columbia watershed from the Mackenzie-Slave-Athabasca watershed, which empties into the Arctic Ocean. The Nelson and Mackenzie watersheds are separated by a divide between streams flowing to the Arctic Ocean and those of the Hudson Bay watershed. This divide meets the Continental Divide at Snow Dome (also known as Dome), near the northernmost bend of the Columbia River.
To the southeast, in western Wyoming, another divide separates the Columbia watershed from the Colorado–Green watershed, which empties into the Gulf of California. The Columbia, Colorado, and Mississippi watersheds meet at Three Waters Mountain in the Wind River Range of . To the south, in Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, the Columbia watershed is divided from the Great Basin, whose several watersheds are endorheic, not emptying into any ocean but rather drying up or sinking into sumps. and Sproats Meadow Northwest, Oregon. To the north, mostly in British Columbia, the Columbia watershed borders the Fraser River watershed. To the west and southwest the Columbia watershed borders a number of smaller watersheds that drain to the Pacific Ocean, such as the Klamath River in Oregon and California and the Puget Sound Basin in Washington.
), Sinixt village site at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers|alt=View of an overgrown field with a rotting fencepost in the foreground and a range of hills in the distance]]
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See also
* Columbia Park (Kennewick, Washington), a recreational area
* Columbia River Estuary
* Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon
* Empire Builder, an Amtrak rail line that follows the river from Portland to Pasco, Washington
* Estella Mine, an abandoned mine with a view of the Columbia River Valley
* Historic Columbia River Highway, a scenic highway on the Oregon side
* List of crossings of the Columbia River
* List of dams in the Columbia River watershed
* List of longest rivers of Canada
* List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
* List of longest streams of Oregon
* Lists of ecoregions in North America and Oregon
* Lists of rivers of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington
* Okanagan Trail, a historic trail that followed the Columbia and Okanagan rivers
* Robert Gray's Columbia River expedition
Notes
References Sources *
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Further reading
* White, Richard. The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River (Hill and Wang, 1996)
External links
* [https://www.bchydro.com/index.html BC Hydro]
* [http://www.ppl.nl/index.php?optioncom_wrapper&viewwrapper&Itemid=82 Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law] Peace Palace Library
*
*
* [http://www2.epa.gov/columbiariver Columbia River] US Environmental Protection Agency
* [http://www.fs.usda.gov/crgnsa Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area] from the US Forest Service
* [http://www.critfc.org/ Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission]
*
* , dating to the 17th century
* [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/tollcan/searchterm/columbia/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Tollman and Canaris Photographs] Photographs document the salmon fishing industry on the southern Washington coast and in the lower Columbia River around the year 1897 and offer insights about commercial salmon fishing and the techniques used at the beginning of the 20th century.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161228163006/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/00/earthpulse/columbia/index_flash.html Virtual World: Columbia River] National Geographic via Internet Archive
Category:Borders of Oregon
Category:Borders of Washington (state)
Category:Drainage basins of the Pacific Ocean
Category:International rivers of North America
Category:Rivers of Benton County, Washington
Category:Rivers of British Columbia
Category:Rivers of Chelan County, Washington
Category:Rivers of Clark County, Washington
Category:Rivers of Clatsop County, Oregon
Category:Rivers of Cowlitz County, Washington
Category:Rivers of Franklin County, Washington
Category:Rivers of Hood River County, Oregon
Category:Rivers of Multnomah County, Oregon
Category:Rivers of Oregon
Category:Rivers of Wasco County, Oregon
Category:Rivers of Washington (state)
Category:Rivers of Douglas County, Washington
Category:Rivers with fish ladders
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River
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Commelinales
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Late Cretaceous - Recent
|image = Flor - Quintana Roo - México.jpg
|image_caption = Tradescantia pallida
|taxon = Commelinales
|authority Mirb. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Taxonomy
According to the most recent classification scheme, the APG IV of 2016, the order includes five families:
}}
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*
Category:Angiosperm orders
Category:Extant Campanian first appearances
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commelinales
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5411
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Cucurbitales
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<small>Early Cretaceous – Recent</small>
| image = 2006-10-18Cucurbita pepo02.jpg
| authority Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision =
* Anisophylleaceae <small>Ridl. 1922</small>
* Apodanthaceae <small>Tiegh. ex Takht. 1987</small>
* Begoniaceae <small>C. Agardh 1824</small> (begonia family)
* Coriariaceae <small>DC. 1824</small>
* Corynocarpaceae <small>Engl. 1897</small>
* Cucurbitaceae <small>Juss. 1789</small> (gourd family)
* Datiscaceae <small>Dumort. 1829</small>
* Tetramelaceae <small>Airy Shaw 1965</small>
| synonyms =
* Anisophylleales <small>Reveal & Doweld</small>
* Begoniales <small>Link</small>
* Begonianae <small>Doweld</small>
* Coriariales <small>Lindley</small>
* Coriariopsida <small>Parlatore</small>
* Corynocarpales <small>Takhtajan</small>
* Corynocarpanae <small>Takhtajan</small>
* Cucurbitanae <small>Reveal</small>
* Cucurbitopsida <small>Brongniart</small>
* Datiscales <small>Dumortier</small>
}}
The Cucurbitales are an order of flowering plants, included in the rosid group of dicotyledons. This order mostly belongs to tropical areas, with limited presence in subtropical and temperate regions. The order includes shrubs and trees, together with many herbs and climbers. One major characteristic of the Cucurbitales is the presence of unisexual flowers, mostly pentacyclic, with thick pointed petals (whenever present). The pollination is usually performed by insects, but wind pollination is also present (in Coriariaceae and Datiscaceae).
The order consists of roughly 2600 species in eight families. The largest families are Begoniaceae (begonia family) with around 1500 species and Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) with around 900 species. These two families include the only economically important plants. Specifically, the Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) include some food species, such as squash, pumpkin (both from Cucurbita), watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris), and cucumber and melons (Cucumis). The Begoniaceae are known for their horticultural species, of which there are over 130 with many more varieties.
Overview
The Cucurbitales are an order of plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, particularly diverse in the tropics. Most are herbs, climber herbs, woody lianas or shrubs but some genera include canopy-forming evergreen lauroid trees. Members of the Cucurbitales form an important component of low to montane tropical forest with greater representation in terms of the number of species. Although not known with certainty the total number of species in the order, conservative estimates indicate about 2600 species worldwide, distributed in 109 genera. Some of the synapomorphies of the order are: leaves in spiral with secondary veins palmated, calyx or perianth valvate, and the elevated stomatal calyx/perianth bearing separate styles. The two whorls are similar in texture.
Tetrameles nudiflora is a tree of immense proportions of height and width; Tetramelaceae, Anisophylleaceae, and Corynocarpaceae are tall canopy trees in temperate and tropical forests. The genus Dendrosicyos, with the only species being the cucumber tree, is adapted to the arid semidesert island of Socotra. Deciduous perennial Cucurbitales lose all of their leaves for part of the year depending on variations in rainfall. The leaf loss coincides with the dry season in tropical, subtropical and arid regions. In temperate or polar climates, the dry season is due to the inability of the plant to absorb water available in the form of ice. Apodanthaceae are obligatory endoparasites that only emerge once a year in the form of small flowers that develop into small berries, however taxonomists have not agreed on the exact placement of this family within the Cucurbitales.
Over half of the known members of this order belong to the greatly diverse begonia family Begoniaceae, with around 1500 species in two genera. Before modern DNA-molecular classifications, some Cucurbitales species were assigned to orders as diverse as Ranunculales, Malpighiales, Violales, and Rafflesiales. Early molecular studies revealed several surprises, such as the nonmonophyly of the traditional Datiscaceae, including Tetrameles and Octomeles, but the exact relationships among the families remain unclear.
|2=Cucurbitaceae
|3=
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
References
Further reading
*
* External links
Category:Extant Albian first appearances
Category:Angiosperm orders
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Contra dance
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thumb|400px|Contra dancers at the 2019 Flurry Festival
Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th century. Sometimes described as New England folk dance or Appalachian folk dance, contra dances can be found around the world, but are most common in the United States (periodically held in nearly every state), Canada, and other Anglophone countries.
A contra dance event is a social dance that one can attend without a partner. The dancers form couples, and the couples form sets of two couples in long lines starting from the stage and going down the length of the dance hall. Throughout the course of a dance, couples progress up and down these lines, dancing with each other couple in the line. The dance is led by a caller who teaches the sequence of moves, called "figures," in the dance before the music starts. In a single dance, a caller may include anywhere from six to twelve figures, which are repeated as couples progress up and down the lines. Each time through the dance takes 64 beats, after which the pattern is repeated. The essence of the dance is in following the pattern with your set and your line; since there is no required footwork, many people find contra dance easier to learn than other forms of social dancing.
thumb|Musicians play for a contra dance at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.
Almost all contra dances are danced to live music. The music played includes, but is not limited to, Irish, Scottish, old-time, bluegrass and French-Canadian folk tunes. The fiddle is considered the core instrument, though other stringed instruments can be used, such as the guitar, banjo, bass and mandolin, as well as the piano, accordion, flute, clarinet and more. Techno contra dances are done to techno music, typically accompanied by DJ lighting. Music in a dance can consist of a single tune or a medley of tunes, and key changes during the course of a dance are common.
Many callers and bands perform for local contra dances, and some are hired to play for dances around the U.S. and Canada. Many dancers travel regionally (or even nationally) to contra dance weekends and week-long contra dance camps, where they can expect to find other dedicated and skilled dancers, callers, and bands.
History
thumb|upright=1.25|Contra dancers at a ball in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States (silent video)
Contra dance has European origins, and over 100 years of cultural influences from many different sources.
At the end of the 17th century, English country dances were taken up by French dance masters. The French called these dances contredanses (which roughly translated by sound "countrydance" to "contredanse"), as indicated in a 1706 dance book called Recueil de Contredances. Over time these dances returned to England and were spread and reinterpreted in the United States, and eventually the French form of the name came to be associated with the American folk dances, where they were alternatively called "country dances" or in some parts of New England such as New Hampshire, "contradances".
Contra dances were fashionable in the United States and were considered one of the most popular social dances across class lines in the late 18th century, though these events were usually referred to as "country dances" until the 1780s, when the term contra dance became more common to describe these events. In the mid-19th century, group dances started to decline in popularity in favor of quadrilles, lancers, and couple dances such as the waltz and polka.
By the late 19th century, contras were mostly confined to rural settings. This began to change with the square dance revival of the 1920s, pioneered by Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, in part as a response in opposition to modern jazz influences in the United States. In the 1920s, Ford asked his friend Benjamin Lovett, a dance coordinator in Massachusetts, to come to Michigan to begin a dance program. Initially, Lovett could not as he was under contract at a local inn; consequently, Ford bought the property rights to the inn. Lovett and Ford initiated a dance program in Dearborn, Michigan that included several folk dances, including contras. Ford also published a book titled Good Morning: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years, Old-Fashioned Dancing Is Being Revived in 1926 detailing steps for some contra dances.
thumb|right|Caller and musician Dudley Laufman, a significant figure in the contra dance revival of the mid-20th century
In the 1930s and 1940s, the popularity of jazz, swing, and big band music caused contra dance to decline in several parts of the US; the tradition carried on primarily in towns within the northeastern portions of North America, such as Ohio, the Maritime provinces of Canada, and particularly in New England. Ralph Page almost single-handedly maintained the New England tradition until it was revitalized in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly by Ted Sannella and Dudley Laufman.
The New England contra dance tradition was also maintained in Vermont by the Ed Larkin Old Time Contra Dancers, formed by Edwin Loyal Larkin in 1934. The group Larkin founded is still performing, teaching the dances, and holding monthly open house dances in Tunbridge, Vermont.
By then, early dance camps, retreats, and weekends had emerged, such as Pinewoods Camp, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which became primarily a music and dance camp in 1933, and NEFFA, the New England Folk Festival, also in Massachusetts, which began in 1944. Pittsburgh Contra Dance celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. These and others continue to be popular and some offer other dances and activities besides contra dancing.
thumb|upright=1.25|A BIDA contra dance in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the COVID-19 pandemic
In the 1970s, Sannella and other callers introduced dance moves from English Country Dance, such as heys and gypsies, to the contra dances. New dances, such as Shadrack's Delight by Tony Parkes, featured symmetrical dancing by all couples. (Previously, the actives and inactives – see Progression – had significantly different roles). Double progression dances, popularized by Herbie Gaudreau, added to the aerobic nature of the dances, and one caller, Gene Hubert, wrote a quadruple progression dance, Contra Madness. Becket formation was introduced, with partners starting the dance next to each other in the line instead of opposite each other.
The Brattleboro Dawn Dance started in 1976, and continues to run semiannually.
In the early 1980s, Tod Whittemore started the first Saturday dance in the Peterborough Town House, which remains one of the more popular regional dances. The Peterborough dance influenced Bob McQuillen, who became a notable musician in New England. As musicians and callers moved to other locations, they founded contra dances in Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, and elsewhere.
Events
thumb|250px|Contra dancers swing at a Friday night dance at Glen Echo Park in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Contra dances take place in more than 200 cities and towns across the U.S. (), as well as in other countries.
Contra dance events are typically open to all, regardless of experience, unless explicitly stated otherwise. It is common to see dancers with a wide range of ages, from children to the elderly. Most dancers are white and middle or upper-middle class. Contra dances are family-friendly, and alcohol consumption is not part of the culture. Many events offer beginner-level instructions prior to the dance. A typical evening of contra dance is three hours long, including an intermission. The event consists of a number of individual contra dances, each lasting about 15 minutes, and typically a band intermission with some waltzes, schottisches, polkas, or Swedish hambos. In some places, square dances are thrown into the mix, sometimes at the discretion of the caller. Music for the evening is typically performed by a live band, playing jigs and reels from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, or the USA. The tunes may range from traditional originating a century ago, to modern compositions including electric guitar, synth keyboard, and driving percussion – so long as the music fits the timing for contra dance patterns. Sometimes, a rock tune will be woven in.
Generally, a leader, known as a caller, will teach each individual dance just before the music for that dance begins. During this introductory walk-through, participants learn the dance by walking through the steps and formations, following the caller's instructions. The caller gives the instructions orally, and sometimes augments them with demonstrations of steps by experienced dancers in the group. The walk-through usually proceeds in the order of the moves as they will be done with the music; in some dances, the caller may vary the order of moves during the dance, a fact that is usually explained as part of the caller's instructions.
After the walk-through, the music begins and the dancers repeat that sequence many times before that dance ends, often 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the length of the contra lines. Calls are normally given at least the first few times through, and often for the last. At the end of each dance, the dancers thank their partners. In North America, the norm at contra dances is to change partners after each dance. In the short break between individual dances, the dancers invite each other to dance. Booking ahead by asking partner or partners ahead of time for each individual dance is common at some venues, but has been discouraged by some.
thumb|left|upright=1.3|A pandemic era New Year's Eve contra dance in Greenfield, Massachusetts
Most contra dances do not have an expected dress code. No special outfits are worn, but comfortable and loose-fitting clothing that does not restrict movement is usually recommended. Women usually wear skirts or dresses as they are cooler than wearing trousers; some men also dance in kilts or skirts. Low heeled, broken-in, soft-soled, non-marking shoes, such as dance shoes, sneakers, or sandals, are recommended and, in some places, required.
As in any social dance, cooperation is vital to contra dancing. Since over the course of any single dance individuals interact with not just their partners but everyone else in the set, contra dancing might be considered a group activity. As will necessarily be the case when beginners are welcomed in by more practiced dancers, mistakes are made; most dancers are willing to help beginners in learning the steps. However, because the friendly, social nature of the dances can be misinterpreted or even abused, some groups have created anti-harassment policies.
Form
thumb|A contra dance in Manhattan
Formations
Contra dances are arranged in long lines of couples. A pair of lines is called a set. Sets are generally arranged so they run the length of the hall, with the top of the set being the end closest to the band and caller, and the bottom of the set being the end farthest from the caller.
Couples consist of two people, traditionally one male and one female, though same-sex pairs are increasingly common. Traditionally the dancers are referred to as the lady and gent, though various other terms have been used: some dances have used men and women, rejecting ladies and gents as elitist; others have used gender-neutral role terms such as bares and bands, jets and rubies or larks and robins. Couples interact primarily with an adjacent couple for each round of the dance. Each sub-group of two interacting couples is known to choreographers as a minor set and to dancers as a foursome or hands four. Couples in the same minor set are neighbors. Minor sets originate at the head of the set, starting with the topmost dancers as the ones (the active couple or actives); the other couple are twos (or inactives). The ones are said to be above their neighboring twos; twos are below. If there is an uneven number of couples dancing, the bottom-most couple will wait out the first time through the dance.
There are four common ways of arranging couples in the minor sets: proper, improper, Becket, and triple formations. Since the mid twentieth century, there has been a shift towards improper dances, in which gents and ladies alternate on each side of the set, being the most common formation. Triple dances have also lost popularity in modern contras, while Becket formation, in which dancers stand next to their partners, facing another couple, is a modern innovation.
Progression
A fundamental aspect of contra dancing is that, during a single dance, each dancer has one partner, but interacts with many different people. During a single dance, the same pattern is repeated over and over (one time through lasts roughly 30 seconds), but each time, a pair of dancers will dance with new neighbors (moving on to new neighbors is called progressing). Dancers do not need to memorize these patterns in advance, since the dance leader, or caller, will generally explain the pattern for this dance before the music begins, and give people a chance to walk through the pattern so dancers can learn the moves. The walk through also helps dancers understand how the dance pattern leads them toward new people each time. Once the music starts, the caller continues to describe each move until the dancers are comfortable with that dance pattern. The dance progression is built into the contra dance pattern as continuous motion with the music, and does not interrupt the dancing. While all dancers in the room are part of the same dance pattern, half of the couples in the room are moving toward the band at any moment and half are moving away, so when everybody steps forward, they find new people to dance with. Once a couple reaches the end of the set, they switch direction, dancing back along the set the other way.
A single dance runs around ten minutes, long enough to progress at least 15–20 times. If the sets are short to medium length the caller often tries to run the dance until each couple has danced with every other couple both as a one and a two and returned to where they started. A typical room of contra dancers may include about 120 people; but this varies from 30 people in smaller towns, to over 300 people in cities like Washington DC, Los Angeles, or New York. With longer sets (more than 60 people), one dance typically does not allow dancing with every dancer in the group.
Choreography
thumb|350px|Attendees of Youth Dance Weekend 2019 dance "Dela Says Yippee" by Dugan Murphy to music by Calluna
Contra dance choreography specifies the dance formation, the figures, and the sequence of those figures in a dance. Contra dance figures (with a few exceptions) do not have defined footwork; within the limits of the music and the comfort of their fellow dancers, individuals move according to their own taste.
Most contra dances consist of a sequence of about 6 to 12 individual figures, prompted by the caller in time to the music as the figures are danced. As the sequence repeats, the caller may cut down his or her prompting, and eventually drop out, leaving the dancers to each other and the music.
A figure is a pattern of movement that typically takes eight counts, although figures with four or 16 counts are also common. Each dance is a collection of figures assembled to allow the dancers to progress along the set (see "Progression", above).
A count (as used above) is one half of a musical measure, such as one quarter note in time or three eighth notes in time. A count may also be called a step, as contra dance is a walking form, and each count of a dance typically matches a single physical step in a figure.
Typical contra dance choreography comprises four parts, each 16 counts (8 measures) long. The parts are called A1, A2, B1 and B2. This nomenclature stems from the music: Most contra dance tunes (as written) have two parts (A and B), each 8 measures long, and each fitting one part of the dance. The A and B parts are each played twice in a row, hence, A1, A2, B1, B2. While the same music is generally played in, for example, parts A1 and A2, distinct choreography is followed in those parts. Thus, a contra dance is typically 64 counts, and goes with a 32 measure tune. Tunes of this form are called "square"; tunes that deviate from this form are called "crooked".
Sample contra dances:
Traditional – the actives do most of the movement
Chorus jig (proper duple minor)
A1 (16) Actives down the outside and back. (The inactives stand still or substitute a swing).
A2 (16) Actives down the center, turn individually, come back, and cast off. (The inactives stand still for the first , take a step up the hall, and then participate in the cast).
B1 (16) Actives turn contra corners. (The inactives participate in half the turns.)
B2 (16) Actives meet in the middle for a balance and swing, end swing facing up. (The inactives stand still.)
Note: inactives will often clog in place or otherwise participate in the dance, even though the figures do not call for them to move.
Modern – the dance is symmetrical for actives and inactives
"Hay in the Barn" by Chart Guthrie (improper duple minor)
A1 (16) Neighbors balance and swing
A2 (8) Ladies chain across, (8) half hey, ladies pass right shoulders to start.
B1 (16) Partners balance and swing.
B2 (8) Ladies chain across, (8) half hey, ladies pass right shoulders to start.
Many modern contra dances have these characteristics:
longways for as many as will
first couples improper, or Becket formation
flowing choreography
no-one stationary for more than 16 beats (e.g. first couple balance and swing, finish facing down to make lines of four)
containing at least one swing and normally both a partner swing and a neighbor swing
the vast majority of the moves from a set of well-known moves that the dancers know already
composed mostly of moves that keep all dancers connected
generally danced to 32 bar jigs or reels played at between 110 and 130 bpm
danced with a smooth walk with many spins and twirls
An event which consists primarily (or solely) of dances in this style is sometimes referred to as a "modern urban contra dance".
Music
thumb|upright1.5|thumbtime60|Calluna plays Money Musk at Youth Dance Weekend 2019 in Weston, Vermont
The most common contra dance repertoire is rooted in the Anglo-Celtic tradition as it developed in North America. Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, and Old-time tunes are common, and Klezmer tunes have also been used. The old-time repertoire includes very few of the jigs common in the others.
Tunes used for a contra dance are nearly always "square" 64-beat tunes, in which one time through the tune is each of two 16-beat parts played twice (this is notated AABB). However, any 64-beat tune will do; for instance, three 8-beat parts could be played AABB AACC, or two 8-beat parts and one 16-beat part could be played AABB CC. Tunes not 64 beats long are called "crooked" and are almost never used for contra dancing, although a few crooked dances have been written as novelties. Contra tunes are played at a narrow range of tempos, between 108 and 132 bpm.
Fiddles are considered to be the primary melody instrument in contra dancing, though other stringed instruments can also be used, such as the mandolin or banjo, in addition to a few wind instruments; for example, the accordion. The piano, guitar, and double bass are frequently found in the rhythm section of a contra dance band. Occasionally, percussion instruments are also used in contra dancing, such as the Irish bodhran or less frequently, the dumbek or washboard. The last few years have seen some of the bands incorporate the Quebecois practice of tapping feet on a board while playing an instrument (often the fiddle).
Until the 1970s it was traditional to play a single tune for the duration of a contra dance (about 5 to 10 minutes). Since then, contra dance musicians have typically played tunes in sets of two or three related (and sometimes contrasting) tunes, though single-tune dances are again becoming popular with some northeastern bands. In the Celtic repertoires it is common to change keys with each tune. A set might start with a tune in G, switch to a tune in D, and end with a tune in Bm. Here, D is related to G as its dominant (5th), while D and Bm share a key signature of two sharps. In the old-time tradition the musicians will either play the same tune for the whole dance, or switch to tunes in the same key. This is because the tunings of the five-string banjo are key-specific. An old-time band might play a set of tunes in D, then use the time between dances to retune for a set of tunes in A. (Fiddlers also may take this opportunity to retune; tune- or key-specific fiddle tunings are uncommon in American Anglo-Celtic traditions other than old-time.)
In the Celtic repertoires it is most common for bands to play sets of reels and sets of jigs. However, since the underlying beat structure of jigs and reels is the same (two "counts" per bar) bands will occasionally mix jigs and reels in a set.
Some of the most popular contra dance bands in recent years are Great Bear, Perpetual E-Motion, Buddy System, Crowfoot, Elixir, the Mean Lids, Nor'easter, Nova, Pete's Posse, the Stringrays, the Syncopaths, and Wild Asparagus.
Techno contras
thumb|upright=1.3|A BIDA techno contra dance in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., in 2022
In recent years, younger contra dancers have begun establishing "crossover contra" or "techno contra" – contra dancing to techno, hip-hop, and other modern forms of music. While challenging for DJs and callers, the fusion of contra patterns with moves from hip-hop, tango, and other forms of dance has made this form of contra dance a rising trend since 2008. Techno differs from other contra dancing in that it is usually done to recorded music, although there are some bands that play live for techno dances. Techno has become especially prevalent in Asheville, North Carolina, but regular techno contra dance series are spreading up the East Coast to locales such as Charlottesville, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Amherst, Massachusetts; Greenfield, Massachusetts; and various North Carolina dance communities, with one-time or annual events cropping up in locations farther west, including California, Portland, Oregon, and Washington state. They also sometimes appear as late night events during contra dance weekends. In response to the demand for techno contra, a number of contra dance callers have developed repertoires of recorded songs to play that go well with particular contra dances; these callers are known as DJs. A kind of techno/traditional contra fusion has arisen, with at least one band, Buddy System, playing live music melded with synth sounds for techno contra dances.
See also
Ceili dance
Country Dance and Song Society
Dutch crossing
International folk dance
Quadrille
Citations
General and cited references
See chapter VI, "Frolics for Fun: Dances, Weddings and Dinner Parties, pages 109 – 124.
(Reprint: first published in 1956 by American Squares as a part of the American Squares Dance Series)
See chapter entitled "Country Dancing," Pages 57 – 120. (The first edition was published in 1939.)
External links
Contra dance associations
Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) preserves a variety of Anglo-American folk traditions in North America, including folk music, folk song, English country dance, contra dance and morris dance.
Anglo-American Dance Service Based in Belgium, promoting contra dance and English dance in Western Europe.
Descriptions & definitions
Gary Shapiro's What Is Contra Dance?
Hamilton Contra Dances A Contra Dance Primer
Hamilton Contra Dances Contraculture: An introduction to contradancing
Sharon Barrett Kennedy's "Now, What in the World is Contra Dancing?"
Different traditions and cultures in contra dance
Colin Hume's Advice to Americans in England
Research resources
University of New Hampshire Special Collections: New Hampshire Library of Traditional Music and Dance
Finding contra dances
CDSS Dance Map – interactive, crowd sourced map of contra and folk dances around the world
Contra Dance Links – comprehensive, up-to-date lists of local dances, weekend dances, musicians, callers, etc.
The Dance Gypsy – locations of contra dances, and many other folk dances, around the world
Try Contra – Find contra dances using ZIP Code search.
National Contra Grid – Look up dances by day-of-week & City.
ContraDance.org – Description, Links, videos, and local schedule.
In the United Kingdom
UK Contra Clubs
Are You Dancing – calendar of social dance events in the UK, including contras
English Folk Dance and Song Society dance calendar – calendar of folk dance events in the UK, including contras
In France
Paris Contra Dance
Video
Contra dance in Oswego, New York, with music by the Great Bear Trio. 2013.
Two American country dance films on DVD: "Country Corners" (1976), and "Full of Life A-Dancin'" (1978).
Contra dance in Tacoma, Washington, with music by Crowfoot. 2009.
Welcome to the Contra Dance – dancers discuss their experiences contra dancing, set over photographs of contras
The New Contra Dance Commercial (2 minute look at contra in a few dance halls, see playlist)
Why We Contra Dance (dancers discuss why they enjoy contra dance, with video of dancing)
Dancing Community (dancers from Louisville talk about their contra dancing experiences, with video of dancing)
Contra Dancing and New Dancers (new contra dancers in Atlanta, Georgia, discuss their experience)
A History of Contra (documentary of contra dancing, spanning 150+ years of dance culture)
Contra dance in Chattanooga, Tennessee with music by Buddy System and calling by Seth Tepfer, 2019
The Contra Dance (Doug Plummer's 3 minute slide + video set, with Ed Howe's fiddle music from May 2019)
Contra dance in Glen Echo, Maryland with music by Elixir and calling by Nils Fredland, Contrastock 4, 2014.
Contra dance in Pinellas, Florida with music by ContraForce and calling by Charlotte Crittenden, 2017)
Example Contra Dance Lesson (caller Cis Hinkle explains the basics, with contra vocabulary)
Contra Nils Walkthrough and Dance
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Country dance
Category:Folk dance
Category:Social dance
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Coin collecting
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Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors include beautiful, rare, and historically significant pieces. Collectors may be interested, for example, in complete sets of a particular design or denomination, coins that were in circulation for only a brief time, or coins with errors. Coin collecting can be differentiated from numismatics, in that the latter is the systematic study of currency as a whole, though the two disciplines are closely interlinked.
Many factors determine a coin's value including grade, rarity, and popularity. Commercial organizations offer grading services and will grade, authenticate, attribute, and encapsulate most coins.
History
by Hans Memling, depicting a Renaissance collector with a sestertius of Nero]]
People have hoarded coins for their bullion value for as long as coins have been minted. However, the collection of coins for their artistic value was a later development. Evidence from the archaeological and historical record of Ancient Rome and medieval Mesopotamia indicates that coins were collected and catalogued by scholars and state treasuries. It also seems probable that individual citizens collected old, exotic or commemorative coins as an affordable, portable form of art. According to Suetonius in his De vita Caesarum (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars), written in the first century AD, the emperor Augustus sometimes presented old and exotic coins to friends and courtiers during festivals and other special occasions. While the literary sources are scarce, it's evident that collecting of ancient coins persisted in the Western World during the Middle Ages among rulers and high nobility.
Contemporary coin collecting and appreciation began around the fourteenth century. During the Renaissance, it became a fad among some members of the privileged classes, especially kings and queens. The Italian scholar and poet Petrarch is credited with being the pursuit's first and most famous aficionado. Following his lead, many European kings, princes, and other nobility kept collections of ancient coins. Some notable collectors were Pope Boniface VIII, Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, Louis XIV of France, Ferdinand I of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV of France and Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, who started the Berlin Coin Cabinet (German: Münzkabinett Berlin). Perhaps because only the very wealthy could afford the pursuit, in Renaissance times coin collecting became known as the "Hobby of Kings".
During the 17th and 18th centuries coin collecting remained a pursuit of the well-to-do. But rational, Enlightenment thinking led to a more systematic approach to accumulation and study. Numismatics as an academic discipline emerged in these centuries at the same time as a growing middle class, eager to prove their wealth and sophistication, began to collect coins. During the 19th and 20th centuries, coin collecting increased further in popularity. The market for coins expanded to include not only antique coins, but foreign or otherwise exotic currency. Coin shows, trade associations, and regulatory bodies emerged during these decades.
Motivations
coins from the Scandinavian
Monetary Union]]
The motivations for collecting vary. Possibly the most common type of collectors are the hobbyists, who amass a collection primarily for the pleasure of it without the intention of making a profit.
Another frequent reason for purchasing coins is as an investment. As with stamps, precious metals, or other commodities, coin prices vary based on supply and demand. Prices drop for coins that are not in long-term demand, and increase along with a coin's perceived or intrinsic value. Investors buy with the expectation that the value of their purchase will increase over the long term. As with all types of investment, the principle of caveat emptor applies, and study is recommended before buying. Likewise, as with most collectibles, a coin collection does not produce income until it is sold, and may even incur costs (for example, the cost of safe deposit box storage) in the interim.
graded by NGC, alongside a vintage sterling silver case.]]
Some people collect coins for patriotic reasons and mints from various countries create coins specifically for patriotic collectors. One example of a patriotic coin was minted in 1813 by the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. One of the first pieces of legislation the new country enacted (after the revolution that freed it from Spanish rule) was to mint coins to replace the Spanish currency that had been in use. Another example is the U.S. 2022 Purple Heart Commemorative Coin Program.
Collector types
Some coin collectors are generalists and accumulate examples from a broad variety of historical or geographically significant coins, but most collectors focus on a narrower, specialist interest. For example, some collectors focus on coins based on a common theme, such as coins from a country (often the collector's own), a coin each year from a series, or coins with a common mint mark.
There are also completists who seek an example of every type of coin within a certain category. One of the most famous of this type of collector is Louis E. Eliasberg, the only collector thus far to assemble a complete set of known coins of the United States.
Foreign coin collecting is another type of collection that numismatics enjoy collecting. This is most common with coins whose metal value exceeds their spending value.
Speculators, be they amateurs or commercial buyers, may purchase coins in bulk or in small batches, and often act with the expectation of delayed profit.
A final type of collector is the inheritor, an accidental collector who acquires coins from another person as part of an inheritance. The inheritor type may not necessarily have an interest in or know anything about numismatics at the time of the acquisition. Nevertheless, most grading systems use similar terminology, and values and remain mutually intelligible.
Certification services
Third-party grading (TPG), aka coin certification services, emerged in the 1980s with the goals of standardizing grading, exposing alterations, and eliminating counterfeits. For tiered fees, certification services grade, authenticate, attribute, and encapsulate coins in clear plastic holders.
Coin certification has greatly reduced the number of counterfeits and grossly over graded coins, and improved buyer confidence. Certification services can sometimes be controversial because grading is subjective; coins may be graded differently by different services or even upon resubmission to the same service. The numeric grade alone does not represent all of a coin's characteristics, such as toning, strike, brightness, color, luster, and attractiveness. Due to potentially large differences in value over slight differences in a coin's condition, some submitters will repeatedly resubmit a coin to a grading service in the hope of receiving a higher grade. Because fees are charged for certification, submitters must funnel money away from purchasing additional coins. Clubs
, West Bengal.]]
Coin collector clubs offer a variety of benefits to members. They usually serve as a source of information and unification of people interested in coins. Collector clubs are popular both offline and online.
See also
* Challenge coin
* Coin
* Coin catalog
* Coin grading
* Coin slab
* Commemorative coin
* Exonumia
* Numismatics
* Regular issue coinage
* Seigniorage
* List of most expensive coins
Examples
* Byron Reed Collection
* Collection at Ibn Sina Academy
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References
Category:Exonumia
sv:Myntsamlande
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_collecting
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Crokinole
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Crokinole ( ) is a disk-flicking dexterity board game, possibly of Canadian origin, similar to the games of pitchnut, carrom, and pichenotte, with elements of shuffleboard and curling reduced to table-top size. Players take turns shooting discs across the circular playing surface, trying to land their discs in the higher-scoring regions of the board, particularly the recessed centre hole of 20 points, while also attempting to knock opposing discs off the board, and into the 'ditch'. In crokinole, the shooting is generally towards the centre of the board, unlike carroms and pitchnut, where the shooting is towards the four outer corner pockets, as in pool. Crokinole is also played using cue sticks, and there is a special category for cue stick participants at the World Crokinole Championships in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada.
Equipment
thumb|A round tournament style crokinole board. Boards may also be octagonal, which is the more traditional shape.
Board dimensions vary with a playing surface typically of polished wood or laminate approximately in diameter. The arrangement is 3 concentric rings worth 5, 10, and 15 points as you move in from the outside. There is a shallow 20-point hole at the centre. The inner 15-point ring is guarded with 8 small bumpers or posts. The outer ring of the board is divided into four quadrants. The outer edge of the board is raised slightly to keep errant shots from flying out, with a gutter between the playing surface and the edge to collect discarded pieces. Crokinole boards are typically octagonal or round in shape. The wooden discs are roughly checker-sized, slightly smaller in diameter than the board's central hole, and typically have one side slightly concave and one side slightly convex, mainly due to the inherent features of wood, more than a planned design. Alternatively, the game may be played with ring-shaped pieces with a central hole.
Powder
The use of any lubricating powder in crokinole is controversial, with some purists reviling the practice.
Powder is sometimes used to ensure pieces slide smoothly on the surface. Boric acid was popular for a long time, but is now considered toxic and has been replaced with safer substitutes. The EU has classified Boric acid as a "Serious Health Hazard". In the UK, many players use a version of anti-set-off spray powder, from the printing industry, which has specific electrostatic properties, with particles of 50-micrometre diameter (). The powder is made of pure food-grade plant/vegetable starch.
The World Crokinole Championships in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada, states: "The WCC waxes boards, as required, with paste wax. On tournament day powdered shuffleboard wax (CAPO fast speed, yellow and white container) is placed in the ditch. Only tournament organizers will apply quality granular shuffleboard wax. Wax will be placed in the ditch area so that players can rub their discs in the wax prior to shooting, if they desire. Contestants are not allowed to apply lubricants of any type to the board. Absolutely no other lubricant will be allowed".
Gameplay
Crokinole is most commonly played by two players, or by four players in teams of two, with partners sitting across the board from each other. Players take turns flicking their discs from the outer edge of their quadrant of the board onto the playfield. Shooting is usually done by flicking the disc with a finger, though sometimes small cue sticks may be used. If there are any enemy discs on the board, a player must make contact, directly or indirectly, with an enemy disc during the shot. If unsuccessful, the shot disc is "fouled" and removed from the board, along with any of the player's other discs that were moved during the shot.
When there are no enemy discs on the board, many (but not all) rules also state that a player must shoot for the centre of the board, and a shot disc must finish either completely inside the 15-point guarded ring line, or (depending on the specifics of the rules) be inside or touching this line. This is often called the "no hiding" rule, since it prevents players from placing their first shots where their opponent must traverse completely through the guarded centre ring to hit them and avoid fouling. When playing without this rule, a player may generally make any shot desired, and as long as a disc remains completely inside the outer line of the playfield, it remains on the board. During any shot, any disc that falls completely into the recessed central "20" hole (a.k.a. the "Toad" or "Dukie") is removed from play, and counts as twenty points for the owner of the disc at the end of the round, assuming the shot is valid.
thumb|Crokinole game board scoring zones
Scoring occurs after all pieces (generally 12 per player or team) have been played, and is differential: i.e., the player or team with higher score is awarded the difference between the higher and lower scores for the round, thus only one team or player each round gains points. Play continues until a predetermined winning score is reached.
History of the game
thumb|Crokinole board by M.B. Ross, patented 1880
After 30 years of research, Wayne Kelly published his assessment of the first origins of crokinole, in The Crokinole Book, Toronto, MacMillan Company of Canada, 1969, p.61), and the oldest piece dated at 1875 by Ekhardt Wettlaufer. Could Ekhardt Wettlaufer have visited friends in New York state, noticed an unusual and entertaining parlour game being played, and upon arrival at home, made an imitation as a gift for his son? After all, he was a talented, and no doubt resourceful, painter and woodworker. Or was it the other way around? Did Mr. M. B. Ross travel to Ontario, take note of a quaint piece of rural folk art, and upon return to New York, put his American entrepreneurial skills to work - complete with patent name - on his new crokinole board? As the trail is more than 100 years old and no other authoritative source can be found, it appears, at the moment, that Eckhardt Wettlaufer or M. B. Ross are as close as we can get to answering the question WHO (made the first crokinole board.)"
The earliest known crokinole board was made by craftsman Eckhardt Wettlaufer in 1876 in Perth County, Ontario, Canada. It is said Wettlaufer crafted the board as a fifth birthday present for his son Adam, which is now part of the collection at the Joseph Schneider Haus, a national historic site in Kitchener, Ontario, with a focus on Germanic folk art. Several other home-made boards dating from southwestern Ontario in the 1870s have been discovered since the 1990s. A board game similar to crokinole was patented on 20 April 1880 by Joshua K. Ingalls (US Patent No. 226,615).
Crokinole is often believed to be of Mennonite or Amish origins, but there is no factual data to support such a claim. The reason for this misconception may be due to its popularity in Mennonite and Amish groups. The game was viewed as a rather innocuous pastime – unlike the perception that diversions such as card playing or dancing were considered "works of the Devil" as held by many 19th-century Protestant groups.
The oldest roots of crokinole, from the 1860s, suggest the British and South Asian games, such as carrom, are the most likely antecedents of what became crokinole.
thumb|Crokinole board by M.B. Ross, patented 1880
In 2006, a documentary film called Crokinole was released. The world premiere occurred at the Princess Cinema in Waterloo, Ontario, in early 2006. The movie follows some of the competitors of the 2004 World Crokinole Championship as they prepare for the event.
Origins of the name
The name "crokinole" derives from , a French word today designating:
in France, a kind of cookie (or biscuit in British English), similar to a biscotto;
in French Canada, a pastry somewhat similar to a doughnut (except for the shape).
It also used to designate the action of flicking with the finger (Molière, Le malade imaginaire; or Voltaire, Lettre à Frédéric II Roi de Prusse; etc.), and this seems the most likely origin of the name of the game. was also a synonym of , a word that gave its name to the different but related games of pichenotte and pitchnut.
From The Crokinole Book 3rd Edition by Wayne S. Kelly "Is it possible that the English word 'crokinole' is simply an etymological offspring of the French word 'croquignole'? It would appear so for the following reasons. Going back to the entry for Crokinole in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, within the etymological brackets, it says: [French croquignole, fillip]. This is a major clue. The word fillip, according to Webster's, has two definitions: "1. a blow or gesture made by the sudden forcible release of a finger curled up against the thumb; a short sharp blow. 2. to strike by holding the nail of a finger curled up against the ball of the thumb and then suddenly releasing it from that position". So it seems evident, then, that our game of crokinole derives its name from the verb form (of croquignole) defining the principal action in the game, that of flicking or 'filliping' a playing piece across the board".
The word Crokinole is generally acknowledged to have been derived from the French Canadian word "Croquignole", a word with several meanings, such as fillip, snap, biscuit, bun and a woman's wavy hairstyle popular at the turn of the century. The US state of New York shares border crossings with both of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, all three of which are popular "hotbeds" of Crokinole playing.
Crokinole is called ('flick-board') (and occasionally knipsdesh (flick-table)) in the Plautdietsch spoken by Russian Mennonites.
World Crokinole Championship
thumb|World Crokinole Championship 1999, in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada
The World Crokinole Championship (WCC) tournament has been held annually since 1999 on the first Saturday of June in Tavistock, Ontario. Tavistock was chosen as the host city because it was the home of Eckhardt Wettlaufer, the maker of the earliest known board. The tournament has seen registration from every Canadian province, several American states, Germany, Australia, Spain and the UK.
The WCC singles competition begins with a qualifying round in which competitors play 10 matches against randomly assigned opponents. The qualifying round is played in a large randomly determined competition. At the end of the opening round, the top 16 competitors move on to the playoffs. The top four in the playoffs advance to a final round robin to play each other, and the top two compete in the finals. The WCC doubles competition begins with a qualifying round of 8 matches against randomly assigned opponents with the top six teams advancing to a playoff round robin to determine the champions.
The WCC has multiple divisions, including a singles finger-shooting category for competitive players (adult singles), novices (recreational), and younger players (intermediate, 11–14 yrs; junior, 6–10 yrs), as well as a division for cue-shooters (cues singles). The WCC also awards a prize for the top 20-hole shooter in the qualifying round of competitive singles, recreational singles, cues singles, intermediate singles, and in the junior singles. The tournament also holds doubles divisions for competitive fingers-shooting (competitive doubles), novices (recreational doubles), younger players (youth doubles, 6–16yrs), and cues-shooting (cues doubles).
thumb|World Crokinole Championship 1999
The official board builder of the World Crokinole Championships is Jeremy Tracey.
National Crokinole Association
The National Crokinole Association (NCA) is an association that supports existing, and the development of new, crokinole clubs and tournaments. While the majority of NCA events are based in Ontario, Canada, the NCA has held sanctioned events in the Canadian provinces of PEI and BC, as well as in New York State.
The collection of NCA tournaments is referred to as the NCA Tour. Each NCA Tour season begins at the Tavistock World Crokinole Championships in June, and concludes at the Ontario Singles Crokinole Championship in May of the following years. The results of each tournament award points for each player, as they compete for their season-ending ranking classification.
See also
Chapayev
Novuss
Pichenotte
Table shuffleboard
References
External links
Crokinole FAQ by Wayne and Caleb Kelly
World Crokinole Championships in Tavistock, Ontario
National Crokinole Association
The Crokinole Post
Crokinole Skills Competition Videos
Our Canada Magazine Article about Crokinole
Crokinole Friends of the Pichenotte Guys
Crokinole Canada by Ted Fuller
Crokinole Game Boards by Jeremy Tracey
The Crokinole Depot by The Beierling Brothers
Category:Board games introduced in the 1870s
Category:Disk-flicking games
Category:Tabletop cue games
Category:Sports originating in Canada
Category:Canadian board games
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crokinole
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Capitalism
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Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. It is characterized by private property, capital accumulation, competitive markets, commodification, wage labor, and an emphasis on innovation and economic growth. Capitalist economies tend to experience a business cycle of economic growth followed by recessions.
Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include laissez-faire or free-market capitalism, anarcho-capitalism, state capitalism, and welfare capitalism. Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership, obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social policies. The degree of competition in markets and the role of intervention and regulation, as well as the scope of state ownership, vary across different models of capitalism. The extent to which different markets are free and the rules defining private property are matters of politics and policy. Most of the existing capitalist economies are mixed economies that combine elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases economic planning.
Capitalism in its modern form emerged from agrarianism in England, as well as mercantilist practices by European countries between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century established capitalism as a dominant mode of production, characterized by factory work, and a complex division of labor. Through the process of globalization, capitalism spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially before World War I and after the end of the Cold War. During the 19th century, capitalism was largely unregulated by the state, but became more regulated in the post–World War II period through Keynesianism, followed by a return of more unregulated capitalism starting in the 1980s through neoliberalism.
Etymology
The term "capitalist", meaning an owner of capital, appears earlier than the term "capitalism" and dates to the mid-17th century. "Capitalism" is derived from capital, which evolved from , a late Latin word based on , meaning "head"—which is also the origin of "chattel" and "cattle" in the sense of movable property (only much later to refer only to livestock). emerged in the 12th to 13th centuries to refer to funds, stock of merchandise, sum of money or money carrying interest. By 1283, it was used in the sense of the capital assets of a trading firm and was often interchanged with other words—wealth, money, funds, goods, assets, property and so on. four years before its first recorded English usage by Arthur Young in his work Travels in France (1792). In his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), David Ricardo referred to "the capitalist" many times. English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge used "capitalist" in his work Table Talk (1823). Pierre-Joseph Proudhon used the term in his first work, What is Property? (1840), to refer to the owners of capital. Benjamin Disraeli used the term in his 1845 work Sybil''. Marx did not use the form capitalism but instead used capital, capitalist and capitalist mode of production, which appear frequently. Due to the word being coined by socialist critics of capitalism, economist and historian Robert Hessen stated that the term "capitalism" itself is a term of disparagement and a misnomer for economic individualism. Bernard Harcourt agrees with the statement that the term is a misnomer, adding that it misleadingly suggests that there is such a thing as "capital" that inherently functions in certain ways and is governed by stable economic laws of its own.
In the English language, the term "capitalism" first appears, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), in 1854, in the novel The Newcomes by novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, where the word meant "having ownership of capital". Also according to the OED, Carl Adolph Douai, a German American socialist and abolitionist, used the term "private capitalism" in 1863.
Other terms sometimes used for capitalism are:
* Capitalist mode of production
* Economic liberalism
* Free enterprise
* Free enterprise economy
* Market economy
* Profits system
* Self-regulating market Societies officially founded in opposition to capitalism (such as the Soviet Union) have sometimes been argued to actually exhibit characteristics of capitalism. Nancy Fraser describes usage of the term "capitalism" by many authors as "mainly rhetorical, functioning less as an actual concept than as a gesture toward the
need for a concept".
Some doubt that the term "capitalism" possesses valid scientific dignity, Consequently, understanding of the concept of capitalism tends to be heavily influenced by opponents of capitalism and by the followers and critics of Karl Marx.]]
Capitalism, in its modern form, can be traced to the emergence of agrarian capitalism and mercantilism in the early Renaissance, in city-states like Florence. Capital has existed incipiently on a small scale for centuries in the form of merchant, renting and lending activities and occasionally as small-scale industry with some wage labor. Simple commodity exchange and consequently simple commodity production, which is the initial basis for the growth of capital from trade, have a very long history. During the Islamic Golden Age, Arabs promulgated capitalist economic policies such as free trade and banking. Their use of Indo-Arabic numerals facilitated bookkeeping. These innovations migrated to Europe through trade partners in cities such as Venice and Pisa. Italian mathematicians traveled the Mediterranean talking to Arab traders and returned to popularize the use of Indo-Arabic numerals in Europe.
Agrarianism
The economic foundations of the feudal agricultural system began to shift substantially in 16th-century England as the manorial system had broken down and land began to become concentrated in the hands of fewer landlords with increasingly large estates. Instead of a serf-based system of labor, workers were increasingly employed as part of a broader and expanding money-based economy. The system put pressure on both landlords and tenants to increase the productivity of agriculture to make profit; the weakened coercive power of the aristocracy to extract peasant surpluses encouraged them to try better methods, and the tenants also had incentive to improve their methods in order to flourish in a competitive labor market. Terms of rent for land were becoming subject to economic market forces rather than to the previous stagnant system of custom and feudal obligation.
Mercantilism
]]
with the Nawabs of Bengal after the Battle of Plassey which began the British rule in Bengal]]
The economic doctrine prevailing from the 16th to the 18th centuries is commonly called mercantilism. This period, the Age of Discovery, was associated with the geographic exploration of foreign lands by merchant traders, especially from England and the Low Countries. Mercantilism was a system of trade for profit, although commodities were still largely produced by non-capitalist methods. although Karl Polanyi argued that the hallmark of capitalism is the establishment of generalized markets for what he called the "fictitious commodities", i.e. land, labor and money. Accordingly, he argued that "not until 1834 was a competitive labor market established in England, hence industrial capitalism as a social system cannot be said to have existed before that date".
England began a large-scale and integrative approach to mercantilism during the Elizabethan Era (1558–1603). A systematic and coherent explanation of balance of trade was made public through Thomas Mun's argument ''England's Treasure by Forraign Trade, or the Balance of our Forraign Trade is The Rule of Our Treasure. It was written in the 1620s and published in 1664.
European merchants, backed by state controls, subsidies and monopolies, made most of their profits by buying and selling goods. In the words of Francis Bacon, the purpose of mercantilism was "the opening and well-balancing of trade; the cherishing of manufacturers; the banishing of idleness; the repressing of waste and excess by sumptuary laws; the improvement and husbanding of the soil; the regulation of prices...".
After the period of the proto-industrialization, the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, after massive contributions from the Mughal Bengal, inaugurated an expansive era of commerce and trade. These companies were characterized by their colonial and expansionary powers given to them by nation-states.]]
In the mid-18th century a group of economic theorists, led by David Hume (1711–1776) and Adam Smith (1723–1790), challenged fundamental mercantilist doctrines—such as the belief that the world's wealth remained constant and that a state could only increase its wealth at the expense of another state.
During the Industrial Revolution, industrialists replaced merchants as a dominant factor in the capitalist system and effected the decline of the traditional handicraft skills of artisans, guilds and journeymen. Industrial capitalism marked the development of the factory system of manufacturing, characterized by a complex division of labor between and within work process and the routine of work tasks; and eventually established the domination of the capitalist mode of production.
Industrial Britain eventually abandoned the protectionist policy formerly prescribed by mercantilism. In the 19th century, Richard Cobden (1804–1865) and John Bright (1811–1889), who based their beliefs on the Manchester School, initiated a movement to lower tariffs. In the 1840s Britain adopted a less protectionist policy, with the 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws and the 1849 repeal of the Navigation Acts. Britain reduced tariffs and quotas, in line with David Ricardo's advocacy of free trade.
Modernity
formed the financial basis of the international economy from 1870 to 1914.]]
Broader processes of globalization carried capitalism across the world. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, a series of loosely connected market systems had come together as a relatively integrated global system, in turn intensifying processes of economic and other globalization. Late in the 20th century, capitalism overcame a challenge by centrally-planned economies and is now the encompassing system worldwide, with the mixed economy as its dominant form in the industrialized Western world.
Industrialization allowed cheap production of household items using economies of scale, while rapid population growth created sustained demand for commodities. The imperialism of the 18th-century decisively shaped globalization.
After the First and Second Opium Wars (1839–60) by Britain and France and the completion of the British conquest of India by 1858 and the French conquest of Africa, Polynesia and Indochina by 1887, vast populations of Asia became consumers of European exports. Europeans colonized areas of Africa and the Pacific islands. Colonisation by Europeans, notably of Africa by the British and French, yielded valuable natural resources such as rubber, diamonds and coal and helped fuel trade and investment between the European imperial powers, their colonies and the United States:
From the 1870s to the early 1920s, the global financial system was mainly tied to the gold standard. The United Kingdom first formally adopted this standard in 1821. Soon to follow were Canada in 1853, Newfoundland in 1865, the United States and Germany (de jure) in 1873. New technologies, such as the telegraph, the transatlantic cable, the radiotelephone, the steamship and railways allowed goods and information to move around the world to an unprecedented degree.
In the United States, the term "capitalist" primarily referred to powerful businessmen until the 1920s due to widespread societal skepticism and criticism of capitalism and its most ardent supporters.
traders' floor (1963)]]
Contemporary capitalist societies developed in the West from 1950 to the present and this type of system continues throughout the world—relevant examples started in the United States after the 1950s, France after the 1960s, Spain after the 1970s, Poland after 2015, and others. At this stage most capitalist markets are considered developed and characterized by developed private and public markets for equity and debt, a high standard of living (as characterized by the World Bank and the IMF), large institutional investors and a well-funded banking system. A significant managerial class has emerged and decides on a significant proportion of investments and other decisions. A different future than that envisioned by Marx has started to emerge—explored and described by Anthony Crosland in the United Kingdom in his 1956 book The Future of Socialism and by John Kenneth Galbraith in North America in his 1958 book The Affluent Society, 90 years after Marx's research on the state of capitalism in 1867.
The postwar boom ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s and the economic situation grew worse with the rise of stagflation. Monetarism, a modification of Keynesianism that is more compatible with laissez-faire analyses, gained increasing prominence in the capitalist world, especially under the years in office of Ronald Reagan in the United States (1981–1989) and of Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom (1979–1990). Public and political interest began shifting away from the so-called collectivist concerns of Keynes's managed capitalism to a focus on individual choice, called "remarketized capitalism".
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union allowed for capitalism to become a truly global system in a way not seen since before World War I. The development of the neoliberal global economy would have been impossible without the fall of communism.
Harvard Kennedy School economist Dani Rodrik distinguishes between three historical variants of capitalism:
* Capitalism 1.0 during the 19th century entailed largely unregulated markets with a minimal role for the state (aside from national defense, and protecting property rights);
* Capitalism 2.0 during the post-World War II years entailed Keynesianism, a substantial role for the state in regulating markets, and strong welfare states;
* Capitalism 2.1 entailed a combination of unregulated markets, globalization, and various national obligations by states.
Relationship to democracy
The relationship between democracy and capitalism is a contentious area in theory and in popular political movements. The extension of adult-male suffrage in 19th-century Britain occurred along with the development of industrial capitalism and representative democracy became widespread at the same time as capitalism, leading capitalists to posit a causal or mutual relationship between them. However, according to some authors in the 20th-century, capitalism also accompanied a variety of political formations quite distinct from liberal democracies, including fascist regimes, absolute monarchies and single-party states. without making concessions to greater political freedom.
Political scientists Torben Iversen and David Soskice see democracy and capitalism as mutually supportive. Robert Dahl argued in On Democracy that capitalism was beneficial for democracy because economic growth and a large middle class were good for democracy. He also argued that a market economy provided a substitute for government control of the economy, which reduces the risks of tyranny and authoritarianism. Friedman claimed that centralized economic operations are always accompanied by political repression. In his view, transactions in a market economy are voluntary and the wide diversity that voluntary activity permits is a fundamental threat to repressive political leaders and greatly diminishes their power to coerce. Some of Friedman's views were shared by John Maynard Keynes, who believed that capitalism was vital for freedom to survive and thrive. Freedom House, an American think-tank that conducts international research on, and advocates for, democracy, political freedom and human rights, has argued that "there is a high and statistically significant correlation between the level of political freedom as measured by Freedom House and economic freedom as measured by the Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation survey".
In Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics asserted that inequality is the inevitable consequence of economic growth in a capitalist economy and the resulting concentration of wealth can destabilize democratic societies and undermine the ideals of social justice upon which they are built.
States with capitalistic economic systems have thrived under political regimes deemed to be authoritarian or oppressive. Singapore has a successful open market economy as a result of its competitive, business-friendly climate and robust rule of law. Nonetheless, it often comes under fire for its style of government which, though democratic and consistently one of the least corrupt, operates largely under a one-party rule. Furthermore, it does not vigorously defend freedom of expression as evidenced by its government-regulated press, and its penchant for upholding laws protecting ethnic and religious harmony, judicial dignity and personal reputation. The private (capitalist) sector in the People's Republic of China has grown exponentially and thrived since its inception, despite having an authoritarian government. Augusto Pinochet's rule in Chile led to economic growth and high levels of inequality by using authoritarian means to create a safe environment for investment and capitalism. Similarly, Suharto's authoritarian reign and extirpation of the Communist Party of Indonesia allowed for the expansion of capitalism in Indonesia.
The term "capitalism" in its modern sense is often attributed to Karl Marx. In Das Kapital, Marx analyzed the "capitalist mode of production" using a method of critique that later became known as Marxism. However, while Marx did discuss capitalism extensively, he used the term "capitalism" less frequently than "capitalist mode of production." His collaborator, Friedrich Engels, played a significant role in popularizing the term in more political interpretations of their work. In the 20th century, supporters of the capitalist system often replaced the term "capitalism" with phrases such as "free enterprise" or "private enterprise" to avoid its negative connotations. Similarly, the term "capitalist" was sometimes substituted with "investor" or "entrepreneur" to emphasize productive roles rather than passive wealth accumulation.
Characteristics
In general, capitalism as an economic system and mode of production can be summarized by the following:
* Capital accumulation: production for profit and accumulation as the implicit purpose of all or most of production, constriction or elimination of production formerly carried out on a common social or private household basis. Exchange of services can be in form of wage labor.
* The use of the price mechanism to allocate resources between competing uses.
* Freedom of capitalists to act in their self-interest in managing their business and investments.
* Capital suppliance by "the single owner of a firm, or by shareholders in the case of a joint-stock company." Market
In free market and laissez-faire forms of capitalism, markets are used most extensively with minimal or no regulation over the pricing mechanism. In mixed economies, which are almost universal today, markets continue to play a dominant role, but they are regulated to some extent by the state in order to correct market failures, promote social welfare, conserve natural resources, fund defense and public safety or other rationale. In state capitalist systems, markets are relied upon the least, with the state relying heavily on state-owned enterprises or indirect economic planning to accumulate capital.
Competition arises when more than one producer is trying to sell the same or similar products to the same buyers. Adherents of the capitalist theory believe that competition leads to innovation and more affordable prices. Monopolies or cartels can develop, especially if there is no competition. A monopoly occurs when a firm has exclusivity over a market. Hence, the firm can engage in rent seeking behaviors such as limiting output and raising prices because it has no fear of competition.
Governments have implemented legislation for the purpose of preventing the creation of monopolies and cartels. In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act became the first legislation passed by the United States Congress to limit monopolies.
Wage labor
Wage labor, usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labor, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labor power under a formal or informal employment contract. These transactions usually occur in a labor market where wages or salaries are market-determined.
In exchange for the money paid as wages (usual for short-term work-contracts) or salaries (in permanent employment contracts), the work product generally becomes the undifferentiated property of the employer. A wage laborer is a person whose primary means of income is from the selling of their labor in this way. Profit motive
The profit motive, in the theory of capitalism, is the desire to earn income in the form of profit. Stated differently, the reason for a business's existence is to turn a profit. The profit motive functions according to rational choice theory, or the theory that individuals tend to pursue what is in their own best interests. Accordingly, businesses seek to benefit themselves and/or their shareholders by maximizing profit.
In capitalist theoretics, the profit motive is said to ensure that resources are being allocated efficiently. For instance, Austrian economist Henry Hazlitt explains: "If there is no profit in making an article, it is a sign that the labor and capital devoted to its production are misdirected: the value of the resources that must be used up in making the article is greater than the value of the article itself".
Socialist theorists note that, unlike mercantilists, capitalists accumulate their profits while expecting their profit rates to remain the same. This causes problems as earnings in the rest of society do not increase in the same proportion.
Private property
The relationship between the state, its formal mechanisms, and capitalist societies has been debated in many fields of social and political theory, with active discussion since the 19th century. Hernando de Soto is a contemporary Peruvian economist who has argued that an important characteristic of capitalism is the functioning state protection of property rights in a formal property system where ownership and transactions are clearly recorded.
According to de Soto, this is the process by which physical assets are transformed into capital, which in turn may be used in many more ways and much more efficiently in the market economy. A number of Marxian economists have argued that the inclosure acts in England and similar legislation elsewhere were an integral part of capitalist primitive accumulation and that specific legal frameworks of private land ownership have been integral to the development of capitalism.
Private property rights are not absolute, as in many countries the state has the power to seize private property, typically for public use, under the powers of eminent domain.
Market competition
In capitalist economics, market competition is the rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, distribution and promotion. Merriam-Webster defines competition in business as "the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favourable terms". It was described by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776) and later economists as allocating productive resources to their most highly valued uses and encouraging efficiency. Smith and other classical economists before Antoine Augustine Cournot were referring to price and non-price rivalry among producers to sell their goods on best terms by bidding of buyers, not necessarily to a large number of sellers nor to a market in final equilibrium. Competition is widespread throughout the market process. It is a condition where "buyers tend to compete with other buyers, and sellers tend to compete with other sellers".
In the works of Adam Smith, the idea of capitalism is made possible through competition which creates growth. Although capitalism had not entered mainstream economics at the time of Smith, it is vital to the construction of his ideal society. One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition. Smith believed that a prosperous society is one where "everyone should be free to enter and leave the market and change trades as often as he pleases." He believed that the freedom to act in one's self-interest is essential for the success of a capitalist society. In response to the idea that if all participants focus on their own goals, society's well-being will be water under the bridge, Smith maintains that despite the concerns of intellectuals, "global trends will hardly be altered if they refrain from pursuing their personal ends." He insisted that the actions of a few participants cannot alter the course of society. Instead, Smith maintained that they should focus on personal progress instead and that this will result in overall growth to the whole.
Competition between participants, "who are all endeavoring to justle one another out of employment, obliges every man to endeavor to execute his work" through competition towards growth. However, capitalist economies may experience fluctuations in growth that cannot be accounted for by demographic or technological changes. These fluctuations, which involve sustained periods of economic growth and recession, are referred to as business cycles in macroeconomics. Economic growth is measured as growth in investment, economic output, and economic consumption per capita. Changes in hours of employment on their own are not considered as a factor of economic growth.
Capitalism in the form of money-making activity has existed in the shape of merchants and money-lenders who acted as intermediaries between consumers and producers engaging in simple commodity production (hence the reference to "merchant capitalism") since the beginnings of civilisation. What is specific about the "capitalist mode of production" is that most of the inputs and outputs of production are supplied through the market (i.e. they are commodities) and essentially all production is in this mode.
A society, region or nation is capitalist if the predominant source of incomes and products being distributed is capitalist activity, but even so this does not yet mean necessarily that the capitalist mode of production is dominant in that society.
Mixed economies rely on the nation they are in to provide some goods or services, while the free market produces and maintains the rest. Supply and demand
at each price (demand D): the diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D<sub>1</sub> to D<sub>2</sub>, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product.]]
In capitalist economic structures, supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It postulates that in a perfectly competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers (at the current price) will equal the quantity supplied by producers (at the current price), resulting in an economic equilibrium for price and quantity.
The "basic laws" of supply and demand, as described by David Besanko and Ronald Braeutigam, are the following four:
# If demand increases (demand curve shifts to the right) and supply remains unchanged, then a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price.
# If demand decreases (demand curve shifts to the left) and supply remains unchanged, then a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price.
# If demand remains unchanged and supply increases (supply curve shifts to the right), then a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price.
# If demand remains unchanged and supply decreases (supply curve shifts to the left), then a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price.
Supply schedule
A supply schedule is a table that shows the relationship between the price of a good and the quantity supplied.
Demand schedule
A demand schedule, depicted graphically as the demand curve, represents the amount of some goods that buyers are willing and able to purchase at various prices, assuming all determinants of demand other than the price of the good in question, such as income, tastes and preferences, the price of substitute goods and the price of complementary goods, remain the same. According to the law of demand, the demand curve is almost always represented as downward sloping, meaning that as price decreases, consumers will buy more of the good.
Just like the supply curves reflect marginal cost curves, demand curves are determined by marginal utility curves.
Equilibrium
In the context of supply and demand, economic equilibrium refers to a state where economic forces such as supply and demand are balanced and in the absence of external influences the (equilibrium) values of economic variables will not change. For example, in the standard text-book model of perfect competition equilibrium occurs at the point at which quantity demanded and quantity supplied are equal. Market equilibrium, in this case, refers to a condition where a market price is established through competition such that the amount of goods or services sought by buyers is equal to the amount of goods or services produced by sellers. This price is often called the competitive price or market clearing price and will tend not to change unless demand or supply changes.
Partial equilibrium
Partial equilibrium, as the name suggests, takes into consideration only a part of the market to attain equilibrium. Jain proposes (attributed to George Stigler): "A partial equilibrium is one which is based on only a restricted range of data, a standard example is price of a single product, the prices of all other products being held fixed during the analysis". History According to Hamid S. Hosseini, the "power of supply and demand" was discussed to some extent by several early Muslim scholars, such as fourteenth century Mamluk scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who wrote: "If desire for goods increases while its availability decreases, its price rises. On the other hand, if availability of the good increases and the desire for it decreases, the price comes down".
]]
John Locke's 1691 work Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money includes an early and clear description of supply and demand and their relationship. In this description, demand is rent: "The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyer and sellers" and "that which regulates the price... [of goods] is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their rent".
David Ricardo titled one chapter of his 1817 work Principles of Political Economy and Taxation "On the Influence of Demand and Supply on Price".
In Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo more rigorously laid down the idea of the assumptions that were used to build his ideas of supply and demand.
In his 1870 essay "On the Graphical Representation of Supply and Demand", Fleeming Jenkin in the course of "introduc[ing] the diagrammatic method into the English economic literature" published the first drawing of supply and demand curves therein, including comparative statics from a shift of supply or demand and application to the labor market. The model was further developed and popularized by Alfred Marshall in the 1890 textbook Principles of Economics. They vary in their institutional makeup and by their economic policies. The common features among all the different forms of capitalism are that they are predominantly based on the private ownership of the means of production and the production of goods and services for profit; the market-based allocation of resources; and the accumulation of capital.
They include advanced capitalism, corporate capitalism, finance capitalism, free-market capitalism, mercantilism, state capitalism and welfare capitalism. Other theoretical variants of capitalism include anarcho-capitalism, community capitalism, humanistic capitalism, neo-capitalism, state monopoly capitalism, and technocapitalism.
Advanced
Advanced capitalism is the situation that pertains to a society in which the capitalist model has been integrated and developed deeply and extensively for a prolonged period. Various writers identify Antonio Gramsci as an influential early theorist of advanced capitalism, even if he did not use the term himself. In his writings, Gramsci sought to explain how capitalism had adapted to avoid the revolutionary overthrow that had seemed inevitable in the 19th century. At the heart of his explanation was the decline of raw coercion as a tool of class power, replaced by use of civil society institutions to manipulate public ideology in the capitalists' favour.
Jürgen Habermas has been a major contributor to the analysis of advanced-capitalistic societies. Habermas observed four general features that characterise advanced capitalism:
# Concentration of industrial activity in a few large firms.
# Constant reliance on the state to stabilise the economic system.
# A formally democratic government that legitimises the activities of the state and dissipates opposition to the system.
# The use of nominal wage increases to pacify the most restless segments of the work force.
Corporate
Corporate capitalism is a free or mixed-market capitalist economy characterized by the dominance of hierarchical and bureaucratic corporations.
Finance
Finance capitalism is the subordination of processes of production to the accumulation of money profits in a financial system. In their critique of capitalism, Marxism and Leninism both emphasise the role of finance capital as the determining and ruling-class interest in capitalist society, particularly in the latter stages.
Rudolf Hilferding is credited with first bringing the term finance capitalism into prominence through Finance Capital, his 1910 study of the links between German trusts, banks and monopolies—a study subsumed by Vladimir Lenin into Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), his analysis of the imperialist relations of the great world powers. Lenin concluded that the banks at that time operated as "the chief nerve centres of the whole capitalist system of national economy". For the Comintern (founded in 1919), the phrase "dictatorship of finance capitalism" became a regular one.
Fernand Braudel would later point to two earlier periods when finance capitalism had emerged in human history—with the Genoese in the 16th century and with the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries—although at those points it developed from commercial capitalism. Giovanni Arrighi extended Braudel's analysis to suggest that a predominance of finance capitalism is a recurring, long-term phenomenon, whenever a previous phase of commercial/industrial capitalist expansion reaches a plateau. Free market
A capitalist free-market economy is an economic system where prices for goods and services are set entirely by the forces of supply and demand and are expected, by its adherents, to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy. It typically entails support for highly competitive markets and private ownership of the means of production. Laissez-faire capitalism is a more extensive form of this free-market economy, but one in which the role of the state is limited to protecting property rights. In anarcho-capitalist theory, property rights are protected by private firms and market-generated law. According to anarcho-capitalists, this entails property rights without statutory law through market-generated tort, contract and property law, and self-sustaining private industry.
Fernand Braudel argued that free market exchange and capitalism are to some degree opposed; free market exchange involves transparent public transactions and a large number of equal competitors, while capitalism involves a small number of participants using their capital to control the market via private transactions, control of information, and limitation of competition. Mercantile
in the early 19th century]]
Mercantilism is a nationalist form of early capitalism that came into existence approximately in the late 16th century. It is characterized by the intertwining of national business interests with state-interest and imperialism. Consequently, the state apparatus is used to advance national business interests abroad. An example of this is colonists living in America who were only allowed to trade with and purchase goods from their respective mother countries (e.g., United Kingdom, France and Portugal). Mercantilism was driven by the belief that the wealth of a nation is increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations—it corresponds to the phase of capitalist development sometimes called the primitive accumulation of capital. Social
A social market economy is a free-market or mixed-market capitalist system, sometimes classified as a coordinated market economy, where government intervention in price formation is kept to a minimum, but the state provides significant services in areas such as social security, health care, unemployment benefits and the recognition of labor rights through national collective bargaining arrangements.
This model is prominent in Western and Northern European countries as well as Japan, albeit in slightly different configurations. The vast majority of enterprises are privately owned in this economic model. Rhine capitalism is the contemporary model of capitalism and adaptation of the social market model that exists in continental Western Europe today. State
State capitalism is a capitalist market economy dominated by state-owned enterprises, where the state enterprises are organized as commercial, profit-seeking businesses. The designation has been used broadly throughout the 20th century to designate a number of different economic forms, ranging from state-ownership in market economies to the command economies of the former Eastern Bloc. According to Aldo Musacchio, a professor at Harvard Business School, state capitalism is a system in which governments, whether democratic or autocratic, exercise a widespread influence on the economy either through direct ownership or various subsidies. Musacchio notes a number of differences between today's state capitalism and its predecessors. In his opinion, gone are the days when governments appointed bureaucrats to run companies: the world's largest state-owned enterprises are now traded on the public markets and kept in good health by large institutional investors. Contemporary state capitalism is associated with the East Asian model of capitalism, dirigisme and the economy of Norway. Alternatively, Merriam-Webster defines state capitalism as "an economic system in which private capitalism is modified by a varying degree of government ownership and control".
In Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Friedrich Engels argued that state-owned enterprises would characterize the final stage of capitalism, consisting of ownership and management of large-scale production and communication by the bourgeois state. In his writings, Vladimir Lenin characterized the economy of Soviet Russia as state capitalist, believing state capitalism to be an early step toward the development of socialism.
Some economists and left-wing academics including Richard D. Wolff and Noam Chomsky, as well as many Marxist philosophers and revolutionaries such as Raya Dunayevskaya and C.L.R. James, argue that the economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc represented a form of state capitalism because their internal organization within enterprises and the system of wage labor remained intact.
The term is not used by Austrian School economists to describe state ownership of the means of production. The economist Ludwig von Mises argued that the designation of state capitalism was a new label for the old labels of state socialism and planned economy and differed only in non-essentials from these earlier designations.
Welfare
Welfare capitalism is capitalism that includes social welfare policies. Today, welfare capitalism is most often associated with the models of capitalism found in Central and Northern Europe such as the Nordic model, social market economy and Rhine capitalism. In some cases, welfare capitalism exists within a mixed economy, but welfare states can and do exist independently of policies common to mixed economies such as state interventionism and extensive regulation.
A mixed economy is a largely market-based capitalist economy consisting of both private and public ownership of the means of production and economic interventionism through macroeconomic policies intended to correct market failures, reduce unemployment and keep inflation low. The degree of intervention in markets varies among different countries. Some mixed economies such as France under dirigisme also featured a degree of indirect economic planning over a largely capitalist-based economy.
Most modern capitalist economies are defined as mixed economies to some degree<ins>,</ins> however French economist Thomas Piketty state that capitalist economies might shift to a much more laissez-faire approach in the near future.
Eco-capitalism
Eco-capitalism, also known as "environmental capitalism" or (sometimes) "green capitalism", is the view that capital exists in nature as "natural capital" (ecosystems that have ecological yield) on which all wealth depends. Therefore, governments should use market-based policy-instruments (such as a carbon tax) to resolve environmental problems.
The term "Blue Greens" is often applied to those who espouse eco-capitalism. Eco-capitalism can be thought of as the right-wing equivalent to Red Greens.
Sustainable capitalism
Sustainable capitalism is a conceptual form of capitalism based upon sustainable practices that seek to preserve humanity and the planet, while reducing externalities and bearing a resemblance of capitalist economic policy. A capitalistic economy must expand to survive and find new markets to support this expansion. Capitalist systems are often destructive to the environment as well as certain individuals without access to proper representation. However, sustainability provides quite the opposite; it implies not only a continuation, but a replenishing of resources. Sustainability is often thought of to be related to environmentalism, and sustainable capitalism applies sustainable principles to economic governance and social aspects of capitalism as well.
The importance of sustainable capitalism has been more recently recognized, but the concept is not new. Changes to the current economic model would have heavy social environmental and economic implications and require the efforts of individuals, as well as compliance of local, state and federal governments. Controversy surrounds the concept as it requires an increase in sustainable practices and a marked decrease in current consumptive behaviors.
This is a concept of capitalism described in Al Gore and David Blood's manifesto for the Generation Investment Management to describe a long-term political, economic and social structure which would mitigate current threats to the planet and society. According to their manifesto, sustainable capitalism would integrate the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects into risk assessment in attempt to limit externalities. Most of the ideas they list are related to economic changes, and social aspects, but strikingly few are explicitly related to any environmental policy change. In this context, "capital" is defined as money or a financial asset invested for the purpose of making more money (whether in the form of profit, rent, interest, royalties, capital gain or some other kind of return).
In mainstream economics, accounting and Marxian economics, capital accumulation is often equated with investment of profit income or savings, especially in real capital goods. The concentration and centralisation of capital are two of the results of such accumulation. In modern macroeconomics and econometrics, the phrase "capital formation" is often used in preference to "accumulation", though the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) refers nowadays to "accumulation". The term "accumulation" is occasionally used in national accounts.
Wage labor
, Slovakia, –2000)]]
Wage labor refers to the sale of labor under a formal or informal employment contract to an employer. In Marxist economics, these owners of the means of production and suppliers of capital are generally called capitalists. The description of the role of the capitalist has shifted, first referring to a useless intermediary between producers, then to an employer of producers, and finally to the owners of the means of production. Criticism
poster "Pyramid of Capitalist System" (1911)]]
Criticism of capitalism comes from various political and philosophical approaches, including anarchist, socialist, religious and nationalist viewpoints. Of those who oppose it or want to modify it, some believe that capitalism should be removed through revolution while others believe that it should be changed slowly through political reforms.
Prominent critiques of capitalism allege that it is inherently exploitative, alienating, unstable, unsustainable, and economically inefficient—and that it creates massive economic inequality, commodifies people, degrades the environment, is undemocratic, embeds uneven and underdevelopment between nation states, and leads to an erosion of human rights because of its incentivization of imperialist expansion and war.
Other critics argue that such inequities are not due to the ethic-neutral construct of the economic system commonly known as capitalism, but to the ethics of those who shape and execute the system. For example, some contend that Milton Friedman's (human) ethic of 'maximizing shareholder value' creates a harmful form of capitalism, while a Millard Fuller or John Bogle (human) ethic of 'enough' creates a sustainable form. Equitable ethics and unified ethical decision-making is theorized to create a less damaging form of capitalism.
Inheritance has been argued to not be a fundamental part of capitalism, instead part of nepotism. See also
* Anti-capitalism
* Advanced capitalism
* Ancient economic thought
* Bailout Capitalism
* Capitalism (disambiguation)
* Christian views on poverty and wealth
* Communism
* Corporatocracy
* Crony capitalism
* Economic sociology
* Free market
* Global financial crisis in September 2008
* Humanistic economics
* Invisible hand
* Late capitalism
* Le Livre noir du capitalisme
* Market socialism
* Peak capitalism
* Perspectives on capitalism by school of thought
* Post-capitalism
* Post-Fordism
* Racial capitalism
* Rent-seeking
* Self-made man
* Socialism
* State monopoly capitalism
* Surveillance capitalism
* Perestroika
References
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* Krahn, Harvey J., and Graham S. Lowe (1993). Work, Industry, and Canadian Society. 2nd ed. Scarborough, Ont.: Nelson Canada. xii, 430 p.
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Further reading
* Alperovitz, Gar (2011). America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy, 2nd Edition. Democracy Collaborative Press. .
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* Ascher, Ivan. Portfolio Society: On the Capitalist Mode of Prediction. Zone Books, 2016.
* Baptist, Edward E. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. New York, Basic Books, 2014. .
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* Braudel, Fernand. Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, 3 volumes.
* Callinicos, Alex. "Wage Labour and State Capitalism – A reply to Peter Binns and Mike Haynes", International Socialism, 2nd series, 12, Spring 1979.
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* Farl, Erich. "The Genealogy of State Capitalism". In: International London, vol. 2, no. 1, 1973.
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* Gough, Ian. [http://www.newleftreview.org/?view558 State Expenditure in Advanced Capitalism] New Left Review.
* Habermas, J. [1973] Legitimation Crisis (eng. translation by T. McCarthy). Boston, Beacon. [https://books.google.com/books?id3WFy6vsyLNEC From Google books] ; [https://web.archive.org/web/20090714123532/http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/undergraduate/introsoc/legitcri.html excerpt].
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* Hyman, Louis and Edward E. Baptist (2014). American Capitalism: A Reader. Simon & Schuster. .
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* Jameson, Fredric (1991). Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
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* Kotler, Philip (2015). Confronting Capitalism: Real Solutions for a Troubled Economic System. AMACOM.
* Mandel, Ernest (1999). Late Capitalism.
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* Marcel van der Linden, Western Marxism and the Soviet Union. New York, Brill Publishers, 2007.
* Mayfield, Anthony. "Economics", in his On the Brink: Resource Depletion, Debt Collapse, and Super-technology ([Vancouver, B.C., Canada]: On the Brink Publishing, 2013), pp. 50–104.
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* Panitch, Leo, and Sam Gindin (2012). The Making of Global Capitalism: the Political Economy of American Empire. London, Verso. .
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* Polanyi, Karl (2001). The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Beacon Press; 2nd ed.
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* Richards, Jay W. (2009). Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and Not the Problem. New York: HarperOne.
* Roberts, Paul Craig (2013). The Failure of Laissez-faire Capitalism: towards a New Economics for a Full World. Atlanta, Ga.: Clarity Press.
* Robinson, William I. Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
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* Hoevet, Ocean. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120603131601/http://homepage.newschool.edu/~AShaikh/pal2.pdf "Capital as a Social Relation"] (New Palgrave article)
* Sombart, Werner (1916) Der moderne Kapitalismus. Historisch-systematische Darstellung des gesamteuropäischen Wirtschaftslebens von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Final edn. 1916, repr. 1969, paperback edn. (3 vols. in 6): 1987 Munich: dtv. (Also in Spanish; no English translation yet.)
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* Tarnoff, Ben, "Better, Faster, Stronger" (review of John Tinnell, The Philosopher of Palo Alto: Mark Weisner, Xerox PARC, and the Original Internet of Things, University of Chicago Press, 347 pp.; and Malcolm Harris, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, Little, Brown, 708 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXX, no. 14 (21 September 2023), pp. 38–40. "[Palo Alto is] a place where the [United States'] contradictions are sharpened to their finest points, above all the defining and enduring contradictions between democratic principle and antidemocratic practice. There is nothing as American as celebrating equality while subverting it. Or as Californian." (p. 40.)
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External links
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* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/capitalism Capitalism] at Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/capitalism-and-its-discontents.html Selected Titles on Capitalism and Its Discontents] . Harvard University Press.
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Cross ownership
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<!--ownership and management -->
Cross ownership is a method of reinforcing business relationships by owning stocks in the companies with which a given company does business. Heavy cross ownership is referred to as circular ownership.
In the US, "cross ownership" also refers to a type of investment in different mass-media properties in one market.Cross ownership of stock
Countries noted to have high levels of cross ownership include:
* Japan
* Germany
Examples of the positives of cross ownership:
* Closely ties each business to the economic destiny of its business partners
* Promotes a slow rate of economic change
Cross ownership of shares is criticized for:
* Stagnating the economy
* Wasting capital that could be used to improve productivity
* Expanding economic downturns by preventing reallocation of capital
* Lessening control of shareholders over corporate leadership.<ref name=":0" />
A major factor in perpetuating cross-ownership of shares is a high capital gains tax rate. Companies have less incentive to sell cross-owned shares when taxes are high, as the tax liability reduces the net proceeds from the sale.
For example, a company owns $1000 of stock in another company that was originally purchased for $200. If the capital gains tax rate is 25% (as in Germany), the $800 profit ($1000 - $200) would result in a tax liability of $200 ($800 × 0.25). After paying the tax, the company would retain a net gain of $600 ($800 profit - $200 tax). However, the immediate tax expense may discourage the company from selling, as holding the stock defers the tax liability and preserves the full value of the assets on paper.
Long term cross ownership of shares combined with a high capital tax rate greatly increases periods of asset deflation both in time and in severity.Media cross ownership
Cross ownership also refers to a type of media ownership in which one type of communications (say a newspaper) owns or is the sister company of another type of medium (such as a radio or TV station). One example is The New York Timess former ownership of WQXR Radio, and the Chicago Tribune's similar relationship with WGN Radio (WGN-AM) and Television (WGN-TV).
To prevent one license holder from having too much local media ownership, the Federal Communications Commission generally does not allow cross ownership unless the license holder obtains a waiver. Examples include News Corporation and the Tribune Company, both in New York.
The mid-1970s cross-ownership guidelines grandfathered already-existing cross ownerships, such as Tribune-WGN, New York Times-WQXR and the New York Daily News ownership of WPIX Television and Radio.
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Cardiology
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| image | caption Blood flow diagram of the human heart. Blue components indicate de-oxygenated blood pathways and red components indicate oxygenated blood pathways.
| system = Cardiovascular
| diseases =
| tests = Blood tests, electrophysiology study, cardiac imaging, ECG, echocardiograms, stress test
| specialist = Cardiologist
| glossary = Glossary of medicine
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Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, and electrophysiology. Physicians who specialize in this field of medicine are called cardiologists, a sub-specialty of internal medicine. Pediatric cardiologists are pediatricians who specialize in cardiology. Physicians who specialize in cardiac surgery are called cardiothoracic surgeons or cardiac surgeons, a specialty of general surgery.
Specializations
All cardiologists in the branch of medicine study the disorders of the heart, but the study of adult and child heart disorders each require different training pathways. Therefore, an adult cardiologist (often simply called "cardiologist") is inadequately trained to take care of children, and pediatric cardiologists are not trained to treat adult heart disease. Surgical aspects outside of cardiac rhythm device implant are not included in cardiology and are in the domain of cardiothoracic surgery. For example, coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), cardiopulmonary bypass and valve replacement are surgical procedures performed by surgeons, not cardiologists. Typically a cardiologist would first identify who is in need of cardiac surgery and refer them to a cardiac surgeon for the procedure. However, some invasive procedures such as cardiac catheterization and pacemaker implantation are performed by cardiologists.
Adult cardiology
Cardiology is a specialty of internal medicine.
To become a cardiologist in the United States, a three-year residency in internal medicine is followed by a three-year fellowship in cardiology. It is possible to specialize further in a sub-specialty. Recognized sub-specialties in the U.S. by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education are clinical cardiac electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, adult congenital heart disease, and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. Cardiologists may further become certified in echocardiography by the National Board of Echocardiography, in nuclear cardiology by the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology, in cardiovascular computed tomography by the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography in cardiovascular MRI by the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. Recognized subspecialties in the U.S. by the American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists include clinical cardiac electrophysiology and interventional cardiology.
In India, a three-year residency in General Medicine or Pediatrics after M.B.B.S. and then three years of residency in cardiology are needed to be a D.M. (holder of a Doctorate of Medicine [D.M.])/Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in Cardiology.
Per Doximity, adult cardiologists earn an average of $436,849 per year in the U.S. Cardiac electrophysiology
Cardiac electrophysiology is the science of elucidating, diagnosing, and treating the electrical activities of the heart. The term is usually used to describe studies of such phenomena by invasive (intracardiac) catheter recording of spontaneous activity as well as of cardiac responses to programmed electrical stimulation (PES). These studies are performed to assess complex arrhythmias, elucidate symptoms, evaluate abnormal electrocardiograms, assess risk of developing arrhythmias in the future, and design treatment. These procedures increasingly include therapeutic methods (typically radiofrequency ablation, or cryoablation) in addition to diagnostic and prognostic procedures.
Other therapeutic modalities employed in this field include antiarrhythmic drug therapy and implantation of pacemakers and automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (AICD).
The cardiac electrophysiology study typically measures the response of the injured or cardiomyopathic myocardium to PES on specific pharmacological regimens in order to assess the likelihood that the regimen will successfully prevent potentially fatal sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the future. Sometimes a series'' of electrophysiology-study drug trials must be conducted to enable the cardiologist to select the one regimen for long-term treatment that best prevents or slows the development of VT or VF following PES. Such studies may also be conducted in the presence of a newly implanted or newly replaced cardiac pacemaker or AICD.
The training required to become an electrophysiologist is long and requires eight years after medical school (within the U.S.). Three years of internal medicine residency, three years of cardiology fellowship, and two years of clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Cardiogeriatrics
Cardiogeriatrics, or geriatric cardiology, is the branch of cardiology and geriatric medicine that deals with the cardiovascular disorders in elderly people.
Cardiac disorders such as coronary heart disease, including myocardial infarction, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, are common and are a major cause of mortality in elderly people. Vascular disorders such as atherosclerosis and peripheral arterial disease cause significant morbidity and mortality in aged people.
Imaging
Cardiac imaging includes echocardiography (echo), cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and computed tomography of the heart.
Those who specialize in cardiac imaging may undergo more training in all imaging modes or focus on a single imaging modality.
Echocardiography (or "echo") uses standard two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and Doppler ultrasound to create images of the heart. It is used to evaluate and quantify cardiac size and function, valvular function, and can assist with diagnosis and treatment of conditions including heart failure, heart attack, valvular heart disease, congenital heart defects, pericardial disease, and aortic disease.
Those who specialize in echo may spend a significant amount of their clinical time reading echos and performing transesophageal echo, in particular using the latter during procedures such as insertion of a left atrial appendage occlusion device. Transesophageal echo provides higher spatial resolution than trans thoracic echocardiography and because the probe is located in the esophagus, it is not limited by attenuation due to anterior chest structures such as the ribs, chest wall, breasts, lungs that can hinder the quality of trans thoracic echocardiography. It is generally indicated for a variety of indications including: when the standard transthoracic echocardiogram is non diagnostic, for detailed evaluation of abnormalities that are typically in the far field, such as the aorta, left atrial appendage, evaluation of native or prosthetic heart valves, evaluation of cardiac masses, evaluation of endocarditis, valvular abscesses, or for the evaluation of cardiac source of embolus. It is frequently used in the setting of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter to facilitate the clinical decision with regard to anticoagulation, cardioversion and/or radio frequency ablation.
Cardiac MRI utilizes special protocols to image heart structure and function with specific sequences for certain diseases such as hemochromatosis and amyloidosis.
Cardiac CT utilizes special protocols to image heart structure and function with particular emphasis on coronary arteries.
Interventional cardiology
Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. A large number of procedures can be performed on the heart by catheterization, including angiogram, angioplasty, atherectomy, and stent implantation. These procedures all involve insertion of a sheath into the femoral artery or radial artery (but, in practice, any large peripheral artery or vein) and cannulating the heart under visualization (most commonly fluoroscopy). This cannulation allows indirect access to the heart, bypassing the trauma caused by surgical opening of the chest.
The main advantages of using the interventional cardiology or radiology approach are the avoidance of the scars and pain, and long post-operative recovery. Additionally, interventional cardiology procedure of primary angioplasty is now the gold standard of care for an acute myocardial infarction. This procedure can also be done proactively, when areas of the vascular system become occluded from atherosclerosis. The Cardiologist will thread this sheath through the vascular system to access the heart. This sheath has a balloon and a tiny wire mesh tube wrapped around it, and if the cardiologist finds a blockage or stenosis, they can inflate the balloon at the occlusion site in the vascular system to flatten or compress the plaque against the vascular wall. Once that is complete a stent is placed as a type of scaffold to hold the vasculature open permanently.
Cardiomyopathy/heart failure
A relatively newer specialization of cardiology is in the field of heart failure and heart transplant. Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that make it larger or stiffer, sometimes making the heart worse at pumping blood. Specialization of general cardiology to just that of the cardiomyopathies leads to also specializing in heart transplant and pulmonary hypertension.
Cardiooncology
A recent specialization of cardiology is that of cardiooncology.
This area specializes in the cardiac management in those with cancer and in particular those with plans for chemotherapy or those who have experienced cardiac complications of chemotherapy.
Preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation
In recent times, the focus is gradually shifting to preventive cardiology due to increased cardiovascular disease burden at an early age. According to the WHO, 37% of all premature deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases and out of this, 82% are in low and middle income countries. Clinical cardiology is the sub specialty of cardiology which looks after preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation. Preventive cardiology also deals with routine preventive checkup though noninvasive tests, specifically electrocardiography, fasegraphy, stress tests, lipid profile and general physical examination to detect any cardiovascular diseases at an early age, while cardiac rehabilitation is the upcoming branch of cardiology which helps a person regain their overall strength and live a normal life after a cardiovascular event. A subspecialty of preventive cardiology is sports cardiology. Because heart disease is the leading cause of death in the world including United States (cdc.gov), national health campaigns and randomized control research has developed to improve heart health.Pediatric cardiologyHelen B. Taussig is known as the founder of pediatric cardiology. She became famous through her work with Tetralogy congenital heart defect in which oxygenated and deoxygenated blood enters the circulatory system resulting from a ventricular septal defect (VSD) right beneath the aorta. This condition causes newborns to have a bluish-tint, cyanosis, and have a deficiency of oxygen to their tissues, hypoxemia. She worked with Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where they experimented with dogs to look at how they would attempt to surgically cure these "blue babies". They eventually figured out how to do just that by the anastomosis of the systemic artery to the pulmonary artery and called this the Blalock-Taussig Shunt.
Tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary atresia, double outlet right ventricle, transposition of the great arteries, persistent truncus arteriosus, and Ebstein's anomaly are various congenital cyanotic heart diseases, in which the blood of the newborn is not oxygenated efficiently, due to the heart defect.
Adult congenital heart disease
As more children with congenital heart disease are surviving into adulthood, a hybrid of adult and pediatric cardiology has emerged called adult congenital heart disease (ACHD).
This field can be entered as either adult or pediatric cardiology.
ACHD specializes in congenital diseases in the setting of adult diseases (e.g., coronary artery disease, COPD, diabetes) that is, otherwise, atypical for adult or pediatric cardiology.
The heart
As the center focus of cardiology, the heart has numerous anatomical features (e.g., atria, ventricles, heart valves) and numerous physiological features (e.g., systole, heart sounds, afterload) that have been encyclopedically documented for many centuries. The heart is located in the middle of the abdomen with its tip slightly towards the left side of the abdomen.
Disorders of the heart lead to heart disease and cardiovascular disease and can lead to a significant number of deaths: cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and caused 24.95% of total deaths in 2008.
The primary responsibility of the heart is to pump blood throughout the body.
It pumps blood from the body — called the systemic circulation — through the lungs — called the pulmonary circulation — and then back out to the body. This means that the heart is connected to and affects the entirety of the body. Simplified, the heart is a circuit of the circulation. While plenty is known about the healthy heart, the bulk of study in cardiology is in disorders of the heart and restoration, and where possible, of function.
The heart is a muscle that squeezes blood and functions like a pump. The heart's systems can be classified as either electrical or mechanical, and both of these systems are susceptible to failure or dysfunction.
The electrical system of the heart is centered on the periodic contraction (squeezing) of the muscle cells that is caused by the cardiac pacemaker located in the sinoatrial node.
The study of the electrical aspects is a sub-field of electrophysiology called cardiac electrophysiology and is epitomized with the electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG).
The action potentials generated in the pacemaker propagate throughout the heart in a specific pattern. The system that carries this potential is called the electrical conduction system.
Dysfunction of the electrical system manifests in many ways and may include Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, ventricular fibrillation, and heart block.
The mechanical system of the heart is centered on the fluidic movement of blood and the functionality of the heart as a pump.
The mechanical part is ultimately the purpose of the heart and many of the disorders of the heart disrupt the ability to move blood.
Heart failure is one condition in which the mechanical properties of the heart have failed or are failing, which means insufficient blood is being circulated. Failure to move a sufficient amount of blood through the body can cause damage or failure of other organs and may result in death if severe.
Coronary circulation
Coronary circulation is the circulation of blood in the blood vessels of the heart muscle (the myocardium). The vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the myocardium are known as coronary arteries. The vessels that remove the deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle are known as cardiac veins. These include the great cardiac vein, the middle cardiac vein, the small cardiac vein and the anterior cardiac veins.
As the left and right coronary arteries run on the surface of the heart, they can be called epicardial coronary arteries. These arteries, when healthy, are capable of autoregulation to maintain coronary blood flow at levels appropriate to the needs of the heart muscle. These relatively narrow vessels are commonly affected by atherosclerosis and can become blocked, causing angina or myocardial infarction (a.k.a., a heart attack). The coronary arteries that run deep within the myocardium are referred to as subendocardial.
The coronary arteries are classified as "end circulation", since they represent the only source of blood supply to the myocardium; there is very little redundant blood supply, which is why blockage of these vessels can be so critical.
Cardiac examination
The cardiac examination (also called the "precordial exam"), is performed as part of a physical examination, or when a patient presents with chest pain suggestive of a cardiovascular pathology. It would typically be modified depending on the indication and integrated with other examinations especially the respiratory examination.
Like all medical examinations, the cardiac examination follows the standard structure of inspection, palpation and auscultation.
Heart disorders
Cardiology is concerned with the normal functionality of the heart and the deviation from a healthy heart. Many disorders involve the heart itself, but some are outside of the heart and in the vascular system. Collectively, the two are jointly termed the cardiovascular system, and diseases of one part tend to affect the other.
Coronary artery disease
Coronary artery disease, also known as "ischemic heart disease", is a group of diseases that includes: stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and is one of the causes of sudden cardiac death. It is within the group of cardiovascular diseases of which it is the most common type. The first sign is occasionally a heart attack.
<!--Cause and diagnosis -->
Risk factors include: high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity, high blood cholesterol, poor diet, and excessive alcohol, among others. Other risks include depression. The underlying mechanism involves atherosclerosis of the arteries of the heart. A number of tests may help with diagnoses including: electrocardiogram, cardiac stress testing, coronary computed tomographic angiography, and coronary angiogram, among others.
<!-- Prevention and treatment -->
Prevention is by eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking. There is limited evidence for screening people who are at low risk and do not have symptoms. Treatment involves the same measures as prevention. In those with stable CAD it is unclear if PCI or CABG in addition to the other treatments improve life expectancy or decreases heart attack risk.
<!--Epidemiology -->
In 2013 CAD was the most common cause of death globally, resulting in 8.14 million deaths (16.8%) up from 5.74 million deaths (12%) in 1990. The risk of death from CAD for a given age has decreased between 1980 and 2010 especially in developed countries. The number of cases of CAD for a given age has also decreased between 1990 and 2010. In the U.S. in 2010 about 20% of those over 65 had CAD, while it was present in 7% of those 45 to 64, and 1.3% of those 18 to 45.
Cardiomyopathy
Heart failure, or formally cardiomyopathy, is the impaired function of the heart, and there are numerous causes and forms of heart failure.
The causes of cardiomyopathy can be genetic, viral, or lifestyle-related. Key symptoms of cardiomyopathy include shortness of breath, fatigue, and irregular heartbeats. Understanding the specific function of cardiac muscle is crucial, as the heart muscle's main role is to pump blood throughout the body efficiently.
Cardiac arrhythmia
Cardiac arrhythmia, also known as "cardiac dysrhythmia" or "irregular heartbeat", is a group of conditions in which the heartbeat is too fast, too slow, or irregular in its rhythm.<!-- Many types of arrhythmia present no symptoms.<!-- While most types of arrhythmia are not serious, some predispose a person to complications such as stroke or heart failure. Arrhythmias are due to problems with the electrical conduction system of the heart.
<!-- Treatment -->
Most arrhythmias can be effectively treated.
<!-- Epidemiology -->
Arrhythmia affects millions of people. In Europe and North America, as of 2014, atrial fibrillation affects about 2% to 3% of the population. Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter resulted in 112,000 deaths in 2013, up from 29,000 in 1990. About 80% of sudden cardiac death is the result of ventricular arrhythmias. If not treated within minutes, death usually occurs.
<!-- Cause and diagnosis -->
The most common cause of cardiac arrest is coronary artery disease.<!-- The diagnosis is confirmed by finding no pulse. Among those who survive targeted temperature management may improve outcomes. An implantable cardiac defibrillator may be placed to reduce the chance of death from recurrence.
<!-- Epidemiology and history -->
In the United States, cardiac arrest outside of hospital occurs in about 13 per 10,000 people per year (326,000 cases). In hospital cardiac arrest occurs in an additional 209,000 Cardiac arrest becomes more common with age.<!-- The percentage of people who survive with treatment is about 8%.<!--
Hypertension
Hypertension, also known as "high blood pressure", is a long term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long term high blood pressure, however, is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, vision loss, and chronic kidney disease.
<!-- Causes -->
Lifestyle factors can increase the risk of hypertension. These include excess salt in the diet, excess body weight, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
<!-- Diagnosis -->
Blood pressure is expressed by two measurements, the systolic and diastolic pressures, which are the maximum and minimum pressures, respectively. High blood pressure is present if the resting blood pressure is persistently at or above 140/90 mmHg for most adults. When diagnosing high blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring over a 24-hour period appears to be more accurate than "in-office" blood pressure measurement at a physician's office or other blood pressure screening location.
<!-- Treatment and epidemiology -->
Lifestyle changes and medications can lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of health complications. Lifestyle changes include weight loss, decreased salt intake, physical exercise, and a healthy diet. The treatment of moderate to severe high arterial blood pressure (defined as >160/100 mmHg) with medication is associated with an improved life expectancy and reduced morbidity. The effect of treatment for blood pressure between 140/90 mmHg and 160/100 mmHg is less clear, with some studies finding benefits while others do not. High blood pressure affects between 16% and 37% of the population globally.
Essential vs Secondary hypertension
Essential hypertension is the form of hypertension that by definition has no identifiable cause. It is the most common type of hypertension, affecting 95% of hypertensive patients, it tends to be familial and is likely to be the consequence of an interaction between environmental and genetic factors. Prevalence of essential hypertension increases with age, and individuals with relatively high blood pressure at younger ages are at increased risk for the subsequent development of hypertension.
Hypertension can increase the risk of cerebral, cardiac, and renal events.
Secondary hypertension is a type of hypertension which is caused by an identifiable underlying secondary cause. It is much less common than essential hypertension, affecting only 5% of hypertensive patients. It has many different causes including endocrine diseases, kidney diseases, and tumors. It also can be a side effect of many medications. Complications of hypertension
]]
Complications of hypertension are clinical outcomes that result from persistent elevation of blood pressure. Hypertension is a risk factor for all clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis since it is a risk factor for atherosclerosis itself. It is an independent predisposing factor for heart failure, coronary artery disease, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. It is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, in industrialized countries. Congenital heart defects
A congenital heart defect, also known as a "congenital heart anomaly" or "congenital heart disease", is a problem in the structure of the heart that is present at birth. Signs and symptoms depend on the specific type of problem. Most congenital heart problems do not occur with other diseases. Complications that can result from heart defects include heart failure. Certain cases may be due to infections during pregnancy such as rubella, use of certain medications or drugs such as alcohol or tobacco, parents being closely related, or poor nutritional status or obesity in the mother. Having a parent with a congenital heart defect is also a risk factor. Occasionally heart transplantation is required. They affect between 4 and 75 per 1,000 live births depending upon how they are diagnosed. About 6 to 19 per 1,000 cause a moderate to severe degree of problems.
* Pulmonary atresia with an intact ventricular septum: This type of pulmonary atresia is associated with complete and intact septum between the ventricles.
Transposition of great arteries
There are two different types of transposition of the great arteries, Dextro-transposition of the great arteries and Levo-transposition of the great arteries, depending on where the chambers and vessels connect. Dextro-transposition happens in about 1 in 4,000 newborns and is when the right ventricle pumps blood into the aorta and deoxygenated blood enters the bloodstream. The temporary procedure is to create an atrial septal defect. A permanent fix is more complicated and involves redirecting the pulmonary return to the right atrium and the systemic return to the left atrium, which is known as the Senning procedure. The Rastelli procedure can also be done by rerouting the left ventricular outflow, dividing the pulmonary trunk, and placing a conduit in between the right ventricle and pulmonary trunk. Levo-transposition happens in about 1 in 13,000 newborns and is characterized by the left ventricle pumping blood into the lungs and the right ventricle pumping the blood into the aorta. This may not produce problems at the beginning, but will eventually due to the different pressures each ventricle uses to pump blood. Switching the left ventricle to be the systemic ventricle and the right ventricle to pump blood into the pulmonary artery can repair levo-transposition. Persistent truncus arteriosus Persistent truncus arteriosus is when the truncus arteriosus fails to split into the aorta and pulmonary trunk. This occurs in about 1 in 11,000 live births and allows both oxygenated and deoxygenated blood into the body. The repair consists of a VSD closure and the Rastelli procedure.
Ebstein anomaly
Ebstein's anomaly is characterized by a right atrium that is significantly enlarged and a heart that is shaped like a box. This is very rare and happens in less than 1% of congenital heart disease cases. The surgical repair varies depending on the severity of the disease.
Pediatric cardiology is a sub-specialty of pediatrics. To become a pediatric cardiologist in the U.S., one must complete a three-year residency in pediatrics, followed by a three-year fellowship in pediatric cardiology. Per doximity, pediatric cardiologists make an average of $303,917 in the U.S.
* Bernard Lown (1921–2021), original developer of the defibrillator
* Woldemar Mobitz (1889–1951), described and classified the two types of second-degree atrioventricular block often called "Mobitz Type I" and "Mobitz Type II"
* Jacqueline Noonan (1928–2020), discoverer of Noonan syndrome that is the top syndromic cause of congenital heart disease
* John Parkinson (1885–1976), known for Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome
* Helen B. Taussig (1898–1986), founder of pediatric cardiology and extensively worked on blue baby syndrome
* Paul Dudley White (1886–1973), known for Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome
* Fredrick Arthur Willius (1888–1972), founder of the cardiology department at the Mayo Clinic and an early pioneer of electrocardiography
* Louis Wolff (1898–1972), known for Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome
* Karel Frederik Wenckebach (1864–1940), first described what is now called type I second-degree atrioventricular block in 1898
See also
* Glossary of medicine
* List of cardiac pharmaceutical agents
* List of cardiovascular clinical trials
* Outline of cardiology
References
Sources
*
* External links
* [https://www.heart.org/ American Heart Association]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiology
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2025-04-05T18:27:12.407329
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Capcom
|
}}
| romanized_name = Kabushiki-gaisha Kapukon
| logo = Capcom logo.svg
| image = CAPCOM本社.jpg
| image_size = 230px
| image_caption = Headquarters in Chūō-ku, Osaka
| type = Public
| traded_as =
| foundation
| founder = Kenzo Tsujimoto
| location = Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan
| industry = Video games
| revenue billion (2022)
| operating_income billion (2022)
| key_people =
* Haruhiro Tsujimoto
}}
| products = Complete list of games
| subsid = See
| divisions = Development Division 1–2
| homepage =
}}
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, Sengoku Basara, Dead Rising, ''Dragon's Dogma, Ace Attorney, and Marvel vs. Capcom''. Established in 1979, it has become an international enterprise with subsidiaries in East Asia (Hong Kong), Europe (London, England), and North America (San Francisco, California).HistoryFounding and arcade games (1979-1984)Capcom's predecessor, I.R.M. Corporation, was founded on May 30, 1979 by Kenzo Tsujimoto, who was still president of Irem Corporation when he founded I.R.M. He worked at both companies at the same time until leaving Irem in 1983.
The original companies that spawned Capcom's Japan branch were I.R.M. and its subsidiary Japan Capsule Computers Co., Ltd., both of which were devoted to the manufacture and distribution of electronic game machines. The two companies underwent a name change to Sanbi Co., Ltd. in September 1981.
In January 1989, Capcom Co., Ltd. merged with Sanbi Co., Ltd., resulting in the current Japan branch. "Capsule" alludes to how Capcom likened its game software to "a capsule packed to the brim with gaming fun", and to the company's desire to protect its intellectual property with a hard outer shell, preventing illegal copies and inferior imitations. The successful 1985 arcade games Commando and ''Ghosts 'n Goblins have been credited as the products "that shot [Capcom] to 8-bit silicon stardom" in the mid-1980s. Starting with Commando (late 1985), Capcom began licensing their arcade games for release on home computers, notably to British software houses Elite Systems and U.S. Gold in the late 1980s.
Console game development (1985-1999)
Beginning with a Nintendo Entertainment System port of 1942 (published in Dec. 1985), the company ventured into the market of home console video games, while their highest-grossing title is the fighting game Street Fighter II (1991), driven largely by its success in arcades.
In the late 1980s, Capcom was on the verge of bankruptcy when the development of a strip Mahjong game called Mahjong Gakuen started. It outsold Ghouls 'n Ghosts'', the eighth highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan, and is credited with saving the company from financial crisis.
Capcom has been noted as the last major publisher to be committed to 2D games, though it was not entirely by choice. The company's commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as its platform of choice caused them to lag behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards. Also, the 2D animated cartoon-style graphics seen in games such as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom proved popular, leading Capcom to adopt them as a signature style and use them in more games.
In 1994, Capcom adapted its Street Fighter series of fighting games into a film of the same name. While commercially successful, it was critically panned. A 2002 adaptation of its Resident Evil series faced similar criticism but was also successful in theaters. The company sees films as a way to build sales for its video games.Transition to modern gaming systems (2000-2009)In the early 2000's, Capcom focused many of its resources on bringing series from arcade and earlier consoles onto more modern hardware, bringing these games out from 2D to 3D space. One of the most successful titles during this period was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube (2005), which received universal acclaim, was a financial success for Capcom, and let to ports to multiple systems. Other major successes include Street Fighter IV (2008). While it did remain in the business in Japan, it gradually left the American market in 2003 and closed its arcade subsidiary in March 2004.
Struggling releases (2009-2017)
Despite its successes from the previous decade, Capcom releases several titles that were considered misfires during the 2010s. Both Resident Evil 5 (2009) and Resident Evil 6 (2012) were seen to lean far too much into action-oriented gameplay while forgoing the balance with the survivor horror elements of the earlier games in the series. Capcom outsourced the next Devil May Cry title to Ninja Theory, resulting in DmC: Devil May Cry (2013), a re-envisioning of the series that failed to resonate with players. notably, examples are DmC: Devil May Crys PC version and its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remasters, ''Dragon's Dogma''s PC version, and Dead Risings version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
In 2012, Capcom came under criticism for controversial sales tactics, such as the implementation of disc-locked content, which requires players to pay for additional content that is already available within the game's files, most notably in Street Fighter X Tekken. The company defended the practice. It has also been criticized for other business decisions, such as not releasing certain games outside of Japan (most notably the Sengoku Basara series), abruptly cancelling anticipated projects (most notably Mega Man Legends 3), and shutting down Clover Studio.
On August 27, 2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games at the Osaka District Court for 980 million yen in damage. Capcom claimed Koei Tecmo infringed a patent it obtained in 2002 regarding a play feature in video games.
In 2015, the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV was pulled from the Capcom Pro Tour due to numerous technical issues and bugs.Refocus on successful franchises (2017-present)Following several years of unclear direction, management at Capcom changed in the mid-2010s to try to refocus the company on its successful properties. The company recognized that many of their titles during that period were attempts to bring Western game concepts into their titles but without failing to capture how these mechanics were implemented in Western games. To correct this, the company changed its approach to try to develop games that would be fun for players worldwide, rather than developing games that felt like they were niche Japanese titles. Additionally, Capcom began developing the RE Engine to replace the older MT Framework, helping their studios develop across a wider range of hardware including newer consoles.
On November 2, 2020, the company reported that its servers were affected by ransomware, scrambling its data, and the threat actors, the Ragnar Locker hacker group, had allegedly stolen 1TB of sensitive corporate data and were blackmailing Capcom to pay them to remove the ransomware. By mid-November, the group began putting information from the hack online, which included contact information for up to 350,000 of the company's employees and partners, as well as plans for upcoming games, indicating that Capcom opted to not pay the group. Capcom affirmed that no credit-card or other sensitive financial information was obtained in the hack.
In 2021, Capcom removed appearances of the Rising Sun Flag from their rerelease of Street Fighter II. Although Capcom did not provide an official explanation for the flag's removal, due to the flag-related controversy, it is speculated that it was done so to avoid offending segments of the international gaming community.
Artist and author Judy A. Juracek filed a lawsuit in June 2021 against Capcom for copyright infringement. In the court filings, she asserted Capcom had used images from her 1996 book Surfaces in their cover art and other assets for Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry and other games. This was discovered due to the 2020 Capcom data breach, with several files and images matching those that were included within the book's companion CD-ROM. The court filings noted one image file of a metal surface, named ME0009 in Capcom's files, to have the same exact name on the book's CD-ROM. Juracek was seeking over in damages and $2,500 to $25,000 in false copyright management for each photograph Capcom used. Before a court date could be made, the matter was settled "amicably" in February 2022. It comes on the heels of Capcom being accused by Dutch movie director Richard Raaphorst of copying the monster design of his movie ''Frankenstein's Army into their game Resident Evil Village''.
In February 2022, it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had purchased a 5% stake in Capcom, for an approximate value of US$332 million.
In July 2023, Capcom acquired Tokyo-based computer graphics studio Swordcanes Studio.
In July 2024, Capcom acquired Taiwan-based computer graphics studio Minimum Studios.Corporate structureDevelopment divisionsIn its beginning few years, Capcom's Japan branch had three development groups referred to as "Planning Rooms", led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto. Later, games developed internally were created by several numbered "Production Studios", each assigned to different games.
Capcom has two internal Consumer Games Development divisions:
* Division 1, headed by Jun Takeuchi, develops Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, and other major franchises (usually targeting global audiences).
* Division 2, headed by Ryozo Tsujimoto, develops Ace Attorney, Onimusha, Sengoku Basara, Ōkami, and other franchises with more traditional IP (usually targeting audiences in Asia) alongside online-focused franchises such as Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Lost Planet.
In addition to these teams, Capcom commissions outside development studios to ensure a steady output of titles. However, following poor sales of Dark Void and Bionic Commando, its management has decided to limit outsourcing to sequels and newer versions of installments in existing franchises, reserving the development of original titles for its in-house teams. The production of games, budgets, and platform support are decided on in development approval meetings, attended by the company management and the marketing, sales and quality control departments. During this period, Capcom also helped publish several original titles from up-and-coming Western developers, including Remember Me, Dark Void, and Spyborgs'', titles other publishers were not willing to gamble on. Other games of note are the titles Ōkami, Ōkamiden, and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.Branches and subsidiaries
Capcom Co., Ltd.'s head office building and R&D building are in Chūō-ku, Osaka. The parent company also has a branch office in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo; and the Ueno Facility, a branch office in Iga, Mie Prefecture.
Game-related media
In addition to home, online, mobile, arcade, pachinko, and pachislot games, Capcom publishes strategy guides;
Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games. Captivate (renamed from Gamers Day in 2008), an annual private media summit, is traditionally used for new game and business announcements. Creations Hardware
Capcom's first arcade board system was the CP System, released in 1988 with the game Forgotten Worlds. They later designed the CP System II and CP System III.
In 2019, Capcom released the Capcom Home Arcade, containing a total of 16 built-in CPS-1 and CPS-2 emulated games.
Technology
* MT Framework
* RE Engine
Game sales
{|class"wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style"float: right"
|+Capcom's top 10 multi-million selling franchises<br/><small>(as of September 30, 2024)</small>
! scope="col" |Franchise
! scope="col" |First release
! scope="col" |Sales ()
|-
|Resident Evil
|1996
|163.0
|-
|Monster Hunter
|2004
|105.0
|-
|Street Fighter
|1987
|55.0
|-
|Mega Man
|1987
|42.0
|-
|Devil May Cry
|2001
|32.0
|-
|Dead Rising
|2006
|17.0
|-
|''Dragon's Dogma
|2012
|12.0
|-
|Ace Attorney
|2001
|12.0
|-
|Marvel vs. Capcom
|1996
|11.0
|-
|Onimusha
|2001
|8.7
|-
|}
Capcom started its Street Fighter'' franchise in 1987. The series of fighting games are among the most popular in their genre. Having sold over 50 million copies, it is one of Capcom's flagship franchises. The company also introduced its Mega Man series in 1987, which has sold over 40 million copies.
The company released the first entry in its Resident Evil survival horror series in 1996, which become its most successful game series, selling over 150 million copies. After releasing the second entry in the Resident Evil series, Capcom began a Resident Evil game for PlayStation 2. As it was significantly different from the existing series' games, Capcom decided to spin it into its own series, Devil May Cry. The first three entries were exclusively for PlayStation 2; further entries were released for non-Sony consoles. The entire series has sold over 30 million copies. Capcom began its Monster Hunter series in 2004, which has sold over 100 million copies on a variety of consoles.
Capcom compiles a "Platinum Titles" list, updated quarterly, of its games that have sold over one million copies. It contains over 100 video games. This table shows the top ten titles, by sold copies, as of June 30, 2024.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
! scope="col" |Title
! scope="col" |Release date
! scope="col" |Platform(s) considered
! scope="col" |Sales ()
|-
|Monster Hunter: World
|
|PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
|20.90
|-
|Monster Hunter Rise
|
|Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
|16.00
|-
|Resident Evil 2
|
|PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC
|14.50
|-
|Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
|
|PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC
|14.00
|-
|Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
|
|PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
|14.00
|-
|Resident Evil Village
|
|PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC
|10.50
|-
|Resident Evil 5
|
|PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
|9.40
|-
|Resident Evil 6
|
|PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
|9.30
|-
|Resident Evil 3
|
|PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC
|9.20
|-
|Devil May Cry 5
|
|PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
|8.70
|}
See also
Articles
*Capcom Cup
*Capcom Five
*DreamHack
*Evolution Championship Series
Companies founded by ex-Capcom employees
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Name
!Foundation
!Affiliation
|-
|Arika
|November 1, 1995
|Founded by Akira Nishitani
|-
|Crafts & Meister
|June 1, 2004
|Founded by Noritaka Funamizu and Katsuhiro Sudo
|-
|Dimps
|March 6, 2000
|Founded by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto
|-
|Game Republic
|July 1, 2003
|Founded by Yoshiki Okamoto
|-
|Inti Creates
|May 8, 1996
|Founded by Takuya Aizu
|-
|Level-5 Comcept
|December 1, 2010
|Founded by Keiji Inafune as Comcept
|-
|PlatinumGames
|October 1, 2007
|Founded by Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Tatsuya Minami
|-
|Tango Gameworks
|March 1, 2010
|Founded by Shinji Mikami
|-
|UTV Ignition Games
|September 26, 2001
|Sawaki Takeyasu joined Ignition Tokyo, a subsidiary of UTV Ignition Games
|}
References
External links
*[http://www.capcom.com/ Official website]
Category:Companies based in Osaka
Category:Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Category:Golden Joystick Award winners
Category:Japanese brands
Category:Japanese companies established in 1979
Category:Pinball manufacturers
Category:Public Investment Fund
Category:Video game companies established in 1979
Category:Video game companies of Japan
Category:Video game development companies
Category:Video game publishers
Category:1993 initial public offerings
Category:Chūō-ku, Osaka
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capcom
|
2025-04-05T18:27:12.436055
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History of Cambodia
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The history of Cambodia, a country in mainland Southeast Asia, begins with the earliest evidence of habitation around 5000 BCE. Detailed records of a political structure on the territory of what is now Cambodia first appear in Chinese annals in reference to Funan, a polity that encompassed the southernmost part of the Indochinese peninsula during the 1st to 6th centuries. Centered at the lower Mekong, Funan is noted as the oldest regional Hindu culture, which suggests prolonged socio-economic interaction with maritime trading partners of the Indosphere in the west. By the 6th century a civilization, called Chenla or Zhenla in Chinese annals, firmly replaced Funan, as it controlled larger, more undulating areas of Indochina and maintained more than a singular centre of power.
The Khmer Empire was established by the early 9th century. Sources refer here to a mythical initiation and consecration ceremony to claim political legitimacy by founder Jayavarman II at Mount Kulen (Mount Mahendra) in 802 CE. A succession of powerful sovereigns, continuing the Hindu devaraja cult tradition, reigned over the classical era of Khmer civilization until the 11th century. A new dynasty of provincial origin introduced Buddhism, which according to some scholars resulted in royal religious discontinuities and general decline. The royal chronology ends in the 14th century. Great achievements in administration, agriculture, architecture, hydrology, logistics, urban planning and the arts are testimony to a creative and progressive civilisation - in its complexity a cornerstone of Southeast Asian cultural legacy.
The decline continued through a transitional period of approximately 100 years followed by the Middle Period of Cambodian history, also called the Post-Angkor Period, beginning in the mid 15th century. Although the Hindu cults had by then been all but replaced, the monument sites at the old capital remained an important spiritual centre.
Yet since the mid 15th century the core population steadily moved to the east and – with brief exceptions – settled at the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers at Chaktomuk, Longvek and Oudong.
Maritime trade was the basis for a very prosperous 16th century. But, as a result foreigners – Muslim Malays and Cham, Christian European adventurers and missionaries – increasingly disturbed and influenced government affairs. Ambiguous fortunes, a robust economy on the one hand and a disturbed culture and compromised royalty on the other were constant features of the Longvek era.
By the 15th century, the Khmers' traditional neighbours, the Mon people in the west and the Cham people in the east had gradually been pushed aside or replaced by the resilient Siamese/Thai and Annamese/Vietnamese, respectively. These powers had perceived, understood and increasingly followed the imperative of controlling the lower Mekong basin as the key to control all Indochina. A weak Khmer kingdom only encouraged the strategists in Ayutthaya (later in Bangkok) and in Huế. Attacks on and conquests of Khmer royal residences left sovereigns without a ceremonial and legitimate power base. Interference in succession and marriage policies added to the decay of royal prestige. Oudong was established in 1601 as the last royal residence of the Middle Period.
The 19th-century arrival of the European colonial powers with concrete policies of global control put an end to regional feuds and as Siam/Thailand escaped colonisation as a buffer state, Vietnam was to be the focal point of French colonial ambition.
Cambodia, although largely neglected, had been colonized by the Indochinese Union given a perceived entity and was able to carry and reclaim its identity.
Following the Japanese occupation during World War II, which coincided with the investiture of king Sihanouk. The era of modern Cambodian history began.
The Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–70), independent since 1953, struggled to remain neutral in a world shaped by polarisation of the nuclear powers USA and Soviet Union.
As the Indochinese war escalated, and Cambodia became increasingly involved, the Khmer Republic resulted in 1970. Another result was a civil war which by 1975, ended with the takeover by the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia endured its darkest hour – Democratic Kampuchea Prehistory and early history
Radiocarbon dating of a cave at Laang Spean in Battambang Province, northwest Cambodia confirmed the presence of Hoabinhian stone tools from 6000 to 7000 BCE and pottery from 4200 BCE. Starting in 2009 archaeological research of the Franco-Cambodian Prehistoric Mission has documented a complete cultural sequence from 71.000 years BP to the Neolithic period in the cave. Finds since 2012 lead to the common interpretation, that the cave contains the archaeological remains of a first occupation by hunter and gatherer groups, followed by Neolithic people with highly developed hunting strategies and stone tool making techniques, as well as highly artistic pottery making and design, and with elaborate social, cultural, symbolic and exequial practices. Cambodia participated in the Maritime Jade Road, which was in place in the region for 3,000 years, beginning in 2000 BCE to 1000 CE.
Skulls and human bones found at Samrong Sen in Kampong Chhnang Province date from 1500 BCE. Heng Sophady (2007) has drawn comparisons between Samrong Sen and the circular earthwork sites of eastern Cambodia. These people may have migrated from South-eastern China to the Indochinese Peninsula. Scholars trace the first cultivation of rice and the first bronze making in Southeast Asia to these people.
2010 Examination of skeletal material from graves at Phum Snay in north-west Cambodia revealed an exceptionally high number of injuries, especially to the head, likely to have been caused by interpersonal violence. The graves also contain a quantity of swords and other offensive weapons used in conflict.
The Iron Age period of Southeast Asia begins around 500 BCE and lasts until the end of the Funan era - around 500 A.D. as it provides the first concrete evidence for sustained maritime trade and socio-political interaction with India and South Asia. By the 1st century settlers have developed complex, organised societies and a varied religious cosmology, that required advanced spoken languages very much related to those of the present day. The most advanced groups lived along the coast and in the lower Mekong River valley and the delta regions in houses on stilts where they cultivated rice, fished and kept domesticated animals.Funan Kingdom (1st century – 550/627)
Chinese annals contain detailed records of the first known organised polity, the Kingdom of Funan, on Cambodian and Vietnamese territory characterised by "high population and urban centers, the production of surplus food...socio-political stratification [and] legitimized by Indian religious ideologies". Centered around the lower Mekong and Bassac rivers from the first to sixth century CE with "walled and moated cities" such as Angkor Borei in Takeo Province and Óc Eo in modern An Giang Province, Vietnam.
Early Funan was composed of loose communities, each with its own ruler, linked by a common culture and a shared economy of rice farming people in the hinterland and traders in the coastal towns, who were economically interdependent, as surplus rice production found its way to the ports.
By 1986 Funan controlled the strategic coastline of Indochina and the maritime trade routes. Cultural and religious ideas reached Funan via the Indian Ocean trade route. Trade with India had commenced well before 500 BCE as Sanskrit hadn't yet replaced Pali.
'', 1st century CE]]
In the period 2012-2013 dignitaries of the Chinese Kingdom of Wu visited the Funan city Vyadharapura. Envoys Kang Tai and Zhu Ying defined Funan as to be a distinct Hindu culture. Trade with China had begun after the southward expansion of the Han Dynasty, around the 2nd century BCE Effectively Funan "controlled strategic land routes in addition to coastal areas" and occupied a prominent position as an "economic and administrative hub" between The Indian Ocean trade network and China, collectively known as the Maritime Silk Road. Trade routes, that eventually ended in distant Rome are corroborated by Roman and Persian coins and artefacts, unearthed at archaeological sites of 2nd and 3rd century settlements.
Funan is associated with myths, such as the Kattigara legend and the Khmer founding legend in which an Indian Brahman or prince named Preah Thaong in Khmer, Kaundinya in Sanskrit and Hun-t’ien in Chinese records marries the local ruler, a princess named Nagi Soma (Lieu-Ye in Chinese records), thus establishing the first Cambodian royal dynasty.
Scholars debate as to how deep the narrative is rooted in actual events and on Kaundinya's origin and status. A Chinese document, that underwent 4 alterations and a 3rd-century epigraphic inscription of Champa are the contemporary sources. Some scholars consider the story to be simply an allegory for the diffusion of Indic Hindu and Buddhist beliefs into ancient local cosmology and culture whereas some historians dismiss it chronologically.
Chinese annals report that Funan reached its territorial climax in the early 3rd century under the rule of king Fan Shih-man, extending as far south as Malaysia and as far west as Burma. A system of mercantilism in commercial monopolies was established. Exports ranged from forest products to precious metals and commodities such as gold, elephants, ivory, rhinoceros horn, kingfisher feathers, wild spices like cardamom, lacquer, hides and aromatic wood. Under Fan Shih-man Funan maintained a formidable fleet and was administered by an advanced bureaucracy, based on a "tribute-based economy, that produced a surplus which was used to support foreign traders along its coasts and ostensibly to launch expansionist missions to the west and south". Miriam T. Stark calls it simply Funan: [The]"notion of Fu Nan as an early "state"...has been built largely by historians using documentary and historical evidence" and Michael Vickery remarks: "Nevertheless, it is...unlikely that the several ports constituted a unified state, much less an 'empire'". Other sources though, imply imperial status: "Vassal kingdoms spread to southern Vietnam in the east and to the Malay peninsula in the west" and "Here we will look at two empires of this period...Funan and Srivijaya".
The question of how Funan came to an end is in the face of almost universal scholarly conflict impossible to pin down. Chenla is the name of Funan's successor in Chinese annals, first appearing in 616/617 CE
The archaeological approach to and interpretation of the entire early historic period is considered to be a decisive supplement for future research. The "Lower Mekong Archaeological Project" focuses on the development of political complexity in this region during the early historic period. LOMAP survey results of 2003 to 2005, for example, have helped to determine that "...the region's importance continued unabated throughout the pre-Angkorian period...and that at least three [surveyed areas] bear Angkorian-period dates and suggest the continued importance of the delta."
Most of the Chinese recordings on Chenla, including that of Chenla conquering Funan, have been contested since the 1970s as they are generally based on single remarks in the Chinese annals, as author Claude Jacques emphasised the very vague character of the Chinese terms 'Funan' and 'Chenla', while more domestic epigraphic sources become available. Claude Jacques summarises: "Very basic historical mistakes have been made" because "the history of pre-Angkorean Cambodia was reconstructed much more on the basis of Chinese records than on that of [Cambodian] inscriptions" and as new inscriptions were discovered, researchers "preferred to adjust the newly discovered facts to the initial outline rather than to call the Chinese reports into question".
The notion of Chenla's centre being in modern Laos has also been contested. "All that is required is that it be inland from Funan." The most important political record of pre-Angkor Cambodia, the inscription K53 from Ba Phnom, dated 667 CE does not indicate any political discontinuity, either in royal succession of kings Rudravarman, Bhavavarman I, Mahendravarman [Citrasena], Īśānavarman, and Jayavarman I or in the status of the family of officials who produced the inscription. Another inscription of a few years later, K44, 674 CE, commemorating a foundation in Kampot province under the patronage of Jayavarman I, refers to an earlier foundation in the time of King Raudravarma, presumably Rudravarman of Funan, and again there is no suggestion of political discontinuity.
The History of the T'ang asserts that shortly after 706 the country was split into and . The names signify a northern and a southern half, which may conveniently be referred to as Upper and Lower Chenla.
By the late 8th century Water Chenla had become a vassal of the Sailendra dynasty of Java – the last of its kings were killed and the polity incorporated into the Javanese monarchy around 790 CE. Land Chenla acquired independence under Jayavarman II in 802 CE
Ancient Chinese records mention two kings, Shrutavarman and Shreshthavarman who ruled at the capital Shreshthapura located in modern-day southern Laos. The immense influence on the identity of Cambodia to come was wrought by the Khmer Kingdom of Bhavapura, in the modern day Cambodian city of Kampong Thom. Its legacy was its most important sovereign, Ishanavarman who completely conquered the kingdom of Funan during 612–628. He chose his new capital at the Sambor Prei Kuk, naming it Ishanapura.
Khmer Empire (802–1431)
mounted on war elephants, stone relief at the Bayon]]
in red, Champa in yellow and Haripunjaya in light green, plus additional surrounding states]]
The six centuries of the Khmer Empire are characterised by unparalleled technical and artistic progress and achievements, political integrity and administrative stability. The empire represents the cultural and technical apogee of the Cambodian and Southeast Asian pre-industrial civilisation.
, one of the earliest temple mountain in Khmer architecture]]
The Khmer Empire was preceded by Chenla, a polity with shifting centres of power, which was split into Land Chenla and Water Chenla in the early 8th century. By the late 8th century Water Chenla was absorbed by the Malays of the Srivijaya Empire and the Javanese of the Shailandra Empire and eventually incorporated into Java and Srivijaya.
Indravarman I (877–889) and his son and successor Yasovarman I (889–900), who established the capital Yasodharapura ordered the construction of huge water reservoirs (barays) north of the capital. The water management network depended on elaborate configurations of channels, ponds, and embankments built from huge quantities of clayey sand, the available bulk material on the Angkor plain. Dikes of the East Baray still exist today, which are more than long and wide. The largest component is the West Baray, a reservoir about long and across, containing approximately 50 million m<sup>3</sup> of water.
Royal administration was based on the religious idea of the Shivaite Hindu state and the central cult of the sovereign as warlord and protector – the "Varman". This centralised system of governance appointed royal functionaries to provinces. The Mahidharapura dynasty – its first king was Jayavarman VI (1080 to 1107), which originated west of the Dângrêk Mountains in the Mun river valley discontinued the old "ritual policy", genealogical traditions and crucially, Hinduism as exclusive state religion. Some historians relate the empires' decline to these religious discontinuities.
The area that comprises the various capitals was spread out over around , it is nowadays commonly called Angkor. The combination of sophisticated wet-rice agriculture, based on an engineered irrigation system and the Tonlé Sap's spectacular abundance in fish and aquatic fauna, as protein source guaranteed a regular food surplus. Recent Geo-surveys have confirmed that Angkor maintained the largest pre-industrial settlement complex worldwide during the 12th and 13th centuries – some three quarters of a million people lived there. Sizeable contingents of the public workforce were to be redirected to monument building and infrastructure maintenance. A growing number of researchers relates the progressive over-exploitation of the delicate local eco-system and its resources alongside large scale deforestation and resulting erosion to the empires' eventual decline.
Under king Suryavarman II (1113–1150) the empire reached its greatest geographic extent as it directly or indirectly controlled Indochina, the Gulf of Thailand and large areas of northern maritime Southeast Asia. Suryavarman II commissioned the temple of Angkor Wat, built in a period of 37 years, its five towers representing Mount Meru is considered to be the most accomplished expression of classical Khmer architecture. However, territorial expansion ended when Suryavarman II was killed in battle attempting to invade Đại Việt. It was followed by a period of dynastic upheaval and a Cham invasion that culminated in the sack of Angkor in 1177.
]]
King Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–1219) is generally considered to be Cambodia's greatest King. A Mahayana Buddhist, he initiates his reign by striking back against Champa in a successful campaign. During his nearly forty years in power he becomes the most prolific monument builder, who establishes the city of Angkor Thom with its central temple the Bayon. Further outstanding works are attributed to him – Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Neak Pean and Sra Srang. The construction of an impressive number of utilitarian and secular projects and edifices, such as maintenance of the extensive road network of Suryavarman I, in particular the royal road to Phimai and the many rest houses, bridges and hospitals make Jayavarman VII unique among all imperial rulers.
In August 1296, the Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan arrived at Angkor and remained at the court of king Srindravarman until July 1297. He wrote a detailed report, The Customs of Cambodia, on life in Angkor. His portrayal is one of the most important sources of understanding historical Angkor as the text offers valuable information on the everyday life and the habits of the inhabitants of Angkor.
The last Sanskrit inscription is dated 1327, and records the succession of Indrajayavarman by Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (1327–1336).
The empire was an agrarian state that consisted essentially of three social classes, the elite, workers and slaves. The elite included advisers, military leaders, courtiers, priests, religious ascetics and officials. Workers included agricultural labourers and also a variety of craftsman for construction projects. Slaves were often captives from military campaigns or distant villages. Coinage did not exist and the barter economy was based on agricultural produce, principally rice, with regional trade as an insignificant part of the economy.Cambodia Middle Period (1431–1863)
, the former capital of Cambodia]]
pre-1864]]
The term "Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia", also the "Middle Period" refers to the historical era from the early 15th century to 1863, the beginning of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Reliable sources – particularly for the 15th and 16th century – are very rare. A conclusive explanation that relates to concrete events manifesting the decline of the Khmer Empire has not yet been produced. However, most modern historians contest that several distinct and gradual changes of religious, dynastic, administrative and military nature, environmental problems and ecological imbalance coincided with shifts of power in Indochina and must all be taken into account to make an interpretation. In recent years, focus has notably shifted towards studies on climate changes, human–environment interactions and the ecological consequences.
Epigraphy in temples, ends in the third decade of the fourteenth, and does not resume until the mid-16th century. Recording of the Royal Chronology discontinues with King Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (or Jayavarma-Paramesvara) – there exists not a single contemporary record of even a king's name for over 200 years. Construction of monumental temple architecture had come to a standstill after Jayavarman VII's reign. According to author Michael Vickery there only exist external sources for Cambodia's 15th century, the Chinese Ming Shilu annals and the earliest Royal Chronicle of Ayutthaya. Wang Shi-zhen (王世貞), a Chinese scholar of the 16th century, remarked: "The official historians are unrestrained and are skilful at concealing the truth; but the memorials and statutes they record and the documents they copy cannot be discarded."
The central reference point for the entire 15th century is a Siamese intervention of some undisclosed nature at the capital Yasodharapura (Angkor Thom) around the year 1431. Historians relate the event to the shift of Cambodia's political centre southward to the region of Phnom Penh, Longvek and later Oudong. via which the first contact with European explorers and adventurers does occur. Wars with the Siamese result in loss of territory and eventually the conquest of the capital Longvek in 1594. Richard Cocks, of the East India Company established trade with Cochin, China, and Cambodia by 1618, but the Cambodia commerce was not authorized by the directors in London and was short-lived until it was revived in 1651, again without authorization. The Vietnamese on their "Southward March" reach Prei Nokor/Saigon at the Mekong Delta in the 17th century. This event initiates the slow process of Cambodia losing access to the seas and independent marine trade.
Siamese and Vietnamese dominance intensified during the 17th and 18th century, resulting in frequent displacements of the seat of power as the Khmer royal authority decreased to the state of a vassal. In the early 19th century with dynasties in Vietnam and Siam firmly established, Cambodia was placed under joint suzerainty, having lost its national sovereignty. British agent John Crawfurd states: "...the King of that ancient Kingdom is ready to throw himself under the protection of any European nation..." To save Cambodia from being incorporated into Vietnam and Siam, the Cambodians entreated the aid of the Luzones/Lucoes (Filipinos from Luzon-Philippines) that previously participated in the Burmese-Siamese wars as mercenaries. When the embassy arrived in Luzon, the rulers were now Spaniards, so they asked them for aid too, together with their Latin American troops imported from Mexico, in order to restore the then Christianised King, Satha II, as monarch of Cambodia, this, after a Thai/Siamese invasion was repelled. However that was only temporary. Nevertheless, the future King, Ang Duong, also enlisted the aid of the French who were allied to the Spanish (As Spain was ruled by a French royal dynasty the Bourbons). The Cambodian king agreed to colonial France's offers of protection in order to restore the existence of the Cambodian monarchy, which took effect with King Norodom Prohmbarirak signing and officially recognising the French protectorate on 11 August 1863.
French colonial period (1863–1953)
In August 1863 King Norodom signed an agreement with the French placing the kingdom under the protection of France. Norodom died in 1904, and his two successors, Sisowath and Monivong, were content to allow the French to control the country, but in 1940 France was defeated in a brief border war with Thailand and forced to surrender the provinces of Battambang and Angkor (the ancient site of Angkor itself was retained). King Monivong died in April 1941, The new government did away with the romanization of the Khmer language that the French colonial administration was beginning to enforce and officially reinstated the Khmer script. This measure taken by the short-lived governmental authority would be popular and long-lasting, for since then no government in Cambodia has tried to romanise the Khmer language again.
After Allied military units entered Cambodia, the Japanese military forces present in the country were disarmed and repatriated. The French were able to reimpose the colonial administration in Phnom Penh in October the same year.
in 1941]]
Sihanouk's "royal crusade for independence" resulted in grudging French acquiescence to his demands for a transfer of sovereignty. A partial agreement was struck in October 1953. Sihanouk then declared that independence had been achieved and returned in triumph to Phnom Penh. As a result of the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and to withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers.
Neutrality was the central element of Cambodian foreign policy during the 1950s and 1960s. By the mid-1960s, parts of Cambodia's eastern provinces were serving as bases for North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front (NVA/NLF) forces operating against South Vietnam, and the port of Sihanoukville was being used to supply them. As NVA/VC activity grew, the United States and South Vietnam became concerned, and in 1969, the United States began a 14-month-long series of bombing raids targeted at NVA/VC elements, contributing to destabilisation. The bombing campaign took place no further than ten, and later inside the Cambodian border, areas where the Cambodian population had been evicted by the NVA. <!--Cite supports entire paragraph--> Prince Sihanouk, fearing that the conflict between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam might spill over to Cambodia, publicly opposed the idea of a bombing campaign by the United States along the Vietnam–Cambodia border and inside Cambodian territory. However, Peter Rodman claimed, "Prince Sihanouk complained bitterly to us about these North Vietnamese bases in his country and invited us to attack them". In December 1967 Washington Post journalist Stanley Karnow was told by Sihanouk that if the US wanted to bomb the Vietnamese communist sanctuaries, he would not object, unless Cambodians were killed. The same message was conveyed to US President Johnson's emissary Chester Bowles in January 1968. So the US had no real motivation to overthrow Sihanouk. However, Prince Sihanouk wanted Cambodia to stay out of the North Vietnam–South Vietnam conflict and was very critical of the United States government and its allies (the South Vietnamese government). Prince Sihanouk, facing internal struggles of his own, due to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, did not want Cambodia to be involved in the conflict. Sihanouk wanted the United States and its allies (South Vietnam) to keep the war away from the Cambodian border. Sihanouk did not allow the United States to use Cambodian air space and airports for military purposes. This upset the United States greatly and contributed to their view of Prince Sihanouk as a North Vietnamese sympathiser and a thorn in the side of the United States. However, declassified documents indicate that as late as March 1970 the Nixon administration was hoping to garner "friendly relations" with Sihanouk.
Throughout the 1960s, domestic Cambodian politics became polarised. Opposition to the government grew within the middle class and leftists including Paris-educated leaders like Son Sen, Ieng Sary, and Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot), who led an insurgency under the clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). Sihanouk called these insurgents the Khmer Rouge, literally the "Red Khmer". But the 1966 national assembly elections showed a significant swing to the right, and General Lon Nol formed a new government, which lasted until 1967. During 1968 and 1969, the insurgency worsened. However, members of the government and army, who resented Sihanouk's ruling style as well as his tilt away from the United States, did have a motivation to overthrow him.
Khmer Republic and the War (1970–75)
]]
While visiting Beijing in 1970 Sihanouk was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak in the early hours of 18 March 1970.
However, as early as 12 March 1970, the CIA Station Chief told Washington that based on communications from Sirik Matak, Lon Nol's cousin, that "the (Cambodian) army was ready for a coup". Lon Nol assumed power after the military coup and immediately allied Cambodia with the United States. Son Ngoc Thanh, an opponent of Pol Pot, announced his support for the new government. On 9 October, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. The new regime immediately demanded that the Vietnamese communists leave Cambodia.
Hanoi rejected the new republic's request for the withdrawal of NVA troops. In response, the United States moved to provide material assistance to the new government's armed forces, which were engaged against both CPK insurgents and NVA forces. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, desperate to retain their sanctuaries and supply lines from North Vietnam, immediately launched armed attacks on the new government. The North Vietnamese quickly overran large parts of eastern Cambodia, reaching to within of Phnom Penh. The North Vietnamese turned the newly won territories over to the Khmer Rouge. The king urged his followers to help in overthrowing this government, hastening the onset of civil war.
and his wife Elena Ceauşescu, 1974]]
In April 1970, US President Richard Nixon announced to the American public that US and South Vietnamese ground forces had entered Cambodia in a campaign aimed at destroying NVA base areas in Cambodia (see Cambodian Incursion). The US had already been bombing Vietnamese positions in Cambodia for well over a year by that point. Although a considerable quantity of equipment was seized or destroyed by US and South Vietnamese forces, containment of North Vietnamese forces proved elusive.
The Khmer Republic's leadership was plagued by disunity among its three principal figures: Lon Nol, Sihanouk's cousin Sirik Matak, and National Assembly leader In Tam. Lon Nol remained in power in part because none of the others were prepared to take his place. In 1972, a constitution was adopted, a parliament elected, and Lon Nol became president. But disunity, the problems of transforming a 30,000-man army into a national combat force of more than 200,000 men, and spreading corruption weakened the civilian administration and army.
with President Richard Nixon]]
The Khmer Rouge insurgency inside Cambodia continued to grow, aided by supplies and military support from North Vietnam. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary asserted their dominance over the Vietnamese-trained communists, many of whom were purged. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge (CPK) forces became stronger and more independent of their Vietnamese patrons. By 1973, the CPK were fighting battles against government forces with little or no North Vietnamese troop support, and they controlled nearly 60% of Cambodia's territory and 25% of its population.
in 1973 amid the Cambodian Civil War.]]
The government made three unsuccessful attempts to enter into negotiations with the insurgents, but by 1974, the CPK was operating openly as divisions, and some of the NVA combat forces had moved into South Vietnam. Lon Nol's control was reduced to small enclaves around the cities and main transportation routes. More than two million refugees from the war lived in Phnom Penh and other cities.
On New Year's Day 1975, Communist troops launched an offensive which, in 117 days of the hardest fighting of the war, caused the collapse of the Khmer Republic. Simultaneous attacks around the perimeter of Phnom Penh pinned down Republican forces, while other CPK units overran fire bases controlling the vital lower Mekong resupply route. A US-funded airlift of ammunition and rice ended when Congress refused additional aid for Cambodia. The Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh surrendered on 17 April 1975, just five days after the US mission evacuated Cambodia.
Foreign involvement in the rise of the Khmer Rouge
The relationship between the massive carpet bombing of Cambodia by the United States and the growth of the Khmer Rouge, in terms of recruitment and popular support, has been a matter of interest to historians. Some historians, including Michael Ignatieff, Adam Jones and Greg Grandin, have cited the United States intervention and bombing campaign (spanning 1965–1973) as a significant factor which lead to increased support for the Khmer Rouge among the Cambodian peasantry. According to Ben Kiernan, the Khmer Rouge "would not have won power without U.S. economic and military destabilization of Cambodia. ... It used the bombing's devastation and massacre of civilians as recruitment propaganda and as an excuse for its brutal, radical policies and its purge of moderate communists and Sihanoukists." Pol Pot biographer David P. Chandler writes that the bombing "had the effect the Americans wanted – it broke the Communist encirclement of Phnom Penh", but it also accelerated the collapse of rural society and increased social polarization. Peter Rodman and Michael Lind claimed that the United States intervention saved the Lon Nol regime from collapse in 1970 and 1973. Craig Etcheson acknowledged that U.S. intervention increased recruitment for the Khmer Rouge but disputed that it was a primary cause of the Khmer Rouge victory. William Shawcross wrote that the United States bombing and ground incursion plunged Cambodia into the chaos that Sihanouk had worked for years to avoid.
By 1973, Vietnamese support of the Khmer Rouge had largely disappeared. China "armed and trained" the Khmer Rouge both during the civil war and the years afterward.
Owing to Chinese, U.S., and Western support, the Khmer Rouge-dominated Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) held Cambodia's UN seat until 1993, long after the Cold War had ended.
Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge era) (1975–79)
]]
]]
Immediately after its victory, the CPK ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns, sending the entire urban population into the countryside to work as farmers, as the CPK was trying to reshape society into a model that Pol Pot had conceived.
The new government sought to completely restructure Cambodian society. Remnants of the old society were abolished and religion was suppressed. Agriculture was collectivised, and the surviving part of the industrial base was abandoned or placed under state control. Cambodia had neither a currency nor a banking system.
Within the CPK, the Paris-educated leadership—Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Nuon Chea, and Son Sen—were in control. A new constitution in January 1976 established Democratic Kampuchea as a Communist People's Republic, and a 250-member Assembly of the Representatives of the People of Kampuchea (PRA) was selected in March to choose the collective leadership of a State Presidium, the chairman of which became the head of state.
Prince Sihanouk resigned as head of state on 2 April. The purge was done speedily and efficiently as Pol Pot's soldiers quickly killed at least more than 100,000 to 250,000 eastern Cambodians right after deporting them to execution site locations in Central, North and North-Western Zones within a month's time, making it the bloodiest episode of mass murder under Pol Pot's regime.
Religious institutions were not spared by the Khmer Rouge as well, in fact religion was so viciously persecuted to such an extent that the vast majority of Cambodia's historic architecture, 95% of Cambodia's Buddhist temples, was completely destroyed.
Ben Kiernan estimates that 1.671 million to 1.871 million Cambodians died as a result of Khmer Rouge policy, or between 21% and 24% of Cambodia's 1975 population. A study by French demographer Marek Sliwinski calculated slightly fewer than 2 million unnatural deaths under the Khmer Rouge out of a 1975 Cambodian population of 7.8 million; 33.5% of Cambodian men died under the Khmer Rouge compared to 15.7% of Cambodian women. According to a 2001 academic source, the most widely accepted estimates of excess deaths under the Khmer Rouge range from 1.5 million to 2 million, although figures as low as 1 million and as high as 3 million have been cited; conventionally accepted estimates of deaths due to Khmer Rouge executions range from 500,000 to 1 million, "a third to one half of excess mortality during the period." While considerably higher than earlier and more widely accepted estimates of Khmer Rouge executions, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)'s Craig Etcheson defended such estimates of over one million executions as "plausible, given the nature of the mass grave and DC-Cam's methods, which are more likely to produce an under-count of bodies rather than an over-estimate." Despite being based on a house-to-house survey of Cambodians, the estimate of 3.3 million deaths promulgated by the Khmer Rouge's successor regime, the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), is generally considered to be an exaggeration; among other methodological errors, the PRK authorities added the estimated number of victims that had been found in the partially-exhumed mass graves to the raw survey results, meaning that some victims would have been double-counted.Vietnamese occupation and the PRK (1979–93)
at the former head office in Phnom Penh]]
On 10 January 1979, after the Vietnamese army and the KUFNS (Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation) invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge, the new People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) was established with Heng Samrin as head of state. Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge forces retreated rapidly to the jungles near the Thai border. The Khmer Rouge and the PRK began a costly struggle that played into the hands of the larger powers China, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Khmer People's Revolutionary Party's rule gave rise to a guerrilla movement of three major resistance groups – the FUNCINPEC (Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre, Pacifique, et Coopératif), the KPLNF (Khmer People's National Liberation Front) and the PDK (Party of Democratic Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge under the nominal presidency of Khieu Samphan). "All held dissenting perceptions concerning the purposes and modalities of Cambodia's future". Civil war displaced 600,000 Cambodians, who fled to refugee camps along the border to Thailand and tens of thousands of people were murdered throughout the country.
Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989 under the State of Cambodia, culminating two years later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The United Nations was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire and deal with refugees and disarmament known as the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).Modern Cambodia (1993–present)
]]
On 23 October 1991, the Paris Conference reconvened to sign a comprehensive settlement giving the UN full authority to supervise a cease-fire, repatriate the displaced Khmer along the border with Thailand, disarm and demobilise the factional armies, and prepare the country for free and fair elections. Prince Sihanouk, President of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia (SNC), and other members of the SNC returned to Phnom Penh in November 1991, to begin the resettlement process in Cambodia. The UN Advance Mission for Cambodia (UNAMIC) was deployed at the same time to maintain liaison among the factions and begin demining operations to expedite the repatriation of approximately 370,000 Cambodians from Thailand.
On 16 March 1992, the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) arrived in Cambodia to begin implementation of the UN settlement plan and to become operational on 15 March 1992 under Yasushi Akashi, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General. UNTAC grew into a 22,000-strong civilian and military peacekeeping force tasked to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections for a constituent assembly.
, dedicated to the ending of the Cambodian Civil War in 1998]]
Over 4 million Cambodians (about 90% of eligible voters) participated in the May 1993 elections. Pre-election violence and intimidation was widespread, caused by SOC (State of Cambodia – made up largely of former PDK cadre) security forces, mostly against the FUNCINPEC and BLDP parties according to UNTAC. The Khmer Rouge or Party of Democratic Kampuchea (PDK), whose forces were never actually disarmed or demobilized blocked local access to polling places. Prince Ranariddh's (son of Norodom Sihanouk) royalist Funcinpec Party was the top vote recipient with 45.5% of the vote, followed by Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party and the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party, respectively. Funcinpec then entered into a coalition with the other parties that had participated in the election. A coalition government resulted between the Cambodian People's Party and FUNCINPEC, with two co-prime ministers – Hun Sen, since 1985 the prime minister in the Communist government, and Norodom Ranariddh.
The parties represented in the 120-member assembly proceeded to draft and approve a new constitution, which was promulgated 24 September 1993. It established a multiparty democracy in the framework of a constitutional monarchy, with the former Prince Sihanouk elevated to King. Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen became First and Second Prime Ministers, respectively, in the Royal Cambodian Government (RGC).
Hun Sen and his government have seen much controversy. Hun Sen was a former Khmer Rouge commander who was originally installed by the Vietnamese and, after the Vietnamese left the country, maintains his strong man position by violence and oppression when deemed necessary. In 1997, fearing the growing power of his co-Prime Minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Hun launched a coup, using the army to purge Ranariddh and his supporters. Ranariddh was ousted and fled to Paris while other opponents of Hun Sen were arrested, tortured and some summarily executed.
was the longest-serving head of government in Cambodia's history.]]
On 4 October 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly ratified an agreement with the United Nations on the establishment of a tribunal to try senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. International donor countries have pledged a US$43 Million share of the three-year tribunal budget as Cambodia contributes US$13.3 Million. The tribunal has sentenced several senior Khmer Rouge leaders since 2008.
Cambodia is still infested with countless land mines, indiscriminately planted by all warring parties during the decades of war and upheaval.
The Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved ahead of the 2018 Cambodian general election and the ruling Cambodian People's Party also enacted tighter curbs on mass media. The CPP won every seat in the National Assembly without a major opposition, effectively solidifying de facto one-party rule in the country.
Cambodia's longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, has a very firm grip on power. He has been accused of the crackdown on opponents and critics. His Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has been in power since 1979. In December 2021, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced his support for his son Hun Manet to succeed him after the next election, which is expected to take place in 2023.
In July 2023 election, the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) easily won by landslide in flawed election, after disqualification of Cambodia's most important opposition, Candlelight Party. On 22 August 2023, Hun Manet was sworn in as the new Cambodian prime minister.See also
References
Attribution:
* – [https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2732.htm]
Works cited
* Further reading
* Chanda, Nayan. "China and Cambodia: In the mirror of history." Asia Pacific Review 9.2 (2002): 1–11.
* Chandler, David. A history of Cambodia (4th ed. 2009) [https://archive.org/details/david_chandler_a_history_of_cambodia_4th_edition online].
* Corfield, Justin. The history of Cambodia (ABC-CLIO, 2009).
* Herz, Martin F. Short History of Cambodia (1958) [https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.16589 online]
*
* Slocomb, Margaret. An economic history of Cambodia in the twentieth century (National University of Singapore Press, 2010).
* Strangio, Sebastian. Cambodia: From Pol Pot to Hun Sen and Beyond (2020)
External links
* Records of [https://search.archives.un.org/united-nations-advance-mission-in-cambodia-unamic-1991-1992 the United Nations Advance Mission in Cambodia (UNAMIC) (1991-1992)] at the United Nations Archives
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090810/http://cambodia.ohchr.org/klc_pages/KLC_files/section_001/section_01_01_ENG.pdf Constitution of Cambodia]
* State Department [https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2732.htm#history Background Note: Cambodia]
* [https://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/untacbackgr1.html Summary of UNTAC mission]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121215064608/http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552701 History of Cambodian Civil War] from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160115205405/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
* [http://countrystudies.us/cambodia/15.htm Cambodia under Sihanouk, 1954–70]
* [http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/DEWALQUE.PGS351-368.pdf Selective Mortality During the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia]
* [http://www.virginialawreview.org/content/pdfs/90/893.pdf Crossroads in Cambodia: The United Nation's responsibility to withdrawn involvement from the establishment of a Cambodian Tribunal to prosecute the Khmer Rouge]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/133533.stm BBC article]
* David Chandler - A History Of Cambodia, 4th Edition Westview Press ( 2009)
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Geography of Cambodia
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|area ranking = 88th
|km area = 181,035
|percent land = 97.50
|percent water = 2.50
|km coastline = 443
|borders <br /> Laos <br /> Thailand <br /> Vietnam
|highest point Phnom Aural<br />
|lowest point Gulf of Thailand<br />
|longest river Mekong river<br />
|largest lake Tonlé Sap<br />
}}
Cambodia is a country in mainland Southeast Asia. It borders Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand and covers a total area of approximately . The country is situated in its entirety inside the tropical Indomalayan realm and the Indochina Time zone (ICT).
Cambodia's main geographical features are the low lying Central Plain that includes the Tonlé Sap basin, the lower Mekong River flood-plains and the Bassac River plain surrounded by mountain ranges to the north, east, in the south-west and south. The central lowlands extend into Vietnam to the south-east. The south and south-west of the country constitute a long coast at the Gulf of Thailand, characterized by sizable mangrove marshes, peninsulas, sandy beaches and headlands and bays. Cambodia's territorial waters account for over 50 islands. The highest peak is Phnom Aural, sitting above sea level.
The landmass is bisected by the Mekong River, which at is the longest river in Cambodia. After extensive rapids, turbulent sections and cataracts in Laos, the river enters the country at Stung Treng province, is predominantly calm and navigable during the entire year as it widens considerably in the lowlands. The Mekong's waters disperse into the surrounding wetlands of central Cambodia and strongly affect the seasonal nature of the Tonlé Sap lake.
Two third of the country's population live in the lowlands, where the rich sediment deposited during the Mekong's annual flooding makes the agricultural lands highly fertile. As deforestation and over-exploitation affected Cambodia only in recent decades, forests, low mountain ranges and local eco-regions still retain much of their natural potential and although still home to the largest areas of contiguous and intact forests in mainland Southeast Asia, multiple serious environmental issues persist and accumulate, which are closely related to rapid population growth, uncontrolled globalization and inconsequential administration.
The majority of the country lies within the Tropical savanna climate zone, as the coastal areas in the South and West receive noticeably more and steady rain before and during the wet season. These areas constitute the easternmost fringes of the south-west monsoon, determined to be inside the Tropical monsoon climate. Countrywide there are two seasons of relatively equal length, defined by varying precipitation as temperatures and humidity are generally high and steady throughout the entire year.
Geological development
Mainland Southeast Asia consists of allochthonous continental blocks from Gondwanaland. These include the South China, Indochina, Sibumasu, and West Burma blocks, which amalgamated to form the Southeast Asian continent during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods.
The current geological structure of South China and South-East Asia is determined to be the response to the "Indo-sinian" collision in South-East Asia during the Carboniferous. The Indo-Sinian orogeny was followed by extension of the Indo-Chinese block, the formation of rift basins and thermal subsidence during the early Triassic.
The Indochina continental block, which is separated from the South China Block by the Jinshajiang-Ailaoshan Suture zone, is an amalgamation of the Viet-Lao, Khorat-Kontum, Uttaradit (UTD), and Chiang Mai-West Kachin terranes, all of which are separated by suture zones or ductile shear zones.
The Khorat-Kontum terrane, which includes western Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam, consists of the Kontum metamorphic complex, Paleozoic shallow marine deposits, upper Permian arc volcanic rocks and Mesozoic terrigenous sedimentary rocks.
The central plains consist mainly of Quaternary sands, loam and clay, as most of the northern mountain regions and the coastal region are largely composed of Cretaceous granite, Triassic stones and Jurassic sandstone formations.
General topography
at the end of the dry season, May 2010]]
- sugar palm]]
Bowl- or saucer-shaped, Cambodia covers in the south-western part of the Indochinese peninsula as its landmass and marine territory is situated entirely within the tropics.
The bowl's bottom represents Cambodia's interior, about 75 percent, consisting of alluvial flood-plains of the Tonlé Sap basin, the lower Mekong River and the Bassac River plain, whose waters feed the large and almost centrally located wetlands. As humans preferably settle in these fertile and easily accessible central lowlands, major transformations and widespread cultivation through wet-rice agriculture have over the centuries shaped the landscape into distinctive regional cultivated lands.
Domestic plants, such as sugar palms, Coconut trees and banana groves almost exclusively skirt extensive rice paddies, as natural vegetation is confined to elevated lands and near waterways. The Mekong traverses the north to south-east portions of the country, where the low-lying plains extend into Vietnam and reach the South China Sea at the Mekong Delta region.
Cambodia's low mountain ranges - representing the walls of the bowl - remain as the result of only rather recent substantial infrastructural development and economic exploitation - in particular in remote areas - formidably forested. The country is fringed to the north by the Dangrek Mountains plateau, bordering Thailand and Laos, to the north-east by the Annamite Range, in the south-west by the Cardamom Mountains and in the South by the Elephant Mountains. Highlands to the north-east and to the east merge into the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta lowlands of Vietnam.
A heavily indented coastline at the Gulf of Thailand of length and 60 offshore islands, that dot the territorial waters and locally merge with tidal mangrove marshes - the environmental basis for a remarkable range of marine and coastal eco-regions.Soils
]]
"Sandy materials cover a large proportion of the landscape of Cambodia, on account of the siliceous sedimentary formations that underlie much of the Kingdom. Mesozoic sandstone dominates most of the basement geology in Cambodia and hence has a dominating influence on the properties of upland soils. Arenosols (sandy soils featuring very weak or no soil development) are mapped on only 1.6% of the land area."
"Sandy surface textures are more prevalent than the deep sandy soils that fit the definition for Arenosols. Sandy textured profiles are common amongst the most prevalent soil groups, including Acrisols and Leptosols. The Acrisols are the most prevalent soil group occupying the lowlands - nearly half of the land area of Cambodia. Low fertility and toxic amounts of aluminium pose limitations to its agricultural use, crops that can be successfully cultivated include rubber tree, oil palm, coffee and sugar cane.
The main subgroups are: Gleyic Acrisols (20.5%, Haplic Acrisols (13.3%), Plinthic Acrisol (8.7%) and Ferric Acrisol (6.3%)."Geographical extremes* Northernmost point: Ta Veaeng District, Rattanakiri Province ()
* Southernmost point: Koh Poulo Wai, Kampot Province ()
* Easternmost point: Ou Ya Dav District, Rattanakiri Province ()
* Westernmost point: Malai District, Banteay Meanchey Province ()RegionsCentral plainThe vast alluvial and lacustrine interconnected Cambodian flood-plain is a geologically relatively recent depression where the sediments of the Mekong and its tributaries accumulate as waters are subject to frequent course changes. The area covers . The Tonlé Sap lake and - river system occupies the lowest area. The Tonlé Sap River is a waterway that branches off the Mekong near Phnom Penh in the north-westerly direction and meets the Tonle Sap lake after around . Its waters' flow reverses direction every year, caused by greatly varying amounts of water carried by the Mekong over the course of a year and the impact of monsoonal rains, that coincides with the river's maximum.
The plains of the Mekong and Tonle Sap basin are confined in the North by the Dangrek and Central Annamite Mountains, and to the South by the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Mountains. The plains completely surround the Tonle Sap Lake in the western half of the country and wind their way through the middle of the country following the course of the Mekong River. The two basins actually form a single body of water, the whole of which effects about 75% of Cambodia’s land cover.Flow reversalover the course of one year|alt]]
The Mekong river and its tributaries increase water volumes in spring (May) on the northern hemisphere, mainly caused by melting snows. As the Mekong enters Cambodia (over 95% of its waters have already joined the river) it widens and inundates large areas.
The plain's deepest point - the Tonle Sap - flooded area varies from a low of around with a depth of around 1 meter at the end of the dry season (April) to and a depth of up to 9 meters in October/November. This figure rose to during 2000 when some of the worst flood conditions recorded caused over 800 deaths in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Inflow starts in May/June with maximum rates of flow of around 10,000 m<sup>3</sup>/s by late August and ends in October/November, amplified by precipitation of the annual monsoon. In November the lake reaches its maximum size. The annual monsoon coincides to cease around this time of the year. As the Mekong river begins its minimum around this time of the year and its water level falls deeper than the inundated Tonle Sap lake, Tonle Sap river and surrounding wetlands, waters of the lake's basin now drains via the Tonle Sap river into the Mekong. The Mekong branches off into several arms near Phnom Penh and reaches Vietnamese territory south of Koh Thom and Loek Daek districts of Kandal Province.Southern Mountains
]]
, countryside with remote Elephant Mountains]]
This region represents the eastern parts of the original extent of the wet evergreen forests that cover the Cardamom - and Elephant Mountains in South-West Cambodia and along the mountains east of Bangkok in Thailand.
The densely wooded hills receive rainfall of annually on their western slopes (which are subject to the South-West monsoons) but only on their eastern - rain shadow - slopes.
The Cardamom/Krâvanh Mountains
Occupying Koh Kong Province and Kampong Speu Province, running in a north-western to south-eastern direction and rising to more than . The highest mountain of Cambodia, Phnom Aural, at is located in Aoral District in Kampong Speu Province.
The Cardamom Mountains form - including the north-western part of Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, the 'Soi Dao Mountains' - the Cardamom Mountains Moist Forests Ecoregion, that is considered to be one of the most species-rich and intact natural habitats in the region. The climate, size inaccessibility and seclusion of the mountains have allowed a rich variety of wildlife to thrive. The Cardamom and Elephant Mountains remain to be fully researched and documented.
The Elephant Mountains
Chuŏr Phnum Dâmrei - A north-south-trending range of high hills, an extension of the Cardamom/Krâvanh Mountains, in south-eastern Cambodia, rising to elevations of between 500 and 1,000 meters. Extending north from the Gulf of Thailand, they reach a high point in the Bok Koŭ ridge at Mount Bokor near the sea.
To the south-west of the Southern mountain ranges extends a narrow coastal plain that contains the Kampong Saom Bay area and the Sihanoukville peninsula, facing the Gulf of Thailand.
Northern Mountains
The Dangrek Mountains
A forested range of hills averaging , dividing Thailand from Cambodia, mainly formed of massive sandstone with slate and silt. A few characteristic basalt hills are located on the northern side of the mountain chain. This east–west-trending range extends from the Mekong River westward for approximately , merging with the highland area near San Kamphaeng, Thailand. Essentially the southern escarpment of the sandstone Khorat Plateau of northeastern Thailand, the Dângrêk range slopes gradually northward to the Mun River in Thailand but falls more abruptly in the south to the Cambodian plain. Its highest point is .
The watershed along the escarpment in general terms marks the boundary between Thailand and Cambodia, however there are exceptions. The region is covered in dry evergreen forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, and deciduous dipterocarp forests. Tree species like Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Shorea siamensis and Xylia xylocarpa var. kerrii dominate. Illegal logging are issues on both, the Thai as well as on the Cambodian side, leaving large hill stretches denuded, vulnerable tree species such as Dalbergia cochinchinensis have been affected. Forest fires are common during the dry season.
]]
Annamite Range
Lying to the east of the Mekong River, the long chain of mountains called the Annamite Mountains of Indochina and the lowlands that surround them make up the Greater Annamites ecoregion. Levels of rainfall vary from annually. Mean annual temperatures are about . This eco-region contains some of the last relatively intact moist forests in Indochina. Moisture-laden monsoon winds, that blow in from the Gulf of Tonkin ensure permanent high air humidity. Plants and animals adapted to moist conditions, to seek refuge here and evolve into highly specialized types that are found nowhere else on Earth.
Ethnically diverse
More than 30 ethnic groups of indigenous people live in the Annamites, each with their distinctive and traditional music, language, dress and customs. The natural resources of the Greater Annamites are vital to all of these people.Eastern Highlands
, north-eastern Cambodia, November 2012]]
Tall grasses and deciduous forests cover the ground east of the Mekong River in Mondulkiri, where the transitional plains merge with the eastern highlands at altitudes from . The landscape has suffered from rubber farming, logging and particularly mining, although sizable areas of pristine jungle survive, which are home to rare and endemic wildlife.CoastCambodia's coastal area covers , distributed among four provinces: Sihanoukville province, Kampot province, Koh Kong province, and Kep province. The total length of the Cambodian coastal area has been disputed. The most widely accepted length is , a 1997 survey by the DANIDA organization announced a length at , and in 1973 the Oil Authority found the coast to be long. The Food and Agriculture Organization claims a length of in one of its studies.
The southern mountain ranges drain to the south and west towards the shallow sea. Sediments on the continental shelf are the basis for extensive mangroves marshes, in particular in the Koh Kong province and the Ream National Park.
Islands
Cambodia’s islands fall under administration of the 4 coastal provinces. "There are 60 islands in Cambodia's coastal waters. They include 23 in Koh Kong province, 2 in Kampot province, 22 in Sihanoukville and 13 in Kep city.[sic]" Most islands are, apart from the two small groups of the outer islands, in relative proximity to the coast. The islands and the coastal region of Koh Kong Province are mainly composed of upper Jurassic and lower Cretaceous sandstone massives.
Climate
]]
]]
Cambodia's climate, like that of much of the rest of mainland Southeast Asia is dominated by monsoons, which are known as tropical wet and dry because of the distinctly marked seasonal differences. The monsoonal air-flows are caused by annual alternating high pressure and low pressure over the Central Asian landmass. In summer, moisture-laden air—the southwest monsoon—is drawn landward from the Indian Ocean.
The flow is reversed during the winter, and the northeast monsoon sends back dry air. The southwest monsoon brings the rainy season from mid-May to mid-September or to early October, and the northeast monsoon flow of drier and cooler air lasts from early November to March. Temperatures are fairly uniform throughout the Tonlé Sap Basin area, with only small variations from the average annual mean of around .
The maximum mean is about ; the minimum mean, about . Maximum temperatures of higher than , however, are common and, just before the start of the rainy season, they may rise to more than . Minimum night temperatures sporadically fall below . in January, the coldest month. May is the warmest month - although strongly influenced by the beginning of the wet season, as the area constitutes the easternmost fringe of the south-west monsoon. Tropical cyclones only rarely cause damage in Cambodia.
The total annual rainfall average is between , and the heaviest amounts fall in the southeast. Rainfall from April to September in the Tonlé Sap Basin-Mekong Lowlands area averages annually, but the amount varies considerably from year to year. Rainfall around the basin increases with elevation. It is heaviest in the mountains along the coast in the southwest, which receive from to more than of precipitation annually as the southwest monsoon reaches the coast.
This area of greatest rainfall drains mostly to the sea; only a small quantity goes into the rivers flowing into the basin. Relative humidity is high throughout the entire year; usually exceeding 90%. During the dry season daytime humidity rates average around 50 percent or slightly lower, climbing to about 90% during the rainy season.
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Hydrology
s]]
]]
The Mekong River and its tributaries comprise one of the largest river systems
in the world. The central Tonle Sap, the Great Lake has several input rivers, the most important being the Tonle Sap River, which contributes 62% of the total water supply during the rainy season. Direct rainfall on the lake and the other rivers in the sub-basin contribute the remaining 38%. Major rivers are the Sen river, Sreng River, Stung Pouthisat River, Sisophon River, Mongkol Borei River, and Sangkae River.
Smaller rivers in the southeast, the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Range form separate drainage divides. To the east the rivers flow into the Tonle Sap, as in the south-west rivers flow into the Gulf of Thailand. Toward the southern slopes of the Elephant Mountains, small rivers flow south-eastward on the eastern side of the divide.
The Mekong River flows southward from the Cambodia-Laos border to a point south of Kratié (town), where it turns west for about and then turns southwest towards Phnom Penh. Extensive rapids run north of Kratie city. From Kampong Cham Province the gradient slopes very gently, and inundation of areas along the river occurs at flood stage. From June through November—through breaks in the natural levees that have built up along its course. At Phnom Penh four major water courses meet at a point called the Chattomukh (Four Faces). The Mekong River flows in from the northeast and the Tonle Sap river emanates from the Tonle Sap—flows in from the northwest. They divide into two parallel channels, the Mekong River proper and the Bassac River, and flow independently through the delta areas of Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea.
The flow of water into the Tonle Sap is seasonal. In spring, the flow of the Mekong River, fed by monsoon rains, increases to a point where its outlets through the delta can't handle the enormous volume of water. At this point, the water pushes northward up the Tonle Sap river and empties into the Tonle Sap lake, thereby increasing the size of the lake from about to about at the height of the flooding. After the Mekong's waters crest — when its downstream channels can handle the volume of water — the flow reverses, and water flows out of the engorged lake.
As the level of the Tonle Sap retreats, it deposits a new layer of sediment. The annual flooding, combined with poor drainage immediately around the lake, transforms the surrounding area into marshlands, unusable for agricultural purposes during the dry season. The sediment deposited into the lake during the Mekong's flood stage appears to be greater than the quantity carried away later by the Tonle Sap River. Gradual silting of the lake would seem to be occurring; during low-water level, it is only about deep, while at flood stage it is between deep.Vegetation & ecoregions
in Cambodia]]
Cambodia has one of the highest levels of forest cover in the region as the interdependence of Cambodia’s geography and hydrology makes it rich in natural resources and biological diversity - among the bio-richest countries in Southeast Asia.
In Cambodia forest cover is around 46% of the total land area, equivalent to 8,068,370 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 11,004,790 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 7,464,400 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 603,970 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 4% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity). For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership. The Royal Government of Cambodia estimates Cambodia contains approximately 10.36 million hectares of forest cover, representing approximately 57.07% of Cambodia’s land area (2011). On the contrary, international observers and independent sources provide rather different numbers. Consensus permeates, as most sources agree, that deforestation in Cambodia, loss of seasonal wetlands and habitat destruction - among countless minor factors - correlates with the absence of strict administrative control and indifference in law enforcement - not only in Cambodia but the entire region.
Figures and assessments are numerous as are available sources. as seen in numbers below, which provide a wide range for interpretation. About (1%) of forest cover is planted forest. Overall Cambodia’s forests contain an estimated 464 million metric tonnes of carbon stock in living forest biomass. Approximately 40% of Cambodia’s Forests have some level of protection, while one of the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals targets is to achieve a 60% forest cover by 2015.
{| class"wikitable" style"float:left; text-align:center; width:45%;"
| colspan"22" style"text-align:center;font-size:100%; font-style:bold;background:#E8EAFA;"|Cambodia Forest Cover, 2002
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Forest Types
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Area (ha)
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Percentage
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:#483d8b;"
||Evergreen Forest
|| 3,720,506
|| 20.49
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:crimson;"
|| Semi-evergreen forest
|| 1,455,190
|| 8.01
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:crimson;"
|| Deciduous forest
|| 4,833,861
|| 26.62
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:#483d8b;"
|| Other forest
|| 1,094,726
|| 6.03
|-
|style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Non-forest
|style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 7,056,388
|style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 38.85
|-
! colspan"5" | Source: United Nations
|}
{| class"wikitable" style"float:right; text-align:center; width:45%;"
| colspan"22" style"text-align:center;font-size:100%; font-style:bold;background:#E8EAFA;"|Cambodia Forest Cover, 2002
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Forest Types
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Area (ha)
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Percentage
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:#483d8b;"
||forests - commercially unattractive
|| 3.200.000
|| 30
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:crimson;"
|| forests - commercially attractive
|| 630.000
|| 6
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:crimson;"
|| flooded forest - cut and/or converted
||
|| 30
|- style="color:#fff; text-align:center; background:#483d8b;"
|| flooded forest - healthy
|| 450.000
||
|-
|style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| lost area
|style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 550.000
|style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 55
|-
! colspan"5" | Source: CAMBODIA DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE INSTITUTE
|}
According to the Forestry Administration statistics, a total of 380,000 hectares of forest were cleared between 2002 and 2005/2006 - a deforestation rate of 0.5% per year. The main cause of deforestation has been determined to be large-scale agricultural expansions.
Southern Annamites Montane Rain Forests ecoregion
The Southern Annamites Montane Rain Forests ecoregion of the montane forests of Kontuey Nea, "the dragon's tail" in the remote north-west of Cambodia, where the boundaries of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam meet [this is in the northeast, not the northwest?], is remarkably rich in biodiversity. The relatively intact forests occupy a broad topographic range - from lowlands with wet evergreen forests to montane habitats with evergreen hardwood and conifer forests. The complex geological, topographic and climatic ( rainfall and temperature ) facets that characterize the region make forest structure and composition unique and very variable. There is an unusually high number of near-endemic and endemic species among the many species to be found in the area. The entire eco-region has a size of .The Great Lake ecosystem
]]
The Tonle Sap, also known as the Great Lake in central Cambodia is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and one of the richest inland fishing grounds in the world. The Lake functions as a natural flood water reservoir for the Mekong system as a whole and therefore is an important source of water for the Mekong Delta during the dry season. The ecosystem has developed as a result of the Mekong’s seasonal flow fluctuations. The forest gradually yields to bushes and finally grassland with increasing distance from the lake.
Henri Mouhot: "Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China" 1864
On higher quality soils or at higher elevation, areas of mixed deciduous forest and semi-evergreen forests occur. This variety of vegetation types accounts for the quantity and diversity of species of the Great Lake ecosystem. Interlocking forest, - grassland and marshland patches provide the many facets and refugia for the abundant local wildlife.
The lake’s flooded forest and the surrounding floodplains are of utmost importance for Cambodia's agriculture as the region represents the cultural heart of Cambodia, the center of the national freshwater fishery industry - the nation's primary protein source.
Threats to the lake include widespread pollution, stress through growth of the local population which is dependent on the lake for subsistence and livelihood, over-harvesting of fish and other aquatic - often endangered - species, habitat destruction and potential changes in the hydrology, such as the construction and operation of dams, that disrupt the lake's natural flood cycle. However, concerns that the lake is rapidly filling with sediment seem - according to studies - to be unfounded at the present time.
Wetlands
]]
Wetlands cover more than 30% of Cambodia. In addition to the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap floodplain there are the Stung Sen River and the coastal Stung Koh Pao - and Stung Kep estuaries of Koh Kong Province and Kep Province. The freshwater wetlands of Cambodia represent one of the most diverse ecosystems worldwide. The area’s extensive wetland habitats are the product of the annual Mekong maximum, the simultaneous wet season and the drainage paths of a number of minor rivers. See also:Geography of Cambodia#Hydrology The numerous and varied wetlands are Cambodia's central and traditional settlement area, the productive environments for rice cultivation, freshwater fisheries, other forms of agriculture and aquaculture and the constantly growing tourism sector. Considering the eco-region's importance, a variety of plans for local wetland management consolidation exist with varying degrees of completion.
Coastal habitats
Cambodia, September 2013]]
The Cambodian coastline consists of of over 30 species of mangroves - among the most biologically diverse wetlands on earth. The most pristine mangrove forests are found in Koh Kong Province. In addition to mangroves, sea-grass beds extend throughout the coastal areas, especially in Kampot Province, the Sihanoukville Bay Delta and the Kep municipal waters. The meadows are highly productive, but few animals feed directly on the grasses. Those that do tend to be vertebrates such as sea turtles, dabbling ducks and geese.
"With their roots deep in mud, jagged and gnarled mangrove trees are able to grow in the brackish wetlands between land and sea where other plant life cannot survive. The trees offer refuge and nursery grounds for fish, crabs, shrimp, and mollusks. They are nesting - and migratory sites for hundreds of bird species. They also provide homes for monkeys, lizards, sea turtles, and many other animals as well as countless insects."
Protected areas
"The 1993 Royal Decree on the Protection of Natural Areas recognized 23 protected areas, which at the time covered more than 18% of the country’s total land area."
* Natural parks (sometimes described as ‘national parks’)
* Wildlife reserves
* Protected scenic view areas (sometimes described as ‘protected landscapes’)
* Multi-purpose areas
Political and human geography
Cambodia borders Vietnam over a length of , Thailand over a length of and Laos over a length of , with in total and an additional of coastline. The capital (reach thani) and provinces (khaet) of Cambodia are first-level administrative divisions. Cambodia is divided into 25 provinces including the capital.
Municipalities and districts are the second-level administrative divisions of Cambodia. The provinces are subdivided into 159 districts and 26 municipalities. The districts and municipalities in turn are further divided into communes (khum) and quarters (sangkat).
Land use
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have experienced major changes in land use and land cover over the last two decades. The emergence from cold war rivalries and recent major economic reforms result in a shift from subsistence agrarian modes of production to market-based agricultural production and industrialized economies, which are heavily integrated into regional and global trade systems.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center; margin: auto; font-weight:600; width:80%"
! colspan"22" style"text-align:center;font-size:110%; background:#fff; color:#000;"|Land Use in Cambodia - Sources: World Bank, FAO UN
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|1990
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|2000
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|2002
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|2010
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| Agricultural land (km<sup>2</sup>) in Cambodia
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 44550.0
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 47700.0
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|
|-
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| Agricultural land (% of land area) in Cambodia
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 25.2
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 27.0
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 23.0
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
|-
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| Arable land (hectares) in Cambodia
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 3695000.0
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 3700000.0
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
|-
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|Arable land (hectares per person) in Cambodia
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 0.4
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 0.3
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
|-
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|Arable land (% of land area) in Cambodia
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 20.9
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"| 21.0
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
! style="text-align:center; background:crimson; color:#fff;"|
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|Permanent cropland (% of land area) in Cambodia
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 0.6
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 0.8
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|Forest area (km<sup>2</sup>) in Cambodia
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 129460.0
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 115460.0
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 100940.0
|-
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"|Forest area (% of land area) in Cambodia
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 73.3
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 65.4
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 54.0
!style="text-align:center; background:#483d8b; color:#fff;"| 57.2
|}
Regional divisions
Cambodia's boundaries were for the most part based upon those recognized by France and by neighboring countries during the colonial period. The boundary with Thailand runs along the watershed of the Dangrek Mountains, although only in its northern sector. The border with Laos and the border with Vietnam result from French administrative decisions and do not follow major natural features. Border disputes have broken out in the past and do persist between Cambodia and Thailand as well as between Cambodia and Vietnam.
<imagemap>
Image:Cambodia, administrative divisions - de - colored, 2013.svg|right|550px
poly 355 962 361 973 371 973 375 962 381 964 376 955 378 931 390 921 397 905 398 898 393 885 420 844 437 832 442 848 436 855 440 868 431 885 444 902 443 930 436 937 431 933 426 934 407 951 410 955 407 966 413 981 408 996 411 1008 416 1009 418 1015 415 1030 404 1037 379 1090 222 1125 178 1097 257 1035 304 1035 320 1012 350 1008 345 1002 349 991 355 988 360 980 Sihanoukville
poly 471 1081 492 1033 523 1030 528 1070 524 1095 Kep
poly 399 1053 422 1024 412 996 413 941 457 926 440 896 472 913 491 922 515 904 526 907 532 926 548 931 548 938 555 968 590 968 609 1006 591 1033 589 1064 554 1070 542 1103 529 1083 537 1017 492 1028 468 1082 Kampot
poly 518 909 550 969 555 975 590 960 593 998 589 1022 590 1049 600 1070 652 1066 665 1025 687 1006 666 957 672 919 666 889 641 870 638 857 595 855 585 929 Takéo
poly 606 779 613 845 666 825 645 770 Phnom Penh
poly 611 725 573 831 614 832 595 856 652 860 655 885 675 898 667 932 673 968 707 964 727 868 712 819 680 799 655 809 654 823 647 829 628 834 617 837 608 826 613 814 615 807 612 798 613 782 623 779 641 780 650 791 656 808 686 799 696 766 667 756 671 740 663 727 643 741 622 735 Kandal
poly 684 805 683 763 724 740 760 736 772 757 820 759 837 776 846 796 838 810 821 820 817 846 812 876 811 889 806 918 808 933 806 950 783 954 759 956 749 981 705 961 722 909 737 867 724 829 Prey Veng
poly 870 805 830 807 821 864 816 897 800 930 802 954 852 925 864 974 874 995 886 966 906 986 940 998 940 963 940 949 944 929 925 914 921 914 905 899 884 881 873 869 873 854 Svay Rieng
poly 713 751 688 766 672 756 676 735 662 723 639 735 630 741 621 728 625 704 642 687 646 623 714 639 694 604 746 595 762 575 797 575 829 574 834 618 865 645 900 659 924 681 936 696 934 706 970 713 1014 711 1005 725 1008 761 1014 781 1005 793 965 766 927 751 879 782 862 787 827 762 790 753 762 752 741 728 Kampong Cham
poly 476 695 458 633 513 609 521 547 584 549 625 574 636 607 635 634 632 668 635 699 622 718 609 736 599 746 565 751 547 760 507 749 Kampong Chhnang
poly 366 738 471 680 511 755 565 759 597 736 601 744 576 830 611 838 597 860 583 921 553 920 519 900 497 918 473 926 446 899 435 894 438 853 435 815 410 805 386 781 Kampong Speu
poly 355 964 343 946 342 922 328 920 316 902 302 906 286 954 290 969 275 976 269 966 248 964 240 975 263 1018 251 1029 234 1007 207 972 199 955 214 943 211 926 216 918 208 889 201 889 190 881 187 870 184 842 192 838 185 816 174 796 170 785 169 755 155 736 149 720 139 700 139 691 180 691 191 693 216 706 229 707 252 696 265 696 283 668 293 671 300 665 315 670 345 700 354 701 360 710 379 711 394 732 375 733 379 743 375 747 373 760 379 772 379 786 413 811 420 808 429 808 432 813 441 816 437 835 421 842 392 888 394 897 395 903 388 923 377 932 377 955 380 965 373 963 372 974 362 974 360 964 Koh Kong
poly 60 448 86 450 113 418 129 434 135 490 132 523 111 535 83 537 72 533 70 507 77 489 Pailin
poly 189 134 241 173 247 216 273 197 295 239 371 175 532 213 545 185 557 171 560 106 485 90 424 97 389 95 351 81 310 81 241 96 Oddar Meanchey
poly 565 106 557 177 533 203 524 255 533 291 543 312 587 321 576 355 581 395 621 371 641 389 655 428 668 437 761 358 802 327 798 274 776 239 798 231 871 218 852 185 809 167 781 174 747 172 726 151 704 116 697 131 674 147 648 109 635 97 594 89 Preah Vihear
poly 286 212 290 358 171 361 125 346 123 321 29 324 33 301 90 298 93 273 138 248 163 183 186 142 219 177 239 177 242 217 275 201 Banteay Meanchey
poly 285 352 280 229 377 183 417 200 493 206 529 209 518 245 524 271 525 287 527 314 587 312 566 382 539 401 536 442 483 502 439 472 402 433 372 389 Siem Reap
poly 35 321 115 326 121 354 171 355 239 356 296 363 363 369 408 430 369 453 347 489 341 540 336 573 282 559 243 558 205 565 179 574 164 593 146 595 82 536 149 515 129 418 100 417 92 438 89 446 67 440 46 430 30 407 Battambang
poly 127 594 127 696 214 707 279 685 304 669 379 711 401 733 482 681 454 633 514 610 518 566 474 519 440 471 391 420 363 467 344 498 341 552 339 581 296 561 277 551 260 564 212 560 199 564 189 581 Pursat
poly 466 510 528 566 537 549 561 544 603 557 627 571 635 590 641 609 641 621 640 631 708 647 693 591 748 610 753 568 841 571 792 335 648 440 633 404 643 367 564 380 543 408 533 452 Kampong Thom
poly 810 390 846 635 928 696 980 722 1084 709 1086 635 1006 592 982 545 1052 492 1041 427 998 414 968 359 961 337 898 400 870 426 836 403 Kratie
poly 781 230 794 297 795 364 803 412 863 420 926 367 1002 364 1037 367 1048 361 1028 294 1054 249 1046 202 1085 190 1069 93 1022 62 975 83 909 116 939 171 943 211 922 228 859 214 Stung Tren
poly 1071 98 1077 187 1042 209 1050 256 1028 315 1044 359 1055 389 1132 416 1161 404 1163 369 1288 374 1254 254 1226 202 1220 178 1227 119 1246 89 1261 34 1239 54 1234 69 1222 59 1211 62 1191 82 1176 103 1145 93 1135 110 1108 120 Ratanakkiri
poly 981 350 988 397 1010 424 1046 427 1045 493 1007 517 991 566 1006 585 1029 629 1096 640 1090 683 1150 685 1185 618 1232 627 1250 644 1272 594 1280 530 1260 464 1262 417 1276 378 1227 372 1183 365 1156 370 1142 399 1116 412 1074 398 1045 375 1026 352 988 354 Mondulkiri
desc top-left
</imagemap>
{| cellspacing="2px"
|
{| class"sortable wikitable" style"text-align:center; font-size:90%;"
|- style="font-size:100%; text-align:center;"
! style"width:20px;"| Number !! style"width:90px;"| Province !! style"width:90px;"| Capital !! style"width:85px;"| Area (km²)!! style="width:85px;"| Population
|-
| 1 || Banteay Meanchey || Serei Saophoan || style"text-align:right"|6,679|| style"text-align:right"|678,033
|-
| 2 || Battambang || Battambang || style"text-align:right"|11,702|| style"text-align:right"|1,036,523
|-
| 3 || Kampong Cham || Kampong Cham ||style"text-align:right"|4,549 || style"text-align:right"|1,010,098
|-
| 4 || Kampong Chhnang || Kampong Chhnang || style"text-align:right"|5,521|| style"text-align:right"|472,616
|-
| 5 || Kampong Speu || Kampong Speu || style"text-align:right"|7,017|| style"text-align:right"|718,008
|-
| 6 || Kampong Thom || Kampong Thom ||style"text-align:right"|13,814|| style"text-align:right"|908,398
|-
| 7 || Kampot || Kampot || style"text-align:right"|4,873|| style"text-align:right"|585,110
|-
| 8 || Kandal || Ta Khmau || style"text-align:right"|3,568|| style"text-align:right"|1,265,805
|-
| 9 || Kep || Kep || style"text-align:right"|336|| style"text-align:right"|80,208
|-
| 10 || Koh Kong || Koh Kong || style"text-align:right"|11,160|| style"text-align:right"|139,722
|-
| 11 || Kratié || Kratié || style"text-align:right"|11,094|| style"text-align:right"|318,523
|-
| 12 || Mondulkiri || Senmonorom || style"text-align:right"|14,288|| style"text-align:right"|60,811
|-
| 13 || Oddar Meanchey || Samraong || style"text-align:right"|6,158|| style"text-align:right"|185,443
|-
| 14 || Pailin || Pailin || style"text-align:right"|803|| style"text-align:right"|70,482
|-
| 15 || Phnom Penh || Phnom Penh || style"text-align:right"|758|| style"text-align:right"|2,234,566
|-
| 16 || Preah Sihanouk || Sihanoukville || style"text-align:right"|2,536.68|| style"text-align:right"|199,902
|-
| 17 || Preah Vihear || Tbeng Meanchey || style"text-align:right"|13,788|| style"text-align:right"|170,852
|-
| 18 || Pursat || Pursat || style"text-align:right"|12,692|| style"text-align:right"|397,107
|-
| 19 || Prey Veng || Prey Veng || style"text-align:right"|4,883|| style"text-align:right"|947,357
|-
| 20 || Ratanakiri || Banlung || style"text-align:right"|10,782|| style"text-align:right"|217,453
|-
| 21 || Siem Reap || Siem Reap || style"text-align:right"|10,229|| style"text-align:right"|1,000,309
|-
| 22 || Stung Treng || Stung Treng || style"text-align:right"|11,092|| style"text-align:right"|111,734
|-
| 23 || Svay Rieng || Svay Rieng || style"text-align:right"|2,966|| style"text-align:right"|498,785
|-
| 24 || Takéo || Doun Kaev || style"text-align:right"|3,563|| style"text-align:right"|843,931
|-
| 25 || Tboung Khmum || Suong || style"text-align:right"|4,928 || style="text-align:right"|754,000
|}
|}
Area and boundaries
;Area:
:*total:
:**country rank in the world: 88th
:*land:
:*water:
;Area comparative:
:*Australia comparative: slightly less than the size of Victoria
:*Canada comaparative: slightly more than times the size of New Brunswick
:*United States comparative: approximately the size of Oklahoma
:*United Kingdom comparative: approximately the size of the United Kingdom
:*EU comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Portugal
;Maritime claims:
:*territorial sea:
:*contiguous zone:
:*exclusive economic zone:
:*continental shelf:
;Elevation extremes
:*lowest point: Gulf of Thailand
:*highest point: Phnum Aoral
;Border disputes
:* Cambodian–Thai border dispute
:* Cambodian–Vietnamese land dispute
;Lakes
:*Tonlé Sap Lake
:*Yak Loum Crater Lake — Ratanakiri
Natural resources
* Oil and natural gas - In addition to the four parts of mining project, the oilfield, Block A was discovered in 2005 and located offshore in the gulf of Thailand Chevron would operate and hold a 30% interest Block A which cover . It is expected to get 30-year-production permit in the second quarter of 2011.
In late 1969, the Cambodian government granted a permit to a French company to explore for petroleum in the Gulf of Thailand. By 1972 none had been located, and exploration ceased when the Khmer Republic (see Appendix B) fell in 1975. Subsequent oil and gas discoveries in the Gulf of Thailand and in the South China Sea, however, could spark renewed interest in Cambodia's offshore area, especially because the country is on the same continental shelf as its Southeast Asian oil-producing neighbors.
* Timber
** Dipterocarpus alatus (chheuteal tan) sawnwood, veneer, plywood
** Anisoptera glabra (mersawa, phdiek) sawnwood, veneer, plywood
** Hopea odorata (koki) Sawmilling, construction (bridges, boats)
** Shorea vulgaris (choë(r) chông) sawmilling, construction (housing)
** Heritiera javanica (synonym Tarrietia javanica) sawnwood (decorative, furniture)
* Gemstones - Gemstone areas are located in Samlot district of Battambang, Paillin, Ratanakkiri, and Takéo Province
* Iron ore - Hermatite (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>); Magnetite (Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>); Limonite (2Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, 3H<sub>2</sub>O) - was found in two areas, one located in Phnom Deck and the others located in Koh Keo of Preah Vihear Province, and Thalaborivath of Stung Treng Province. According to General Department of Mineral, the total iron reserves in Phnom Deck area are estimated at 5 to 6 Million tons and other deposits may add 2 to 3 Million tons.
* Gold - Gold deposit was found in four provinces: Kampong Cham (The Rumchek in Memot area), Kampong Thom (Phnom Chi area), Preah Vihear (Phnom Deck in Roveing district), Ratanakiri (Oyadav district) and Mondulkiri
* Bauxite – was found in Battambang Province and Chhlong district in Mondulkiri Province.
* Antimony (Sb) – found in Sre Peang area, Pursat Province
* Chromium (Cr) – found in Sre Peang area, Pursat Province
* manganese
* phosphates
* Hydro-power - Hydroelectric dams: Lower Se San 2 Dam, Stung Treng Dam
* Arable land
* Marine resources
Total renewable water resources:
* (2011)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
* Total: /yr (4%/2%/94%)
* Per capita: /yr (2006)
Environmental issues
at the Tatai River in the Koh Kong Conservation Corridor, Cambodia 2012]]
Natural hazards
* Monsoonal rains (June to November)
* Mekong flooding
* Occasional droughts
Human impact
Issues
* Illegal logging activities throughout the country
* rubber tree mono-cultures and strip mining for gold in the eastern highlands
* gem mining in the western region along the border with Thailand
* destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries, illegal fishing and over-fishing
* large scale sand mining in river beds and estuaries of Koh Kong's mangrove marshes affects tidal balance
A nascent environmental movement has been noticed by NGO's - and it is gaining strength, as the example of local resistance against the building of a Chinese hydro-electric dam in the Areng Valley shows.
Cambodia has a bad but improving performance in the global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) with an overall ranking of 146 out of 180 countries in 2016. This is among the worst in the Southeast Asian region, only ahead of Laos and Myanmar. The EPI was established in 2001 by the World Economic Forum as a global gauge to measure how well individual countries perform in implementing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
The environmental areas where Cambodia performs worst on the EPI (i.e. highest ranking) are air quality (148), water resource management (140) and health impacts of environmental issues (137), with the areas of sanitation, environmental impacts of fisheries and forest management following closely. Cambodia has an unusually large expanse of protected areas, both on land and at sea, with the land-based protections covering about 20% of the country. This secures Cambodia a better than average ranking of 61 in relation to biodiversity and habitat, despite the fact deforestation, illegal logging, construction and poaching are heavily deteriorating these protections and habitats in reality, partly fueled by the government's placement of economic land concessions and plantations within protected areas.
In November 2017, the U.S. cut funds to help clear unexploded ordnance including land mines and chemical weapons in Cambodia which it had dropped during the Vietnam War.
Consequences
* Flooding
* Deforestation
* Soil erosion in rural areas
* Declining fish stocks
* Decreasing access to clean water
* Habitat loss and declining biodiversity
International agreements and conventions
Cambodia is party to the following treaties:
* Convention on Biological Diversity
* Convention on Climate Change
* MARPOL 73/78
* Tropical Timber 94
* Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Signed, but not ratified:
* Law of the Sea
See also
References
External links
National
* [http://www.mlmupc.gov.kh/ Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140620045330/http://forestry.gov.kh/index-Eng.htm Forestry Administration]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130717162125/http://www.forestry.gov.kh/Documents/Forestry%20Law_Eng.pdf Law on Forestry]
* [http://www.cambodiainvestment.gov.kh/law-on-land-use-planning-urbanization-and-construction_940524.html law on land use]
* [http://www.mowram.gov.kh/index.php/en Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology]
* [http://www.tonlesap.gov.kh/ Tonle Sap Authority]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150209064252/http://www.elc.maff.gov.kh/ Economic Land Concession]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150526160525/http://scocambodia.org/environmental-law/ Environmental Law]
* [http://cambodialpj.org/article/on-the-path-to-sustainable-development-an-assessment-of-cambodias-draft-environmental-impact-assessment-law/ An Assessment of Cambodia’s Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Law]
* [http://www.camclimate.org.kh/en/ccd/ccd-news/119-bonn-climate-change-conference-2013-national-adaptation-plan-expo.html Climate Change Department]
International
* [http://www.bnf.fr/en/tools/lr.search_results.html?querygeology+of+cambodia&x0&y=0 National Library of France]
* [http://www.fao.org/fishery/legalframework/nalo_cambodia/en National Aquaculture Legislation]
* [http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/am627e/am627e00.pdf Cambodia Forestry Outlook Study]
* [http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=KHM FAO UN]
* [http://www.mrcmekong.org/ Mekong River Commission]
* [http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/napa/khm01.pdf National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change (NAPA)]
* [http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8594E/w8594e00.htm# World reference base for soil resources]
Further reading
* [http://www.mrcmekong.org/mekong-basin/stories-from-the-mekong/ Stories from the Mekong]
* [http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cardamoms-one-crown-jewels-global Cardamoms 'one of the crown jewels...]
* [http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampots-forgotten-karst-formations Kampot's forgotten Karst formations]
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Cambodia
|
2025-04-05T18:27:12.578992
|
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|
Demographics of Cambodia
|
<!-- "none" is a legitimate description when the title is already adequate; see WP:SDNONE -->
1.63%
|birth19.3 births/1,000 population <br>
|death= 6.8 deaths/1,000 population <br>
|fertility = 2.34 children born/woman <br>
|infant_mortality 24 deaths/1,000 live births <br>
|life69.6 years
|life_male=67.3 years
|life_female= 71.6 years
|age_0-14_years=28.59%
|age_15-64_years=65.26%
|age_65_years=6.15%
|total_mf_ratio=0.94 male(s)/female (2013)
|sr_at_birth=1.05 male(s)/female
|sr_under_15|sr_15-64_years
|sr_65_years_over=0.6 male(s)/female
|net_migration= 0.32 migrant(s)/1,000 population
|nation=noun: Cambodian(s), Khmer(s); Kampuchean(s) (historical)<br />adjective: Cambodian, Khmer; Kampuchean (historical)
|major_ethnic= Khmer
|minor_ethnic= Chinese, Vietnamese, Cham, and others
|official= Khmer
|spoken=
}}
Demographic features of the population of Cambodia include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Population size and structure
Between 1874 and 1921, the total population of Cambodia increased from about 946,000 to 2.4 million. By 1950, it had increased to between 3,710,107 and 4,073,967, and in 1962 it had reached 5.7 million. From the 1960s until 1975, the population of Cambodia increased by about 2.2% yearly, the lowest increase in Southeast Asia.
By 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took power, the population was estimated at 7.3 million. Of this total an estimated one to two million reportedly died between 1975 and 1978. In 1981, the PRK gave the official population figure as nearly 6.7 million, although approximately 6.3 million to 6.4 million is probably more accurate.
The average annual rate of population growth from 1978 to 1985 was 2.3% (see table 2, Appendix A). A post-Khmer Rouge baby boom pushed the population above 10 million, although growth has slowed in recent years.
In 1959, about 45% of the population was under 15 years of age. By 1962, this had increased slightly to 46%. In 1962, an estimated 52% of the population was between 15 and 64 years of age, while 2% were older than 65. The percentage of males and females in the three groups was almost the same.
Age distribution
<gallery widths="250px">
Pyramide Cambodge.PNG|Cambodian Population Pyramid-2005
Population pyramid cambodia 2019.png|Population pyramid, urban-rural, Cambodia, 2019
</gallery>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan2|Year
! rowspan2 width"80pt"|Total population (thousands)
! colspan=3|Population percentage
|-
! aged 0–14
! aged 15–64
! aged 65+
|-
| 1950
| align="right" | 4 346
|
|
|
|-
| 1955
| align="right" | 4 840
|
|
|
|-
| 1960
| align="right" | 5 433
|
|
|
|-
| 1965
| align="right" | 6 141
|
|
|
|-
| 1970
| align="right" | 6 938
|
|
|
|-
| 1975
| align="right" | 7 308
|
|
|
|-
| 1980
| align="right" | 6 306
|
|
|
|-
| 1985
| align="right" | 7 920
|
|
|
|-
| 1990
| align="right" | 9 532
|
|
|
|-
| 1995
| align="right" | 11 169
|
|
|
|-
| 2000
| align="right" | 12 447
|
|
|
|-
| 2005
| align="right" | 13 358
|
|
|
|-
| 2010
| align="right" | 14 138
|
|
|
|-
| 2015
| align="right" | 15 521
|
|
|
|-
| 2020
| align="right" | 16 719
|
|
|
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 7 320 112
| align="right" | 7 642 479
| align="right" | 14 962 591
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 806 531
| align="right" | 777 854
| align="right" | 1 584 385
| align="right" | 10.59
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 721 480
| align="right" | 693 339
| align="right" | 1 414 819
| align="right" | 9.46
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 768 899
| align="right" | 735 963
| align="right" | 1 504 862
| align="right" | 10.06
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 878 612
| align="right" | 830 980
| align="right" | 1 709 592
| align="right" | 11.43
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 848 931
| align="right" | 800 737
| align="right" | 1 649 668
| align="right" | 11.03
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 678 825
| align="right" | 712 044
| align="right" | 1 390 869
| align="right" | 9.30
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 613 674
| align="right" | 637 973
| align="right" | 1 251 647
| align="right" | 8.37
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 338 735
| align="right" | 363 397
| align="right" | 702 132
| align="right" | 4.69
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 411 072
| align="right" | 441 415
| align="right" | 852 487
| align="right" | 5.70
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 344 372
| align="right" | 395 214
| align="right" | 739 586
| align="right" | 4.94
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 295 645
| align="right" | 352 214
| align="right" | 648 347
| align="right" | 4.33
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 190 528
| align="right" | 288 806
| align="right" | 479 334
| align="right" | 3.20
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 153 721
| align="right" | 218 867
| align="right" | 372 588
| align="right" | 2.49
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 105 605
| align="right" | 147 502
| align="right" | 253 107
| align="right" | 1.69
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 76 017
| align="right" | 108 069
| align="right" | 184 086
| align="right" | 1.23
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 47 601
| align="right" | 72 558
| align="right" | 120 159
| align="right" | 0.80
|-
| align="right" | 80+
| align="right" | 39 864
| align="right" | 65 059
| align="right" | 104 923
| align="right" | 0.70
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 2 296 910
| align="right" | 2 207 156
| align="right" | 4 504 066
| align="right" | 30.10
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 4 754 115
| align="right" | 5 042 135
| align="right" | 9 796 250
| align="right" | 65.47
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 269 087
| align="right" | 393 188
| align="right" | 662 275
| align="right" | 4.43
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 8 093 453
| align="right" | 8 498 636
| align="right" | 16 592 089
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 791 593
| align="right" | 755 468
| align="right" | 1 547 061
| align="right" | 9.32
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 792 080
| align="right" | 756 481
| align="right" | 1 548 561
| align="right" | 9.33
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 843 604
| align="right" | 804 317
| align="right" | 1 647 921
| align="right" | 9.93
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 799 876
| align="right" | 773 934
| align="right" | 1 573 810
| align="right" | 9.49
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 647 446
| align="right" | 666 588
| align="right" | 1 314 034
| align="right" | 7.92
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 684 545
| align="right" | 720 947
| align="right" | 1 405 492
| align="right" | 8.47
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 682 783
| align="right" | 713 536
| align="right" | 1 396 319
| align="right" | 8.42
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 684 224
| align="right" | 703 803
| align="right" | 1 388 027
| align="right" | 8.37
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 483 437
| align="right" | 500 719
| align="right" | 984 156
| align="right" | 5.93
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 369 988
| align="right" | 393 527
| align="right" | 763 515
| align="right" | 4.60
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 360 130
| align="right" | 409 250
| align="right" | 769 380
| align="right" | 4.64
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 319 093
| align="right" | 370 486
| align="right" | 689 579
| align="right" | 4.16
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 232 929
| align="right" | 310 156
| align="right" | 543 085
| align="right" | 3.27
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 157 661
| align="right" | 240 966
| align="right" | 398 627
| align="right" | 2.40
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 112 069
| align="right" | 169 150
| align="right" | 281 219
| align="right" | 1.69
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 71 156
| align="right" | 105 568
| align="right" | 176 724
| align="right" | 1.07
|-
| align="right" | 80+
| align="right" | 60 839
| align="right" | 103 740
| align="right" | 164 579
| align="right" | 0.99
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 2 427 277
| align="right" | 2 316 266
| align="right" | 4 743 543
| align="right" | 28.59
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 5 264 451
| align="right" | 5 562 946
| align="right" | 10 827 397
| align="right" | 65.26
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 401 725
| align="right" | 619 424
| align="right" | 1 021 149
| align="right" | 6.15
|-
|}
Urbanization
:Urban population: 39.4% of total population (2019)
:Rate of urbanization: 7.8% annual rate of change (2008—2019)
Vital statistics
UN estimates
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align: right;"
|-
! width"80pt"|Period
! width="80pt"|Population<br />(on 1 July)
! width="80pt"|Live births
! width="80pt"|Deaths
! width="80pt"|Natural change
! width="80pt"|CBR<sup>1</sup>
! width="80pt"|CDR<sup>1</sup>
! width="80pt"|NC<sup>1</sup>
! width="80pt"|TFR<sup>1</sup>
! width="80pt"|IMR<sup>1</sup>
! width="80pt"|Life expectancy (years)
|-
|1950
|4 380 000
| 209 000
| 107 000
| 102 000
|47.7
|24.4
|23.3
|6.63
|172.5
|38.94
|-
|1951
| 4 485 000
| 213 000
| 108 000
| 105 000
|47.5
|24.1
|23.4
|6.62
|170.9
|39.25
|-
|1952
| 4 593 000
| 218 000
| 110 000
| 109 000
|47.5
|23.9
|23.6
|6.63
|168.9
|39.51
|-
|1953
| 4 702 000
| 224 000
| 112 000
| 112 000
|47.6
|23.7
|23.9
|6.66
|167.5
|39.74
|-
|1954
| 4 814 000
| 230 000
| 112 000
| 117 000
|47.7
|23.3
|24.4
|6.69
|165.1
|40.22
|-
|1955
| 4 931 000
| 236 000
| 114 000
| 122 000
|47.8
|23.1
|24.7
|6.73
|163.4
|40.45
|-
|1956
| 5 052 000
| 241 000
| 115 000
| 126 000
|47.8
|22.8
|24.9
|6.75
|160.8
|40.77
|-
|1957
| 5 176 000
| 247 000
| 116 000
| 130 000
|47.6
|22.5
|25.1
|6.75
|158.2
|41.19
|-
|1958
| 5 298 000
| 245 000
| 117 000
| 128 000
|46.2
|22.0
|24.2
|6.57
|155.6
|41.52
|-
|1959
| 5 419 000
| 244 000
| 117 000
| 127 000
|45.0
|21.6
|23.3
|6.42
|152.5
|41.79
|-
|1960
| 5 542 000
| 242 000
| 116 000
| 126 000
|43.7
|21.0
|22.7
|6.25
|149.5
|42.36
|-
|1961
| 5 665 000
| 242 000
| 116 000
| 127 000
|42.8
|20.4
|22.3
|6.12
|147.0
|42.79
|-
|1962
| 5 789 000
| 242 000
| 115 000
| 127 000
|41.9
|19.9
|22.0
|6.00
|144.3
|43.32
|-
|1963
| 5 914 000
| 242 000
| 114 000
| 128 000
|40.9
|19.3
|21.6
|5.85
|141.7
|43.90
|-
|1964
| 6 041 000
| 248 000
| 114 000
| 134 000
|41.0
|18.9
|22.1
|5.86
|139.2
|44.40
|-
|1965
| 6 171 000
| 252 000
| 115 000
| 137 000
|40.8
|18.5
|22.2
|5.82
|136.9
|44.79
|-
|1966
| 6 299 000
| 255 000
| 114 000
| 141 000
|40.5
|18.1
|22.4
|5.77
|134.6
|45.36
|-
|1967
| 6 426 000
| 258 000
| 115 000
| 143 000
|40.1
|17.9
|22.2
|5.71
|132.3
|45.51
|-
|1968
| 6 553 000
| 261 000
| 116 000
| 145 000
|39.8
|17.7
|22.1
|5.65
|130.1
|45.79
|-
|1969
| 6 680 000
| 263 000
| 116 000
| 147 000
|39.4
|17.4
|22.0
|5.56
|128.0
|46.24
|-
|1970
| 6 709 000
| 277 000
| 154 000
| 123 000
|40.7
|22.6
|18.1
|5.72
|126.3
|39.13
|-
|1971
|
| 276 000
| 150 000
|
|40.9
|22.3
|18.6
|5.87
|124.7
|39.51
|-
|1972
| 6 766 000
| 283 000
| 148 000
| 136 000
|41.7
|21.7
|20.0
|5.99
|121.9
|40.22
|-
|1973
| 6 852 000
| 269 000
| 150 000
| 119 000
|39.2
|21.8
|17.4
|5.56
|125.0
|40.02
|-
|1974
| 6 913 000
| 240 000
| 150 000
| 90 000
|34.6
|21.6
|13.0
|4.80
|126.9
|39.80
|-
|1975
| 6 728 000
| 210 000
| style="color: red" |578 000
| align"right" style"color: red" |−368 000
|31.2
|85.7
| align"right" style"color: red" | −54.6
|4.10
|265.4
|12.00
|-
|1976
| 6 307 000
| 175 000
| 548 000
| align"right" style"color: red" | −373 000
|27.6
|style="color: red" |86.6
| align"right" style"color: red" | −58.9
|3.41
|173.1
|12.01
|-
|1977
| 6 040 000
|style="color: red" | 140 000
| 192 000
| align"right" style"color: red" | −52 000
|23.1
|31.7
| align"right" style"color: red" | −8.7
|2.72
|134.2
|28.91
|-
|1978
| 5 961 000
| 171 000
| 136 000
| 35 000
|28.4
|22.6
|5.8
|3.34
|131.2
|36.98
|-
|1979
| 6 052 000
| 227 000
| 114 000
| 113 000
|37.9
|19.1
|18.8
|4.56
|117.9
|42.28
|-
|1980
| 6 199 000
| 301 000
| 104 000
| 198 000
|48.0
|16.5
|31.5
|5.77
|115.8
|47.57
|-
|1981
| 6 364 000
| 311 000
| 106 000
| 205 000
|49.1
|16.7
|32.4
|6.04
|112.8
|48.18
|-
|1982
| 6 620 000
| 333 000
| 109 000
| 224 000
|50.3
|16.5
|33.9
|6.19
|109.4
|48.74
|-
|1983
| 6 882 000
| 350 000
| 111 000
| 239 000
|51.0
|16.1
|34.8
|6.30
|106.1
|49.49
|-
|1984
| 7 134 000
| 367 000
| 113 000
| 254 000
|style="color: blue" |51.3
|15.7
|style="color: blue" |35.6
|6.34
|102.7
|50.24
|-
|1985
| 7 376 000
| 374 000
| 113 000
| 261 000
|50.6
|15.3
|35.4
|6.31
|99.6
|51.04
|-
|1986
| 7 661 000
| 380 000
| 114 000
| 266 000
|49.7
|14.9
|34.8
|6.23
|96.7
|51.51
|-
|1987
| 7 976 000
| 387 000
| 109 000
| 278 000
|48.7
|13.7
|35.0
|6.10
|94.1
|53.45
|-
|1988
| 8 270 000
| 393 000
| 109 000
| 284 000
|47.5
|13.2
|34.3
|5.94
|91.2
|54.28
|-
|1989
| 8 571 000
| 390 000
| 109 000
| 281 000
|45.6
|12.7
|32.9
|5.72
|88.6
|54.80
|-
|1990
| 8 911 000
| 398 000
| 109 000
| 289 000
|44.8
|12.2
|32.5
|5.64
|86.2
|55.43
|-
|1991
| 9 259 000
| 404 000
| 111 000
| 294 000
|43.8
|12.0
|31.8
|5.57
|86.4
|55.79
|-
|1992
| 9 718 000
| 406 000
| 113 000
| 294 000
|42.4
|11.8
|30.6
|5.45
|86.4
|56.02
|-
|1993
| 10 244 000
| style="color: blue" |414 000
| 117 000
| style="color: blue" |297 000
|40.8
|11.5
|29.3
|5.27
|87.0
|56.08
|-
|1994
| 10 636 000
| 411 000
| 121 000
| 290 000
|38.6
|11.4
|27.3
|5.05
|88.3
|56.04
|-
|1995
| 10 920 000
| 395 000
| 121 000
| 274 000
|36.2
|11.1
|25.1
|4.82
|88.6
|56.31
|-
|1996
| 11 183 000
| 377 000
| 121 000
| 256 000
|33.7
|10.8
|22.9
|4.59
|89.0
|56.35
|-
|1997
| 11 432 000
| 362 000
| 120 000
| 242 000
|31.7
|10.5
|21.2
|4.39
|88.5
|56.74
|-
|1998
| 11 669 000
| 343 000
| 118 000
| 225 000
|29.4
|10.2
|19.3
|4.14
|87.2
|57.03
|-
|1999
| 11 899 000
| 341 000
| 116 000
| 225 000
|28.7
|9.7
|18.9
|3.92
|84.4
|57.69
|-
|2000
| 12 119 000
| 334 000
| 112 000
| 222 000
|27.6
|9.3
|18.3
|3.77
|79.9
|58.63
|-
|2001
| 12 338 000
| 332 000
| 107 000
| 225 000
|26.9
|8.7
|18.3
|3.65
|73.2
|59.97
|-
|2002
| 12 562 000
| 332 000
| 102 000
| 230 000
|26.4
|8.1
|18.3
|3.56
|66.4
|61.23
|-
|2003
| 12 788 000
| 331 000
| 98 000
| 233 000
|25.9
|7.6
|18.2
|3.44
|60.4
|62.52
|-
|2004
| 13 016 000
| 332 000
| 95 000
| 237 000
|25.5
|7.3
|18.2
|3.35
|55.3
|63.55
|-
|2005
| 13 247 000
| 334 000
| 93 000
| 241 000
|25.2
|7.0
|18.1
|3.24
|51.0
|64.29
|-
|2006
| 13 478 000
| 336 000
| 92 000
| 244 000
|24.9
|6.8
|18.1
|3.15
|47.4
|65.06
|-
|2007
| 13 715 000
| 342 000
| 91 000
| 251 000
|24.9
|6.6
|18.3
|3.08
|44.3
|65.73
|-
|2008
| 13 944 000
| 341 000
| 90 000
| 252 000
|24.5
|6.4
|18.0
|2.97
|41.3
|66.47
|-
|2009
| 14 156 000
| 342 000
| style="color: blue" | 87 000
| 255 000
|24.1
|6.1
|18.0
|2.87
|38.4
|67.44
|-
|2010
| 14 364 000
| 340 000
| 88 000
| 252 000
|23.7
|6.1
|17.5
|2.77
|35.7
|67.71
|-
|2011
| 14 574 000
| 341 000
| 87 000
| 254 000
|23.4
|5.9
|17.4
|2.70
|33.4
|68.42
|-
|2012
| 14 787 000
| 345 000
| 87 000
| 258 000
|23.3
|5.9
|17.4
|2.66
|31.0
|68.92
|-
|2013
| 15 000 000
| 346 000
| 87 000
| 259 000
|23.0
|style="color: blue" |5.8
|17.2
|2.62
|29.3
|69.30
|-
|2014
| 15 211 000
| 347 000
| 88 000
| 259 000
|22.8
|5.8
|17.0
|2.59
|27.8
|69.74
|-
|2015
| 15 418 000
| 345 000
| 90 000
| 255 000
|22.3
|5.8
|16.5
|2.55
|26.4
|69.87
|-
|2016
| 15 625 000
| 342 000
| 90 000
| 252 000
|21.9
|5.8
|16.1
|2.51
|25.3
|70.22
|-
|2017
| 15 831 000
| 338 000
| 92 000
| 247 000
|21.3
|5.8
|15.6
|2.47
|24.2
|70.52
|-
|2018
| 16 025 000
| 334 000
| 94 000
| 240 000
|20.8
|5.9
|14.9
|2.44
|23.3
|70.56
|-
|2019
| 16 208 000
| 329 000
| 97 000
| 233 000
|20.3
|5.9
|14.3
|2.40
|22.4
|70.69
|-
|2020
| 16 397 000
| 326 000
| 102 000
| 223 000
|19.8
|6.2
|13.6
|2.38
|21.6
|70.42
|-
|2021
| 16 589 000
| 321 000
| 114 000
| 207 000
|style="color: red" |19.3
|6.8
|12.5
|2.34
|20.8
|69.58
|-
| colspan"11" | <sup>1</sup> <small>CBR crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR crude death rate (per 1000); NC natural change (per 1000); TFR total fertility rate (number of children per woman); IMR infant mortality rate per 1000 births</small>
|}
Fertility
The total fertility rate in Cambodia was 3.0 children per woman in 2010.
Demographic and Health Surveys
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=2| Year
! colspan=2| Total
! colspan=2| Urban
! colspan=2| Rural
|-
! CBR !! TFR
! CBR !! TFR
! CBR !! TFR
|-
| 1995–1998
| style="text-align:right;"| 29.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.11
| style="text-align:right;"| 25.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.31
| style="text-align:right;"| 29.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.25
|-
| 2000
| style="text-align:right;"| 27.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.0 (3.1)
| style="text-align:right;"| 23.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.1 (2.5)
| style="text-align:right;"| 28.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.2 (3.2)
|-
| 2005
| style="text-align:right;"| 25.6
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.4 (2.8)
| style="text-align:right;"| 23.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.8 (2.3)
| style="text-align:right;"| 25.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.5 (2.9)
|-
| 2010
| style="text-align:right;"| 24.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.0 (2.6)
| style="text-align:right;"| 21.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.2 (2.0)
| style="text-align:right;"| 25.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.3 (2.8)
|-
| 2014
| style="text-align:right;"| 22.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.7 (2.4)
| style="text-align:right;"| 20.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.1 (1.9)
| style="text-align:right;"| 22.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.9 (2.6)
|-
| 2021–22
| style="text-align:right;"| 20.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.7 (2.4)
| style="text-align:right;"| 20.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.4 (2.2)
| style="text-align:right;"| 20.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.0 (2.7)
|}
Total fertility rate and other related statistics by province, as of 2014:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:100pt;"| Province
! style="width:100pt;"| Total fertility rate
! style="width:100pt;"| Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant
! style="width:100pt;"| Completed fertility rate (Average number of children born per woman in her lifetime)
|-
|Banteay Meanchey|| 2.8 || 5.2 || 4.0
|-
|Kampong Cham|| 3.3 || 3.5 || 3.9
|-
|Kampong Chhnang|| 2.4 || 5.4 || 4.2
|-
|Kampong Speu|| 2.4 || 6.3 || 4.1
|-
|Kampong Thom|| 2.9 || 5.8 || 4.4
|-
|Kandal|| 2.5 || 5.7 || 3.9
|-
|Kratié|| 3.6 || 7.3 || 4.5
|-
|Phnom Penh|| 2.0 || 4.6 || 2.8
|-
|Prey Veng|| 3.0 || 4.9 || 3.5
|-
|Pursat|| 3.1 || 5.9 || 4.0
|-
|Siem Reap|| 2.7 || 5.2 || 3.9
|-
|Svay Rieng|| 2.5 || 5.7 || 3.4
|-
|Takéo|| 2.4 || 3.9 || 3.7
|-
|Oddar Meanchey|| 3.0 || 8.5 || 4.6
|-
|Battambang/Pailin|| 2.9 || 5.5 || 3.8
|-
|Kampot/Kep|| 2.5 || 4.9 || 3.9
|-
|Sihanoukville/Koh Kong|| 2.7 || 5.8 || 4.1
|-
|Preah Vihear/Stung Treng|| 3.6 || 9.5 || 5.2
|-
|Mondulkiri/Ratanakiri|| 3.3 || 6.9 || 4.8
|}
Infant and childhood mortality
Childhood mortality rates are decreasing in Cambodia.Ethnic groups
The largest of the ethnic groups in Cambodia are the Khmer, who comprise 95.8% of the total population
There are also small numbers of other minority groups. Tai peoples in Cambodia include the Lao along the Mekong at the northeast border, Thai (urban and rural), and the culturally Burmese Kola, who have visibly influenced the culture of Pailin Province. Even smaller numbers of recent Hmong immigrants reside along the Lao border and various Burmese peoples have immigrated to the capital, Phnom Penh.
Languages
|foreign =
| sign = Cambodian Sign Language
| keyboard = Khmer keyboard
| keyboard image | source
}}
;Official language
Khmer is an Austroasiatic language spoken by over 90% of the Cambodian population. The vast majority of Khmer speakers use the Central Khmer dialect. Central Khmer is the variety spoken in the central plain where the ethnic Khmers most heavily concentrate. Other Khmer dialects include the Phnom Penh variety, as well as Northern Khmer (Surin Khmer), Western Khmer (Cardamom Khmer), Southern Khmer (Khmer Krom), and the Khmer Khe dialect in Stung Treng province.
The Northern Khmer dialect is also spoken by over a million Khmers in the southern regions of Northeast Thailand. Western Khmer displays features of the Middle Khmer language, and is considered a conservative dialect. Southern Khmer is the first language of the Khmer Krom people in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam.
;Minority languages:
According to Glottolog, 22 languages other than Khmer are spoken in Cambodia, most of which are also Austroasiatic languages. Other Austroasiatic languages of Cambodia include Kuy, Por (Pear), Somray, Chong, Suoy, Sa'och, Tampuan, Kaco', Stieng, Mnong, Brao, Krung (Rade), and Sou (Laven).
Many of these languages are also spoken in Vietnam. Vietnamese itself is also spoken in parts of Cambodia. Non-Austroasiatic minority languages of Cambodia include Cham, and Jarai, (Austronesian) as well as Thai and Lao (Tai-Kadai).
;Languages of education
English and French are used to different extents in education.
;Sign language
* Cambodian Sign Language
Religions
}}
:Buddhism: 97.1%, Islam: 2.0%, Christianity: 0.3%, Others: 0.5%
Emigration
Countries with notable populations of Cambodians are:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
**
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
Category:Society of Cambodia
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Cambodia
|
2025-04-05T18:27:12.654124
|
5431
|
Politics of Cambodia
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
The politics of Cambodia are defined within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the king serves as the head of state, and the prime minister is the head of government. In practice, Cambodia is an authoritarian state, as power is centralized in the hands of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) under long-standing leader Hun Sen. Civil society groups, independent media and opposition parties are repressed, and elections are not free and fair. The 1993 constitution, which is currently in force, was promulgated as a result of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, followed by elections organized under the aegis of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. The constitution declares Cambodia to be an "independent, sovereign, peaceful, permanently neutral and non-aligned country." The constitution also proclaims a liberal, multiparty democracy in which powers are devolved to the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. However, there is no effective opposition to the Prime Minister Hun Sen, who had been in power from 1984 until 2023. His Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly in 2018 after the banning of opposition party CNRP and KNLF. KNLF became a main opposition exiled in Denmark after CNRP was dissolved. During the communal election in 2022 and the national election in 2023, there were no international observers. The government is considered to be autocratic.
Executive power is exercised by the Royal Government, on behalf of and with the consent of the monarch. The government is constituted of the Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister. The prime minister is aided in his functions by members of the Council such as deputy prime ministers, senior ministers and other ministers. Legislative power is vested in a bicameral legislature composed of the National Assembly, which has the power to vote on draft law, and the Senate, that has the power of review. Upon passage of legislation through the two chambers, the draft law is presented to the monarch for signing and promulgation. The judiciary is tasked with the protection of rights and liberties of the citizens, and with being an impartial arbiter of disputes. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the country and takes appeals from lower courts on questions of law. A separate body called the Constitutional Council was established to provide interpretations of the constitution and the laws, and also to resolve disputes related to election of members of the legislature.
The Cambodian People's Party has dominated the political landscape since the 1997 coup d'état in Phnom Penh. Other prominent political parties include the royalist FUNCINPEC and the erstwhile Cambodia National Rescue Party that was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017. Comparative political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way have described Cambodia as a "competitive authoritarian regime", a hybrid regime type with important characteristics of both democracy and authoritarianism.
In July 2023 election, the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) easily won by a landslide in flawed election, after disqualification of Cambodia's most important opposition, Candlelight Party. On 22 August 2023, Hun Manet, son of Hun Sen, was sworn in as the new Cambodian prime minister. Legal framework Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure and a parliamentary form of government. The constitution, which prescribes the governing framework, was promulgated in September 1993 by the Constituent Assembly that resulted from the 1993 general election conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). The assembly adopted the basic principles and measures mandated under the Paris Peace Agreements into the text of the constitution. Assimilated into the governing charter, these provisions place the constitution as the supreme law of the land; declare Cambodia's status as a sovereign, independent and neutral state; enshrine a liberal, multi-party democracy with fair and periodic elections; guarantee respect for human rights; and provide for an independent judiciary.
The brutality of the Democratic Kampuchea regime had especially necessitated the inclusion of provisions concerning human rights in order to prevent a return to the policies and practices of the past. These criteria had been drawn from the Namibian constitution drafting process that took place in 1982. The constitution further sanctifies the status of international law in the issue of human rights by binding Cambodia to "respect" the provisions of human rights treaties adopted by the UN. The 1993 constitution has been amended eight times since its passage – in 1994, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2014 and 2018. Separation of powers The powers are devolved to three branches of the state: the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, in recognition of the doctrine of separation of powers. Political sovereignty rests with the Cambodian people, who exercise their power through the three arms of the state. The Royal Government, which wields executive power, is directly responsible to the National Assembly. The judiciary, which is an independent power, is tasked with the protection of citizens' rights and liberties. Buddhism is proclaimed as the state religion. Influences on legal system The legal system of Cambodia is civil law and has been strongly influenced by the legal heritage of France as a consequence of colonial rule. The Soviet-Vietnamese system dominated the country from 1981 until 1989, and Sri Lankan jurist Basil Fernando argues that its elements are present in the current system as well. The role of customary law, based on Buddhist beliefs and unwritten law drawn from the Angkorean period, is also prevalent. Market economy The constitution contains a commitment to the "market economy system", which along with accompanying provisions effects a fundamental change in the role of the state from the past. Security of private property and the right to sell and exchange freely, necessary conditions for the functioning of the market economy, are provided for. The state's powers of expropriation are limited to the extent they serve public interest, to be exercised only when "fair and just" compensation is made in advance. Operating under the slogan ''Le Cambodge s'aide lui-même'' or "Cambodia will help itself", one of the earliest undertakings of the Royal Government was to implement programs to ensure the economic rehabilitation of Cambodia and its integration in the regional and global economies. On 10 March 1994, the Royal Government declared an "irreversible and irrevocable" move away from a centrally-planned economy towards a market-oriented economy.
From September 24, 1993, through October 7, 2004, Norodom Sihanouk reigned as king, after having previously served in a number of offices (including king) since 1941. Under the constitution, the king has no political power, but as Norodom Sihanouk was revered in the country, his word often carried much influence in the government. The king, often irritated over the conflicts in his government, several times threatened to abdicate unless the political factions in the government got along. This put pressure on the government to solve their differences. This influence of the king was often used to help mediate differences in government.
After the abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk in 2004, he was succeeded by his son Norodom Sihamoni. While the retired king was highly revered in his country for dedicating his lifetime to Cambodia, the current king has spent most of his life abroad in France. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the new king's views will be as highly respected as his father's.
Although in the Khmer language there are many words meaning "king", the word officially used in Khmer (as found in the 1993 Cambodian constitution) is preăhmôhaksăt (Khmer regular script: ព្រះមហាក្សត្រ), which literally means: preăh- ("excellent", cognate of the Pali word vara) -môha- (from Sanskrit, meaning "great", cognate with "maha-" in maharaja) -ksăt ("warrior, ruler", cognate of the Sanskrit word kṣatrá).
On the occasion of King Norodom Sihanouk's retirement in September 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly coined a new word for the retired king: preăhmôhavireăkksăt (Khmer regular script: ព្រះមហាវីរក្សត្រ), where vireăk comes from Sanskrit vīra, meaning "brave or eminent man, hero, chief", cognate of Latin vir, viris, English virile. Preăhmôhavireăkksăt is translated in English as "King-Father" (), although the word "father" does not appear in the Khmer noun.
As preăhmôhavireăkksăt, Norodom Sihanouk retained many of the prerogatives he formerly held as preăhmôhaksăt and was a highly respected and listened-to figure. Thus, in effect, Cambodia could be described as a country with two Kings during Sihanouk's lifetime: the one who was the head of state, the preăhmôhaksăt Norodom Sihamoni, and the one who was not the head of state, the preăhmôhavireăkksăt Norodom Sihanouk.
Sihanouk died of a pulmonary infarction on October 15, 2012.
Succession to the throne
Unlike most monarchies, Cambodia's monarchy is not necessarily hereditary and the king is not allowed to select his own heir. Instead, a new king is chosen by a Royal Council of the Throne, consisting of the president of the National Assembly, the prime minister, the president of the Senate, the first and second vice presidents of the Senate, the chiefs of the orders of Mohanikay and Thammayut, and the first and second vice-president of the assembly. The Royal Council meets within a week of the king's death or abdication and selects a new king from a pool of candidates with royal blood.
It has been suggested that Cambodia's ability to peacefully appoint a new king shows that Cambodia's government has stabilized incredibly from the situation the country was in during the 1970s (see History of Cambodia).
Executive branch
– Incumbent Prime Minister]]
The prime minister of Cambodia is a representative from the ruling party of the National Assembly. The prime minister is appointed by the king on the recommendation of the president and vice presidents of the National Assembly. The prime minister must receive be given a vote of confidence by the National Assembly.
The prime minister is officially the head of government in Cambodia. The prime minister appoints a Council of Ministers. Officially, the prime minister's duties include chairing meetings of the Council of Ministers (Cambodia's version of a cabinet) and appointing and leading a government. The prime minister and the government make up Cambodia's executive branch of government.
The current prime minister is Cambodian People's Party (CPP) member Hun Manet. He has held this position since 2023.
Result 1998 election, one year after the CPP staged a bloody coup in Phnom Penh to overthrow elected Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, president of the FUNCINPEC party.Legislative branch
The legislative branch of the Cambodian government is made up of a bicameral parliament.
* The National Assembly ( ) has 125 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation.
* The Senate ( ) has 61 members. Two of these members are appointed by the king, two are elected by the lower house of the government, and the remaining fifty-seven are elected popularly by "functional constituencies". Members in this house serve a six-year term.
The official duty of the Parliament is to legislate and make laws. Bills passed by the Parliament are given to the king who gives the proposed bills royal assent. The king does not have veto power over bills passed by the National Assembly and thus, cannot withhold royal assent. The National Assembly also has the power to dismiss the prime minister and his government by a two-thirds vote of no confidence.
Senate
The upper house of the Cambodian legislature is called the Senate. It consists of sixty-one members. Two of these members are appointed by the king, two are elected by the lower house of the government, and the remaining fifty-seven are elected popularly by electors from provincial and local governments, in a similar fashion to the Senate of France. Members in this house serve six-year terms.
Prior to 2006, elections had last been held for the Senate in 1999. New elections were supposed to have occurred in 2004, but these elections were initially postponed. On January 22, 2006, 11,352 possible voters went to the poll and chose their candidates. This election was criticized by local monitoring non-governmental organizations as being undemocratic.
, the Cambodian People's Party holds forty-three seats in the Senate, constituting a significant majority. The two other major parties holding seats in the Senate are the FUNCIPEC party (holding twelve seats) and the Sam Rainsy Party (holding two seats).
National Assembly
The lower house of the legislature is called the National Assembly. It is made up of 125 members, elected by popular vote to serve a five-year term. Elections were last held for the National Assembly in July 2013.
To vote in legislative elections, one must be at least eighteen years of age. However, to be elected to the legislature, one must be at least twenty-five years of age.
The National Assembly is led by a president and two vice presidents who are selected by the assembly members prior to each session.
, the Cambodian People's Party holds all 125 seats in the National Assembly.
Political parties and elections
]]
]]
2023 general election results
Judicial branch
The judicial branch is independent from the rest of the government, as specified by the Cambodian Constitution. The highest court of judicial branch is the Supreme Council of the Magistracy. Other, lower courts also exist. Until 1997, Cambodia did not have a judicial branch of government despite the nation's Constitution requiring one. In 2003, Judge Kim Sathavy was in charge of establishing the first Royal School for Judges and Prosecutors to train a new generation of magistrates and legal clerks for Cambodia.
The main duties of the judiciary are to prosecute criminals, settle lawsuits, and, most importantly, protect the freedoms and rights of Cambodian citizens. However, in reality, the judicial branch in Cambodia is highly corrupt and often serves as a tool of the executive branch to silence civil society and its leaders. There are currently 17 justices on the Supreme Council.Foreign relations
Cambodia is a member of the ACCT, AsDB, ASEAN, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), International Monetary Fund, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WB, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)
International rankings
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Organization !! Survey !! Ranking !! Score
|-
| Transparency International|| Corruption Perceptions Index (2021)|| 157 out of 180|| 87.22%
|-
| United Nations Development Programme|| Human Development Index (2021)|| 146 Out of 191|| 76.43%
|-
| World Gold Council|| Gold reserve (2010)|| 65 Out of 110|| 60%
|-
| Reporters Without Borders|| Worldwide Press Freedom Index (2012)|| 117 out of 179|| 65.3%
|-
| The Heritage Foundation|| Indices of Economic Freedom (2012)|| 102 Out of 179|| 57%
|-
| Global Competitiveness Report|| World Economic Forum (2012)|| 97 out of 142|| 68.3%
|-
|}
Provincial and local governments
Below the central government are 24 provincial and municipal administration. (In rural areas, first-level administrative divisions are called provinces; in urban areas, they are called municipalities.) The administrations are a part of the Ministry of the Interior and their members are appointed by the central government.
In practice, the allocation of responsibilities between various levels of government is uncertain.<ref namewb/> This uncertainty has created additional opportunities for corruption and increased costs for investors.<ref namewb/>
Citations
References
*
*
External links
* [https://archive.today/20130414213804/http://report.globalintegrity.org/cambodia Global Integrity Report: Cambodia] reports on corruption and anti-corruption in Cambodia
Royalty
*[http://www.norodomsihamoni.org King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni] Official Website of King Norodom Sihamoni
*[http://www.norodomsihanouk.info King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk] Official Website of former King Norodom Sihanouk
Official
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061005044434/http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/unisql1/egov/english/home.view.html Cambodia.gov.kh] Official Royal Government of Cambodia Website (English Version) ([https://web.archive.org/web/20051207102921/http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/unisql2/egov/khmer/home.view.html Cambodia.gov.kh Khmer Version])
*[http://www.cdc-crdb.gov.kh CDC] Council for the Development of Cambodia
*[http://www.ccc.gov.kh/ Conseil Constitutionnel du Cambodge] Constitution council of Cambodia
*[http://www.maff.gov.kh/ Department of Fisheries]
*[http://www.foodsecurity.gov.kh/ Food Security and Nutrition Information System Cambodia]
*[http://www.moc.gov.kh/ Ministry of Commerce]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051125210221/http://www.moi-coci.gov.kh/culture/ Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts]
*[http://www.mef.gov.kh/ Ministry of Economy and Finance]
*[http://www.moeys.gov.kh Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051202123408/http://www.camnet.com.kh/moe/ Ministry of Environment]
*[http://www.mptc.gov.kh/ Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications]
*[http://www.mpwt.gov.kh/ Ministry of Public Works and Transport]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20020202171903/http://www.mot.gov.kh/ Ministry of Tourism]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090525141512/http://www.nida.gov.kh/ NiDA] National Information Communications Technology Development Authority
*[http://www.mop.gov.kh/ Ministry of Planning]
*[http://www.nis.gov.kh/ NIS] National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia
*[http://www.interior.gov.kh/ Ministry of Interior]
*[http://www.ncct.gov.kh/ N.C.C.T] National Committee for Counter Trafficking in person
Other
* [http://www.embassy.org/cambodia/cambodia/constitu.htm Constitution of Cambodia]
<!--Categories-->
Category:Government of Cambodia
Cambodia
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Cambodia
|
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5432
|
Economy of Cambodia
|
| population 17,181,065 (2024)
| gdp rank =
| gdp = $51.15 billion (nominal, 2025 est.)}}
| growth =
| per capita = $2,948 (nominal, 2025 est.)}}
| inflation 2% (2023 est.)
* N/A on less than $3.20/day}}
| gini 23.6 (2024)
| hdi = 0.600 (2023) (146th)
* 0.593 IHDI (2022)}}
| labor = 9,230,114 (2019)
* 81.1% employment rate (2016)}}
| occupations = 0.3% (2017 est.)}}
| imports $28.5 billion (2024 est.)}}
| current account −$1.563 billion (2024 est.)
*B+ (domestic)
*B+ (foreign)
*BB- (T&C assessment)}}
| aid = $934 million pledged in grants and concessional loans for 2011 by international donors
| reserves $21.285 billion (25 April 2024 est.) Cambodia had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $28.54 billion in 2022. Per capita income, although rapidly increasing, is low compared with most neighboring countries. Cambodia's two largest industries are textiles and tourism, while agricultural activities remain the main source of income for many Cambodians living in rural areas. The service sector is heavily concentrated on trading activities and catering-related services. Recently, Cambodia has reported that oil and natural gas reserves have been found off-shore.
In 1995, with a GDP of $2.92 billion the Cambodian government transformed the country's economic system from a planned economy to its present market-driven system. Following those changes, growth was estimated at a value of 7% while inflation dropped from 26% in 1994 to only 6% in 1995. Imports increased due to the influx of foreign aid, and exports, particularly from the country's garment industry, also increased. Although there was a constant economic growth, this growth translated to only about 0.71% for the ASEAN economy in 2016, compared with neighboring Indonesia, which contributed 37.62%.
After four years of improving economic performance, Cambodia's economy slowed in 1997–1998 due to the regional economic crisis, civil unrest, and political infighting. Foreign investments declined during this period. Also, in 1998 the main harvest was hit by drought. But in 1999, the first full year of relative peace in 30 years, progress was made on economic reforms and growth resumed at 4%.
Currently, Cambodia's foreign policy focuses on establishing friendly borders with its neighbors (such as Thailand and Vietnam), as well as integrating itself into regional (ASEAN) and global (WTO) trading systems. Some of the obstacles faced by this emerging economy are the need for a better education system and the lack of a skilled workforce; particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which struggles with inadequate basic infrastructure. Nonetheless, Cambodia continues to attract investors because of its low wages, plentiful labor, proximity to Asian raw materials, and favorable tax treatment.
Recent economic history
Following its independence from France in 1953, the Cambodian state has undergone five periods of political, social, and economic transformation:
# First Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)
# Khmer Republic (1970–1975)
# Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1982, ousted in 1979); became Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea in exile (1982–1993)
# People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979–1989), later renamed "State of Cambodia" (1989–1993)
# Second Kingdom of Cambodia (1993–present)
In 1989, the State of Cambodia implemented reform policies that transformed the Cambodian economic system from a command economy to an open market one. In line with the economic reformation, private property rights were introduced and state-owned enterprises were privatized. Cambodia also focused on integrating itself into regional and international economic blocs, such as the Association of South East Asian Nations and the World Trade Organization respectively. These policies triggered a growth in the economy, with its national GDP growing at an average of 6.1% before a period of domestic unrest and regional economic instability in 1997 (1997 Asian financial crisis).
In 2007, Cambodia's gross domestic product grew by an estimated 18.6%. Garment exports rose by almost 8%, while tourist arrivals increased by nearly 35%. With exports decreasing, the 2007 GDP growth was driven largely by consumption and investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows reached US$600 million (7 percent of GDP), slightly more than what the country received in official aid. Domestic investment, driven largely by the private sector, accounted for 23.4 percent of GDP. Export growth, especially to the US, began to slow in late 2007 accompanied by stiffer competition from Vietnam and emerging risks (a slowdown in the US economy and lifting of safeguards on China's exports). US companies were the fifth largest investors in Cambodia, with more than $1.2 billion in investments over the period 1997–2007.
Cambodia was severely damaged by the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and its main economic sector, the garment industry, suffered a 23% drop in exports to the United States and Europe. As a result, 60,000 workers were laid off. However, in the last quarter of 2009 and early 2010, conditions were beginning to improve and the Cambodian economy began to recover. Cambodian exports to the US for the first 11 months of 2012 reached $2.49 billion, a 1 per cent increase year-on-year. Its imports of US goods grew 26 per cent for that period, reaching $213 million. Another factor underscoring the potential of the Cambodian economy is the recent halving of its poverty rate. The poverty rate is 20.5 per cent, meaning that approximately 2.8 million people live below the poverty line.
Data
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1986–2020 (with IMF staff estimates in 2021–2026). Inflation below 5% is in green. The annual unemployment rate is extracted from the World Bank, although the International Monetary Fund find them unreliable.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center;"
!Year
!GDP
<small>(in Bil. US$PPP)</small>
!GDP per capita
<small>(in US$ PPP)</small>
!GDP
<small>(in Bil. US$nominal)</small>
!GDP per capita
<small>(in US$ nominal)</small>
!GDP growth
<small>(real)</small>
!Inflation rate
<small>(in Percent)</small>
!Unemployment The sector employs 335,400 workers, of which 91% are female.
The sector operates largely on the final phase of garment production, that is turning yarns and fabrics into garments, as the country lacks a strong textile manufacturing base. In 2005, there were fears that the end of the Multi Fibre Arrangement would threaten Cambodia's garment industry; exposing it to stiff competition with China's strong manufacturing capabilities. On the contrary, Cambodia's garment industry at present continues to grow rapidly. This is can be attributed to the country's open economic policy which has drawn in large amounts of foreign investment into this sector of the economy.
Garment Factories by Ownership Nationality in 2010:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Nationality of Ownership !! Ownership by percentage !! Number of factories owned
|-
| Taiwan || 28% || 66
|-
| China || 19% || 44
|-
| Hong Kong || 17% || 39
|-
| South Korea || 13% || 31
|-
| Malaysia || 6% || 14
|-
| Cambodia || 5% || 13
|-
| Singapore || 4% || 10
|-
| USA || 4% || 9
|-
| Others || 4% || 10
|}
In 2010, 236 garment export-oriented factories were operating and registered with GMAC, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, with 93% being foreign direct investment (FDI).
As seen in the table above, Cambodia's garment industry is characterized by a small percentage of local ownership. This is a reflection of the deficiency of skilled workers in the country as well as the limited leverage and autonomy Cambodian factories have in strategic decisions. Another characteristic of the industry is the country's competitive advantage as the only country where garment factories are monitored and reported according to national and international standards.
This has allowed Cambodia to secure its share of quotas for exports to the US through the US-Cambodia Trade Agreement on Textiles and Apparel (1999–2004), which linked market access to labor standards. However, the Cambodian garment industry remains vulnerable to global competition due to a lack of adequate infrastructure, labor unrest, the absence of a domestic textile industry, and almost complete dependence on imported textile material.
GMAC is establishing a specialized training institute to train garment workers. The institute is in Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone and will be completed by late 2016. It aims to train 1,600 garment workers in the first three years and 240 university students each year as part of a separate program.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the traditional mainstay of the Cambodian economy. Agriculture accounted for 90 percent of GDP in 1985 and employed approximately 80 percent of the work force. Rice is the principal commodity.
Major secondary crops include maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, soybeans, sesame seeds, dry beans, and rubber. The principal commercial crop is rubber. In the 1980s it was an important primary commodity, second only to rice, and one of the country's few sources of foreign exchange.
Tourism
In the 1960s, Cambodia was a prominent tourist destination in the Southeast Asian region. Due to protracted periods of civil war, insurgencies, and especially the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge (see Khmer Rouge Genocide), Cambodia's tourism industry was reduced to being virtually non-existent. Since the late 1990s, tourism is fast becoming Cambodia's second largest industry, just behind the garment manufacturing. In 2006, Cambodia's tourism sector generated a revenue of US$1.594 billion, which made up approximately 16% of the country's GDP. Gambling industry
.]]
Construction
The increase in tourist arrivals has led to growing demand for hotels and other forms of accommodation surrounding tourist hotspots. Siem Reap in particular has seen a construction boom in recent years. The capital Phnom Penh has also witnessed a growth in the construction and real estate sectors. Recently, planned projects that have been on the pipeline for several years have been shelved temporarily due to a reduction in foreign investment. From 2009, the Cambodian government has allowed foreigners to own condominiums. This has helped in attracting real estate investors from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries.
The construction sector attracted investment of $2.1 billion in 2012 which is a 72 per cent rise compared with 2011. Construction licenses issued stood at 1,694 projects in 2012, which was 20% lower than 2011 but they were higher in value.
Resources
Oil seeps were discovered in Cambodia as early as the 1950s by Russian and Chinese geologists. Development of the industry was delayed, however, by the Vietnam and Cambodian Civil Wars and the political uncertainty that followed. Further discoveries of oil and natural gas deposits offshore in the early 2000s led to renewed domestic and international interest in Cambodia's production possibilities. As of 2013, the US company Chevron, Japanese JOGMEC and other international companies maintained production sites both on shore and off. Chevron alone had invested over US$160 million and drilled 18 wells.
Sok Khavan, acting director general of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, estimated that once the contracts are finalized and legal issues resolved, the Cambodian government will receive approximately 70% of the revenues, contributing to an economy in which the GDP is projected to increase five-fold by 2030. In addition, there are 10,000 square miles offshore in the Gulf of Thailand that holds potential reserves of 12-14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and an unspecified amount of oil.
Foreign aid
is very important to the Cambodian economy.]]
Cambodia's emerging democracy has received strong international support. Under the mandate of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), $1.72 billion (1.72 G$) was spent in an effort to bring basic security, stability and democratic rule to the country. Various news and media reports suggest that since 1993 the country has been the recipient of some US$10 billion in foreign aid.
With regards to economic assistance, official donors had pledged $880 million at the Ministerial Conference on the Rehabilitation of Cambodia (MCRRC) in Tokyo in June 1992. In addition to that figure, $119 million was pledged in September 1993 at the International Committee on the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) meeting in Paris, and $643 million at the March 1994 ICORC meeting in Tokyo.
Cambodia experienced a shortfall in foreign aid in the year 2005 due to the government's failure to pass anti-corruption laws, opening up a single import/export window, increasing its spending on education, and complying with policies of good governance. In response, the government adopted the National Strategic Development Plan for 2006–10 (also known as the “Third Five-Year Plan”). The plan focused on three major areas:
* the speeding up of economic growth at an annual rate of 6-7%
* eradicating corruption
* developing public structures in favor of quality (i.e. by education, training, and healthcare) over quantity (i.e. rapid population growth)
Banking
There are no significant barriers to bank entry. At the end of 2013, there stood 35 commercial banks. Since 2011 new banks
with offshore funding have begun to enter the market.
Telecommunications
Energy
Cambodia has significant potential for developing renewable energy and could potentially run its energy system on 100% renewable sources. The country, however, remains one of the few countries in the ASEAN region that has not adopted renewable energy targets. To attract more investment in renewable energy Cambodia could adopt targets, improve renewable energy governance, develop a regulatory framework, improve project bankability and facilitate market entry for international investors. Transport Child labour Trade - EBA Issues The announcement from February 12, 2020, was to suspend "Everything But Arms" (EBA) trade preferences between EU and Cambodia. The country has known to be the second largest beneficiary from EBA's program. The EU's preliminary conclusion sent to Cambodian government on November 12, 2019, because Cambodia failed to address serious human and labor rights concerns under Human Rights Watch. Moreover, the issue behind ending the opposition party (CNRP) and dropping charges against the leader of CNRP violated the right to freedom of expression. Other industry Cambodia is encouraging investment in EV assembly plants. Cambodia's 2022 Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality to have 40% EV cars and busses and 70% electric motorbikes by 2050.
There is little evidence that the Law on Patents, Utility Model Certificates and Industrial Designs (2006) has been of practical use, thus far, to any but the larger foreign firms operating in Cambodia. By 2012, 27 patent applications had been filed, all by foreigners. Of the 42 applications for industrial design received up to 2012, 40 had been filed by foreigners. Nevertheless, the law has no doubt encouraged foreign firms to introduce technological improvements to their on-shore production systems, which can only be beneficial.<ref name":0" />Statistics
; Investment (gross fixed)
: 3% of GDP (2011 est.)
;Household income or consumption by percentage share
* lowest 10%: 2.6%
* highest 10%: 23.7% (2011)
; Agriculture - products
* rice,
* rubber,
* corn,
* vegetables,
* cashews,
* tapioca,
* silk
; Industries
* tourism, garments, construction, rice milling, fishing, wood and wood products, rubber, cement, gem mining, textiles
; Industrial production growth rate
* 5.7% (2011 est.)
; Electricity
{| class"wikitable" style"width:500px;"
|style="width:200px;"| ...
|style="width:150px;"| 2010
|style="width:150px;"| 2011
|-
| production || 1.273 billion kWh || ...
|-
| consumption || 1.272 billion kWh || ...
|-
| exports || 0 kWh || ...
|-
| imports ||274 million kWh || ...
|}
; Exchange rates
{| class"wikitable" style"width:300px;"
! Year
! Riels (KHR) per US dollar
|-
! 2012
| 4,097
|-
! 2011
| 4,395.62
|-
! 2010
| 4,145
|-
! 2009
| 4,139.33
|-
! 2008
| 4,070.94
|-
! 2007
| 4,006
|-
! 2006
| 4,103
|}
<!-- Old list 4,097 (2012), 4,395.62 (2011), 4,145 (2010), 4,139.33 (2009), 4,070.94 (2008), 4,006 (2007), 4,103 (2006) -->
See also
* Special Economic Zones of Cambodia
* Cambodia and the World Bank
Sources
References
*
External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161013090655/http://www.cambodiainvestment.gov.kh/content/uploads/2014/03/Guidebook2013_English_ALL.pdf Cambodia Investment Guidebook (Council for the Development of Cambodia)]
Category:Economies of developing countries
Cambodia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cambodia
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Telecommunications in Cambodia
|
<!---None is correct as WP:SDNONE--->
{{Infobox
|title=Telecommunications in Cambodia
|image1|caption1Communications towers in Kampong Thom
|label1 = Telephone land lines
|data1 55,603 (2020)
|label2 = Mobile lines
|data2 21,086,791 (2020) Smart Axiata, a leading telecommunications company, in 2019 conducted a live trial of its 5G network with support from China's Huawei. The company said it expects to begin rolling out 5G services in Cambodia by the end of 2019.
GSMA predicted that by 2025, Cambodia will have approximately 24.3 million total mobile connections with smartphone connections up to 69%. The market is predicted to adopt 1.6 million of 5G connections within 5 years from 2020. Though so, it's believed that 4G still have room for growth and will continue to be the majority network connection.
|-
|
Mobitel
||
CamGSM Co., Ltd.
||
* Also known as Cellcard
* Incorporates the former Mfone
*
|-
|
CooTel
||
Xinwei (Cambodia) Telecom Co., Ltd
||
*
|-
|
SEATEL
||
Southeast Asia Telecom (Cambodia) Co., Ltd.
||
*Incorporates the former GT-TEL
*
|-
|
Metfone
||
Viettel (Cambodia) Pte., Ltd.
||
* Incorporates the former Beeline
*
|-
|
qb
||
Cambodia Advance Communications Co., Ltd. (CADCOMMS)
||
*
|}
Radio and television
As of 2019, Cambodian broadcasters were a mixture of state-owned, joint public-private, and privately owned companies.
Early in 2011, very likely at the urging of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, all Cambodian ISPs blocked the hosting service Blogspot, apparently in reaction to a December 2010 post on KI-Media, a blog run by Cambodians from both inside and outside the country. The site, which is often critical of the administration, described the prime minister and other officials as "traitors" after opposition leader Sam Rainsy alleged they had sold land to Vietnam at a contested national border. All ISPs but one subsequently restored service to the sites following customer complaints. In February 2011, however, multiple ISPs reinstated blocks on individual Blogspot sites, including KI-Media, Khmerization—another critical citizen journalist blog—and a blog by the Khmer political cartoonist Sacrava.
The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press; however, these rights were not always respected in practice. The 1995 press law prohibits prepublication censorship or imprisonment for expressing opinions; however, the government uses the penal code to prosecute citizens on defamation, disinformation, and incitement charges. The penal code does not prescribe imprisonment for defamation, but does for incitement or spreading disinformation, which carry prison sentences of up to three years. Judges also can order fines, which may lead to jail time if not paid. The constitution requires that free speech not adversely affect public security. and it will get launched in February 2022.See also
* Media of Cambodia
* Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Cambodia)
References
External links
* [https://bgp.he.net/country/KH Networks: Cambodia]
* [http://www.mptc.gov.kh/ Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications]
* [http://www.tc.com.kh/ Telecom Cambodia]
* [http://www.asiawaves.net/cambodia-tv.htm Television stations in Cambodia]
* [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-05/26/content_601595.htm "3G phones banned in anti-porn drive"], China Daily (Associated Press), 26 May 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Cambodia
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5434
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Transport in Cambodia
|
thumb|450px|A national transport map of Cambodia
thumb|300px|National Highway 1 - Kien Svay, Kandal Province
thumb|300px|A rural road in Cambodia
The system of transport in Cambodia, rudimentary at the best of times, was severely damaged in the chaos that engulfed the nation in the latter half of the 20th century. The country's weak transport infrastructure hindered emergency relief efforts, exacerbating the logistical issues of procurement of supplies in general and their distribution. Cambodia received Soviet technical assistance and equipment to support the maintenance of the transportation network.
Road transport
thumb|300px|Bottled gasoline on sale, Battambang
Highway network
Total - 38,257 km (2004)
Paved - 2,406 km (2004)
Unpaved - 35,851 km (2004)
Of the current total roadway network, only about 50% of the roads and highways are hard surfaced, all-weather, and in good condition. About 50% of the roads were constructed of crushed stone, gravel, or compacted earth. Secondary roads are of unimproved earth or were little more than tracks. In 1981 Cambodia opened a newly repaired section of National Route 1 which runs southeast from Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border. The road, which suffered damage during the war years, was restored most probably by Vietnamese army engineers.
In the late-1980s, Cambodia's road network was both underutilized and unable to meet even the modest demands placed upon it by a preindustrial agrarian society. Commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, were insufficient in number and lacked the spare parts necessary to keep them running. Road construction and maintenance were ignored by a financially hard-pressed governments, while insurgents regularly destroyed bridges and rendered some routes unsafe for travel.
Cambodia is upgrading the main highways to international standards and most are vastly improved from 2006. Most main roads are now paved. And now road construction is on going from the Thailand border at Poipet to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat). Funded by over $3 billion of Chinese loans, Chinese companies have built of roads as well as several major bridges.
An expressway network is being developed, the 190km Phnom Penh-Sikhanoukville expressway (E4) opened in October 2022, the construction to Bavet started in June 2023.
Chart of 01/2014
National Highway Code Approx length Origin TerminusNational Highway 1 10001 Phnom Penh Bavet - Vietnam Border National Highway 2 10002 Phnom Penh Phnom Den - Vietnam Border National Highway 3 10003 Phnom Penh Kampot - Veal Renh (NH4) National Highway 4 10004 Phnom Penh Sihanoukville National Highway 5 10005 Phnom Penh Battambang - Poipet - Thai Border National Highway 6A 10006A Phnom Penh Skuon National Highway 6 10006 Skuon Siem Reap - Sisophon (NH5) National Highway 7 10007 Skuon Stung Treng - Laos Border National Highway 8 10008 NH6A - Prek Tamak Bridge to NH7 near the Vietnam Border.
Other transport
Motorcycles are by far the most common transport medium in Cambodia. "Cyclo" (as hand-me-down French) or cycle rickshaws were popular in the 1990s but are increasingly replaced by remorques (carriages attached to motorcycles) and rickshaws imported from India. Cyclos are unique to Cambodia in that the cyclist sits behind the passenger(s) seat, as opposed to cycle rickshaws in neighbouring countries where the cyclist is at the front and pulls the carriage. With 78% mobile phone penetration rate, ride-hailing apps have become popular in recent years. The first locally owned ride-hailing app, ExNet taxi app, was launched in 2016, after which another locally developed PassApp taxi was also introduced.
The ExNet and PassApp use the same technology and architect for their application, except that ExNet is a taxi-based ride-hailing service while PassApp is more of rickshaw-based one. Uber and Grab joined the market in 2017. The entry and later merger of Uber and Grab did not negatively affect the local apps as the locals have the first-mover advantage and could secure a large number of patrons. As of today, PassApp is seen as an able competitor for the Singapore-based Grab in the Cambodian transport market. Thai Duong Bus Cambodia
Aside from the private-hire vehicles and ride-hailing service, public transport is also available but only in the capital. Phnom Penh city bus service started in 2015 with only three routes under the assistance of JICA. Today, Phnom Penh City Bus operates 13 routes.
Railways
Two rail lines exist, both originating in Phnom Penh and totaling about 612 kilometers of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge single track.
The first line or the northern line, built by The French colonial government, running from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the Thai border, between 1930 and 1940, with Phnom Penh Railway Station opening in 1932.
The final connection with Thailand was completed by Royal State Railways in 1942. The service from Bangkok to Battambang was suspended when the French Indochinese Government resumed sovereignty over Battambang and the Sisophon area from Thailand on 17 December 1946, as Thailand was seen as a supporter of Khmer Issarak, the anti-French, Khmer nationalist political movement.
A third line is planned to connect Phnom Penh with Vietnam, the last missing link of the planned rail corridor between Singapore and the city of Kunming, China. A new north–south line is also planned. The lines from Phnom Penh to Sisophon and from Sisophon to Poipet have been rehabilitated; starting with Poipet to Srey Sisophon in April 2018 and Sisophon to Phnom Penh in early July (2018). (or Toll Royal Railway). Toll Royal Railway (Cambodia) had been given a 30-year concession from The Royal Government of Cambodia to operate Cambodia's railway network.
Routes
Phnom Penh - Pursat - Moung Ruessei - Battambang - Sisophon - Poipet
Phnom Penh - Takeo - Touk Meas - Damnak Chang'aeur - Veal Renh - Sihanoukville
Waterways
The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in domestic trade. The Mekong and the Tonlé Sap Rivers, their numerous tributaries, and the Tonlé Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 3,700 kilometers navigable all year by craft drawing 0.6 meters and another 282 kilometers navigable to craft drawing 1.8 meters. In some areas, especially west of the Mekong River and north of the Tonle Sap River, the villages were completely dependent on waterways for communications. Launches, junks, or barges transport passengers, rice, and other food in the absence of roads and railways.
According to the Ministry of Communications, Transport, and Post, Cambodia's main ferry services crossing the Bassac River and the middle Mekong River were restored in 1985. The major Mekong River navigation routes also were cleared for traffic. Seaplane service to all waterways and islands in now offered by Aero Cambodia Airline.
Seaports and harbors
thumb|300px|A ferry crossing the Mekong to Neak Leung town
Cambodia has two major ports, Phnom Penh Autonomous Port and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, also known as Kampong Som, and five minor ports. Phnom Penh, at the junction of the Bassac, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap Rivers, is the only river port capable of receiving 8,000-ton ships during the wet season and 5,000-ton ships during the dry season. In 2018 the port received 205,000 TEUs totalling 2.9 million tonnes. Its 2018 profits were US$7.35 million, up 36% from 2017.
Sihanoukville port reopened in late-1979. It had been built in 1960 with French assistance. In 1980 some 180 Soviet dockworkers, having brought with them forklifts and trucks, were reportedly working at Kampong Som as longshoremen or as instructors of unskilled Cambodian port workers. By 1984 approximately 1,500 Cambodian port workers were handling 2,500 tons of cargo per day. According to official statistics, Sihanoukville had handled only 769,500 tons in the four prior years (1979 to 1983), a level that contrasted sharply with the port's peacetime capacity of about one million tons of cargo per year.
Merchant marine
Total: 626 ships ( or over) totaling /
Ships by type: bulk carrier 41, cargo ship 533, chemical tanker 10, container ship 8, passenger ship/cargo 6, petroleum tanker 11, refrigerated cargo 15, roll-on/roll-off 1, vehicle carrier 1 (2008)
Note: 467 foreign-owned: Canada 2, China 193, Cyprus 7, Egypt 13, Gabon 1, Greece 3, Hong Kong 8, Indonesia 22, Japan 1, South Korea 22, Latvia 1, Lebanon 8, Netherlands 1, Romania 1, Russia 83, Singapore 4, Syria 48, Taiwan 1, Turkey 26, Ukraine 34, UAE 34, United States 6 (2008)
Airports
thumb|300px|Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport
The country possesses twenty-six airfields, of which only thirteen were usable in the mid-1980s. Eight airfields had permanent-surface runways. Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport in the tourist city of Siem Reap is the largest airport and replaced Siem Reap International Airport. In the past, tourist traffic into Siem Reap International Airport saw passenger numbers overtook those of Phnom Penh in 2006.
Cambodia's second largest airport is Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh; it also serves as the main base for the renascent Cambodian Air Force.
Cambodia also opened a new Soviet-built airfield at Ream, Sihanouk International Airport in late-1983, which never saw commercial air traffic until January 2007. There are additional airports in Battambang and Stung Treng.
The new national airline Cambodia Angkor Air was launched in 2009, with an investment from Vietnam Airlines, later in January 2025, it officially rebranched as Air Cambodia. Aero Cambodia Airline started business in 2011 offering flights to all airports and waterways with seaplanes. The low-cost airline AirAsia Cambodia was launched in 2022, with an investment from Malaysia AirAsia.
Techo Takhmao International Airport, intended to replace the existing Phnom Penh International Airport as the city's main airport, currently under construction in Kandal, Cambodia. Located about 30–40 kilometres (16–22 NM; 19–25 mi) south of Phnom Penh, it is expected to open in 2023 and be fully operational by 2025.
Airports with paved runways
Total: 6 (2010)
2,500 to 3,000 m: 3
1,500 to 2,500 m: 2
1,000 to 1,500 m: 1
Airports with unpaved runways
Total: 11 (2010)
1,500 to 2,500 m: 1
1,000 to 1,500 m: 9
under 1,000 m: 1
Heliports
1 (2010)
See also
State Secretariat of Civil Aviation
Ministry of Public Works and Transport, of Cambodia
Transport in Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh International Airport
References
External links
The SihanoukVille Port
Cambodians ride 'bamboo railway'
Video, photos and travel diary of Cambodia's trains by traveller Tom Grundy.
The Sihanoukville Airport
Thai Duong bus in Cambodia
National highways
Inland waterways in Cambodia
Buses in Cambodia
SihanoukVille Train Station
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Cambodia
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5436
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Foreign relations of Cambodia
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The Cambodian government has diplomatic relations with most countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, as well as all of its Asian neighbors, including China, India, Vietnam, Laos, South Korea, and Thailand. The government is a member of most major international organizations, including the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The government is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) member, a member of ASEAN, and of the WTO. In 2005 Cambodia attended the inaugural East Asia Summit. The government is also a member of the Pacific Alliance (as observer) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (as dialogue partner).
International disputes
thumb|250px|Delegates of the ASEAN Summit pose for a photograph at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 19 November 2012.
Cambodia is involved in a dispute regarding offshore islands and sections of the boundary with Vietnam. In addition, the maritime boundary Cambodia has with Vietnam is undefined. Parts of Cambodia's border with Thailand are indefinite, and the maritime boundary with Thailand is not clearly defined.
Illicit drugs
Cambodia is a transshipment site for Golden Triangle heroin, and possibly a site of money laundering. There is corruption related to narcotics in parts of the government, military and police. Cambodia is also a possible site of small-scale opium, heroin, and amphetamine production. The country is a large producer of cannabis for the international market.
International organization participation
ACCT, AsDB, ASEAN, ASEAN-Japan Centre, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), International Monetary Fund, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WB, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Cambodia maintains diplomatic relations with:
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Mexico is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.11 July 1950See Cambodia–United States relations
Cambodia has an embassy in Washington, D.C.
United States has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Asia
Country Formal relations beganNotes Armenia is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Cambodia is accredited to Armenia from its embassy in Moscow, Russia. Azerbaijan is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Cambodia is accredited to Azerbaijan from its embassy in Ankara, Turkey.9 June 1992See Brunei–Cambodia relations
Brunei has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan.4 May 1954See Cambodia–Japan relations
Japan has an embassy in Phnom Penh and a consulate general in Siem Reap.
Cambodia has an embassy in Tokyo.
Both Countries relations that in 1946, King Norodom Sihanouk said that Japan do not need to pay for the destruction since 1940, he said Cambodia wanted to be allied with Japan.15 June 1956See Cambodia–Laos relations
Laos has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia has an embassy in Vientiane.
Historically, relations have been tense, with long-standing unresolved border disputes.2 December 1996See Cambodia–Malaysia relations
The relations are mainly in economic.
Malaysia was the fourth largest foreign investors to Cambodian in 2009.28 December 1964 See Cambodia–North Korea relationsSee Cambodia–Pakistan relations
Cambodia is accredited to Pakistan from its embassy in New Delhi, India.
Pakistan has an embassy in Phnom Penh.1956See Cambodia–Philippines relations
thumb|right|Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte with King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on 14 December 2016.
The two countries have an agreements on economic and trade relations, agricultural and agribusiness collaboration, and tourism cooperation.
Cambodia has an embassy in Manila.
Philippines has an embassy in Phnom Penh.10 August 1965See Cambodia–Singapore relations
Cambodia was one of the first countries to recognize Singapore's sovereignty when it became independent in 1965.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Cambodia in 2005 and 2012.
Singapore has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia has an embassy in Singapore.18 May 1970See Cambodia–Turkey relations
Cambodia has an embassy in Ankara.
Turkey has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Trade volume between the two countries was US$108.4 million in 2015 (Cambodian exports/imports: 94.7/13.7 million USD). See Cambodia–Vietnam relations
Bilateral relations between the Cambodia and Vietnam were for long strained due to the Cambodian-Vietnamese War.
The maritime boundary with Vietnam is hampered by unresolved dispute over sovereignty of offshore islands.
Cambodia has an embassy in Hanoi.
Vietnam has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Europe
Country Formal relations beganNotes 9 October 1967See Cambodia–Denmark relations
Cambodia is accredited to Denmark from its embassy in London, United Kingdom.
Denmark is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.20 January 1970Finland recognized Cambodia on 19 December 1969. Diplomatic relations established on 20 January 1970, re-established 9 August 1976.
Finland is represented in Cambodia through its embassy in Bangkok, Thailand1863See Cambodia–France relations
French president Charles de Gaulle visited Cambodia in 1966 and was given a welcome by Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
Cambodia has an embassy in Paris.
France has an embassy in Phnom Penh.See Cambodia–Germany relations
Cambodia has an embassy in Berlin.
Germany has an embassy in Phnom Penh. Cambodia's embassy in Brussels, Belgium is also accredited to Greece
Greece's embassy in Bangkok is also accredited to Cambodia.
Both countries are full members of the Francophonie.10 July 1995Cambodia is accredited to Hungary from its embassy in Berlin, Germany.
Hungary open its embassy in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is accredited to the Netherlands from its embassy in Brussels, Belgium.
the Netherlands is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.29 March 1992Poland closed its embassy in Phnom Penh at 2009 and accredited from Bangkok, Thailand.
Cambodia is accredited to Poland from its embassy in Berlin, Germany. Cambodia is accredited to Portugal from its embassy in Paris, France.
Portugal is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Cambodia is accredited to Romania from its embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Romania is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.16 November 1951See Cambodia–Spain relations
Cambodia is accredited to Spain from its embassy in Paris, France.
Spain is accredited to Cambodia from its embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.1957Switzerland recognized Cambodia in 1957, and the two countries have maintained diplomatic relations since 1963.
Bilateral relations between Cambodia and Switzerland are good. Switzerland supports the transition process and development efforts in Cambodia.
Trade between the two countries is marginal.
The United Kingdom is accredited to Cambodia through its embassy in Phnom Penh.
Both countries share common membership of the International Criminal Court, and the World Trade Organization. Bilaterally the two countries have a Development Partnership.
Oceania
Country Formal relations beganNotes1950sSee Australia–Cambodia relations
Australia has an embassy in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia has an embassy in Canberra.
Country with no relations
There are 17 countries that haven't establish any diplomatic relations with Cambodia:
See also
List of diplomatic missions in Cambodia
List of diplomatic missions of Cambodia
References
Further reading
Deth, Sok Udom, and Serkan Bulut, eds. Cambodia's Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 2017; comprehensive coverage) full book online free.
Path Kosal, "Introduction: Cambodia's Political History and Foreign Relations, 1945-1998" pp 1–26
Acharya, Amitav. The Making of Southeast Asia: International Relations of A Region (Cornell UP, 2012)
Chandler, David. The Tragedy of Cambodian History: Politics, War, and Revolution since 1945 (Yale UP, 1991)
Ciorciari, John D. "Cambodia in 2019: Backing Further into a Corner." Asian Survey 60.1 (2020): 125–131. online
Clymer, Kenton. Troubled Relations: The United States and Cambodia since 1870 (Northern Illinois UP, 2007).
Leighton, Marian Kirsch. "Perspectives on the Vietnam-Cambodia border conflict." Asian Survey 18.5 (1978): 448–457. online
Leng, Thearith. "2016: A Promising Year for Cambodia?." Southeast Asian Affairs (2017): 133–146. online
Morris, Stephen J. Why Vietnam invaded Cambodia: Political culture and the causes of war (Stanford University Press, 1999).
Peou, Sorpong. "Cambodia in 2018: a year of setbacks and successes." Southeast Asian Affairs 2019.1 (2019): 104–119. online
Richardson, Sophie. China, Cambodia and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Columbia UP, 2010)
Smith, Roger. Cambodia's Foreign Policy (Cornell UP, 1965).
Un, Kheang, and Jing Jing Luo. "Cambodia in 2019: Entrenching One-Party Rule and Asserting National Sovereignty in the Era of Shifting Global Geopolitics." Southeast Asian Affairs 2020.1 (2020): 117–134. online
Westad, Odd Arne, and Sophie Quinn-Judge, eds. The third Indochina war: conflict between China, Vietnam and Cambodia, 1972-79 (Routledge, 2006).
Womack, Brantly. "Asymmetry and systemic misperception: China, Vietnam and Cambodia during the 1970s." Journal of Strategic Studies 26.2 (2003): 92-119 online.
External links
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
US Department of State: Foreign relations with Southeast Asia 1961–63
Foreign relations between Cambodia and Germany
Japan-Cambodia Relations
List of foreign embassies in Cambodia
Foreign relations between Cambodia and Australia
AsiaSociety: essays relating to the development of Cambodia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Cambodia
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Khmer architecture
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thumb|300px|right|The 12th-century temple of Angkor Wat is the masterpiece of Angkorian architecture. Constructed under the direction of the Khmer king Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat is a Hindu-Buddhist temple.
Khmer architecture (), also known as Angkorian architecture (), is the architecture produced by the Khmer during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE.
The architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly in sculpture, had an influence on Southeast Asia and was widely adopted into the Indianised architecture of Cambodian (Khmer), Annamese and Javanese temples (of the Greater India). Evolved from Indian influences, Khmer architecture became clearly distinct from that of the Indian sub-continent as it developed its own special characteristics, some of which were created independently and others of which were incorporated from neighboring cultural traditions, resulting in a new artistic style in Asian architecture unique to the Angkorian tradition. The development of Khmer architecture as a distinct style is particularly evident in artistic depictions of divine and royal figures with facial features representative of the local Khmer population, including rounder faces, broader brows, and other physical characteristics. In any study of Angkorian architecture, the emphasis is necessarily on religious architecture, since all the remaining Angkorian buildings are religious in nature. During the period of Angkor, only temples and other religious buildings were constructed of stone.
Non-religious buildings such as dwellings were constructed of perishable materials such as wood, and so have not survived. The religious architecture of Angkor has characteristic structures, elements, and motifs, which are identified in the glossary below. Since a number of different architectural styles succeeded one another during the Angkorean period, not all of these features were equally in evidence throughout the period. Indeed, scholars have referred to the presence or absence of such features as one source of evidence for dating the remains.
Periodization
Many temples had been built before Cambodia became the powerful Khmer Empire which dominated a large part of mainland Southeast Asia. At that time, Khmer was known as the Chenla kingdom, the predecessor state of the Khmer empire.
Latest research reveals that the Khmer already erected stone buildings in the protohistoric period, which they used for the worship of mighty tutelary spirits. This earliest extant architecture consists of relatively small cells made from prefabricated megalithic construction parts, which probably date at least to the second century BC.
There are three pre-Angkorean architectural styles:
Sambor Prei Kuk style (610–650): Sambor Prei Kuk, also known as Isanapura, was the capital of the Chenla Kingdom. Temples of Sambor Prei Kuk were built in rounded, plain colonettes with capitals that include a bulb.
Prei Khmeng style (635–700): structures reveal masterpieces of sculpture but examples are scarce. Colonettes are larger than those of previous styles. Buildings were more heavily decorated but had general decline in standards.
Kompong Preah style (700–800): temples with more decorative rings on colonettes which remain cylindrical. Brick constructions were being continued.
Scholars have worked to develop a periodization of Angkorean architectural styles. The following periods and styles may be distinguished. Each is named for a particular temple regarded as paradigmatic for the style.
Kulen style (825–875): continuation of pre-Angkorean style but it was a period of innovation and borrowing such as from Cham temples. Tower is mainly square and relatively high as well as brick with laterite walls and stone door surrounds but square and octagonal colonettes begin to appear.
Preah Ko style (877–886): Hariharalaya was the first capital city of the Khmer empire located in the area of Angkor; its ruins are in the area now called Roluos some fifteen kilometers southeast of the modern city of Siem Reap. The earliest surviving temple of Hariharalaya is Preah Ko; the others are Bakong and Lolei. The temples of the Preah Ko style are known for their small brick towers and for the great beauty and delicacy of their lintels.
Bakheng Style (889–923): Bakheng was the first temple mountain constructed in the area of Angkor proper north of Siem Reap. It was the state temple of King Yasovarman, who built his capital of Yasodharapura around it. Located on a hill (phnom), it is currently one of the most endangered of the monuments, having become a favorite perch for tourists eager to witness a glorious sundown at Angkor.
Koh Ker Style (921–944): during the reign of King Jayavarman IV, capital of Khmer empire was removed from Angkor region through the north which is called Koh Ker. The architectural style of temples in Koh Ker, scale of buildings diminishes toward center. Brick still main material but sandstone also used.
Pre Rup Style (944–968): under King Rajendravarman, the Angkorian Khmer built the temples of Pre Rup,East Mebon]] and Phimeanakas. Their common style is named after the state temple mountain of Pre Rup.
Banteay Srei Style (967–1000): Banteay Srei is the only major Angkorian temple constructed not by a monarch, but by a courtier. It is known for its small scale and the extreme refinement of its decorative carvings, including several famous narrative bas-reliefs dealing with scenes from Indian mythology.
Khleang Style (968–1010): the Khleang temples, first use of galleries. Cruciform gopuras. Octagonal colonettes. Restrained decorative carving. A few temples that were built in this style are Ta Keo, Phimeanakas.
Baphuon Style (1050–1080): Baphuon, the massive temple mountain of King Udayadityavarman II was apparently the temple that most impressed the Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor toward the end of the 13th century. Its unique relief carvings have a naive dynamic quality that contrast with the rigidity of the figures typical of some other periods. As of 2008, Baphuon is under restoration and cannot currently be appreciated in its full magnificence.
Classical or Angkor Wat Style (1080–1175): Angkor Wat, the temple and perhaps the mausoleum of King Suryavarman II, is the greatest of the Angkorian temples and defines what has come to be known as the classical style of Angkorian architecture. Other temples in this style are Banteay Samre and Thommanon in the area of Angkor, and Phimai in modern Thailand.
Bayon Style (1181–1243): in the final quarter of the 12th century, King Jayavarman VII freed the country of Angkor from occupation by an invasionary force from Champa. Thereafter, he began a massive program of monumental construction, paradigmatic for which was the state temple called the Bayon. The king's other foundations participated in the style of the Bayon, and included Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Angkor Thom, and Banteay Thom. Though grandiose in plan and elaborately decorated, the temples exhibit a hurriedness of construction that contrasts with the perfection of Angkor Wat.
Post Bayon Style (1243–1431): following the period of frantic construction under Jayavarman VII, Angkorian architecture entered the period of its decline. The 13th century Terrace of the Leper King is known for its dynamic relief sculptures of demon kings, dancers, and nāgas.
Materials
Angkorian builders used brick, sandstone, laterite and wood as their materials. The ruins that remain are of brick, sandstone and laterite, the wood elements having been lost to decay and other destructive processes.
Brick
The earliest Angkorian temples were made mainly of brick. Good examples are the temple towers of Preah Ko, Lolei and Bakong at Hariharalaya, and Chóp Mạt in Tay Ninh. Decorations were usually carved into a stucco applied to the brick, rather than into the brick itself. This was because bricks were a softer material, and did not lend themselves to sculpting, as opposed to stones of different kinds such as the Sandstones or the Granites. However, the tenets of the Sacred Architecture as enunciated in the Vedas and the Shastras, require no adhesives to be used while building blocks are assembled one over the other to create the Temples, as such bricks have been used only in relatively smaller temples such as Lolei and The Preah Ko. Besides, strength of bricks is much lesser as compared to the stones (mentioned here-in) and the former degrade with age.
Angkor's neighbor state of Champa was also the home to numerous brick temples that are similar in style to those of Angkor. The most extensive ruins are at Mỹ Sơn in Vietnam. A Cham story tells of the time that the two countries settled an armed conflict by means of a tower-building contest proposed by the Cham King Po Klaung Garai. While the Khmer built a standard brick tower, Po Klaung Garai directed his people to build an impressive replica of paper and wood.
Sandstone
The only stone used by Angkorian builders was sandstone, obtained from the Kulen mountains. Since its obtainment was considerably more expensive than that of brick, sandstone only gradually came into use, and at first was used for particular elements such as door frames. The 10th-century temple of Ta Keo is the first Angkorian temple to be constructed more or less entirely from Sandstone.
Laterite
Angkorian builders used laterite, a clay that is soft when taken from the ground but that hardens when exposed to the sun, for foundations and other hidden parts of buildings. Because the surface of laterite is uneven, it was not suitable for decorative carvings, unless first dressed with stucco. Laterite was more commonly used in the Khmer provinces than at Angkor itself. Because the water table in this entire region is well high, Laterite has been used in the underlying layers of Angkor Wat and other temples (especially the larger ones), because it can absorb water and help towards better stability of the Temple.
File:Preah Ko 1.jpg|Preah Ko, completed in 879 CE, was a temple made mainly of brick.
File:Ta Keo 01.jpg|Ta Keo, a temple built in the 10th century, was constructed more or less entirely from sandstone.
File:Prasat Prang Ku Somboon-006.jpg|Prasat Prang Ku in Sisaket, Thailand, was built with laterite.
Structures
Central sanctuary
thumb|right|The central prang of Angkor Wat temple symbolizes the mount Meru.
The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically Shiva or Vishnu in the case of a Hindu temple, Buddha or a bodhisattva in the case of a Buddhist temple. The deity was represented by a statue (or in the case of Shiva, most commonly by a linga). Since the temple was not considered a place of worship for use by the population at large, but rather a home for the deity, the sanctuary needed only to be large enough to hold the statue or linga; it was never more than a few metres across. Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower (prasat) rising above it, by its location at the centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls. Symbolically, the sanctuary represented Mount Meru, the legendary home of the Hindu gods.
Prang
The prang is the tall finger-like spire, usually richly carved, common to much Khmer religious architecture.
Enclosure
Khmer temples were typically enclosed by a concentric series of walls, with the central sanctuary in the middle; this arrangement represented the mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods. Enclosures are the spaces between these walls, and between the innermost wall and the temple itself. By modern convention, enclosures are numbered from the centre outwards. The walls defining the enclosures of Khmer temples are frequently lined by galleries, while passage through the walls is by way of gopuras located at the cardinal points.
Gallery
thumb|right|A cruciform gallery separates the courtyards at Angkor Wat.
A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. During the period of Angkor Wat in the first half of the 12th century, additional half galleries on one side were introduced to buttress the structure of the temple.
Gopura
thumb|left|A gopura leads into the 12th-century temple compound at Ta Prohm.
thumb|right|Many of the gopuras constructed under Jayavarman VII toward the end of the 12th century, such as this one at Angkor Thom, are adorned with gigantic stone faces of Avalokiteshvara.
A gopura is an entrance building. At Angkor, passage through the enclosure walls surrounding a temple compound is frequently accomplished by means of an impressive gopura, rather than just an aperture in the wall or a doorway. Enclosures surrounding a temple are often constructed with a gopura at each of the four cardinal points. In plan, gopuras are usually cross-shaped and elongated along the axis of the enclosure wall.
If the wall is constructed with an accompanying gallery, the gallery is sometimes connected to the arms of the gopura. Many Angkorian gopuras have a tower at the centre of the cross. The lintels and pediments are often decorated, and guardian figures (dvarapalas) are often placed or carved on either side of the doorways.
Hall of Dancers
A Hall of Dancers is the structure of a type found in certain late 12th-century temples constructed under King Jayavarman VII: Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Banteay Kdei and Banteay Chhmar. It is a rectangular building elongated along the temple's east axis and divided into four courtyards by galleries. Formerly it had a roof made of perishable materials; now only the stone walls remain. The pillars of the galleries are decorated with carved designs of dancing apsaras; hence scholars have suggested that the hall itself may have been used for dancing.
House of Fire
House of Fire, or Dharmasala, is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th-century monarch Jayavarman VII: Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Chhmar. A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows.
Scholars theorize that the House of Fire functioned as a "rest house with fire" for travellers. An inscription at Preah Khan tells of 121 such rest houses lining the highways into Angkor. The Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 CE. Another theory is that the House of Fire had a religious function as the repository the sacred flame used in sacred ceremonies.
thumb|Unusually, the libraries at Angkor Wat open to both the East and the West.
Library
Structures conventionally known as "libraries" are a common feature of the Khmer temple architecture, but their true purpose remains unknown. Most likely they functioned broadly as religious shrines rather than strictly as repositories of manuscripts. Freestanding buildings, they were normally placed in pairs on either side of the entrance to an enclosure, opening to the west.
Srah and baray
Srahs and barays were reservoirs, generally created by excavation and embankment, respectively. It is not clear whether the significance of these reservoirs was religious, agricultural, or a combination of the two.
The two largest reservoirs at Angkor were the West Baray and the East Baray located on either side of Angkor Thom. The East Baray is now dry. The West Mebon is an 11th-century temple standing at the center of the West Baray and the East Mebon is a 10th-century temple standing at the center of the East Baray.
The baray associated with Preah Khan is the Jayataka, in the middle of which stands the 12th-century temple of Neak Pean. Scholars have speculated that the Jayataka represents the Himalayan lake of Anavatapta, known for its miraculous healing powers.
Temple mountain
thumb|right|The Bakong is the earliest surviving Temple Mountain at Angkor.
The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hinduism. Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple.
The first great temple mountain was the Bakong, a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 by King Indravarman I. The structure of Bakong took shape of stepped pyramid, popularly identified as temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur in Java, going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur might have served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java. Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas, but also technical and architectural details of Borobudur, including arched gateways in corbelling method.
Other Khmer temple mountains include Baphuon, Pre Rup, Ta Keo, Koh Ker, the Phimeanakas, and most notably the Phnom Bakheng at Angkor.
According to Charles Higham, "A temple was built for the worship of the ruler, whose essence, if a Saivite, was embodied in a linga... housed in the central sanctuary which served as a temple-mausoleum for the ruler after his death...these central temples also contained shrines dedicated to the royal ancestors and thus became centres of ancestor worship".
Elements
Bas-relief
Bas-reliefs are individual figures, groups of figures, or entire scenes cut into stone walls, not as drawings but as sculpted images projecting from a background. Sculpture in bas-relief is distinguished from sculpture in haut-relief, in that the latter projects farther from the background, in some cases almost detaching itself from it. The Angkorian preferred to work in bas-relief, while their neighbors the Cham were partial to haut-relief.
Narrative bas-reliefs are bas-reliefs depicting stories from mythology or history. Until about the 11th century, the Angkorian Khmer confined their narrative bas-reliefs to the space on the tympana above doorways. The most famous early narrative bas-reliefs are those on the tympana at the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei, depicting scenes from Hindu mythology as well as scenes from the great works of Indian literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
By the 12th century, however, the Angkorian artists were covering entire walls with narrative scenes in bas-relief. At Angkor Wat, the external gallery wall is covered with some 12,000 or 13,000 square meters of such scenes, some of them historical, some mythological. Similarly, the outer gallery at the Bayon contains extensive bas-reliefs documenting the everyday life of the medieval Khmer as well as historical events from the reign of King Jayavarman VII.
Colonnette
Colonnettes were narrow decorative columns that served as supports for the beams and lintels above doorways or windows. Depending on the period, they were round, rectangular, or octagonal in shape. Colonnettes were often circled with molded rings and decorated with carved leaves.
Corbelling
Angkorian engineers tended to use the corbel arch in order to construct rooms, passageways and openings in buildings. A corbel arch is constructed by adding layers of stones to the walls on either side of an opening, with each successive layer projecting further towards the centre than the one supporting it from below, until the two sides meet in the middle. The corbel arch is structurally weaker than the true arch. The use of corbelling prevented the Angkorian engineers from constructing large openings or spaces in buildings roofed with stone, and made such buildings particularly prone to collapse once they were no longer maintained. These difficulties did not, of course, exist for buildings constructed with stone walls surmounted by a light wooden roof. The problem of preventing the collapse of corbelled structures at Angkor remains a serious one for modern conservation.
Lintel, pediment, and tympanum
A lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean lacked the ability to construct a true arch, they constructed their passageways using lintels or corbelling. A pediment is a roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment.
thumb|right|Lintel and pediment at Banteay Srei; the motif on the pediment is Shiva Nataraja.
The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles. The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of the Preah Ko style from the late 9th century.
Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the kala, the nāga and the makara, as well as various forms of vegetation. Also frequently depicted are the Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element. Indra, the god of the sky, is associated with East; Yama, the god of judgment and Hell, with South; Varuna, the god of the ocean, with West; and Kubera, god of wealth, with North.
List of Khmer lintel styles
Sambor Prei Kuk style: inward-facing makaras with tapering bodies. Four arches joined by three medallions, the central once carved with Indra. Small figure on each makara. A variation is with figures replacing the makaras and a scene with figures below the arch.
Prei Khmeng style: continuation of Sambor Prei Kuk but makaras disappear, being replaced by incurving ends and figures. Arches more rectilinear. Large figures sometimes at each end. A variation is a central scene below the arch, usually Vishnu Reclining.
Kompong Preah style: high quality carving. Arches replaced by a garland of vegetation (like a wreath) more or less segmented. Medallions disappear, central one sometimes replaced by a knot of leaves. Leafy pendants spray out above and below garland.
Kulen style: great diversity, with influences from Champa and Java, including the kala and outward-facing makaras.
Preah Ko style: some of the most beautiful of all Khmer lintels, rich, will-carved and imaginative. Kala in center, issuing garland on either side. Distinct loops of vegetation curl down from garland. Outward-facing makaras sometimes appear at the ends. Vishnu on Garuda common.thumb|right|Rich-carved decoration of Preah Ko lintel
Bakheng style: continuation of Preah Ko but less fanciful and tiny figures disappear. Loop of vegetation below the naga form tight circular coils. Garland begins to dip in the center.
Koh Ker style: center occupied by a prominent scene, taking up almost the entire height of the lintel. Usually no lower border. Dress of figures shows a curved line to the sampot tucked in below waist.
Pre Rup style: tendency to copy earlier style, especially Preah Ko and Bakheng. Central figures. Re-appearance of lower border.
Banteay Srei style: increase in complexity and detail. Garland sometimes makes pronounced loop on either side with kala at top of each loop. Central figure.
Khleang style: less ornate than those of Banteay Srei. Central kala with triangular tongue, its hands holding the garland which is bent at the center. Kala sometimes surmounted by a divinity. Loops of garland on either side divided by flora stalk and pendant. Vigorous treatment of vegetation.
Baphuon style: the central kala surmounted by divinity, usually riding a steed or a Vishnu scene, typically from the life of Krishna. Loops of garland no longer cut. Another type is a scene with many figures and little vegetation.
Angkor Wat style: centered, framed and linked by garlands. A second type is a narrative scene filled with figures. When nagas appear, they curls are tight and prominent. Dress mirrors that of devatas and apsaras in bas-reliefs. No empty spaces.
Bayon style: most figures disappear, usually only a kala at the bottom of the lintel surmounted by small figure. Mainly Buddhist motifs. In the middle of the period the garland is cut into four parts, while later a series of whorls of foliage replace the four divisions.
Stairs
thumb|left|The stairs leading to the inner enclosure at Ankor Wat are daunting.
Angkorean stairs are notoriously steep. Frequently, the length of the riser exceeds that of the tread, producing an angle of ascent somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees. The reasons for this peculiarity appear to be both religious and monumental. From the religious perspective, a steep stairway can be interpreted as a "stairway to heaven", the realm of the gods. "From the monumental point of view", according to Angkor-scholar Maurice Glaize, "the advantage is clear – the square of the base not having to spread in surface area, the entire building rises to its zenith with a particular thrust".
Apsaras and devatas are ubiquitous at Angkor, but are most common in the foundations of the 12th century. Depictions of true (dancing) apsaras are found, for example, in the Hall of Dancers at Preah Khan, in the pillars that line the passageways through the outer gallery of the Bayon, and in the famous bas-relief of Angkor Wat depicting the churning of the Ocean of Milk. The largest population of devatas (around 2,000) is at Angkor Wat, where they appear individually and in groups.
thumb|left|This dvarapala stands guard at Banteay Kdei.
Dvarapala
Dvarapalas are human or demonic temple guardians, generally armed with lances and clubs. They are presented either as a stone statues or as relief carvings in the walls of temples and other buildings, generally close to entrances or passageways. Their function is to protect the temples. Dvarapalas may be seen, for example, at Preah Ko, Lolei, Banteay Srei, Preah Khan and Banteay Kdei.
Gajasimha and Reachisey
The gajasimha is a mythical animal with the body of a lion and the head of an elephant. At Angkor, it is portrayed as a guardian of temples and as a mount for some warriors. The gajasimha may be found at Banteay Srei and at the temples belonging to the Roluos group.
The reachisey is another mythical animal, similar to the gajasimha, with the head of a lion, a short elephantine trunk, and the scaly body of a dragon. It occurs at Angkor Wat in the epic bas reliefs of the outer gallery.
Garuda
right|thumb|In this 9th century lintel, now on display at the Musée Guimet, Garuda bears Vishnu on his shoulders.
Garuda is a divine being that is part man and part bird. He is the lord of birds, the mythological enemy of nāgas, and the battle steed of Vishnu. Depictions of Garuda at Angkor number in the thousands, and though Indian in inspiration exhibit a style that is uniquely Khmer. They may be classified as follows:
As part of a narrative bas relief, Garuda is shown as the battle steed of Vishnu or Krishna, bearing the god on his shoulders, and simultaneously fighting against the god's enemies. Numerous such images of Garuda may be observed in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat.
Garuda serves as an atlas supporting a superstructure, as in the bas relief at Angkor Wat that depicts heaven and hell. Garudas and stylized mythological lions are the most common atlas figures at Angkor.
Garuda is depicted in the pose of a victor, often dominating a nāga, as in the gigantic relief sculptures on the outer wall of Preah Khan. In this context, Garuda symbolizes the military power of the Khmer kings and their victories over their enemies. Not coincidentally, the city of Preah Khan was built on the site of King Jayavarman VII's victory over invaders from Champa.
In free-standing nāga sculptures, such as in nāga bridges and balustrades, Garuda is often depicted in relief against the fan of nāga heads. The relationship between Garuda and the nāga heads is ambiguous in these sculptures: it may be one of cooperation, or it may again be one of domination of the nāga by Garuda. In Khmer temple architecture, the kala serves as a common decorative element on lintels, tympana and walls, where it is depicted as a monstrous head with a large upper jaw lined by large carnivorous teeth, but with no lower jaw. Some kalas are shown disgorging vine-like plants, and some serve as the base for other figures.
Scholars have speculated that the origin of the kala as a decorative element in Khmer temple architecture may be found in an earlier period when the skulls of human victims were incorporated into buildings as a kind of protective magic or apotropaism. Such skulls tended to lose their lower jaws when the ligaments holding them together dried out. Thus, the kalas of Angkor may represent the Khmer civilization's adoption into its decorative iconography of elements derived from long forgotten primitive antecedents.
Krishna
Scenes from the life of Krishna, a hero and Avatar of the god Vishnu, are common in the relief carvings decorating Angkorian temples, and unknown in Angkorian sculpture in the round. The literary sources for these scenes are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, and the Bhagavata Purana. The following are some of the most important Angkorian depictions of the life of Krishna:
A series of bas reliefs at the 11th-century temple pyramid called Baphuon depicts scenes of the birth and childhood of Krishna.
Numerous bas reliefs in various temples show Krishna subduing the nāga Kaliya. In Angkorian depictions, Krishna is shown effortlessly stepping on and pushing down his opponent's multiple heads.
Also common is the depiction of Krishna as he lifts Mount Govardhana with one hand in order to provide the cowherds with shelter from the deluge caused by Indra.
Krishna is frequently depicted killing or subduing various demons, including his evil uncle Kamsa. An extensive bas relief in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat depicts Krishna's battle with the asura Bana. In battle, Krishna is shown riding on the shoulders of Garuda, the traditional mount of Vishnu.
In some scenes, Krishna is depicted in his role as charioteer, advisor and protector of Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata. A well-known bas relief from the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei depicts the Krishna and Arjuna helping Agni to burn down Khandava forest.
Linga
thumb|left|This segmented linga from 10th century Angkor has a square base, an octagonal middle, and a round tip.
The linga is a phallic post or cylinder symbolic of the god Shiva and of creative power. As a religious symbol, the function of the linga is primarily that of worship and ritual, and only secondarily that of decoration. In the Khmer empire, certain lingas were erected as symbols of the king himself, and were housed in royal temples in order to express the king's consubstantiality with Siva. The lingas that survive from the Angkorean period are generally made of polished stone.
The lingas of the Angkorian period are of several different types.
Some lingas are implanted in a flat square base called a yoni, symbolic of the womb.
On the surface of some lingas is engraved the face of Siva. Such lingas are called mukhalingas.
Some lingas are segmented into three parts: a square base symbolic of Brahma, an octagonal middle section symbolic of Vishnu, and a round tip symbolic of Shiva.
Makara
thumb|right|The corner of a lintel on one of the brick towers at Bakong shows a man riding on the back of a makara that in turn disgorges another monster.
A makara is a mythical sea monster with the body of a serpent, the trunk of an elephant, and a head that can have features reminiscent of a lion, a crocodile, or a dragon. In Khmer temple architecture, the motif of the makara is generally part of a decorative carving on a lintel, tympanum, or wall. Often the makara is depicted with some other creature, such as a lion or serpent, emerging from its gaping maw. The makara is a central motif in the design of the famously beautiful lintels of the Roluos group of temples: Preah Ko, Bakong, and Lolei. At Banteay Srei, carvings of makaras disgorging other monsters may be observed on many of the corners of the buildings.
Nāga
left|thumb|Mucalinda, the nāga king who shielded Buddha as he sat in meditation, was a favorite motif for Cambodian Buddhist sculptors from the 11th century. This statue is dated between 1150 and 1175 CE.
Mythical serpents, or nāgas, represent an important motif in Khmer architecture as well as in free-standing sculpture. They are frequently depicted as having multiple heads, always uneven in number, arranged in a fan. Each head has a flared hood, in the manner of a cobra.
right|thumb|This multi-headed nāga is part of a decorative lintel from the end of the 9th century.
Nāgas are frequently depicted in Angkorian lintels. The composition of such lintels characteristically consists in a dominant image at the center of a rectangle, from which issue swirling elements that reach to the far ends of the rectangle. These swirling elements may take shape as either vinelike vegetation or as the bodies of nāgas. Some such nāgas are depicted wearing crowns, and others are depicted serving as mounts for human riders.
To the Angkorian, nāgas were symbols of water and figured in the myths of origin for the Khmer people, who were said to be descended from the union of an Indian Brahman and a serpent princess from Cambodia. Nāgas were also characters in other well-known legends and stories depicted in Khmer art, such as the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the legend of the Leper King as depicted in the bas-reliefs of the Bayon, and the story of Mucalinda, the serpent king who protected the Buddha from the elements.
Nāga Bridge
thumb|right|Stone Asuras hold the nāga Vasuki on a bridge leading into the 12th century city of Angkor Thom.
Nāga bridges are causeways or true bridges lined by stone balustrades shaped as nāgas.
In some Angkorian nāga-bridges, as for example those located at the entrances to 12th century city of Angkor Thom, the nāga-shaped balustrades are supported not by simple posts but by stone statues of gigantic warriors. These giants are the devas and asuras who used the nāga king Vasuki in order to the churn the Ocean of Milk in quest of the amrita or elixir of immortality. The story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk or samudra manthan has its source in Indian mythology.
Quincunx
thumb|left|A linga in the form of a quincunx, set inside a yoni, is carved into the riverbed at Kbal Spean.
A quincunx is a spatial arrangement of five elements, with four elements placed as the corners of a square and the fifth placed in the center. The five peaks of Mount Meru were taken to exhibit this arrangement, and Khmer temples were arranged accordingly in order to convey a symbolic identification with the sacred mountain. The five brick towers of the 10th-century temple known as East Mebon, for example, are arranged in the shape of a quincunx. The quincunx also appears elsewhere in designs of the Angkorian period, as in the riverbed carvings of Kbal Spean.
Shiva
Most temples at Angkor are dedicated to Shiva. In general, the Angkorian Khmer represented and worshipped Shiva in the form of a lingam, though they also fashioned anthropomorphic statues of the god. Anthropomorphic representations are also found in Angkorian bas reliefs. A famous tympanum from Banteay Srei depicts Shiva sitting on Mount Kailasa with his consort, while the demon king Ravana shakes the mountain from below. At Angkor Wat and Bayon, Shiva is depicted as a bearded ascetic. His attributes include the mystical eye in the middle of his forehead, the trident, and the rosary. His vahana or mount is the bull Nandi.
Vishnu
Angkorian representations of Vishnu include anthropomorphic representations of the god himself, as well as representations of his incarnations or Avatars, especially Rama and Krishna. Depictions of Vishnu are prominent at Angkor Wat, the 12th-century temple that was originally dedicated to Vishnu. Bas reliefs depict Vishna battling with against asura opponents, or riding on the shoulders of his vahana or mount, the gigantic eagle-man Garuda. Vishnu's attributes include the discus, the conch shell, the baton, and the orb.
Wooden architecture
Palaces
During the Angkor era, the architectural landscape consisted predominantly of temples constructed from durable materials such as brick, sandstone, and laterite. In stark contrast, the royal residences of the Khmer courts were predominantly crafted from wood and other perishable materials, rendering them susceptible to the ravages of time and leaving no trace of their existence in the present day. The enduring remnants of this era are the brick or stone temples, such as those found in the Angkor complex, which stand as the sole vestiges of what was once expansive wooden settlements and palaces.
However, a meticulous 13th-century account by a Chinese emissary to Angkor provides a detailed description of the palace, depicting it as an assemblage of imposing structures crowned with lead-tiled roofs. Intricately carved bas reliefs at Bayon and Banteay Chhmar portray various wooden buildings featuring triangular pediments and roofs, identified as representative of the royal halls within Angkorian palaces. As the Khmer people gradually embraced Buddhism, a discernible transition from stone temples to wooden architecture occurred. This shift marked the adoption of wooden structures as the new norm in Khmer architecture, supplanting the erstwhile prominence of stone temples in earlier periods.
Ordinary housing
The nuclear family, in rural Cambodia, typically lives in a rectangular house that may vary in size from four by six meters to six by ten meters. It is constructed of a wooden frame with gabled thatch roof and walls of woven bamboo. Khmer houses typically are raised on stilts as much as three meters for protection from annual floods. Two ladders or wooden staircases provide access to the house. The steep thatch roof overhanging the house walls protects the interior from rain. Typically, a house contains three rooms separated by partitions of woven bamboo.
Chinese and Vietnamese houses in Cambodian town and villages typically are built directly on the ground and have earthen, cement, or tile floors, depending upon the economic status of the owner. Urban housing and commercial buildings may be of brick, masonry, or wood.
See also
New Khmer Architecture
Rural Khmer house
Khmer sculpture
Indian influence:
Influence of Indian Hindu temple architecture on Southeast Asia
History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia
References
Bibliography
Coedès, George. Pour mieux comprendre Angkor. Hanoi: Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, 1943.
Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2011). Angkor, Eighth Wonder of the World. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. .
Freeman, Michael and Jacques, Claude. Ancient Angkor. Bangkok: River Books, 1999. .
Glaize, Maurice. The Monuments of the Angkor Group. 1944. A translation from the original French into English is available online at theangkorguide.com.
Jessup, Helen Ibbitson. Art & Architecture of Cambodia. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.
Ngô Vǎn Doanh, Champa:Ancient Towers. Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers, 2006.
Roveda, Vittorio. Images of the Gods: Khmer Mythology in Cambodia, Laos & Thailand. Bangkok: River Books, 2005.
Sthapatyakam. The Architecture of Cambodia Phnom Penh: Department of Media and Communication, Royal University of Phnom Penh, 2012.
Gabel, Joachim. Earliest Khmer Stone Architecture and its Origin: A Case Study of Megalithic Remains and Spirit Belief at the Site of Vat Phu.. In: JoGA 2022: 2–137, Journal of Global Archaeology.
Category:Khmer Empire
Category:Hindu temple architecture
Category:Buddhist temples
Category:Archaeological sites in Cambodia
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Capricorn
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Capricorn (pl. capricorni or capricorns) may refer to:
Capricornus, a constellation often called Capricorn
Capricorn (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac
Places
Capricorn and Bunker Group, islands of the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Capricorn District Municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa
Capricorn Caves, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Animals
Capricorn, an animal from the ibex family, particularly the Alpine ibex
Capricornis, a genus of goat-like or antelope-like animals
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional characters
Capricorn (comics), several Marvel Comics characters
Capricorn (Inkworld), Inkheart character
Music
Groups and labels
Capricorn Records, an American record label active 1969–1979
Capricorn (ensemble), a British chamber ensemble active 1973–2000
Albums
Capricorn (Jay Chou album), 2008
Capricorn (Trevor Powers album), 2020
Capricorn (Mike Tramp album), 1997
"Capricorn (A Brand New Name)", a 2002 single by 30 Seconds to Mars from their self-titled album
Songs
"Capricorn", a song by IQ from their 1997 concept album Subterranea
"Capricorn", a song by Barclay James Harvest from the album Eyes of the Universe
"Capricorn", a song by Motörhead from the album Overkill
"Capricorn" (song), a song by Vampire Weekend on the album Only God Was Above Us
Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media
Capricorn, a 1988 manga series created by Johji Manabe
Capricorn One, a 1977 thriller film
Brands and enterprises
Capricorn (microprocessor), a family of microprocessors used in the HP series 80 scientific microcomputers
Capricorn, one of the names for the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
Capricorn Investment Holdings, an umbrella for the Capricorn group of companies
Other uses
Capricorn, a ship that on January 28, 1980, collided with and sank the USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391)
Capricorn Africa Society, a pressure group in British African colonies
See also
Capricornia (disambiguation)
Tropic of Capricorn (disambiguation)
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Capricornus
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, genitive
|symbolism=the Sea-Goat
|RA to
|dec to Another star visible to the naked eye is γ Capricorni, sometimes called Nashira ("bringing good tidings"); it is a white-hued giant star of magnitude 3.7, 139 light-years from Earth. π Capricorni is a double star with a blue-white hued primary of magnitude 5.1 and a white-hued secondary of magnitude 8.3. It is 670 light-years from Earth and the components are distinguishable in a small telescope.
Deep-sky objects
]]
Several galaxies and star clusters are contained within Capricornus. Messier 30 is a globular cluster located 1 degree south of the galaxy group that contains NGC 7103. The constellation also harbors the wide spiral galaxy NGC 6907.
Messier 30 (NGC 7099) is a centrally-condensed globular cluster of magnitude 7.5 . At a distance of 30,000 light-years, it has chains of stars extending to the north that are resolvable in small amateur telescopes.
One galaxy group located in Capricornus is HCG 87, a group of at least three galaxies located 400 million light-years from Earth (redshift 0.0296). It contains a large elliptical galaxy, a face-on spiral galaxy, and an edge-on spiral galaxy. The face-on spiral galaxy is experiencing abnormally high rates of star formation, indicating that it is interacting with one or both members of the group. Furthermore, the large elliptical galaxy and the edge-on spiral galaxy, both of which have active nuclei, are connected by a stream of stars and dust, indicating that they too are interacting. Astronomers predict that the three galaxies may merge millions of years in the future to form a giant elliptical galaxy.History The constellation was first attested in depictions on a cylinder-seal from around the 21st century BCE, it was explicitly recorded in the Babylonian star catalogues before 1000 BCE. In the Early Bronze Age the winter solstice occurred in the constellation, but due to the precession of the equinoxes, the December solstice now takes place in the constellation Sagittarius. The Sun is now in the constellation Capricorn (as distinct from the astrological sign) from late January through mid-February.
Although the solstice during the northern hemisphere's winter no longer takes place while the sun is in the constellation Capricornus, as it did until 130 BCE, the astrological sign called Capricorn is still used to denote the position of the solstice, and the latitude of the sun's most southerly position continues to be called the Tropic of Capricorn, a term which also applies to the line on the Earth at which the sun is directly overhead at local noon on the day of the December solstice.
The planet Neptune was discovered by German astronomer Johann Galle, near Deneb Algedi (δ Capricorni) on 23 September 1846, as Capricornus can be seen best from Europe at 4:00 in September (although, by modern constellation boundaries established in the early 20th century CE, Neptune lay within the confines of Aquarius at the time of its discovery).
Mythology
Despite its faintness, the constellation Capricornus has one of the oldest mythological associations, having been consistently represented as a hybrid of a goat and a fish since the Middle Bronze Age, when the Babylonians used "The Goat-Fish" as a symbol of their god Ea.
Capricornus is also sometimes identified as Pan, the god with a goat's horns and legs, who saved himself from the monster Typhon by giving himself a fish's tail and diving into a river.Visualizations
'' (1825)]]
Capricornus's brighter stars are found on a triangle whose vertices are α<sup>2</sup> Capricorni (Giedi), δ Capricorni (Deneb Algiedi), and ω Capricorni. Ptolemy's method of connecting the stars of Capricornus has been influential. Capricornus is usually drawn as a goat with the tail of a fish.
H. A. Rey has suggested an alternative visualization, which graphically shows a goat. The goat's head is formed by the triangle of stars ι Cap, θ Cap, and ζ Cap. The goat's horn sticks out with stars γ Cap and δ Cap. Star δ Cap, at the tip of the horn, is of the third magnitude. The goat's tail consists of stars β Cap and α<sup>2</sup> Cap: star β Cap being of the third magnitude. The goat's hind foot consists of stars ψ Cap and ω Cap. Both of these stars are of the fourth magnitude.
Equivalents
In Chinese astronomy, constellation Capricornus lies in The Black Tortoise of the North ().
The Nakh peoples called this constellation Roofing Towers ().
In the Society Islands, the figure of Capricornus was called Rua-o-Mere, "Cavern of parental yearnings".
In Indian astronomy and Indian astrology, it is called Makara, the crocodile.
See also
*Capricornus in Chinese astronomy
*Hippocampus (mythology), the mythological sea horse
*IC 1337, galaxy
Citations
;Citations
;References
*
*
*
*
* External links
*[http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/capricornus/ The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Capricornus]
*[http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/capricornus.html Ian Ridpath's Star Tales – Capricornus]
*[https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-017068 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (medieval and early modern images of Capricornus)]
Category:Constellations
Category:Southern constellations
Category:Constellations listed by Ptolemy
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